CONQUER

no. tell me what you fixed. i wanna know what the glitch was.

you know those patch notes that are like “fixed an issue where if the player sat in a bush for too long, they’d become the size of a skyscraper” 

[Image description - a series of tweets by @EbThen that say:

I should’ve gone to bed before the Stephen Hawking news broke. Seeing a headline describing him as having “overcome” a “debilitating disease” to “publish books on the mysteries of the universe” is making me grumpy.

Stephen Hawking was an exceptionally privileged white English man who had access to the necessary supports to successfully navigate a world that puts little importance on making itself accessible. 

I mean, he did pretty amazing stuff but it wasn’t amazing because he had ALS and used a wheelchair and AAC. Those are just things. The amazing stuff Stephen Hawking did was amazing because he thought and said amazing things.

Stop being amazed that a few Disabled people do awesome world-changing stuff. Start wondering why more of us don’t. It’s not because a wheelchair and AAC somehow get in the way of doing theoretical physics. It’s because a lot of us deal with ridiculously huge access barriers.

Also stop only valuing Disabled people who do awesome world-changing stuff. We don’t need to be supercrips to be worthwhile. Disabled people are allowed to be normal schlubs and not be treated like that means we’re failures.

When you write a headline that implies ALS, a wheelchair and machine-facilitated speech are natural and expected barriers to being a successful scientist, you’re telling on yourself. Those circumstances aren’t inevitable barriers to doing all sorts of science.

What’s frustrating is that we’re talking about a Disabled person who had so much opportunity and access to excellent supports and tools and people still talk about that like it’s tragedy. And I’m thinking how many folks I know could benefit from those things.