The Rowdy Brotzman

when i got back into dolls i bought her immediately because it made me SO happy as a black disabled woman to see a black disabled doll. thats why her race matters for the weirdos in the notes, her race matters because black disabled kids deserve to have a doll that looks like them and having her made my inner child so happy. she’s still widely available but she’s also an older version. and guess what? THERES A NEW ONE WITH NATURAL HAIR

also the wheelchair is fully functional with wheels that role, foot rests that can move up and down, AND WORKING BRAKES!! YOU CAN PUT HER BRAKES ON! and it DOESNT STOP THERE! there’s the default blonde barbie for the angry people in the notes

and they then introduced KEN IN A WHEELCHAIR

and there’s a new one too!

y’all…there’s even CHELSEAS IN WHEELCHAIRS

and guess what? the new batch of barbies and chelseas include a chelsea with scoliosis

this is in addition to the barbies that have been made with prosthetic limbs and they recently added a barbie with a hearing aid too!

1. A Tweet by username jelienne @ death mountain crater 🌋, handle @ SummersNoQueen. The first line in all caps says, “There’s now a Barbie in a wheelchair” and is followed by regular text that says, “i can’t even begin to express how happy i am that more and more young girls are growing up seeing themselves in Barbie.” Attached to this Tweet is a photo of a skinny Black barbie with bendable arms and legs in a blue manual wheelchair. A photo on the corner of the doll’s box shows that the wheelchair actually moves.

2. A reply to the original Tweet, written by Crutches Thee Spice ♿ @ lmani_Barbarin that says, “There isn’t merely a Barbie in a wheelchair” and then in all caps, “There is a Black Barbie in a wheelchair. I repeat, sis is black!!!! [five dancing woman emoji].”

3. A different Black Barbie doll in a pink manual wheelchair, this one outside the packaging. The doll is wearing a rainbow striped dress and has waist-length curly hair with heart-shaped pink sunglasses resting on its head. Next to the wheelchair is a plastic grey wheelchair ramp accessory.

4. The last sentence of the paragraph after this photo says, “Theres a new one with natural hair”

5. The natural-hair Barbie in a hot pink manual wheelchair. The doll has type 4 hair and is wearing large hoop earrings and an outfit with rainbow hearts on blue fabric. The doll has an orange wheelchair ramp accessory.

6. The plain text of the paragraph after this photo says: also the wheelchair is fully functional with wheels that role, foot rests that can move up and down, and working brakes!! You can put her brakes on! And it doesn’t stop there! there’s the default blonde barbie for the angry people in the notes.

7. The default blonde Barbie in a light pink manual wheelchair. It is wearing a pink shirt and shorts with green leaves and orange shoes. The doll has a yellow wheelchair ramp accessory.

8. A different white Barbie with a colourful checker-patterned outfit and white shoes in a light purple manual wheelchair. The doll has a pink wheelchair ramp accessory.

9. Plain text: and then they introduced Ken in a wheelchair

10. A Ken doll in a sea green manual wheelchair. The doll has glasses resting on its forehead and is wearing a blue and yellow tie-dye style shirt, black shorts, and white shoes. The doll has a blue wheelchair ramp accessory.

11. A different Ken doll in a dark blue manual wheelchair. The doll is wearing a blue checker patterned shirt with palm trees, orange shorts, and white shoes. The doll has a green wheelchair ramp accessory.

12. Plain text: y’all…there’s even Chelseas in wheelchairs

13. A white Chelsea doll in a purple manual wheelchair. The doll has waist-length blonde hair and heart-shaped pink sunglasses on its head. It is wearing a blue tank top with a smiling cloud and a white skirt with black dots and rainbow heart shapes. The doll has a pink wheelchair ramp accessory and a small sheet of stickers.

13. A Black Chelsea doll in a bright pink manual wheelchair. The doll has shoulder-length type 4 hair and heart-shaped pink sunglasses on its head. It is wearing a pink tank top with a white and pink dog and a blue skirt with black dots and rainbow heart shapes. The doll has a purple wheelchair ramp accessory and a small sheet of stickers.

14. A white brunette Chelsea with waist-length hair. It is wearing a pink dress with sparkles and lightning bolt shapes. The doll’s torso is angled slightly, and it is wearing a plastic back brace over its dress.

15. A white brunette Barbie with its hair in a ponytail, visible from the shoulders up and shown at an angle so that its hearing aid is visible. The doll is wearing a black dress with pink and white flowers.

You have opened Microsoft edge 8 times this year, for a combined total of 1.5 minutes

You have uninstalled Microsoft Edge 10 times this year. This puts you in the top 5%!!

You have clicked 9 buttons in Microsoft Edge this year, the most common one being the 'close window' button.

As far as I can tell the reasons that this happens are:

The interpretation of disability accommodation as wokeness - a lot of the same people who are shitty about food limitations are also shitty about sign language interpreters and ramp requirements (also building regulations relating to the latter) because they view any accommodation as capitulation to a group they think should "suck it up and deal with it" (quietly exist without named or obvious accommodations). The conversations around peanut-free or milk-free classrooms to accommodate children with allergies are similarly unhinged and possibly more horrifying.

Conflating specialty diets as a result of proximity in the popular consciousness - you're a lot more likely to see something described as "vegan + gluten free" or to see vegan/vegetarian/g-free options grouped on menus than you are to see keto/vegan/gfree options so the "lefty" animal-free diets get grouped with gluten-free (it's also interesting that there are right-wing diets, and I wonder how many of these people remember when you used to be able to find "atkins-friendly" symbols on casual dining restaurant menus)

Gluten free diets became a fad fifteen years ago; tons of people read "Wheat Belly" and stopped eating wheat as a weight loss hack and when they went back to eating wheat because it's actually pretty difficult to get around a major staple grain they didn't experience any negative consequences; people saw this and basically think that it's a trend, that people are faking medically necessary diets as part of a fad. When questioned about this they always go "but, I mean, it's okay if you REALLY need to skip the wheat because you have a condition but most people are doing it because it's popular" when g-free diets haven't been a major trend for quite a while now. TO BE QUITE FAIR, I think that things like "Gluten Aware" cookies and beer and such, which contain a little gluten but not NO gluten contribute to this perception (these have annoyed me forever for two reasons: 1. They make people without celiac think that a little gluten is fine for people with celiac, which it is not; 2. fucking commit, companies. *I* want the cookies and beer and it's deeply annoying that these business will go to the lengths to create products with minimal gluten but won't actually make g-free foods - this is often because of the risk of cross contamination, they won't claim to make g-free things because they won't work with a dedicated g-free facility)

Anyway, in conclusion: it sucks, I'm sorry.

US specific:

Is your ham made with vinegar? Does your ham have the generic word "spices" on the ingredient list? Does your ham include "smoke flavoring"? Does your ham include caramel coloring?

Because malt vinegar has gluten in it. "Spices" may include wheat products in a mix. Smoke flavoring may be made with barley flour. Caramel coloring may be made with wheat or barley syrup.

If the label says "gluten free" that means that the "spices," caramel coloring, vinegar, and smoke flavor are certified to contain 20ppm or less of gluten.

If the ham is cured in any way, it may include gluten. If the ham was marinated, it probably includes gluten. If the ham was prepared in a facility that processes wheat in any way, it might be cross contaminated with gluten.

There's a company out there called "Gluten Free Water" that makes water in plastic bottles, poking fun at the idea that too many things have a gluten free label. I fucking hate that company. Because that company is functionally saying "lol, people are so sensitive and over the top about this, let's be a little silly and laugh about how crazy people can be with their 'gluten free' nonsense."

Did you know that there are sustainable food containers and straws that contain wheat? And that you don't have to label them? There are definitely people with celiac who have been sickened by biodegradable plastic straws in their "obviously water is gluten free there's no risk here" water.

"It's over-labeled so it looks trendy" just means you don't know how foods are made or what foods contain gluten. Gluten is ridiculously common in foods in general, and also in packaged meats.

Your ham has to say gluten free because it distinguishes it from the hams that do contain gluten, which is a fucking lot of them. And you're annoyed that your ham has to say gluten free and I'm annoyed that I'm standing in the grocery store calling a ham company to figure out where they source their caramel coloring so I can figure out if the damned ham is safe to eat.

"lol, oats don't have wheat in them, are people so stupid that they have to be told what is and isn't wheat? why does this oatmeal have a gluten free label?" Cross contamination; gluten free oats are not grown near wheat and are not processed in facilities that process wheat.

"lol, rice doesn't have wheat in it, why is this rice labeled gluten free, all rice is gluten free" Cross contamination; the rice isn't processed on equipment that processes wheat.

"lol why does this turkey breast say gluten free, it's just fucking turkey" read the ingredients on your "just" turkey, lots of packaged meat is packed in broth, some of which contains modified food starch, which may contain wheat.

"lol why are these strawberries labeled gluten free? they're fucking strawberries" WAX, BUDDY. SOME FRUITS ARE COATED IN PRESERVATIVE WAX FILMS BY THE MANUFACTURER AND SOME OF THOSE FUCKING FILMS CONTAIN GLUTEN.

I think that part of the reason that people are so irritated by g-free labels is because it exposes them to just how vast and alienating their food systems are.

"Ham should just be meat from a pig, maybe with sugar and salt; what on earth is happening that there might be wheat in that process? Nothing in that process should involve wheat." And then you might have to think about it for a second, might have to wonder what "sugar" and "salt" mean when someone is producing a million hams to be delivered thousands of miles away. It's not just sugar and salt; it's preservatives and nitrates and batch cooking and getting corn syrup instead of sugar and getting smoke flavoring instead of smoking the ham and turning your "whole food" into all the ingredients that make up the ingredients that make up the ingredients.

A "gluten free" label says "you can eat this" to somebody with celiac disease, who has already pounded their skull against the shittiness of the medical system and the food system.

But to someone who doesn't have to worry that their food is going to disable them, a "gluten free" sticker on ham takes a known quantity and turns their sandwich into a hyperobject that contains animal agriculture and industrial additive production and shipping pollution and the ongoing assault on regulation.

If it doesn't have the label, you can just eat your lunch. If it does have the label, you are haunted by the specter of RFK junior imploding the FDA.

public service announcement to every plus-sized person in the chat:

you don't owe anyone an explanation for your body or your health

being fat isn't a moral failing deserving of judgment

you don't owe anyone self-shame or weight loss just to be loved and accepted

your health isn't solely defined by your weight

you deserve proper healthcare that doesn't reduce you to a number on a scale

you deserve to take care of your health in whatever way you need without being judged for trying

life is too short to not enjoy good food

life is WAY too short to care what other people think

just because other people want you to feel bad for being fat doesn't mean you should

you deserve to feel sexy and beautiful in your body without being reduced to a fetish or told that you're fetishizing fatness

you deserve to take pride in your body without being accused of 'promoting unhealthy lifestyles'

you deserve to date whoever the hell you want without judgment

you deserve to love yourself and your body without being called vain

you deserve to take selfies and share pictures of yourself without people commenting on your body

you deserve to have standards for yourself and how you're treated

you deserve to do what makes you happy and healthy without others turning you into a political statement or a social martyr

you're allowed to have flaws and quirks and personality traits that aren't attributed to your weight

there is no such thing as a "perfect fat person" and you certainly aren't responsible for setting that example

you are loved and you deserve to exist without apology or explanation

me: cool! definitely adopting this into my headcanons!

fan 2: i think this character is a lesbian because she would never be sullied by gross icky men 🤮