Under the cut are @fionaresponce‘s DMs to me following my posted question here, and my response. It is by no means indicative of everyone’s views on the matter of, specifically, stuck-in-gleehab (which is one small part of a much larger problem) but is rather my own thoughts and stream of consciousness regarding one specific thing. I’m also posting this publicly so that this is documented and if anyone else has anything they’d like to say on the matter, feel free to send me an ask or reblog this post.
Okay, this is a lot that I wasn't expecting in my DMs this late, but I guess we're doing this.
First off, my apologies-- the context in which I used the word ‘neurodivergent’ was incorrect; while yes, it is part of the question I was asking, it’s not the whole picture and it’s a term that’s primarily used by people who are autistic or have ADHD. I have ADHD myself and it was the first word that came to mind when I made that post and was asking the question. That part was my bad and I apologise for both using the wrong word in questioning you, and for incorrectly using that term. What I actually wanted to know was whether you had any mental disorders yourself, given the subject material of Gleehab.
I’m not going to make a judgement on whether or not you do have any disorders based on what you’ve just told me-- it’s not my place and I’m not in any way qualified to so --however I will strongly stress that making an assumption of what you might have based on speculation of the people around you and on theory is extremely harmful. You haven’t been diagnosed with anything, as you have specifically said and I strongly recommend that you go and see someone, a professional, who can do so if you truly believe that you do have ASD or anxiety. Otherwise, the claims become very flimsy and mean very little and I would even go so far as to say that you shouldn’t make the claims without being diagnosed properly.
EDIT: It was brought to my attention that my wording here could potentially be harmful, here is the ask regarding that.
Regardless of that, I need you to understand that what you’ve said about Gleehab in your response is an extremely harmful mindset. Not everyone’s gone through the same experiences as you, and as someone who has several mental disorders (professionally diagnosed), used to take an assload of different medications and has also been in and out of psychiatric hospitals in the last five years, it’s so very frustrating for you to claim that you weren’t romanticising mental health issues and recovery, full stop. If you haven’t experienced it for yourself, I don’t believe you can know for sure, and because of that I really don’t feel like that’s your call to make. You can do insane amounts of research and still end up perpetuating harmful stereotypes. You are not infallible. No one is.
On top of that, there is something inherently gross for me (and this is not just you) about pointing out which specific mental disorders you’d like to see characters have-- it begins to feel like a gotta catch ‘em all scenario which then trivialises just how much these disorders affect the lives of people who do live with them every day. It’s not just some cute personality trait or quirk you can give a character, it’s something that can shape who someone is as a person.
I understand that you were not the only person out there running a Glee ‘asylum’ roleplay, however, and I can admit that part of my issue with what you’ve said stems from those groups that populated the tags back in 2010-2012, or thereabouts. I was about 16-17 at the time and I genuinely believed it was just ‘the done thing’, alongside slave roleplays, but the fact of the matter is that it should not have happened, and it was harmful. I’d like to hope that there’s some part of you that understands that. You created a space for people to specifically write about characters in a psychiatric hospital, and more often than not, those people writing about those mental disorders don’t actually have them. They have a specific idea of what BPD, or schizophrenia, or major depression is like, often influenced by popular media, and they will perpetuate what they know. Understand what you running Gleehab did, and what it actually means.
You also have to understand that by doubling down on defending your portrayal of Kurt, and of your choice to run Gleehab, you’re essentially broadcasting the message that everyone who’s saying that you were glorifying mental disorders and stays in psychiatric care and that it was harmful, is wrong. You don’t get to decide that, full stop. Considering the fact that you told me that you maybe have anxiety, and you were writing a character with depression and PSTD who self-harmed? Not your ballpark, Fiona. It’s not up to you what’s right and what’s wrong about your writing if it’s not your demographic that you’re representing.
As my friend has so succinctly put it, “You cannot claim neurodivergence. It is not a scapegoat.”
EDIT:
donnasheridanroleplays said: Autism is not a scapegoat. It’s not. Not EVER. You cannot use mental illnesses as a prop for your group.
donnasheridanroleplays said: Or neurodivergence
donnasheridanroleplays said: Explanations are explanations, not excuses. They are also not a personality trait.
Title Get Through This
Rating: G
Word Count: 2750
Summary: Written for the prompt: Kurt finds out that his father has died of another heart attack and Blaine is there to comfort him.
A/N: Written for @todaydreambelieversfic 2018 Klaine Fic Exchange. My recipient is fionaroleplays (it’s not letting me tag you). You said “fuck me up with any rating” and I took that as... make me cry, with this prompt. Here you go!
Thank you to @juleswritesthis @quirkyquantumqueen and @fionaroleplays for your encouraging words before my interview yesterday! And to anyone else who may have sent me positive thoughts! I really appreciate it.
I didn’t get a chance to update you after the interview because my whole day yesterday was nuts, but I think it went really well! Academia is freaking slow, so it may take a while before I know anything, but I feel really good about it! Thanks, friends! <3
