#elijah random

There’s this weird tendency to flatten her into “the dumb one,” and it often seems to trace back to her dyslexia or the fact that she’ll occasionally misspell a word in a Weverse DM. That’s such a bizarre leap to make. Dyslexia affects reading and spelling; it isn’t a measure of intelligence. Someone misspelling a word in an informal message isn’t evidence that they’re incapable of complex thought

It feels especially annoying because people would probably recognise how offensive this is in most other contexts. Yet when it’s a young woman in fandom, suddenly it’s treated as a harmless character trait to exaggerate for laughs. She becomes ditzy, incapable of following conversations, or someone who needs everything explained to her

Maybe calling it misogynistic feels like a strong word to some people, but reducing a woman to an infantilised stereotype because of a disability reflects broader biases. Whether people intend it or not, it’s belittling