MozzeyNoze

The trope is actually “disabled snarker”, but I will be focusing on blindness since it fits the blog and my own experience better.

A snarky character has a sharp, sarcastic tone, often bluntly making jokes about their disability. One well-known example of this is Toph Beifong from Avatar the Last Airbender.

Why Do Blind People Use Snark?

Reasons blind people use this include increased agency and control in social situations, humor, or expressing a personality that is palatable to sighted people and automatically challenges any preconceived notions others might have. For some reason, making jokes about one’s own disability shocks many abled people. It is common to be met with uncomfortable laughter or comments use as, “You’re actually funny.”. However, joking about one’s disability in a snarky way can shock others into getting comfortable with the idea of disability, understanding that they don’t need to be evasive with the topic. Snark can be a quick way to get others to treat blind people like actual people.

In other words, as someone I know put it a long time ago, “Big dick energy, empress energy.”

How Do People React to Snark?

I already mentioned the tendency to express surprise when I said anything funny or crude. I know some blind people who feel that snark can make abled people feel more comfortable, while also risking pushing them away. This is due to the stereotype that blind people are excessively rude or entitled. It’s a hard balance to find.

How Can Writers Use This Trope For Blind Characters?

Writers might use this trope to avoid inspiration porn or give characters agency. Snark can also be a bit more familiar to write, as it displays big personality traits, such as bluntness, refusal to make themselves small, confidence, and comfort with their disability. Depending on how the character is written, snark can be a part of the character’s personality or it can be a way of testing others to see if they can handle the character’s personality.

Why Do I Think the Blind Snarker Works in Fiction?

Blind people often have to use snark in an ableist world. Snark can also be a way to point out ableism while being funny or sarcastic, which can sometimes still get blind people in trouble or it could make the other person who did the ableist thing feel more open to considering their actions. Making the interaction funny might make others more open to challenging their misconceptions about blind people.

Snark might drive people away, but that can be preferable to people-pleasing, hyper-dependence, and making yourself small. Snark in itself challenges the stereotype of a timid, small blind person who exists to inspire others. Or, while it can be perceived as rude, snark can be a funny way to control how abled people see a blind person.

As someone who has epilepsy and used to have several grand mal seizures a day, I’d also like to add that “offer help” can range anywhere from keeping the person calm to explaining to them where they are and what they were doing to even just telling them they should sit and rest for a while longer (lack or coordination is common, and it can be hard to walk straight or see clearly).

It’s okay for them to take up to a half hour to fully regain their bearings and sort out what they were doing prior to the seizure. Just answer any questions calmly and be there for support.

If they come around and you start to panic or shake them or ask them what the heck is wrong with them they are going to freak out and panic too.

I cannot stress it enough that this is bad.

People wanna pretend it was all in good fun and only got racist afterwards (if they'll even acknowledge it ever was racist) meanwhile some of the earliest TikTok making clanker jokes were skits that were just "racist dad hates his daughter's black boyfriend" only the boyfriend is a robot instead, and before that, these exact same kinds of jokes were circulating the Star Wars fandom for over a decade

a repost

stolen art

false information

etc.

(Written by @seasonalmoss)

Just a quick reminder that trauma is largely a neutral descriptor.

What do I mean by this? Well of course the trauma itself is bad! I’m not arguing against that, trauma literally forms when something awful happens! I’m not talking about that! I’m talking about being traumatized.

Trauma isn’t going to inherently make you bad, or evil but it’s not going to make you inherently good either. There’s no one way to react to trauma, in fact I’d argue the different ways that trauma can show itself is one of the most diverse out there! as there’s thousands if not millions of factors at play.

Just because someone is traumatized it doesn’t give them an excuse to be an awful person. And it does not means you will become an awful person, simply on the basis that something awful happened to you. Similarly, you’re not destined to be “the most understanding and empathetic” just because you’ve been through something terrible.

Now trauma can cause you to understand pain more or enact more pain! But it’s simply a reason, and not guaranteed to happen. It’s just that, a reason for behavior.

I often see people when writing trauma make it rather absolute. Especially in regards to “the abused becomes the abuser” I often see a kind of mentality of “well they went through hell so they were always bound to be awful”

But that’s just not it. It sends all the wrong messages.

You’re not destined to become anything, you chose to do those awful things. Sure that choice was influenced by trauma, but it doesn’t absolve you of responsibility. Similarly, just because someone has been through hell and back it doesn’t mean they will inevitably become abusive. I can’t tell you how many times I or the ones I love have been sent in pure panic attacks simply because they went through something they could not control and were certain that it meant they will inevitably become just as bad.

Trauma can and will always influence things, but its not a descriptor that mean “absolute pain giver”

It’s simply something awful that happened that can shape you or your characters in both positive or negative ways.

Maybe because they’ve been through hell they understand and empathize with people more! Their trauma is used as fuel to help protect and prevent it from happening again! Or maybe because they’ve trauma is all they’ve known they fail to see any other positive out come “this happened to me so it needs to happen to you”.

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Re: A comment you've made on Chinese Slave x Imperial Japanese Soldier ask

hihi Mod Teto, i understand that the comment you've made has been made out of frustration and anger, however i do wish to comment on the fact that it misrepresents the wider picture of the treatment of my people under the Imperial Japanese occupation. it seems as though some are taking your word as gospel, and are not quite seeing why such portrayals are offensive past the mention of rape. i'll like to iterate that this is not of any fault of your own, as i do believe you're well-versed on the history of the region.

this ask is simply to state as a Chinese individual who is tired of correcting people and getting an "110% agree and i'm glad you came in to say this 🙏" instead of a "sorry": the reduction of the Imperial Japanese to be simply as "rapists" downplays my people's history with them.

yes, Chinese women were taken (kidnapped, forced) to be comfort women – that remains factual, though they were not the only ones. yes, there was rape, and yes, it is a disrespect to any Chinese (heck, Asian) individual if you were to portray such a relationship.

however, when we react in disgust and anger, and mention the rape of comfort women, it is not the only reason for our outcry. The fact is that the Imperial Japanese had no regard for human life, and comfort women are not the only examples of this. Unit 731 conducted research for biological and chemical warfare, and used our people as human experiments, of which there are no documented survivors known. Sook Ching massacre executed around 25,000 Chinese men in Singapore. Nanjing massacre killed over half a million people, including Prisoners of War, and the Imperial Japanese raped and killed both Chinese women and children.

because i know that someone's bound to take my word for gospel too: Chinese individuals were not the only victims of the Imperial Japanese – but that is not my story to tell, neither is it my job to tell you (unless you pay me). i cannot ask for people to be respectful on a post about a question that sounds so absurd to me even. but if you feel the need to speak on it, at least try to look into it instead of making us (Asians, descendants of victims, etc) correct you 🙏. now, please please please please just stop downplaying the hurt caused by the Imperial Japanese.

that was my PSA mod Teto, thank you for your hard work! you too, mod Mira <3 (came off anon to help out with the asks situation, so sorry that i've given y'all some trouble!)

are you tired as FUCK of your favourite medias having too many problems, inconsistencies or outright oppression? WELL BUCKLE THE FUCK UP CUZ IMMA TEACH YOU HOW TO. NOT. DO THAT. YAY

DETAILS UNDER THE CUT:

Hello world

I never expected to write such words but difficult circumstances pushed me to do so

We are LGBTQ+ refugees living in a camp in South Sudan. We escaped violence but life here is still so hard. Many of us sleep outside on thin mats facing cold nights discrimination and fear every day

If you can help 🙏 even in the smallest way it brings safety and hope to people who have lost everything The link to our GoFundMe is in the bio Thank you for not forgetting us.

I ask for your support and assistance in whatever way you can even by sharing this message so that it may reach compassionate hearts capable of giving. Your support today is not just financial assistance it is a lifeline that enables us to continue and live with dignity.

@alastorizack @churchydragon @lunavila @boostlust @gdnite @bgv-1967 @tsjocelynkumalot-blog @vsuck @vshi0 @vdub711-blog @lasborracherasquenoterminamos @gokkusagindandaragaci @taylorswift @vdubnews @frases-indiretas-status @humansofnewyork @dutchster @astound @azoo123 @azaryart @awesome-pictures

If your advocacy for Black people stops at Black queer people your allyship is conditional. If your advocacy for Black queer people stops at Black trans fems, your allyship is conditional. If your advocacy for Black people has terms and conditions you have unchecked racist beliefs to unlearn and combat within yourself. That is something you desperately need to address in order to be a genuine ally to the most vulnerable demographics of Black people within our community.

Like if you have an OC and they get assimilated and have an alternate how do you design that alternate?? What’s your process? AGAIN NOT FORCED!! I just have NO IDEA what to do

ALSO!!! DUUDEE I JUST WANNA SAY I LOOOVEEEEE YOUR INTERPRETATIONS OF THE ALTERNATES IT MAKES SOOO MUCH SENSE AND ITS ACTUALLY REALLY SIMILAR TO HOW B VIEW/ HEADCANON THEM TOO!!

ALSO I LOOOOVEEEDD READING THE STORY OF KANE!! DUUDEE WHAT?? THAT ACTUALLY FITS SOO WELL AND SOUNDS LIKE SOMETHING STRAIGHT FROM TMC!! Kanes story kind of capture this feel that really early TMC had?? Where it almost feels more like “true crime” then “analog horror” if that makes sense?? Like- Marks story when I first ever heard it way back in 2021 striked a similar kind of fear that little me with too much unrestricted internet access stumbling across true crime, you know? It’s something that’s kinda lost in modern TMC but you bring it out really well here!! The way that Kane kills himself with a shot gun and then later his alternate uses that suicide to convince Bastion “this is my fault” GAAH ITS PUUREE GOLD!! THATS PEAK WRITING!! AND GAHH THE ALTERNATES SOO WOULD DO THAT!!

ALSO THE DESIGNS ARE WONDERFUL!!! THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH!! THIS GENUINELY HELPED SOOO MUCH!!