This isn’t phrased perf because I’m tired but I do think in all these conversations about recognizing coding/hurtful tropes/bad narratives/ect y’all need to like start doing it for the disabled community too we can’t be the only ones who see ableism in media and point it out and I’m not talking about freaking Batman guys. Like learn the coding, learn any disability activism theories, learn what narratives harm us if you can do days of research to accuse every kids cartoon on the planet of q bait you can like spend two minutes online and get that bad guys with facial scars = bad. Like it’s not hard guys
Anyway a short very short list of like the most basic coding and narratives and just really general guidelines guys
Any and yes I mean any #quirky character, comedic relief, or airheaded character is coded to some degree as autistic or adhd for obvious reasons it’s not always good
Genuinely most “stupid” characters are coding with some form of learning disabilities
Characters who have trouble moving, easily tired, often in pain pls give em an aide
Odd, slow, or simple were all words to convey the character as some form of disabled in literature up until frankly now guys they still do it
Literally any fatphobia is ableism
Character talks too much? Fidgets? Has trouble paying attention? My dude that’s adhd
Also like obv autistic/ ocd detective trope here
Literally most non human characters are coded as Nd/ect famously. Spock
Facial scars? Sexy. Visible scarring only on the bad guys? Rancid ableist move on yes this is @ the ww movie
Literally anything that portrays a scarred character as inherently scary or villainous
Evil mental ward patients (yes mental wards have a history and currently are ableist but there’s a difference between a disabled person talking about it and abled people just villainizing the whole thing)
Cures yes almost any cure narratives is bad there’s a thin line with chronically ill characters as a community sims of them obviously do want to be cured but outside of that any narrative with physically disabled people is in fact ableist
Magical disabilities (nuance here)
Pls just learn to let blind characters be blind none of you are Garrett from Quest from Camelot none of you will be Garrett from quest from Camelot pls stop trying
Let us talk about wanting more characters and! Let us be critical of the characters we have. Yes we know Toph exists
Literally when we say x is ableist or y is z coded just listen to us it’s not hard no ones mad at you for not knowing
When physically disabled people are talking you have to listen yes even if you have depression physically disabled people get to talk about physically disabled specific ableism too just as much as you get to talk nd specific ableism
Cr/pple is a physically disabled specific slur don’t use it to explain your depression or your economy
Mentally Ill people aren’t inherently violent if that’s the plot of the story yeah it’s ableist
Mental age is an ableist concept
If your disabled character is #independent because just because you’re disabled you don’t need to rely on anyone? Yeah that’s ableist
Yeah disabled people sometimes do need constant care and help we’re people god
Low independence people are no more childish than any adult
If you’re disabled character can be independent that’s great just don’t insult every other disabled person to do it
Asthma is not just using an inhaler after recess pls just do five minutes of research here
Same with diabetes just like. Five minutes
If you’re confused talk to disabled people ( who are cool w being asked) but remember we are not a monolith and we have different comfort levels ect
Yes we can have s/o’s who in some level take care of us because relationships are about taking care of each other no they aren’t our caregiver (all the time this is when nuance happens) if you’re writing that dynamic just run it by a sensitivity reader literally it’s not hard dhfhdggg I have an aunt who takes care of her husband and an uncle who hired a nurse both these things are common just like. Use nuance. Don’t infantize. Gfhdgdhdgdyf
Dwarfism isn’t a joke neither is gigantism
Unless you’re disabled generally speaking none of it’s a joke honestly
That’s just off the top of my head this isn’t everything or even close but it’s like half of the bare minimum do some research y’all r annoying
Ok to rb / add on no clowning unless you’re actually funny
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