#fandom ableism

(assorted thoughts. was originally going to be a reblog before I realized it would be railroading the original post)

This kid is one heck of a win for autistic rep that ISN'T infantalized or their disability is convenient for everyone around them!

He's a bit annoying as all teenagers are. He can't read the room all the time, he misinterprets what people mean (especially if they don't say what they mean, which is a big reason for the misunderstanding between him and Noelle), etc-

he's messy like me, and I love him for it, because he makes me feel SEEN. He's not perfect, and that's why he IS perfect

...And the majority of the fandom treats him like a creepy, one-dimensional incel...

The second you GIVE Berdly a boundary, he wholeheartedly accepts it and follows it. Incels DON'T do that. He just doesn't always understand when he's making others uncomfortable, especially if they're doing everything BUT being direct about it.

I've seen people legitimately wish death upon this teenaged boy just because he makes situations awkward sometimes. Thanks fandom gang thats??? super invalidating and messed up, actually??? I feel so safe and welcome /sarc

there's several whole posts about it on here I've reblogged if you wanna go digging on my blog, but I digress.

I think the problem is that the fandom is made up of a range of 13yos to adults, which means a good chunk of the fandom just doesn't have as good critical thinking skills as some others. (this isn't inherently age-based. I know a lot of really thoughtless adults and really thoughtful teenagers. But immaturity does play a part in some cases)

And also like. Media illiteracy epidemic. And also ableism in general.

blegh...

I'm really glad people are at least receiving Yellow well, my erratic OCD cowboy son...

(Edit: Made a userbox :] feel free to use, just leave the watermark on pls)

fluff isn't ruined by incluing disability

smut isn't ruined by including disability

happy endings aren't ruined by including disability

escapist fantasies aren't ruined by including disability

including disability doesn't require a phd in disability studies

including disability doesn't require a focus on suffering and tragedy

including disability can be as simple as, at minimum, a good faith choice to periodically note how a character interacts with their immediate environment and/or other characters

robby was trying to make sure she didn't fall [while] walking[,] as the cripple was no help with his one good leg

you're telling me this man who spends his time on a swat team when he isn't leading an entire emergency department—with all the physical demands that come with that—is not only "no help," but a useless cripple when it comes to *checks notes* helping guide someone somewhere?*

multiple people commented on your post explaining that you cannot use this word and that it is highly offensive, and you deleted all their comments and restricted who can comment further. i sent an ask saying it was messed up and that you should apologize, and you ignored it.

this is how ableism is perpetuated. this is how it is spread. i am making this post to try to help stop it. please take a moment to reflect on why you thought it was okay to use this word disparagingly in reference to a canon disabled character and apologize. don't try to pretend it didn't happen, and certainly don't try to silence disabled people who were attempting to educate you on why what you did was messed up

• he’s too messed up to be in a relationship

• they think being abused “made him” asexual and aromantic

• anyone who dates him would be forced to be his caretaker

• he has the intellectual and emotional capacity of a 5 year old

• yelena sees him as her pet dog AND feels burdened by him

I used to be a Harry Potter kid. I have nostalgia for the series just as much as a hate it. Its honestly kinda a weird feeling but I digress. Obvs I dont support JKR and I dont support the series at all, no matter how important it was to me as a kid. The series is icky and I think I recotnized that even as a kid

I remember little ol me reading the books and feeling kinda bummed about Hagrid, cause while I was excited for the rep I didnt like that they made him the reckless bumbling idiot. I felt like he deserved better :( second book only really made that worse (side note, but I had other gripes not just with Hagrid. I always felt kinda icky reading about Crabbe and Goyle an Neville too cause they reminded me of me and some of my friends in my special ed class getting taken advantage by people pretending to be friends because they thought it was funny to fuck with us)

Then the fourth book came and I kinda didnt like the series as much anymore. Between Umbridge being described as ‘toadlike,’ Hagrid being a halfgiant (which could have been a cool exploration of culture, racism against mixed folks, as well as deformimisia but no…) and then they had Moody and I was excited because this was another disfigured person in a teaching role and I really liked Lupin and hoped this guy stuck around

And then they deliberately made him really scary and went through all the trouble to show just how creepy he was… and I know that they had the whole “hes really not that bad” moment with Neville but the whole “torturing and killing a spider” thing was still really gross and I know it wasn’t really Moody but it still hurt because thats how they portrayed him and continued to portray him what little times he showed up

I found the scenes and descriptions of Voldemort over all really disheartening cause he was painted as being inhuman… you could make the argument he was meant to be portrayed as more snakelike and yeah I can see it in some instances but a lot of other stuff is just inexcusable

As much as the series is nostalgic just cause I read it as a kid, it also feels really icky. It felt icky then I think I was just desensitized. It hurts seeing yourself in a book and on a screen being portrayed as a monster and I think it gave me some really bad internalized deformimisia and disfiguremisia :(

This is deformimisia.

Yeah, Harry Potter is filled to the brim with problematic things, and ableism is definitely one. Literally every character who has disabled traits gets mocked, demonized, or infantilized for it.