that’s it. that’s the tweet.

Product Placement
Not today Justin
Stranger Things

❣ Chile in a Photography ❣
One Nice Bug Per Day
i don't do bad sauce passes
KIROKAZE

titsay
d e v o n
trying on a metaphor

JVL
Sweet Seals For You, Always
hello vonnie
PUT YOUR BEARD IN MY MOUTH
Jules of Nature

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Discoholic 🪩
Misplaced Lens Cap
cherry valley forever

oozey mess

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@several-spoons
that’s it. that’s the tweet.
Whgskl. Okay.
PSA to all you fantasy writers because I have just had a truly frustrating twenty minutes talking to someone about this: it’s okay to put mobility aids in your novel and have them just be ordinary.
Like. Super okay.
I don’t give a shit if it’s high fantasy, low fantasy or somewhere between the lovechild of Tolkein meets My Immortal. It’s okay to use mobility devices in your narrative. It’s okay to use the word “wheelchair”. You don’t have to remake the fucking wheel. It’s already been done for you.
And no, it doesn’t detract from the “realism” of your fictional universe in which you get to set the standard for realism. Please don’t try to use that as a reason for not using these things.
There is no reason to lock the disabled people in your narrative into towers because “that’s the way it was”, least of all in your novel about dragons and mermaids and other made up creatures. There is no historical realism here. You are in charge. You get to decide what that means.
Also:
“Depiction of Chinese philosopher Confucius in a wheelchair, dating to ca. 1680. The artist may have been thinking of methods of transport common in his own day.”
“The earliest records of wheeled furniture are an inscription found on a stone slate in China and a child’s bed depicted in a frieze on a Greek vase, both dating between the 6th and 5th century BCE.[2][3][4][5]The first records of wheeled seats being used for transporting disabled people date to three centuries later in China; the Chinese used early wheelbarrows to move people as well as heavy objects. A distinction between the two functions was not made for another several hundred years, around 525 CE, when images of wheeled chairs made specifically to carry people begin to occur in Chinese art.[5]”
“In 1655, Stephan Farffler, a 22 year old paraplegic watchmaker, built the world’s first self-propelling chair on a three-wheel chassis using a system of cranks and cogwheels.[6][3] However, the device had an appearance of a hand bike more than a wheelchair since the design included hand cranks mounted at the front wheel.[2]
The invalid carriage or Bath chair brought the technology into more common use from around 1760.[7]
In 1887, wheelchairs (“rolling chairs”) were introduced to Atlantic City so invalid tourists could rent them to enjoy the Boardwalk. Soon, many healthy tourists also rented the decorated “rolling chairs” and servants to push them as a show of decadence and treatment they could never experience at home.[8]
In 1933 Harry C. Jennings, Sr. and his disabled friend Herbert Everest, both mechanical engineers, invented the first lightweight, steel, folding, portable wheelchair.[9] Everest had previously broken his back in a mining accident. Everest and Jennings saw the business potential of the invention and went on to become the first mass-market manufacturers of wheelchairs. Their “X-brace” design is still in common use, albeit with updated materials and other improvements. The X-brace idea came to Harry from the men’s folding “camp chairs / stools”, rotated 90 degrees, that Harry and Herbert used in the outdoors and at the mines.[citation needed]
“But Joy, how do I describe this contraption in a fantasy setting that wont make it seem out of place?”
“It was a chair on wheels, which Prince FancyPants McElferson propelled forwards using his arms to direct the motion of the chair.”
“It was a chair on wheels, which Prince EvenFancierPants McElferson used to get about, pushed along by one of his companions or one of his many attending servants.”
“But it’s a high realm magical fantas—”
“It was a floating chair, the hum of magical energy keeping it off the ground casting a faint glow against the cobblestones as {CHARACTER} guided it round with expert ease, gliding back and forth.”
“But it’s a stempunk nov—”
“Unlike other wheelchairs he’d seen before, this one appeared to be self propelling, powered by the gasket of steam at the back, and directed by the use of a rudder like toggle in the front.”
Give. Disabled. Characters. In. Fantasy. Novels. Mobility. Aids.
If you can spend 60 pages telling me the history of your world in innate detail down to the formation of how magical rocks were formed, you can god damn write three lines in passing about a wheelchair.
Signed, your editor who doesn’t have time for this ableist fantasy realm shit.
Some options for other disabilities and aids:
“Jack had an unusual pair of sticks, unlike anything Jill had seen before; they were much like canes, but rather than ending in a knot or handle they continued up into a pair of bracelets, held together round his wrists by a cunning slide mechanism. They kept him, she noted, quite sure of foot even on the steep ground.” (wrist braces; cerebral palsy)
“Fandir wore a ring around her ear. It looked something like a fancy collar, its edges tipped outward as though forming a funnel, and when she was spoken to she turned it in the direction of the speaker.” (hearing aid, based off antique “hearing trumpets”)
“Victor’s left arm was a marvel of the modern age–held together with a thousand miniscule steel plates and ten thousand tiny gears, wearing a small brazier, much like a jacket cuff, to fire the steam that moved its mechanical fingers.” (prosthetic arm, steampunk)
“Sasha carried one of the most unusual canes Mara had ever seen: it was longer than might be considered useful to someone her size, and hollow, its walls so thin it surely couldn’t hold her weight. Mara watched as Sasha swept the cane ahead of her. At first she thought Sasha was merely clearing a path, but then the cane struck a large rock, and Sasha neatly sidestepped it having never been told it was there. Ah, that solved the mystery, Mara thought: the hollow stick vibrated in Sasha’s hands when it struck, and its sound told her what danger she might face.” (white cane, blindness)
“Sibatyn clapped his hands over his eyes. ‘Here,’ said Yanit, ‘put your scarf over your eyes and take my arm. I can lead you until the lightning is over.’“ (avoiding flashing lights, photosensitive epilepsy)
“‘She grows quite ill on bread, even Rosie’s best,’ Sam lamented. ‘Can’t keep a bit of weight on her. It isn’t proper, for a hobbit.’ Gandalf nodded. ‘Have you considered, perhaps, feeding her on Elf-bread? She may take well to grains not often found in the Shire.’“ (special diet, Celiac disease, food allergies)
I literally had to think harder about what disabilities I wanted to represent here than I did about how to represent them. It isn’t hard. You have no excuse.
OP is spot on. Also, thank you @prismatic-bell for including the food intolerances/allergies one – that’s pretty much exactly how I handled it in my series. As with all of these, and indeed with many other forms of representation that sometimes get pushback in SFF, it’s just a matter of wording it in genre-friendly terms. Sometimes I get the feeling some people forget that’s an option, or it doesn’t occur to them. But obviously there is also often ablism and assumptions at play.
(I heard Gandalf’s lines in Sir Ian’s voice so that was fun :P )
oh oh oh! Witch Hat Atelier is such a good example regarding including disability and accessibility in fantasy.
There are two prominent characters that require mobility aid, specifically a sealchair.(since it’s powered by a magical seal)
There’s one who has an incredibly lavish chair since he is rich and powerful
and a much less complex one for a street performer kid who can’t afford anything fancy. (The main character and her friend spend like, an entire issue trying to figure out how to make a better accessibility device for him since the hooves have a hard time going up and down stairs / steeper slopes). (i wont spoil what they come up with but its pretty dang neat)
Apart from mobile accessibility, there’s also an instance where one of the mentor characters gives a kid a headband with a sound muting seal to help with his sensitive hearing, one character uses a lens in his glasses to help with light sensitivity, and one of the prominent characters has colourblindness which affects his day to day life visibly, and it’s shown later on how he learns to get around it and its really neat!!!
What are the ableists afraid of? That their worldbuilding will fuck too hard?
tumblr is basically a gay bar in a mental institute
who did you have to kill to get that URL
there isn’t enough vampire media with them going out in daylight with a fruity little umbrella nowadays
POV: you see this lady in the park while you’re having a picnic with your gal pals and she keeps licking her lips
I love her
Trigun Animation Cell and Key Art
Give me Bruce Wayne with a truly impressive lack of self-preservation, much to the absolute bewilderment of the rest of Gotham
Bruce has spent the past 20 years being a reclusive, socially awkward shut-in, and his public presence really isn't that much different once he starts getting involved in charities and public works. Hunched posture, barely audible mumbling, little to no eye contact- Gotham's Prince is well known and well loved for how socially uncomfortable he is. He's trying, bless his heart, and he really is making a difference, and that's what matters. Everyone just accepts that anxiety and discomfort are part and parcel of who Bruce Wayne is.
Except it becomes very clear very quickly that Bruce Wayne is apparently anxiety ridden to the point of paradoxical fearlessness.
On the few occasions he has to interact with Gotham's more dangerous (but powerful) individuals, Bruce shows zero extra fear. He interacts with Oswald Cobblepot with the same level of anxiety he has when interacting with a particularly chatty barista. Any time he's informed of a threat that's been made against him, he just responds with an awkward half shrug and a mumbled "okay" and then goes about his business like normal. Someone tried to shoot him in a crowd once but the gun misfired, and Bruce just shuffled away with the same urgency he has when leaving a long meeting. He got kidnapped once and spent the entire hostage video just looking tired.
To Bruce, these are expected things that he's used to facing as Batman, so why would he be afraid of them? To everyone else, Bruce Wayne has such bad anxiety about EVERYTHING that he treats all interactions as equally threatening. It's equal parts concerning and endearing. The memes about it are endless. Bruce's cryptid status grows exponentially each time and all of Gotham is living for it
I am cringe but I am free
Wow. This is so perfectly *them.* I can’t
Do You Love The Colours Of The Children's Hospital?
I'm so sorry what have I done
“Transformative work is about repairing the deficiencies of canon” no, transformative works is about using canon as raw material. Sometimes that means fixing the canon. Sometimes it means making the canon worse. Sometimes it means slapping a pair of Groucho glasses and a silly hat on the canon and hoping nobody notices what’s really going on.
I understand and acknowledge the flaws of the source material, and I have prepared several new ones for people to get mad about.
save for yourself and for future generations
reblog to save a life
For any lovelies with graduations coming up 💕
You all deserve to look bomb as hell at your graduation 😘
Aww, that’s so cute :)
this video starts circulating every year around graduation season and it makes me really happy
Super useful tip for people with large heads too!! Thanks :D
The last play I watched before the pandemic was a Beauty And The Beast adaptation and when Gaston proposed to Belle there was this little boy in the audience who yelled NOOO DON’T SAY YES, so when Belle naturally turned him down Gaston turned to the boy with his hands on his hips and said “well, now look what you’ve done”
#no one breaks the fourth wall like gaston
they are getting ready for ow2 <3
Between Wasteland and Sky from Trigun vol1 colored chapter page
Keep reading
OMG Millie’s and Vash’s hair look so soft! I love the shading.
internet friends are kinda like illegally downloaded friends. you don’t get the physical copy but you still get all the great content
#i’d illegally download you all
reblog if you’d illegally download your followers
The Mitch Hedburg approach to gaining friends