#famders

Sanders Sides is Kind Of Plural because they have been explicitly stated not to be a representation of DID and rather different parts of Thomas's personality, but they are often relatable to systems. For the "Evil Alter" trope, I believe while the Dark Sides would traditionally be considered as part of this trope, it is subverted via the reveal that the alters are not actually evil people, rather, they are simply coping mechanisms within Thomas he doesn't want to confront. They are explicitly not actually evil and rather just socially unacceptable/taboo coping mechanisms. They do not Erase The System, and I don't see how they could as these are fragments of Thomas's personality attempting to get along. I think it would be counterintuitive to the messages of Sanders Sides to make them singular. While often I would label characters such as these as One Dimensional alters as they're explicitly only part of Thomas's personality, they are also STRONGLY depicted with individuals with their own tastes, personalities, dynamics ECT. If you are choosing to interpret this work as plural, the former is easily subverted by the latter. Because the series revolves around finding healthy coping strategies and dealing with mental illness, Thomas often expresses sentiments that Are Internally Ableist, few of these are ableism like the desire to get rid of alters, or wanting to be singular. The only component of DID-adjacent internalized ableism I can recall is his desire to get rid of his "Dark Sides", which is explicitly framed as an unhealthy mindset in the narrative. The Ableism rating, as expected from a series surrounding healthy coping strategies, is Good within Sanders Sides. The only reason they're not given the highest rating is because they're not a system ergo there's inherent flaws like the fact they're treated as multiple facets of the same personality.