The Problem With NotN This Year
I think this is important information to read and to understand. We disabled people are far too often overlooked and unable to keep up due to the actions of others and I NEED you to know it happens. I need you to learn how to recognise it when you see it. Because god I need you to be a generation (or several) that think of us when you do things. Please. Please.
I’ve pasted what I’ve written in a couple of threads on site because I’m still recovering from a long term illness so rewriting it on top of what else I want to say is beyond me. I just need you to see from another point of view. We’re so invisible so often and it’s difficult and painful every time it happens. I need you to learn to recognise when you’re pushing us out.
As a quick side note - I do think the staff have done incredibly well with the items this year, they’re amazing, the apparel is absolutely spot on perfection and the familiars are gorgeous. I also want to mention that thanks to a couple of very sweet generous people who have seen the trouble I’m having, I have had some gifts of Swipp materials and chests themselves, which were truly wonderful and sweet and I’m deeply touched that people have helped me that way.
I also want to mention that that sort of help is NOT why any of this is being written. I’m not looking for handouts, I just need you to see me, and people like me. I just need to not be sidelined in yet another place I love.
Here’s the stuff I’ve said elsewhere…
From the announcement thread:
I’m disabled, and like many others in my position I am unable to use the coliseum. People with connection/speed issues also have this problem. Because of this we can collect many, many less chests than most people. So we very much need to be able to utilise the other ways of getting them.
So to make the Swipp components for chests drop only from coli monsters instead of coming from the chests we do manage to get is a HUGE blow. Every 4 hours (that I can get to him, and that I’m not brewing recipe components) I can get 2 chests from Baldwin. Every morning I can get maybe a couple from gathering. That’s it. That’s all I can get.
I’m extremely disappointed by this. I know they try so hard every year to fix the issues from the previous years, I know it’s still all fairly new to them, and I understand the reasoning behind this, but the fact that they didn’t take into account people who cannot use the coliseum is bitterly disappointing because we are now very very at a disadvantage for this festival when we already were anyway.
I hope they read this, I hope they consider it and take it on board for next year. I’ve had a terrible few months and am spending Christmas alone due to being too ill to travel, I was so looking forward to this notn to give me a positive in my life this year. The items in it are fabulous and I’m far from disappointed in those, but my ability to get most of them has been heavily lowered and that I AM disappointed by.
So I guess that’s my say. Sorry to be so negative when everyone’s so happy. I really try not to do this. Even when I don’t like a new gene, I let it be because I know tastes differ and I’ll like the next one. But I’m just so saddened by this.
And from a reply I constructed in a thread of my own, after people very kindly advised me on how to use the AH to my advantage:
One thing I do want to mention though is that though, yes, I can (and very much plan to) do those things - it shouldn’t be my only option. I still feel forced out of the festival, I’m still sad that I can’t do the fun stuff other people are doing.
It’s not that I feel like the FR staff are deliberately doing anything against me. It’s that they didn’t even consider people like me. That we’re once again invisible and not worth taking into account. It happens too much and it hurts.
I wanted to make the point that though there are ways I can get around it, that’s still an issue to me and I still feel hurt by it. I come here to get away from a world that doesn’t care about people like me. It’s so sad to feel it happen here too.
Thank you all so, so much for your help though! You’ve definitely stopped this festival from being a complete letdown for me and I’m deeply thankful for it. >>
Thank you for reading what I’ve had to say here. Don’t think I’m not grateful for the generosity shown me, or for the hard work the staff have put into the festival. I truly am and just as much as there has been sadness for me this last couple of days, there have been smiles too. I just need you to see this, to know this is happening, to understand the point of view of those of us stuck at the edge of the school playground asking why we can’t play with you.
A final note: if you think I’m being dramatic over what is, in the end, just a game, please consider this. I know it’s just a game. But it’s also constant. Everywhere we go, everything we do, this happens to us. It’s constant. It’s wearing. It’s always.
“Oh, well it’s not really set up for someone like you, is it?”
“I don’t see why you want special treatment all the time?” (Equal consideration, not special treatment, but god forbid a scary cripple opens their mouth instead of being good and quiet in the corner like they’re supposed to.)
“Why didn’t you just stay at home if the world is such a problem for you?”
“I’m sorry, we don’t have disabled access here.”
“You can’t come in here, your wheelchair is a fire hazard.”
“I thought it WAS wheelchair accessible. Oh well, we’re here now, can’t you make the best of it?/don’t make a fuss and ruin the day for everyone else.”
“I didn’t think you’d want to come, with there being stairs.”
“I didn’t think about you.”
“I didn’t consider that.”
“You can’t come in here, sorry.”
