#disabled hero

Phantom Comic Ch.4

Page 15<-–>  Page 17

Begining

Today was the day.

After months of hardly getting out of bed, months of fighting the agency’s insurance plan, months of insisting that the hero’s condition was, in fact, service related, they were finally getting a custom wheelchair delivered.

Today, they got their independence back.

The doorbell rang and Hero had never moved faster on their cane, rubber tip taps and accompanying footsteps echoing through their entryway as they reached the door. Opening it, they were greeted with a beautiful sight. A smiling worker stood behind their brand new chair.

The rigid frame was coated in a metallic blue, with shining push rims to match. Black metal completed the footrest and backrest support, blending into the black wheels and side guards. It looked sleek; It looked perfect.

Waved in by the former hero, the worker lifted the caster wheels over the door frame, pushing the chair up and inside before locking the small silver brakes.

“You ready to take her for a spin?” They asked, and the hero grinned from ear to ear. They took a seat, sliding back till their hips were settled. The worker pointed out the buckle and Hero clicked it shut.

“Safety first,” they nodded and the worker chuckled in response.

Brakes unlocked, they pushed, and they glided like they were on a cloud.

They sighed at the ease of movement, moving down the hallway with little pain. It had been so long since they could just move. They missed moving just for the fun of it, for the rush of wind in their hair and adrenaline coursing through their veins. They missed jumping across rooftops, turning their feet on a dime, climbing walls, and starting fights that they could actually win.

Overwhelmed with the return of that feeling, they found themselves increasing their speed more than what may have been advisable around the house. Consequently, when they tried to turn around, they clipped the doorframe, leaving a scuff mark on the plaster and a slight damper on their confidence.

“Takes a little getting used to,” the worker assured.

Hero continued, slightly abashed at their excitement. The worker watched, then suggested they raise the footplate a little to accommodate Hero’s thin soled shoes. After a moment with an Allen wrench, Hero was properly fitted into their new wheelchair.

Now, it just needed a name.

In their time as a Hero, they had practiced restraint when fighting countless villains. They never aimed to maim or hurt more than necessary, even if the villains pointedly did not return the favor. Ever since being forced to retire, Hero carried that sentiment into their civilian life too. However, there were times when they wished to be a little petty. Sometimes, when people blocked ramps or stared at them a little too judgingly, they wished warm pillows and bad hair days upon them. Their prayers for minor inconveniences rose especially when they saw news of a certain villain, who Hero suspected to have a set of very crushable toes.

Maybe, Hero would have to pay them a little visit, with the help of the brand new Metatarsal Muncher.

They couldn’t wait to get out of the house, to be able to function on a daily basis. They were going to get groceries, get out to retirement-events, go outside with a sense of focus not being spent on trying to stay upright, shop without a mind clouded with pain.

If only it hadn’t taken them this long to accept what they needed.

The worker showed them how to disassemble the chair. The ultra-light wheels came off with a button press in the middle, the cushion was removed so the back could fold down. Hero got to assemble it back themselves and, satisfied, the worker bid them goodbye with some maintenance and care instructions.

Far too excited to wait, the former Hero loaded their chair into the car and headed for the park, thrilled to go watch the robins and blue jays hop between the trees. Once, the former hero had envied their freedom, the ease with which they traveled and lived their lives. They had wished they could soar above the sky and dive down back to the ground. Now, as they followed the smooth concrete path through the oaks and the birches, they made peace with their own kind of freedom.

It may not look the same as it once did, but life moved on.

“Why are villains more respectful of disabilities than your average civilian? Like, all of my regular foes have learnt at least rudimentary sign language, yet the journalist wanting to interview me can’t even sign hello. She just shouts louder at me like that’s going to help!”

Stone Heart Origins

- Alix was not born blind in this Au

- Up until the age of 8, she could see perfectly fine

- That was until a particularly aggressive break-in occurred at the Louvre

- Alix was with her mother at the time of the attack, talking to one of the security guards in the entrance hall

- The attacker was armed with a knife and a gun

- He quickly had shot down the guards and then started slashing at anyone he could

- That had included Alice, who was stabbed in the heart and died rather quickly

- Meanwhile Alix was slashed across the face, right where her eyes were and cut them rather deeply and blinding her permanently

- She had passed out right after this from blood loss

- The guy didn’t get away however and was sentenced to death

- Alim hadn’t let Jalil come out, as he was only 14 and didn’t know what he was gonna see leaving the apartment

- He was of course horrified seeing his wife and daughter on the ground

- Alice was clearly dead, but Alix was still breathing but very shallowly

- She was rushed off to hospital and Alice’s body was also taken away

- Meanwhile Alim went back, grabbed Jalil and led him through the museum while covering his eyes so he didn’t see anything

- Alix spent a few months in the hospital recovering from her injuries but it was clear she would never see again

- Alim wasn’t planning on just leaving her to figure it out and had done days worths of research in ways to help her adapt

- It started with echolocation using tongue clicks

- Something he’s become rather good at himself through teaching Alix how to do so

- Alix’s hearing and smell was getting increasingly better

- Jalil is always fussing over her, as are guards at the louvre who pity the young girl

Alix: *Within five feet of a wall*

A security guard, very loudly: THERES A WALL IN FRONT OF YOU.

- She has an even better knowledge of history from being home schooled

- Alim struggled with it a little at first but quickly got used to it

- But he may have stuffed a little bit a truckload more history knowledge than usual

- But that doesn’t mean she can’t do math, science or any other subject

- Usually for text, if it doesn’t have Braille on it for her, she’ll have someone read it to her or she’ll have headphones that say it for her

- She can write in print, but telling what she’s writing is hard so she sticks to writing in Braille

- She had stopped attending public school after she was blinded due to Alim worrying about her

- Unfortunately, even at the Louvre she still had to deal with some other curators kids berating her for being blind

- They would push her around and make fun of her until an adult caught them and they got punished

- Jalil always made their punishments harsher for them

- Some of the kids went to school with the rest of the class and would laugh about, “The stupid blind girl”

- And since the class has decency they would yell at them for making fun of a blind girl even if they didn’t know who she was

- Alix had been rather tired of not having friends her age (minus rich kids), and had begged her dad to let her go to public school

- Alix may be blind but puppy eyes still work

- While her eye was damaged, it meant that her cornea was no longer transparent

- So her eyes look slightly odd, but she could pass it off as just them being the way they look

- Alim, after quite a bit of begging from Alix (highlight - a bit = a couple months worth), he filed her into Collège Françoise Dupont for the start of 10th grade

- Which Alix was super excited about, and running around so much she kept nearly bumping into stuff

- Now, Alix does know a few people previous to school

- That being Sabrina, Nathaniel, Adrien and Chloe who she had met at galas and had been friends with for years

- All four are aware of her blindness, and have learned braille to help her when she needs it

- They also usually get other people who bother her to fuck off

- Chloe especially is very overprotective of Alix, even when she insists she doesn’t need it

- As in,

Chloe: If anyone even breaths in your direction in a wrong way, I will cut their hair and make them look like a clown.

- Roger also uses Alix’s blindness as a way to try and put his ideas onto Sabrina

- Which Alix does not appreciate because it means she keeps trying to basically carry her even though she’s capable of walking on her own just fine

- With Nathaniel, it’s quite unique

- Alix can’t really see Nathaniel’s drawings

- So while he does do traditional drawings still, to let Alix try and appreciate it more he does textured and layered paintings

- It allows her to feel the painting and get an idea of what it looks like, and Nathaniel does that all so she can appreciate it

- She can get an idea or colors too

- She knows colors, and tends to relate them most to emotions

- So Nathaniel can describe what color an area is or describe a drawing itself to her

- Alix appreciates him so very much, and the two are super close

- And guess who got Alix into roller skating because Alim and Jalil would freak at the idea

- Adrien did, because he knew Alix would get restless often from being cooped up like he was

- So he started with heelies

- That ended up with many bruises and bumping into walls until Alix learned it better

Alix: *Walks up with several bruises* HOLY SHIT I HAD FUN!!!

Adrien: Hell yeah!!!!

- Just imagine Adrien holding Alix’s shoulder and running alongside her as she rolls on her sneakers

- Alix ended up adoring it, even though it could be rather dangerous for her

- Meanwhile Alim nearly has a panic attack when she keeps walking in with bruises

- Alix doesnt let him stop her though

- What he does do is make her put on basically a few pounds of safety equipment

- What he’s mostly paranoid about is her falling over, and hitting something that could really hurt her

- Chloe found out through letting Alix feel some of her jewelry is that Alix really likes the feeling of jewelry in her hand

Alix: I don’t know it’s just..smooth I guess? It’s pleasing. Kinda like how I like feeling old paper or stones my family studies.

- Touch is something Alix is very in tune with, as it lets her feel for objects around her

- So smooth or soft things (or things that feel interesting to her, example the papyrus papers) is something she enjoys

- When Alix was enrolled, her blindness was of course told to all the staff so she could talk to an adult if she needed

- She was also let into the building a few days before it started to get an idea of the schools layout, which Chloe helped her out with

- Adrien was also there since he had managed to be able to go to the school

- He snuck out like the gremlin Alix taught him to be

- Let it be known Gabriel hates Alix for teaching his son to rebel

- By the time the first day of school came, Alix was kinda nervous

- This was the first time she would be going to school in 6 years

- But she gathered up her courage and went to her class

- Thankfully, all the noise wasn’t too bad for her since she had galas at the louvre

- Plus the louvre is popular in general so there’s always a lot of people there

- Alix knew the hallways and stuff, but hadn’t been in the classrooms as they were locked

- Braille had also been added to the door signs for her, so she could feel which room she was at

- When Bustier saw her first enter the classroom, her first thought was literally, “Protect the child”

- So she went over and led Alix to her desk so she could figure it out

- Shes sitting with Mylene still

- Now here’s the thing!

- Outside of the rich kids, no one knows Alix is blind

- She’s Gonna try to hide it from them, thinking it will help her fit in and become part of the group easier

- She also didn’t wanna be treated differently because she’s blind

- What that also leads to, is Alix having no freaking clue what her classmates look like

- She’s a little bit nervous around Ivan, just because his footsteps are louder and he’s bigger than what she’s used too

- So she’s just really confused most of the time

- Meanwhile, Fu had just given Mari and Adrien their miraculous

- Mari was pretty excited about having two new girls, but still wasn’t aware of Adrien or his popularity

- Chloe was very confused on how she wasn’t aware of Adrien

- Chloe was trying to get Mari to move to a different seat

- She wanted to be across from Alix as well as near Adrien in case either needed her help

- Meanwhile Mylene was introducing herself to an overwhelmed Alix

- Mylene’s all excited and Alix can barely keep up with her

- Chloe has a bit of a reputation for being a bitch, but she’s trying to get better

- Especially since Alix and Adrien are here now

- Sabrina gets treated like an actual friend by Chloe, not a slave

- She does help with homework sometimes though

- Chloe still gets put in the front row, across from Adrien and in front of Alix by Bustier

- Alix does have headphones in for paper sheets so they can be read to her

- Chloe is kinda confused on where Adrien is, because he should’ve been there by now

- Alix also doesn’t sense his presence in the room and was getting worried

- Adrien was taken home by Nathalie and Gorilla after helping Fu

- That’s when Ivan and Kim started getting into a fight

- Ivan was sent to the principals office while Kim was scolded by Bustier

- Alix was still very overwhelmed and was playing music to try and calm herself

- Her music usually includes stuff that is either energetic or calming

- Occasional sad songs too

- She ended up still having gym like in canon and was pretty excited about it

- Shes generally more comfortable in open areas

- Nathaniel was in gym with her too

- When Ivan was akumatized, Alix was alert immediately

- That was due to Stoneheart’s weight and footsteps being huge

- At first she was freaking out, latching onto Nathaniel’s arm and thinking there was some sort of earthquake

- Poor girl had never heard something that large and it was pretty scary

- That’s when Stoneheart jumped out in front of the school and Alix just fell to the ground, literally shaking

- Nathaniel had to pull her off to the bleachers and hid behind them to calm her down

Alix: What is that?!? Why is it so loud?? Is there an earth quake?? What’s the yelling!

Nathaniel: Alix, calm down. Focus on my voice ok.

- He had his arms wrapped around her, quietly explaining the situation

- Meanwhile she was busy trying not to have a panic attack

Alix: Is school always like this!??

Nathaniel: Of course not.

- Alim of course was freaking out back at home and had sent Jalil to go fetch Alix from school, but she wasn’t there

- Ladybug and Chat’s first meeting!

- It’s the same as canon so I’m not gonna focus on it much

- Alix literally was trying to shove herself under a chair out of fear when Stoneheart entered the stadium

- Nathaniel frantically trying to calm her down until Jalil showed up, picked them both up and booked it

- He had then grabbed Alix’s phone and put music on for her as loud as he could to distract her

- He got into the louvre where their apartment was and made a blanket fort with both of them

- Alim had the louvre on lockdown just in case Stoneheart showed up

- But he was also busy calming down Alix

- Even from the Louvre she could hear his footsteps and yelling

- Meanwhile Ladybug and Chat were busy fighting Stoneheart still

- She couldn’t hear them though

- He was eventually defeated the same as in canon, and Alix was able to calm down

- Class was still cancelled for the day

- Alim was asking Alix if she wanted to stay home instead but she didn’t want to

Leading man on a Aeniad-based series a la Game of Thrones, Marcus, has made a name for himself as a well-behaved golden retriever. According to the gossip, he’s pretty, he’s sweet, and he is about as smart as a box of rocks. In reality, the last one couldn’t be really further from the truth. It’s more of a front to hide that he suffers from dyslexia. Not to mention, it also means that he doesn’t have to answer the difficult questions on the press junkets. And it also means that no one would suspect that he spends his free time writing fanfiction and cruising on a shipping discord-esque server. But writing fix-it-fic and bitching about the changes the show made from the book series\ is also In clear violation of his contract and if his sue-happy showrunners find out, he’s going to be in a whole heap of trouble. So he has to keep his fandom life separate and hidden. Unfortunately, the lines between his online and offline life are blurred when Marcus steps in to mitigate some really horrendous online fatphobic bullying by asking the woman cosplaying as his own show wife out on a date. That woman, geologist April, Turns out to be funny and intelligent and pretty much everything that Marcus is looking for in a woman. With one major problem... She’s his best friend online. And he’s been keeping one heck of a secret from her. Oops.

First a couple of warnings. This book deals with body positivity and body negativity, past child neglect, emotional abuse, fatphobia, ableism, and lots and lots and lots of sexism in the media. Make sure you’re in a good place before reading this.

Additionally, here’s a warning for people who have visual disabilities/dyslexia/other visual processing disorder: the e-book I read suffered from several formatting issues including missing carriage returns and fixed font types.

Here’s an example from the book illustrating what I mean:

It’s actually worse because the font can change mid-paragraph, which really messed with me. Yeah... Considering that I have dyslexia (on top of a visual disability on top of a chronic condition that can be triggered by visual cues), it made the book hard to process.. Which in a book that features a dyslexic character and the dyslexia is important it’s sort of ironic. And it’s a choice. (And as a note not everyone with dyslexia can process audiobooks, I can’t.) And I’m making a choice not to knock this down a star despite the increased difficulty in reading this. But it needs to be warned about. Onto the story!

This is honestly a very adorable and very sweet celebrity romance. I also love the fact that this book featured over the age of 35 main characters. That’s super rare. Heck finding characters that are over the age of 25 is rare. Never mind one who is pushing 40. Especially when it comes to heroines. I really like Marcus as a hero he is the kind of alpha hero who has enough beta hero tendencies to make me want to pet him on the head and cuddle him to my chest. He definitely has his own opinions and very much wants to protect those he cares about. But he understands that the way he would do something is not necessarily the best way even though he falls sometimes.

Marcus is dyslexic and because of his dyslexia he’s often considered stupid, instead of the reality: that he needs extra time to think things through because his brain doesn’t quite work the same as most people he is surrounded by. It’s nice to see a dyslexic character in media. Especially one who is successful. April is a fun heroine. I absolutely love that she’s a geologist and she’s got her own interests and things that are separate from the hero. And she’s got friends. I also like that she is plus-sized, and while her weight is a factor and her trauma regarding her parents being fatphobic is very much a part of this novel, the inclusion of this plot doesn’t take away from the story itself. In fact, it’s a part of it. Because in a way, this is a story about finding acceptance for who you are As a person and not for what you look like. April is judged by her looks and is found wanting. And that’s incredibly damaging. At the same time, Marcus is judged for his looks and is also found wanting. It’s part of the core story.

I really did like this book. The show is definitely an expy of Game of Thrones as are several of the characters. Including Marcus himself. I mean there’s a reason why I’m using Brienne and Jamie gifs in this review... And it isn’t because I’m a braime shipper (I’m not... I have my ships in GoT but Braime isn’t one of them).  Anyway, I didn’t mind the parallels, but I can see some people not liking it. There’s enough differences that it’s technically not infringing. I am also fairly certain the author inserted herself as E. Wade instead of O. Dade. But since the character is not really present it’s an OK author insert.

The convention that they go to isn’t quite accurate to how cons are run. But it’s closer than a lot of other depictions in fiction that I’ll give it a pass.

But that’s not the only thing that niggled.There’s some iffy consent when it comes to kissing and especially hickeys. As a note, it’s not a good idea to put marks on to someone unless it has been agreed-upon beforehand or you’ve asked permission. This is because those marks can be seen as signs of possessiveness. And possessiveness is not attractive. Additionally love marks/hickeys can cause problems in certain workplaces. They can lead to bullying or they can cause harassment, especially sexual harassment, if they are on the neck of a woman. In general, don’t mark somebody without their permission. Not to mention they are technically bruises, and for people with immunocompromised systems or bleeding disorders they can be dangerous and/or deadly.

So yeah, ask first. In all, I liked this book. I like that this book is getting buzz. It’s nice to have plus-sized heroines and heroes with a disability. The writing is on point and it I sped through this book in a night. This is a nice quick read. And I can’t wait to read the sequel.

Because of that this gets...

Four and a half stars rounded up to Five

If this is your jam, you can get it here.

After a year in which she committed to say ‘yes’ to every opportunity that came her way, Lottie is fed up and just wants a quiet life. So this year, she’s giving herself permission to stop worrying about what other people want. If she doesn’t want to do something, she’s just going to say No. Starting with the drunk jerk who just propositioned her outside the pub…

Working as a virtual PA, Lottie’s biggest client is Seb, who runs a veterans’ support charity. Since they started working together, Seb’s become one of her closest friends, but Lottie works very hard not to let Seb know she has a giant-sized crush on him. Only, after finally meeting him in person, it’s getting more and more difficult!

I’m just going to note here that it’s really nice to read a romance with a disabled protagonist. Seb’s an army veteran who lost most of his leg to an IED in Afghanistan and wears a prosthesis, and he has a few hangups and issues around it, but it never affects how Lottie sees him at all. There’s a nice subplot regarding Seb’s family and some messy relationships where they haven’t really dealt with the emotional fallout of his injury which felt very realistic.

There’s a few misunderstandings which are clearly in service of the plot, but I actually bought into them pretty well because most of them were based in a tenet Lottie was trying hard to stick by; don’t mix work and pleasure. She didn’t want to risk losing her biggest client and one of her best friends by trying to add romance into the mix, and she actually behaved very professionally in turning Seb down when he asked. Of course, it wasn’t going to work because she was already head over heels for him even if she couldn’t acknowledge it to herself, but she was trying.

This is actually the first ‘rom-com’ I’ve read in a while which deserves the label. No, it wasn’t laugh-a-minute funny, but it was charming, amusing and very definitely a romance from early on as we met Seb in the first few pages. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I’d definitely read more books by this author. Five stars!

My Year of Saying No is available now.