Maddox || They/it/neos || Main blog: mattiebluebird || AO3: mattiebluebird (ScarlettBond) || Penana: Maddox || I mostly reblog writing tips. Trying to be more active.
"But there is nothing in me, just fear, nothing but the running of dark waves." -- czesław miłosz
Hello everyone! I'm Maddox (they/it/neos). I made this account years ago but never properly introduced myself so I'm here to do that now and hopefully interact with the community more while I'm at it :)
I've been writing on and off since I was four years old. I'd like to be published someday but it's not my main goal; I mostly write for fun.
My favorite genres are fantasy, thriller, horror, and some poetry.
My least favorite genre is romance, but that doesn't mean I'm opposed to reading it.
I love participating in ask games and the like! Never hesitate to send me an ask. I'm also open to beta reading.
When answering questions about deaf and hard of hearing characters, I have noticed they are overwhelmingly about:
A character who is deaf in one ear or hard of hearing because of an accident
A character who was born deaf and knows sign language, but seems to have 0 connection to the broader Deaf community
This is not the experience of most d/Deaf people! So, here's your primer to Deaf community and culture, and writing a Deaf character, because they are sorely underrepresented.
(Disclaimer: this post was written using viewpoints I, a singular Deaf person in the United States, have encountered. I tried to make this as general as possible to encompass many Deaf views, but it is possible that I have misconstrued something. Do not take this guide as the be-all and end-all of your knowledge on Deaf culture. Keep reading and researching the Deaf community, and explore viewpoints from many different Deaf people of all backgrounds.)
Why do you write Deaf with capital D?
[Large Text: Why do you write Deaf with capital D?]
The term "deaf" with the lowercase d means not being able to hear. The term "Deaf" with an uppercase D refers to the cultural identity formed by deaf people. This identity is difficult to explain but it includes knowing sign language and engaging with other Deaf people.
There are varying opinions within the Deaf community on who is allowed to call themselves culturally Deaf. Some Deaf believe that only those who were born into the Deaf community (whose family is Deaf, who attended a Deaf school, and/or who have sign language as a first language) are allowed to consider themselves culturally Deaf. On the 'flip' side, some Deaf believe that anyone with hearing loss can claim the label. And of course, you can find someone Deaf with any opinion in between.
This is all intracommunity nuance. If your character is born deaf and learns sign language at a young age or as a first language, they are likely culturally Deaf.
Sign Language Use
[Large Text: Sign Language Use]
Sign languages are the language of Deaf communities. (Note that there are many sign languages in different regions, and they are not related in the same way spoken languages are!)
Most sign languages did not originate alongside spoken language, either, so they usually have different grammar than the spoken language in a region. This means that someone whose first language is sign may have difficulty learning even the written version of the spoken language due to the different grammar and translation. For native signers, the spoken language of their area is their second language.
Sign languages are fully developed languages, with grammar and structure. Sign language is not "less" than spoken language, and encouraging sign language does not discourage speech. (Even if it did, that's not a bad thing! Sign languages are still a valid and rich communication form!) Sign languages have slang and expressions/idioms too.
Sign languages typically have a "manual alphabet" otherwise known as "fingerspelling". This is a way to represent words that don't have a sign. Fluent signers very rarely fingerspell; normally fingerspelling is for proper nouns which don't have a name sign.
Name signs are the last big point I want to cover about sign language. A name sign is a way to refer to someone so you don't have to spell their name every time. It's usually related to someone's attributes, like dimples or a specific way of moving. Sign names can only be given by Deaf people who are fluent in sign language.
Deaf Education
[Large Text: Deaf Education]
For a long time, deaf people were considered unable to learn, just because they couldn't hear. And since 1880, for about 100 years and even still today, the prevailing tradition in deaf education was/is oralism--a teaching method based on speech that rejects sign language.
Historically speaking, if deaf children were to receive an education, they would be sent to a Deaf residential school. These still exist, although there are also many Deaf schools that are typical day schools, just for d/Deaf/hoh students.
Deaf children may also attend "mainstream" schools; they might have sign language interpreters and other accessibility accommodations, or they may be forced to rely on lipreading and context, or placed in special education where their needs often still are not met.
Oralism still has lasting effects today. Deaf people have received, and still do receive, worse education than hearing people.
One common problem is language deprivation. Many deaf children grow up without access to sign language. About 90% of deaf people are born to hearing parents; even if hearing parents do send their deaf kids to a Deaf school, they may not learn sign language themselves, so the child must rely on what they can gather of spoken language at home. Sign language is even discouraged by some audiologists and speech professionals, because it "might interfere with speech". But by depriving deaf children of sign language, more often than not, they are being deprived of all language.
People who are born deaf do not learn spoken language naturally, even when provided with aids like hearing aids and cochlear implants. Many deaf kids who learn speech learn it through extensive speech therapy, and often have a "deaf accent" from copying mouth shapes but not being able to hear or process what sounds they are making, which may also include having an atypically pitched voice (e.g., very high-pitched). Lip-reading is inaccurate and the best lip-readers can only follow about 30% of a conversation, and that's by intently watching with no breaks.
It is possible to learn a language at any age. But it is easiest to pick up a new language when one is young. Children who do not learn a first language by around age 5--the age at which they would start school--have more difficulty learning any language, and may have frequent outbursts or trouble expressing emotions as a result of communication difficulties.
Another problem, especially within the Deaf community, is literacy. Spoken languages are often unrelated to the signed language of the same region. Learning to read and write, as a Deaf child, is like learning a whole new separate language, with different grammar and structure than their native language. This is why captions are not a perfect accessibility tool--it is, for many Deaf people, being offered an alternative in their second language, if they have learned to read and write at all.
Deaf Culture Norms
[Large Text: Deaf Culture Norms]
To hearing people, Deaf conversation can seem very blunt and to the point. This isn't to say Deaf people are inexpressive--quite the opposite: sign languages often use facial expressions as part of the grammar, and there is a lot of expression that can be incorporated into a sign--but there isn't a lot of "talking around" things. You can see part of this culture in name signs, which are usually based off a trait of the person. It's not offensive--it's just how they're recognized!
Another conception is of Deaf people being over expressive, but again, that is just part of sign language grammar. Face and body movements take the place of tone of voice, as well as other grammatical clarifications.
Deaf people talk a lot! It's very hard to end a conversation, because there will always be something else to say or a new person to meet. Hugging and other physical touch are really common greetings.
Tapping people on the shoulder to get their attention is fine. Other ways include flicking the lights or rattling a surface (for vibrations). Eye contact while signing is also important to make known that you are listening. Groups of Deaf people will sit in a circle so everyone can see everyone else. It's rude to talk in a Deaf space. If you are lost in the conversation, you'd ask if you can write or type instead.
Deaf Space also refers to design concepts that are more accessible to deaf people. This includes good lighting, minimal signing-height visual obstacles (e.g., low waist-height shelves), visual indicators instead of bells, open spaces so people can sit in a circle to talk, and automatic doors and wide hallways/passages so it is easier to continue a conversation while walking.
It's also very rude to comment on a Deaf person's voice. Do not mention you're surprised they can speak. Do not call their accent "cute" or "weird" or anything like that. Do not ask them to speak. Do not say their voice sounds really good ("for a deaf person") or that you wouldn't be able to tell they are deaf.
Deaf Views on Deafness
[Large Text: Deaf Views on Deafness]
The Deaf community is incredibly proud of their Deafness. You'll often hear the phrases "hearing loss = deaf gain" or "failing a hearing test" as "passing the deaf test". Continuing the Deaf community and culture is highly valued, and learning sign language is encouraged for everyone.
Many people in the Deaf community dislike cochlear implants as their success is incredibly variable and they require invasive surgery and therapies from a young age. Another big argument against CI is that they are often presented as the only or the first option to hearing parents, who misunderstand CI as a "cure" and then do not give their child access to sign language.
Deaf people also reject any sort of cure for deafness, especially genetic therapies. Many Deaf people do not think of their Deafness as a disability.
(Deaf people will often point out the advantages of Deaf culture and sign language, such as being able to talk over long distances, through windows, and even underwater.)
Most hard of hearing and some deaf people have hearing aids, although it is really an individual choice whether or not to wear them. Many d/Deaf/hoh people are overwhelmed and startled very easily by noise (since they're not used to that much auditory input) and get tinnitus from auditory overstimulation. They may also struggle with auditory processing--locating sounds, interpreting sounds, recognizing and interpreting speech, and other issues.
The Deaf community doesn't have any general complaints about hearing aids, just many prefer not to wear them. Do know that they are an imperfect aid; they just amplify sound, which doesn't improve processing or understanding, and it doesn't make people hearing. Not everyone even benefits from hearing aids--their specific hearing levels may make hearing aids a bad choice of aid.
A big point you'll hear in Deaf spaces is Deaf Can (and Deaf Power). Hearing people have historically treated deafness as a sign of incapability, but Deaf people can do everything hearing people can--except hear.
Myth Busting
[Large Text: Myth Busting]
Myth #1: All Deaf people are completely deaf. This is very far from the truth! Most deaf people have some degree of residual hearing, although this may require very loud sounds and/or at very specific pitches. Plus, there are many culturally Deaf people who are not deaf/hoh at all--CODAs, hearing children born to Deaf parents, are part of the Deaf community.
Myth #2: (Non-speaking) Deaf people do not make noise. Also very far from the truth! First off, Deaf people laugh. Many Deaf people also vocalize without knowing or intending, especially when excited. We can get very loud!
Myth #3: (Speaking) Deaf people talk loudly. While this can be true, often d/Deaf people talk more quietly than expected. This is because with severe to profound levels of deafness, no speaking volume is really going to be audible, so they will often rely on feeling vibrations in their throat to know if they're making noise. Vibrations are detectable at lower volumes than hearing people like to listen to.
Myth #4: Deaf people can't drive. I actually have no idea where this one came from but it's false. Deaf people can absolutely drive, and tend to have a lower rate of accidents and violations than hearing drivers. There is a common trend of treating d/Deaf people like they can't do things unrelated to hearing, but deafness on its own only affects hearing.
Deaf Struggles in the Hearing World
[Large Text: Deaf Struggles in the Hearing World]
A huge problem is just basic accessibility. Many places do not have captions or visual indicators, or rely on hearing (like drive-throughs). Movie open caption screenings are often at awkward times, and caption glasses are hard to find or access and awkward to wear.
Deaf people are also at increased risk of police violence. Police often treat signing as aggression, rather than attempts to communicate. When they yell, talk quickly, or shine a flashlight in Deaf people's faces, it's even harder to understand what is going on. Deaf people are also not often provided with a qualified interpreter and may not understand what is going on or why they were arrested.
Deaf people, specifically those who are mainly kept in the hearing world, have higher rates of drug use and addiction.
Hearing people also treat Deaf people as incapable or lesser. Gallaudet University had only hearing presidents until 1988 after the Deaf President Now protests; then-chair of the board at GU said in a statement that received heavy backlash from the students, "deaf people cannot function in the hearing world".
When writing your Deaf character:
[Large Text: When writing your Deaf Character:]
Were they born to hearing parents or to Deaf parents? (90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents.) Is anyone else in the family d/Deaf?
At what age was their deafness noticed? (It can be at birth, or it can take several years, even for children born deaf.) Is their hearing loss progressive? Is their hearing loss significantly different in each ear?
Were they eligible for cochlear implants? Did they get CI? Did they get hearing aids? (Consider cost as a factor: CI requires the surgery as well as intensive speech therapy; hearing aids are also expensive and can need replacement and refitting.) How well do the aids work for them? Do they have them in one or both ears?
What advice did their family receive from audiologists and speech therapists about sign language and communication, and did their family listen? Did they learn sign language? At what age? Did their parents and family learn sign language? Are they language-deprived? Did they go through speech therapy? What is their speech like? Do they like using their voice?
Did or do they attend Deaf school? Is it residential or day school? If it's residential, did they understand what was happening when they were dropped off? Does the school use sign language or rely on oralism? (Consider time period; most schools now use sign language, but from 1880-about 1980 the predominant method was oralism.)
If they don't attend a Deaf school, what accommodations are they receiving in mainstream setting? Are they in special education? Are they in a Deaf program at a mainstream school? Do they have an interpreter? How much do they understand what is going on in class?
How involved are they in Deaf community and culture? Are their friends and family involved and supportive of the Deaf community? Do they treat deafness like something to cure? Do their friends and family frequently ignore or "forget" that they are deaf?
In general, consider their scenario, what ableism they've faced, and what their Deaf identity is.
Happy writing, and please continue to send in your questions!
A few points from observation in Australian Deaf people.
Fingerspelling is very common. Very common. While those who are fluent will get around a lot by using signs, there are variations of types of signing. For instance, i know one Deaf person who will avoid fingerspelling at all costs, and when she has to, she commonly gets confused about if she spelled it right or not, because it is based in her second language (English). However, another person i know is 5th (?) generation Deaf, and his dad, obviously also Deaf. This family all grew up signing. However, they LOVE fingerspelling. So much fingerspelling. Half the time i will be learning new signs from the first person, and the second person, who spells a lot, will be learning at the same time, or his son, in a different conversation will ask what signs were used for a word, because he just spells it.
Part of this comes from the different types communication for Deaf people. For a long time, oralism was the only allowed method of communication. However, as this started to be changed, there were different methods of communication. Sign languages are proper languages with different grammar structures and names (in Australia it's Auslan). However, this means that it has less input from hearing people, and that there are also versions of sign language such as Signed English. This borrows a lot of signs from the sign language of the area (in this case Auslan), but where the sentence "i brought milk at the shop" would become more like "shop, buy milk" in Auslan, Signed English keeps the grammar of English and so has a lot of 'filler' type signs such as 'at' and 'the', from this sentence, which would be ignored in Auslan and probably other sign languages as well (won't pretend to know any enough to say). So, for older signers, there is the potential that there will be large changes in how they sign. An Auslan user will likely understand a Signed English user, and i think? the same the other way around. HOWEVER!! An ASL user would NOT understand, as it uses signs from Australian sign language, Auslan.
Obviously, i only know from Australia, and this Signed English type of thing might not happen. But there is a lot of variation!
All good points! I'm definitely coming from an American perspective, so it's always nice to hear from Deaf people around the world :) [smile face]
ASL has a variation called "Signed Exact English" too, that uses ASL signs but spoken English grammar! ASL drops a lot of those filler words as well.
And I agree I did understate the commonality of fingerspelling, I spell for clarification/specificity a lot, but I have met too many people who think that they can just fingerspell whole sentences and that means they "know sign language", unfortunately.
To respond to some other thoughts I saw in the notes:
The majority of Deaf people will be cool with you being a part of the Deaf community if you learn sign language and Deaf culture and engage with them. Most people aren't super exclusive about it. You may find some people who do gatekeep, but yes, they are not the majority opinion.
And yes, Deaf Space is generally more accessible! I've found other accessibility in the Deaf community way easier than in the hearing world. This is partly due to Deaf Space design and accommodations, but also I believe there is higher instance of disability among deaf people--a lot of conditions have deafness or hearing loss as a part of it!
In Spanish Sign Language, fingerspelling is not very frequent at all. It's only used when you don't know a sign or there isn't a standard sign for something (but it's often created on the go after fingerspelling).
Older people (over 60? More or less) went to Deaf Boarding Schools. They can tell to which school you went because of your accent when signing to the point that there was one school segregated by sex in Madrid and even now, the men still sign different from the women of the same school. Not all deaf people went to these schools and those who didn't, even if they ended in a Deaf people association or other Deaf communities, tend to have certain levels of language deprivation (I have met a very old man who had almost no language whatsoever, he copied very well and communicated quite well but he knew very basic signs and relied on a friend to help him follow conversation or instructions, he was quite intelligent though). This is more frequent in people of a certain age from villages or other isolated areas.
Because of this, the levels of access to knowledge and education vary in different generations. Deaf people who are now retired tend to have very little access to the hearing world, and I don't know any with higher education (they cannot really read oral Spanish, some can understand words but not full sentences and the like). Deaf people in their 50s-60s can understand WhatsApp messages and follow subtitles but don't really read books or news. They can have some vocational training or other hands on education and therefore, access to better jobs. Younger people (40 or younger) have more access to various levels of education (I have met some with University degrees). However, even those with University degrees can't write oral Spanish well and sometimes struggle to understand specific types of language. Even if they read books, they may have difficulties with technical texts, for instance.
Deaf people of hearing families often complain that their family never bothered to learn sign language. This is still happening.
Right now, there are bilingual schools. They are called centros de integración and can be more or less bilingual but they all must have signing teachers and interpreters and several adaptations, specially if most teachers are hearing and non signers. If that is not a possibility (say, deaf student in a rural area), an interpreter must be provided. Now, there is a deficit of interpreters, they are poorly paid and they may be needed in different schools so maybe that student has some classes with no interpreter but, legally, that child must have an interpreter certain hours a day.
Interpreters are rarely hired by the government or local institutions, they are often hired by associations who offer their services to the government and the Deaf people. It's a mess. I interned briefly at one in Madrid and I left as soon as I could.
As for what in English is called "Signed Exact English", I think in Spain it may be called called "Bimodal". You sign strictly following Spanish grammar and adding signs that would never be there in LSE (like the verb "to be" or prepositions). This has been criticized and discredited as a tool to teach Deaf children oral Spanish so, while it may be used at times still, it's less frequent. It may be used for very concrete sentences in specific contexts but Deaf people and experts in education have been asking for it to stop being used in schools.
I have watched videos of ASL and it seems to me that either they were using this Signed Exact English or ASL is closer to English (syntactically) than LSE is to Spanish. No Spanish signers would sign following oral Spanish in any way, Deaf people even write in LSE syntax and grammar. I have seen some interpreters speak Spanish and sign LSE but the oral Spanish was always off and fell into the LSE. It was used as a tool to help hearing people follow along a conversation. It would be impossible to speak two different languages at the same time.
I have to finish reformatting everything and adding an updated conclusion, but I'm working on getting this posted as a free guide on my Patreon page. I'm busy as hell today so I won't say exactly when it's going live, but I'm aiming to have it up by the end of the week. Patreon's text editor doesn't like it when I paste in big blocks of text, so everybody cross your fingers it doesn't keep freezing on me.
Would anyone be interested if I put together a post on how to write a scientist/engineer/techy/smart-guy type character? What would y'all want to know?
Credentials: I currently work full time as a research chemist and have a degree in chemical engineering, plus in college I did part time work for a local IT company (though my coding skills are kind of shitty), I was on the aerospace team and helped my best friend build a life sized trebuchet big enough that I could fit in the bucket. So. I have a bit of exposure to mechanical engineering, computer science, the trades, and material science too.
The post would be more about "how does a person with a STEM background approach unique situations?"
"what ideosycrocies do scientists have if they work in a lab setting? If they work in a mech shop?"
"What are common mistakes I see in scientific type characters in media"
General stuff like that, but I'm happy to answer any specific Q&A people want to share
Hey! Anyone who was interested in this post (I'll dig through the responses and make a taglist in a minute), I just dropped the first part on my blog!
I've been working so hard on this 5-part series for over two months now and it's turned into an almost 15,000 word long deep dive essay full of citations and examples looking at every possible angle on this character archetype. I hope you'll enjoy reading along!
The idea guy. The techie. The mad scientist. Fiction loves nerds. They’re great for filling the glass-cannon role in the party composition (
Here's part 2!! In this one I'm talking about types of intelligence, different traits to give your smart guys, the scientific method, heuristics, and biases! There's a ton of examples from Arcane, Doctor Who, and even my own stories!
The idea guy. The techie. The mad scientist. Fiction loves nerds. They’re great for filling the glass-cannon role in the party composition,
Would you like to permanently remove fics with your squicks, triggers, and dislikes from all AO3 searches by default so that you never have to think about or encounter them again? Well now you can!
The ability to do this has actually been around for a little while but it relies on some new CSS functionality that wasn't supported on all major browsers until fairly recently (though you may still have to enable it manually on some). I'm not going to explain how this method works or how to code AO3 skins in general, as I've only dabbled in it a little and there are already some very good tutorials out there. If you want all of the details, check out these guides:
Skins and Archive Interface FAQ – The official skins guide created by AO3. Lots of good information but might be overwhelming and confusing for a beginner.
A Non-Extensive Guide on How to Start Creating a Skin for AO3 by ao3skin – Some good, fairly easy to understand, beginner info on CSS and specifically how it applies to AO3 skins.
Permablocking Specific Tags - Site Skin by Eli0t – Everything you need to know to create permablock lists. If your blacklist doesn't seem to be working as expected, check this for troubleshooting tips.
What I can offer though are some handy pre-made blacklists that you can use as-is or as a starting point to create your own so that you don't have to go to the trouble of figuring out how any of this works or hunting down relevant tags. Just copy the code, open AO3, go to My Preferences > Skins > Create Site Skin, paste it in the box, title it, and click Submit!
Note: The following lists are very specific to me and my own personal tastes. Absolutely no judgement if you love any of the things that I choose to blacklist. You do you. I just happen to like my fics fucked up and relatively canonical.
★ No Reader Fic – Hides all self-insert and reader fic.
★ No Alternate Universes – Hides anything tagged with the most common AU tags. There are so many incredibly specific AUs there's no way to list all of them and AU tagging is also extremely inconsistent from fic to fic so this blacklist may only catch 80% of AUs, but that's better than nothing. You could always exclude the entire alternate universe tag, rather than trying to list specific ones, but unfortunately canon divergence and other less extreme AUs would get caught in the crossfire, which is not worth it for me.
★ No Fluff – Hides anything tagged with the most common fluff and romance tags. I specifically left out "fluff and angst" though because sometimes that's used for things that are mostly angst with only a bit of fluff and I do love angst.
★ Bonus: No Dead Dove – This list is not mine (for obvious reasons) but I know some people may find it useful. Hides anything with the main archive warnings and many common problematic, taboo, or controversial tags. Some of these I wouldn't even classify as dead dove, they're literally just kinks, so I'd suggest reviewing the list carefully and removing any that don't apply to you.
Additional Notes:
This system doesn't work exactly the same as AO3's exclusion filters because you can't use top-level wrangled tags to block all subtags. It only blocks exact matches.
Once the blacklist is implemented you'll see no indication that anything was blocked (except for fewer fics listed on each search page); the entire blurb will be hidden. The tags and fic counts listed in the filter bar will remain unchanged. If you want more advanced features like whitelisting or adding something to indicate when a fic was removed, check out the permablocking guide by Eli0t.
Here's a link with info on which browsers currently support the new "has()" element, which this blacklist system relies on. As of right now Firefox for desktop still has to be manually enabled (for instructions see the section on flag enabling in the permablocking guide). Firefox for iOS isn't listed on this website but it seems to work fine for me.
There are other browser-specific extensions that let you permablock tags, such as this one and this one, that may be more a little more user friendly, but I've never tried them so I can't vouch for them and they may not work consistently between different devices. The good thing about doing blacklists via skins is that, after setting it up once, it should work automatically on pretty much any device (as long as you're logged in to your AO3 account).
Writing a Schizophrenic Character: Everything But Hallucinations
Plain text: Writing a Schizophrenic character: Everything But Hallucinations
Hey! Mod Bert here.
So: you’ve decided to write a character with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (there are other disorders on the schizophrenia spectrum but I will be focusing on these for today)
You’ve done it, you have their hallucinations and maybe even delusions picked out. Maybe they are one of many who experience auditory hallucinations or maybe they also have visual hallucinations or a combination. Maybe they have olfactory hallucinations as well. They may have persecutory delusions or delusions of reference or something like Cotard’s delusion or clinical lycanthropy. Awesome, you’ve done it!
What, I hear you say? What do you mean that’s only 2 of the 5 components needed to be diagnosed with schizophrenia? What do you mean, you don’t need to hallucinate at all to be schizophrenic?
What Goes Into a Diagnosis of Schizophrenia
Plain Text: What goes into a diagnosis of schizophrenia
Not a lot of people realize there’s more to schizophrenia and schizoaffective than just hallucinations or delusions. There are 5 diagnostic criterias that are needed for schizophrenia, and only 2 of the 5 are needed for a month, with larger symptoms happening for six months or more. Let’s get into it.
Delusions
Hallucinations
Disorganized speech or thinking*
Disorganized or unusual motor behavior (catatonia)*
I’m going to focus on disorganized speech/thinking, catatonia, and negative symptoms.
Disorganized Speech/Thinking
Plain Text: Disorganized Speech/Thinking
Schizophrenia and related disorders are often called “thought disorders” for a reason. Speech and thinking can be extremely affected, and for people like me this can be one of the first and most striking examples of an episode coming. Some people will always have disorganized symptoms that will flare during episodes. A myth is that schizophrenia can be indistinguishable with medicine: most people will have some level of symptoms even during moments of peace or “remission”. More on remission later.
So, disorganized speech. Some examples are: word salad (schizoaphasia), thought blocking, poverty of speech (alogia), pressurized speech, clanging, and echolalia.
Word salad: a combination of words that do not make sense together. Often called schizoaphasia for its similarity to jargon in Wernicke’s aphasia, this is instead a disconnection with the brain and not due to damage to the language part of the brain.
(Example: the salad would be yellow in the fat cow).
Thought blocking: A severe loss of thought, often paired with connecting two trains of thought that are not connected
(Example: I went to the………Do you like grapes?)
Poverty of speech: A lack of organic responses to speech or organically speaking, it can be severe enough that a person only responds to questions or in one word responses. Can also happen in severe depression.
(Example: Person A: Did you do anything fun today?
Person B: Yes.
Person A: Oh, what did you do?
Person B: Store
Person A: How was it?
Person B: Fun)
Pressurized speech: A sort of frenzied way of speaking associated with psychosis or mania.
Clanging: Connecting phrases together because of what they sound like instead of meaning
(Example: I went bent tent rent).
Echolalia: Repeating word’s and phrases. Commonly also associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
(Example: Person A: I went to the store.
Person B: To the store.)
These are not the only examples but they are some ones I thought I'd highlight, either because they’re well known or I have experience with them, or because they’re famously thought of with other disorders as well and I wanted to point out how things overlap.
Personal experience: I had severe alogia for the duration of my last and worst episode. People thought I was mad at them because of the clipped way I spoke and the lack of really speaking. It got me in a lot of trouble. I didn’t realize what I was saying was different or weird (I have the least insight when it comes to my speaking patterns affected by my schizoaffective, meaning I can’t hear any difference and all of this is from repeated conversations with my mom, who was my caretaker for a bit and knows the most about my speech and what it means). The best solution was talking with people and being honest and educating myself and others. I don’t know about others, but I couldn’t have used AAC at that time.
Catatonia
Plain text: Catatonia
Fun fact: catatonia means unusual motor behaviors! Any unusual motor behaviors mean catatonia. This includes what we think of when we think of catatonia in schizophrenia (inability to move) as well as the opposite (being unable to stop moving) as well as strange movements and ways of holding and moving the body! Catatonia in the DSM-5 includes 3 or more of these 12 behaviors:
-Agitation unrelated to external stimuli
-Catalepsy
-Echolalia
-Echopraxia
-Grimacing
-Mannerism
-Mutism
-Negativism
-Posturing
-Stereotypy
-Stupor
-waxy flexibility
I have some experiences with catatonia-like symptoms but since they were never identified as such I’ll skip those for now. I will say that catatonia is a symptom that can happen in many disorders besides schizophrenia as well.
Negative Symptoms! Yay!
Plain text: negative symptoms! Yay!
So a positive symptom (Hallucinations or delusions) are symptoms that add something to reality or a person. Negative symptoms are symptoms that take away. There are 5 A’s:
-Alogia (Again, poverty of speech, our favorite)
-Avolition (Lack of energy and motivation)
-Affect (Blunted affect, or a flat way of speaking)
-Anhedonia (Lack of pleasure in things that used to bring you pleasure, often thought of with depression)
-Asociality (Lack of interest in social events and relationships)
There are also often cognitive changes including thinking and memory, information recall, understanding, and acquisition, and so forth.
Schizophrenia and schizoaffective often (but not always) happen with what’s called a prodromal period. This period can be months to years (mine was a little less than a year) and mainly consists of negative symptoms. Slowly, positive symptoms are added. There are thought to be stages to schizophrenia including prodrome, active phases, and remission.
I’ll talk about that a little for a second because I’m currently in remission and no one knows what that means. I was diagnosed with schizoaffective depressive type in January 2021. As of February 2024, I no longer qualified to be rediagnosed because my symptoms were strongly under control and no longer severe enough to qualify for a diagnosis. They also didn’t distress me or impact my daily life severely. Day to day now I still have mild symptoms and take my antipsychotics (trying to go off them have made it clear that I still have some symptoms I choose to keep medicating) but I haven’t had a delusion in 2 years and been hospitalized in 3. There’s always a possibility of another episode but I work with my team to keep myself one step ahead if that happens.
What I want from a character with schizophrenia
Plain Text: What I want from a character with schizophrenia
Alright the writing advice part. What do I want from a character with schizophrenia or schizoaffective (which is schizophrenia plus either depression or bipolar).
-Characters with caregivers.
-Characters using coping strategies (recording hallucinations to tell if theyre hallucinations, taking medication, having service animals that greet people so they know if they’re a hallucination, using aids for the cognitive symptoms like sticky notes and organizational tools)
-Characters who know other characters with their disorder, either online or in support group or through running in similar circles
-Characters having autonomy
-Characters who aren’t the killer or horror victim. I know it’s cool to have the schizophrenic protagonist in horror, and I love horror, but I don’t want to read about the horror being symptoms the whole time
-Characters who are in magical scenarios, who are in fantasy and sci-fi. The schizophrenic princess and the schizoaffective robot technician aboard the spaceship.
-Medication and hospitalization treated casually. Sometimes we need higher care. That’s morally neutral
-Characters with negative symptoms and speech symptoms.
-Characters with catatonia!
-Characters with other disorders as well
-characters with side effects from medicine treated casually
-Characters with cognitive symptoms
Thank you for reading this incredibly long thing! Happy writing!
Overview of some topics when it comes to drawing characters who are burn survivors.
DISCLAIMER. Please keep in mind that this is an introductory overview for drawing some burn scars and has a lot of generalizations in it, so not every “X is Z” statement will be true for Actual People. I'm calling this introductory because I hope to get people to actually do their own research before drawing disabled & visibly different characters rather than just making stuff up. Think of it as a starting point and take it with a grain of salt (especially if you have a very different art style from mine).
Talking about research and learning... don't make your burn survivor characters evil. Burn survivors are normal people and don't deserve to be constantly portrayed in such a way.
edit: apparently tum "queerest place on the internet" blr hates disabled people so much that this post got automatically filtered. cool!
Is there a website you use or recommend for getting different body type references? The way you draw various body types is inspiring
You've probably seen this before but First and foremost I recommend reading the Morpho series by Michel Lauricella, especially Morpho: fat and skin folds.
Scans of Morpho : fat and skin folds by michel lauricella and taken from cybzilla on tumblr fat anatomyhuman anatomy artart tipstutorial dra
For arm muscles especially (read: Bonnie's arms) I use this website, lots of really good refs!
マッチョのフリー写真素材で日常に筋肉をプラス。登録不要（著作権フリーあり）
For poses I tend to use Posemaniacs since you can rotate angles and such in the browser (there's lots of good programs you can learn for poses and stuff but I am the slowest learner and new things scare me)
Posemaniacs.com is a royalty free pose reference for all artists. Our mission is “to create free learning materials for all people who want
once you sorta know how fat sits on the body it gets easier to use the other links, FOR ME at least, everyone's different and all that.
I also did a tutorial on how I draw boobs here
lastly, unironically, lots of adult content got really good refs. People like to crack jokes about the artist looking at porn for references but IT IS ACTUALLY KINDA ACCURATE. this part you gotta do on your own tho good luck brave warrior
copy paste your work into google translate and have it read it back to you outloud. its better than using stuff like audacity because they will sell your info
Natural Readers is a GOLDMINE for editing a manuscript if you don't have someone to read it out loud to you, or don't want to have the embarrassment of a real person you know reading one of your drafts.
Natural Readers is a robotic-reading app, but it's robot voices are designed to sound natural (and they're pretty damn good). There's 20 minutes for free a day, but their subscription cost is super low too for unlimited reading.
Additionally, and most importantly for us Fantasy or Sci-fi writers, if you make an account on their website you can tell it how to pronounce words you've made up in your own personal dictionary.
I'm curious.. I'm putting together notes on as much as the stuff I gathered while working in the animation/arts industry.
This section is about building new worlds, what it means, how to do it, etc etc. I have sections about story, color, lighting, comp, story dev, but also about what it means to be an artist, how it relates to the world, to your mental health, etc etc
Would anybody be interested in a book of this?
"I Am A Transwoman. I Am In The Closet. I Am Not Coming Out." was AMAZING and unlocked so much anger that i haven't really been able to put into words or justify.
"different worlds" sent me down a rabbithole about the blog author - apparently there was a whole controversy about the nyt revealing his full name and also, as he claims, misrepresenting his beliefs as more conservative than they actually are. fascinating.
there's a fair amount of political controversy about Scott Alexander, though i would say it's pretty much entirely unrelated to the content of this particular article of his
i'm returning to tumblr after quite some time, so i want to re-connect with the writing community. reblog or like this post if you'd like me to check your blog out!
— bonus points if you:
— are queer, disabled, neurodivergent, and/or chronically ill
— write fantasy or sci-fi with any elements of horror, weirdness, or sapphic romance.
— write stories with a lot of world building, particularly fantasy religions
— like to participate in tag/ask games, because i want to send y'all asks about your stories!
— about me.
i'm seraph! my pronouns are she/they, i'm 21, queer, and jewish. i share weekly writing questions on mondays and thursdays, so you can share about your wips without having to receive an ask!
— about my writing.
i write fantasy with sci-fi and horror elements. my current wips WOUNDED DIVINITY, WITHERED COSMOS and SEVERED DAWN, SUNDERED NIGHT are both adult fantasy space operas set in the same universe. they feature romantic queer relationships (a Lot of queer romance...oops! all queer romance), cosmic and body horror, Weird Stuff, angst, fantasy religion and gods, and a Lot of enemies to lovers.
As Google has worked to overtake the internet, its search algorithm has not just gotten worse. It has been designed to prioritize advertisers and popular pages often times excluding pages and content that better matches your search terms
As a writer in need of information for my stories, I find this unacceptable. As a proponent of availability of information so the populace can actually educate itself, it is unforgivable.
Below is a concise list of useful research sites compiled by Edward Clark over on Facebook. I was familiar with some, but not all of these.
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Google is so powerful that it “hides” other search systems from us. We just don’t know the existence of most of them. Meanwhile, there are still a huge number of excellent searchers in the world who specialize in books, science, other smart information. Keep a list of sites you never heard of.
www.refseek.com - Academic Resource Search. More than a billion sources: encyclopedia, monographies, magazines.
www.worldcat.org - a search for the contents of 20 thousand worldwide libraries. Find out where lies the nearest rare book you need.
https://link.springer.com - access to more than 10 million scientific documents: books, articles, research protocols.
www.bioline.org.br is a library of scientific bioscience journals published in developing countries.
http://repec.org - volunteers from 102 countries have collected almost 4 million publications on economics and related science.
www.science.gov is an American state search engine on 2200+ scientific sites. More than 200 million articles are indexed.
www.pdfdrive.com is the largest website for free download of books in PDF format. Claiming over 225 million names.
www.base-search.net is one of the most powerful researches on academic studies texts. More than 100 million scientific documents, 70% of them are free
Summary: Skye and her best friend Juno talk about Zephyr, relationships and desires.
There was a tiny girl sitting in the half-opened tulip. She was almost transparent, a figure of water copying a human shape, with tiny hands, tiny but long bird wings and long hair flowing after her as if blown by the wind.
She was sitting inside the tulip, her feet hidden by the orange petals, her wings folded above the flower’s head. The fairy didn’t even lift her head at them, basking in the afternoon sun.
“Isn’t it incredible?” Juno said, her dark brown eyes sparkling. She had the cutest childish amazement spilled over her face.
Skye huffed out a small laughter. “When did they start appearing?”
