Straightman in the reverse isekai.

Tweet 1: living weapon complex save me...

Tweet 2: living weapon complex favorite character

Most abusers are not doing math in their head to figure out the perfect way to manipulate their victims, they're just self-centered and cruel and they take advantage of opportunities that present themselves. Most abusers are not thinking "these are the steps I need to take to isolate my partner/child/friend/etc from everyone but me", they're just possessive and controlling in general.

In the same vein, most corporations are not thinking up ways to poison water sources or put lead into food or make cars more dangerous to drive; those things are just the consequences of cutting safety measures and labor rights to make a profit and corporations care more about the money they make than the harm being done, especially when the only consequences are a slap on the wrist. Marginalized groups are hurt the worst by this not because there is a targeted effort to wipe us all out but because we are simply not valued by society as a whole.

When I was in college there was this ongoing competitive mindset from the teachers /students that: “If you’re not drawing all night / getting 1 - 2 hours of sleep, you’re going to fall behind.” If you’re an artist you’ve probably met this kind of thinking… I’ve heard it from so many pros / tutorials.

One of my professors said that line all the time. I loved this dude. he worked at Disney on many of my favorite movies, and my young self became absorbed in this mindset. About 3 years into my degree that professor had a stroke, and when he went to the doctor they said he had actually previously had something like 10+ strokes without even knowing, brought on by stress, and that he needed to slow down. 

Since then I’ve heard tons of other stories accounts of sickness and divorce brought on from addiction to work.

A few years later I was listening to an Animation podcast interviewing Glen Keane. He brought up that there were other animators who would live and breath their work, never going home, barely sleeping, etc. 

What shocked me was that Glen Keane said something like “I ignored this idea, and decided to go home every night to spend time with my family, because I could learn just as much from my life experiences with them.” 

Anyway I just wanted to take a second after hearing a statement like this again recently and let any young artists out there know that:

(Source: Owain, Lady of the Fountain)

(Source: Knight of the Two Swords)

(Source: Vulgate Cycle - Lancelot pt. V)

(Source: Alliterative Morte Arthur)

(Source: Owain, Lady of the Fountain)

(Source: Knight of the Two Swords)

(Source: Vulgate Cycle - Lancelot pt. V)

(Source: Alliterative Morte Arthur)

The spectrum is smooth, as in there are not distinctive hard lines or steps. The spectrum is not a series of clearly labeled boxes ("can", "can with difficulty/accommodations", "can't") . There are gray, in-between zones between every possible describable location on the spectrum. (This metaphorical spectrum would also have multiple dimensions, but I'm leaving that out for simplicity)

People seem pretty comfortable with the more "able" half of the spectrum, understanding that things can be easy for some and more difficult for others. But it seems that people really struggle to understand the less able half of the spectrum, all of the area between "can sometimes do it with difficulty/accommodation" and "literally can't under any circumstances". The problem is, that gray area includes almost all disabled people, and the unconscious habit of limiting the possibilitied to those two "boxes" puts us in danger.

"Can't (absolutely no caveat)" exists. But it is not the only valid version of "can't". There's also "can't (it would hurt me)" and "can't (it will shorten my life)" and "can't (it might hurt me, and it's not safe for me to take that risk right now)" and "can't (it will take so long that the opportunity to do so will pass)" and more.

Where do you draw the line? Where do you draw the line between "can't" and "can, but-"

as in "I can, but I might faint" or "I can, but it will make me sick" and the nearly universal "I can, but it will hurt and I will not be able to do something else that I love because of it"

The trade-offs in this gray zone are underrepresented in media and under discussed among non-disabled people. Under considered.

And when people forget about the gray zones and see only boxes of "can" and "can't", they might look at anyone who isn't literally a coma and say "yeah, but you can" with little consideration for what that "can, but-" might cost us

Anytime you're tempted to say "everyone can ______" remember:

Some people are literally in a coma

There are gray in-between zones between "can do whatever task you're describing" and "literally in a coma"

There are people in those gray in between zones

Some of those gray zones have costs

There is no limit to how high the cost can be. There is no referee enforcing fairness. The highest cost is immediate death, and every possible cost below that is also on the table, depending on the person.

A couple generations ago, disabled kids were locked away in institutions by the thousands. Or just sat at home not doing much. Or were bedbound and cared for by their families. Or suffered for years until they died.

Or, in less severe cases, went to school and went about life and everything was difficult and they got no support and were labeled lazy and stupid when they actually had a treatable medical condition.

If you look at, say, special education records going back to the 1970s, the number of children diagnosed with a learning disability is way up, but the number of children who are severely disabled by a brain condition (like, needing custodial care as an adult) is down.