#osdd1

you're all valid. the child's brain is incredibly fragile and everyone is traumatized differently. just because your trauma wasn't from a parent, doesn't make you any less valid.

For us, being queer, physically disabled, deaf, neurodivergent, and plural, finding others like us – people who truly understand – has always been difficult, so we had to turn to fiction. Even before we became plural, we dissociated a lot and were really obsessive with fiction, a fact we attribute to our being autistic. We were constantly rejected by society, whether we knew it or not, but fiction was always there for us.

Maybe it's because in fiction, things are allowed to be exaggerated. Both due to trauma and neurodivergence, when we were younger, we were extremely emotional and had immense difficulty regulating ourselves. In real life, this was frowned upon, whereas in fiction, specifically cartoons, emotions were usually "big". Character' emotions are allowed to be loud and visible, and we really related to that.

Also, we really look up to certain characters. Sometimes, when we went through difficult things, before we knew of plurality, we would imagine our favourite character at the time motivating us, cheering us on. Or we would ask ourselves, "what would the character do?" and role-play as them to get through it.

Adding on to the emotions thing, I feel that certain traits of mental illnesses are more acceptable in fiction too. A character could have multiple people in their head debating each other to make a decision, and it can be played up for laughs, rather than shaming them for being "crazy". Yeah, I think it's mostly more acceptable when it's shown as a joke, but still. "Crazy" characters who are meant to be laughed at, are still allowed to be shown as good, well-meaning people. I think such characters allow us to feel more comfortable being "crazy", as we can reframe it as "Oh, I'm just like the character haha" instead of "I am of the people society hates and ridicules."

Even if we don't have a fictive of them, we're extremely attached to our favourite characters. We see ourselves "as" them, in a sense. Statements directed at them feel personal to us. It's probably not healthy, and it has caused problems for us in the past, but right now, that's just the way it is.

(Plain text: Isoda mion has osdd1 (other specificed dissociative disorder one), asd (autism spectrum disorder) and mdd (major depressive disorder) /end PT)

Credits : Flag 1 | Flag 2 | Flag 3 | Isoda mion sprite

Requested from : Anon

Request status : Slow but open