Project Freelancer Haunts Me

Rewatching rvb s6 - s10 rn

ACGGOODS is here!!

I need this TikTok to reach 100 likes in order to get approved for an art website (basically proof that I’m not a bot and that I don’t use ai)

So if you could leave a like on it that be great- you don’t have to follow or anything I just need this single post to get 100

…Sigh.

…Sigh.

the show writes caboose as “stupid”. he is treated with incredible amounts of ableism in the show, both from the other characters and from the writers themselves. many fans imitate and even expand on this treatment. there is no respect for caboose as a disabled person, because he is not being written as a person at all. @positiveoatmilkmotel wrote these tags that articulate something i’ve been trying to for a while:

caboose is not written as a man with cognitive disabilities, he’s written as a ball of ableist stereotypes to be mocked.

and so well meaning fans will combat this by going no, no, caboose isnt “stupid”, he’s “smart!” and, of course, caboose does have intelligence and capabilities that are overlooked and undervalued by the show and by the fandom. but often this refrain is used to deny and erase that caboose has any difficulties at all. sure, maybe he’s autistic and has brain damage, but it doesn’t actually disable him, it just makes him a little odd!

It’s tricky, writing a character in a non-ableist way, when the character is already inherently ableist.

There is this book I read that really shows how, although people try to create well meaning good-representation, there is almost always flaws, and most importantly, almost always someone being othered or lowered:

Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper. It’s about a girl with severe cerebral palsy, who finally gets a text-to-speech device on her wheel chair. The idea is that she is smart, she has a lot to say and a lot of good ideas. After she got the device, she proved herself to be smarter than the other kids.

I read this book as a kid, it was assigned to me while I was in Speech Therapy for my (very mild) Cerebral Palsy. And, the thing that ended up sticking out the MOST, was that in order to be disabled and worthy of accommodations, I also had to be intelligent, and I had to prove myself. Now,, imagine if I had a worse learn disability, or a very low IQ? It isn’t unlikely, around 30-50% of people with Cerebral Palsy have an IQ below 70. Imagine what it’d be like for a child with low IQ, to see a kid with cerebral palsy succeed, only because of their intelligence.

So why is intelligence such a big deal? Why do people always feel the need to highlight how a disability is okay, only when it enhances another aspect of one’s functions. Why can’t low IQ, itself, be okay and deserving of accommodations?

Even when a character is written with low iq, like with Caboose in canon,, it is a joke. Forrest Gump, right? People love that movie, people love that character, people even relate to that character. But the movie itself is a satire, the joke is that people with neurological disorders, with low IQ, who act autistic; can’t be in the military, and can’t “get the girl”, or be a hero. It’s an ironic take on neurological issues, we are seen as useless and undesirable, and so the movie makes him the opposite.

Caboose is used as satire comedy as well, his successes are accidental, his good ideas are someone else’s, he is strong almost to balance out his lack of IQ. His issues with understanding reality is a consistent joke, and he always is compared to those around him AND to the audience. you are meant to feel different than caboose, he is written as worse than the audience, not equal.

Caboose’s brain injury is from his helmet locking and shutting off his oxygen supply, it’s also likely from the AI’s in the early seasons.People who expirence hypoxia (in both adulthood and development) can display the behavioral and cognitive traits that Caboose does, I do have a ton of the communication and physical complications Caboose seems to have in canon, and I’ve meet autistic men with a similar personality, speech-pattern, and emotional openness. But his display is comedic and stereotyped, his entire character is about him having brain damage, and the brain damage itself is not actually accurately show, nor are his traits consistent.

So yes, Caboose displays real symptoms of autism and brain injury, removing them removes his character, because his character is so entirely based off his impairments. But these symptoms are stereotyped, so, writing them as they are shown in canon creates some level of mockery to the disabled.

I’m lucky to live in a very busy, very medically active area. The hospitals here are some of the best in the country, I’ve grown up around people with neurological impairments, especially around people with ASD. When you go to write or draw a fictional character, understand that it is also a depiction of a real person. For writing or drawing advice, watch real videos by people with brain damage, speech disorders, autism, low IQ. See how they behave, understand why they think the way they do, listen to them and their lived experiences.

Depicting disability is the same as if you were trying to depict a gender, race, age, or culture that is not your own. You literally need references in order to be accurate. Here’s a few good bits on how to write Caboose, based off who he is in canon as well, if you’re going for accuracy: