Opinion Train

consolidating posts about inclusion/erasure of physical disabilities (and sometimes related conditions) from my main blog

[cesium-sheep]

I think this blu ray copy of the fault in our stars was a present from my mom at some point? I'm less than a quarter of the way in and I am Definitely struggling to see it through. it's like. real fuckin ableist actually. the love interest with the prosthetic leg is played by Generic Handsome Abled Boy ansel elgort, there's an incredibly derogatory monologue about the support group leader and how his cancer is so much less valid than the lead's, all the support group kids look Suspiciously Healthy, she gets winded on the stairs when it's a cute moment but not when there's something else to plot.

the wikipedia article makes no mention that I saw of any disabled reception of the movie.

[cesium-sheep]

got both volumes of the boy I loved became the jaded emperor in a humble bundle, it was... weird. it's a reincarnation story, the main character is born with very unusual skin and that causes her ostracization, the love interest is a prince dumped in the woods for political reasons, they meet when she's a young adult and he is a single-digit child. she dies protecting him and gets reborn because of mumble mumble magic and love, and kept her memories and transcribed accent from her old life. they meet again, he has become cold and cruel, but overall he's very quick to warm back up to her and trust that she actually is his beloved caretaker reincarnated.

the plot is kinda. it's not unclear, it's easy to follow, but it's got some kind of residue on it, and everything seems to move a lot faster and more breezily than it should. (this type of pacing issue is really common in manga adaptations of light novels, though I cannot say whether it is also common in the light novels they're adapting cuz I'd strongly prefer the manga.)

the fact that the main character, before her reincarnation, is completely human is kind of interesting. she describes herself as a monster but she is completely unaffected by a magical attack that affects all the magical beasts. she's clearly disabled under the social model, she's visibly Different and consequently ostracized, and in fact one of her children is born with a much milder form of the condition she experienced in her previous life. they are able to identify the source of it, and even a potential cure for it, but because the child seems content with how he looks, they don't force it upon him. and the love interest is very clear that her appearance was no problem for him whatsoever, and describes the physical aspects her past self when asked what he's looking for in a spouse.

it is briefly mentioned in passing that the love interest's mother had some kind of illness that killed her when she gave him her magical protection, but there are not enough details for it to really matter one way or another from a representation perspective. it is mentioned that the main character's family staff are told that the main character is physically frail as justification for keeping him in comparatively neglectful circumstances but there is some skepticism, not that she is or isn't sick (she isn't), but that keeping her in the annex would be the right choice even if she was.

if you're a hardliner about age gaps this is a weird one, on account of the reincarnation.

I don't expect to ever read this one again, but at least it was different from the other things I've read.

[did-they-mention-disability]

according to atrocity guide, the imaginary city of urville is exceptionally accommodating to disability as people in wheelchairs are regularly represented in crowd shots. the video has human-edited captions and the fact that the designer of the city and his partner are both autistic is only mentioned briefly in passing as a neutral commonality that brought them together. the overall tone of the video does not come off as othering or pitying, more just "here's a cool art project". the concept of the savant is briefly discussed uncritically.

[did-they-mention-disability]

during scorpy's co-op for a cause 2, while discussing queer pride month being july in canada, holly also acknowledges that july is disability pride month. (she phrases it in a way that sounds like someone in chat mentioned it)

[did-they-mention-disability]

uketsu's strange buildings features a key figure with multiple traumatic limb differences. the concept of disabled children being regarded as embodiments of divine spirits is briefly discussed, as are deductions about the figure's own perception of their disabilities. they do not get to speak for themselves because of the plot. overall the presentation is not derogatory, but it feels very shallow, as their portrayal is pretty much completely that of victim.

[did-they-mention-disability]

gabi belle mentions in passing that she was also dealing with flareups from a chronic immune disorder when discussing the toll of attempting to finish her album

[did-they-mention-disability]

lady emily says that g witch talks about disability a fair amount, rather than dehumanizing those with artificial limbs

[did-they-mention-disability]

voidburger refers to a series of unnecessarily rapid cuts as "a hatecrime against epileptics" in her video about the silent hill 2 movie, although I do not recall there being a flashing lights warning before she shows the exact scene on screen.

unfortunately she also still takes the possibility of james murdering his bedridden wife being a selfless act of mercy at face value. apparently the movie declares this as the canon interpretation. she declares that since mary asked him to kill her, james did nothing morally wrong. which, yeah that's what I was dreading about a new wave of discussion about silent hill 2!

(also she may not have even had an illness in the movie, she claimed she was poisoned?)

[househunting]

how do you feel about homes with a ladder?? one was just posted and that sounds like a nightmare, i didn’t see any other way down too was that the bedroom??

i think they're ideal for like 10% of the population and for those people (people without dogs who need to be next to you or they freak, people who are able bodied, people who are not too young or too old, people who do not have to pee in the middle of the night frequently, people who do not have a fearless toddler) i think they are great!

[did-they-mention-disability]

call of the sea centers around a chronically ill protagonist who is initially depicted using a cane, whose husband has gone off on an expedition to a remote island to search for a cure to her chronic illness. the protagonist does discuss her illness multiple times, including things like feeling like it lessens her value as a person, hating having to rely on her husband, traumatic memories of being bedridden, and feeling like she had forgotten who she had been before she got ill.

spoilers for call of the sea below the readmore

the symptoms of her illness are largely unspecific, but the marketing materials are upfront that this is a lovecraftian story, and one can reasonably conjecture within about 30 seconds of assuming control of the character that she's got fish people disease. it runs in her family, and it got worse when she moved away from the small coastal new england town that is a direct namedrop from the shadow over innsmouth.

when her husband writes that he has come to the unfortunate conclusion that her illness is incurable, and eventually starts to wonder if he may be able to also give himself fish people disease so that they can be together, she seems very disturbed by both notions.

ultimately the game lets you decide whether she embraces her fish people disease and completes the transformation, or returns to human civilization to be with her husband at the eventual cost of her own life. either way, she is upset with him for deceiving her and getting her to go there and put the truth together for herself under false pretenses. if you choose the fish ending, she reframes her illness as not an actual sickness, merely being displaced from where she belongs, which. yknow. a little iffy. understandable from a watsonian perspective, but in the broader context of so many dogshit "disability" narratives it's hm. not a great look. if you choose the husband ending, she does not do this, and I think it's the better ending overall.

[did-they-mention-disability]

remi acknowledges that people have mental and physical limitations and the solution is communication when it comes to showing up for their friends in the vlog posted july 17th.

[did-they-mention-disability]

bkr acknowledges modern disabled criticism of a movie discussed briefly in which a competing actress plays a Deaf woman in the video about barbara stanwyck (though with the implicit assumption that there was not contemporary criticism along the exact same lines)

they also mention in passing a permanent injury the central access experienced doing her own stunts.

[did-they-mention-disability]

not much discussion of obvious disability issues in this year's primary, a mr. shelvey running for supreme court does share that he has mild parkinson's and that taught him not to judge people for their "health condition". a couple passing mentions in other statements of like the concept of therapists essentially, but no one trying to sell themselves on mental healthcare this time. no glaring omissions that I saw.

[did-they-mention-disability]

fascinating horror includes those with underlying medical conditions in the list of people at higher risk of death from food poisoning in the video "the largest biological attack in us history". the video has proper human-edited captions.

[did-they-mention-disability]

tom scott interviews a bell ringer who is using the task to help slow the progression of their parkinson's disease who speaks frankly about being afraid of becoming more disabled.

[officialrapunzelfitzherbert]

happy disability pride month i made this for insta but posting times dont matter here so yall get it first 😷💕 i sooo rarely see anyone talk abt covid safety in theatre which is wild bc long covid actually makes singing and dancing very hard u would think we'd be doing everything we can to avoid spreading that to everyone!! i hope we start a bigger conversation about accessibility and masks in theatre spaces. disabled performers i love u and u belong here and everywhere

update: here's some free printables of this zine!! option to pay what u want

newlevant's covid zine | mask blocs | how to negotiate covid protections in theatre

[did-they-mention-disability]

red explicitly mentions "no magical limb prosthetics for the disabled" when discussing witch hat atelier as a prime example of the potential complexities of forbidden powers in the newest trope talk.