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DALE! Comic by the lovely @murasaki-yuri Grcias! CAST Sombra and Widowmaker - Me Reaper - Kane

#kayodubs #sombra #widowmaker #reaper #talon #ovrwatch

Ableism Within Overwatch Fandom

(Overwatch followers, please, please reblog this, and really consider it. This is a conversation that desperately needs to be had)

I’ve been noticing more and more, multiple fanart examples where McCree’s prosthetic arm, Tracer’s chronal accelerator, Genji’s prosthetics, and Symmetra’s prosthetic arm are being omitted for whatever aesthetic vision the artist has. (This may happen with others and I’m unaware--my point would stand with them as well)

This is out and out erasure and ableism, and we as a fandom need to stop treating it so casually.

The Overwatch Fandom has proven that it has the ability to engage on multiple issues involving racist or infantilizing depictions of characters, and yet I see this ableism go unchecked every day. I open the comments in pieces of art, hoping someone has said, “Removing a character’s disability is not acceptable.”

It’s disheartening to see that it is not often the case.

When you remove a character’s disability for aesthetic, you are saying that disabilities are negotiable if they are inconvenient, and that they “ruin” a look. I know that the Overwatch fandom is better than that.

I note that this happens very often specifically within casual outfits, and it’s important to note that these are not parts of the Overwatch uniform--these are medical devices these people need to live their lives happily and comfortably.

McCree, Symmetra, Genji, and Tracer (who Michael Chu has specifically referred to as disabled in this video ) deserve to have their disabilities left intact. Visible disability deserves to be represented .

And I’m not just saying this to artists--I think rebloggers need to be conscious of what they are putting their stamp on. To reblog it is to tacitly endorse it, and it’s frustrating to see people I think of as socially aware so casual on the issue of ableism. I think writers need to consider mentioning them in their work. I think we can all do better than we’re currently doing.

Sidebar re: Tracer, because I know it’s going to come up:

I know she can remove her CA in specific modified places, but this is one of the rare occasions where this is actually a good page to take from Blizz itself--in the Reflections comic, it was always visible, even in homes that had been specially converted for her. Particularly in this fandom environment where it’s being erased left and right, I think it’s important for creators to keep it in mind, to keep it visible and acknowledged, so that it’s normalized and fixed in people’s minds.

#ovrwatch #tracer #mccree #genji #symmetra #this is on the sideblog for rebgel purposes but I stand by it