disneyforprincesses:

bbrandom:

thelastgoodkiss:

disneyforprincesses:

SPOILERS FOR WRECK IT RALPH AHOY, BEWARE!!!

I do start to see more the glitch as a disability regarding my reaction to the film.

I am an able-bodied person, my perception of disability like many of other able-bodies, is that disability is something to be pitied and regard as the ‘other’ rather than to see beauty. Simulataneously we gaze at Disable people as example of ‘strength’, and shame upon them if they don’t live up to the TV ads or Poster expectations.

During the moments that Vanellope experiences severe glitching (usually arguments with Ralph), I felt very uncomfortable. The reason is that me and my able-bodied privilege were quickly trying to put Vanellope in the ‘pitied’ or ‘dangerous’ boxes. I mean our able-bodied privilege is even more relaxed when even King Candy says she shouldn’t compete for her own ‘good’.

In that context, when the other able-bodied (non-glitching, candy citizens) try to keep out of the race. It really isn’t all about her own good, but most specifically of the fear of the ‘other’, the fear of a body or person that is different than their own.

The fact that Vanellope never gives in or believes their opinions is extremely positive, and showcases her awareness of the candy citizens baise opinions. Let’s point out Vanellope is the FIRST person to say her glitch does not prevent from being a great racer, she believes in herself BEFORE anyone else.

The end and her compromise with her glitch clearly points out just how wrong the candy citizens (and us the able-bodied people) were.

Therefore I think Vanellope is a positive portrayal of disability in Disney movies, IF one chooses to read it that way.

(NOTE: if non-able bodied people want to give into this discussion, I fully encourage it and ask for it, also please let me know if anything I said was problematic)

I was just going to write about this! Keep in mind that I’m able-bodied, so take everything I say with a grain of salt, but yeah, all this. And I loved that at the end she had the opportunity to “fix” her glitch and chose not to. There’s a lot of stories (fantasy and sci-fi is especially bad for this) where a disabled person’s disability is gone at the end and they’re overjoyed everyone lives happily ever after and it’s kind of gross. But Vanellope’s glitch was just part of what made her great. Loved it.

(and everything the OP said about telling me if I got anything wrong applies, of course)

The OP of this thread has since removed this post and apologized, but as this is still out there with positive reblogs, I’ve decided to address this as someone who has had to come to terms with being disabled due to my chronic illnesses.

First off, there is nothing wrong with liking Vanellope. I liked Wreck-It Ralph for the most part; there was some problematic language in it, but it is far from the worst thing out there and I found the story enjoyable. There is nothing wrong with finding Vanellope relatable if you are disabled. I found her relatable. The problem here lies in able-bodied individuals painting Vanellope as a disabled character.

Vanellope’s glitching is not a disability. She is not even a metaphor for a disabled individual. I find her experiences relatable as someone who has been ostracized and treated differently due to my conditions, but that does not make her disabled. I am not going to go on a grand adventure tomorrow and suddenly realize breaking ribs because my overactive immune system won’t allow me to stop coughing is the same as teleporting, which is what Vanellope turns out to be capable of doing.

Vanellope is relatable to disabled individuals in the same way that the X-men are. I relate to Nightcrawler because I understand what it is like to see people be reviled by my skin, but my disability is not comparable to his mutation. Vanellope’s power comes with drawbacks, but by the end of the movie, she has basically god-like powers within her game due to it and her becoming a princess.

I don’t understand the poster above mine’s comment that Vanellope had the opportunity to fix her glitch and didn’t. She fixed her glitch as far as I can see; she can teleport all over the place. I wish I could do that, but more importantly, even if that were true, it isn’t a good thing. Narratives that end with a disabled person becoming suddenly able-bodied are problematic, but narratives that show a disabled person coming to “accept” their disability by giving them the option of getting rid of it and them choosing not to are equally problematic. It is not reasonable to expect individuals with disabilities to simply “accept” them to that degree. If I could “fix” myself, I would, because it is a big, bad scary world out there and I’d prefer not having to spend all of my money going to the emergency room. However, I can’t. That isn’t going to become an option. It is not an option for most people with disabilities, so that isn’t truthfully an appropriate narrative no matter its outcome.

As a final side note, I’ve seen at least one person describe Vanellope’s story as inspirational in this context and I’d like to emphasis that inspirational is not a good word to choose. If Vanellope were magically a disabled character, her story should not be your inspiration porn. Find a different word.

I deleted this post but all you guys you read this. 

fishingboatproceeds:

valerie2776:

thedailywhat:

Dear Ann Coulter of the Day: After Ann Coulter referred to President Obama as a retard in a tweet during Monday night’s presidential debate, Special Olympics athlete and global messenger John Franklin Stephens penned her this open letter:

Dear Ann Coulter, 

Come on Ms. Coulter, you aren’t dumb and you aren’t shallow. So why are you continually using a word like the R-word as an insult? 

I’m a 30 year old man with Down syndrome who has struggled with the public’s perception that an intellectual disability means that I am dumb and shallow. I am not either of those things, but I do process information more slowly than the rest of you. In fact it has taken me all day to figure out how to respond to your use of the R-word last night. 

I thought first of asking whether you meant to describe the President as someone who was bullied as a child by people like you, but rose above it to find a way to succeed in life as many of my fellow Special Olympians have. 

Then I wondered if you meant to describe him as someone who has to struggle to be thoughtful about everything he says, as everyone else races from one snarkey sound bite to the next. 

Finally, I wondered if you meant to degrade him as someone who is likely to receive bad health care, live in low grade housing with very little income and still manages to see life as a wonderful gift. 

Because, Ms. Coulter, that is who we are – and much, much more. 

After I saw your tweet, I realized you just wanted to belittle the President by linking him to people like me. You assumed that people would understand and accept that being linked to someone like me is an insult and you assumed you could get away with it and still appear on TV. 

I have to wonder if you considered other hateful words but recoiled from the backlash. 

Well, Ms. Coulter, you, and society, need to learn that being compared to people like me should be considered a badge of honor. 

No one overcomes more than we do and still loves life so much. 

Come join us someday at Special Olympics. See if you can walk away with your heart unchanged. 

A friend you haven’t made yet, John Franklin Stephens Global Messenger Special Olympics Virginia

[specialolympicsblog]

hell yeah

Hey, Anne Coulter, here is some commercially available burn cream.

fallingivy:

TW ABLEISM, VIOLENCE, SELF HARM /// Crazy. And. Violence. And Glee.

laughingintothefire:

goldenheartedrose:

johnnycakesswheatson:

I’ve been kind of quiet about Colorado. Well, kind of. I’ve been trying to stay away from the news and make empirical statements about guns, is what I’m trying to say. I’ve been quiet. I shut my eyes and everything with the news because what I really wanted to hear was whether my (Colorado based) family was okay, not whether the shooter was crazy. But no one even asked if he was crazy. They’ve just assumed, and ‘mentally ill’ has become a tag word, giving me more reason to stay away from even beloved news networks like NPR.

I have….I have no defenses. They’re all gone. So I can’t write this essay about how it’s easy to kill people with guns, but not sticks or why crazy people are dramatically more likely to be killed than kill. I can’t do that right now. I’m not really able to find any words. And I’m not sure adding my opinion into the endless sea of ears stuffed shut will help anyone out. But I do want to talk about crazy and violence. And Glee.

I read this blog post and I thought about violence. But about how many people will think I’m silly for thinking it’s violence. (I don’t have defenses for that, either, so we’re just going to assume we all are on the same ground – tying your students down to stop them soothing themselves with movement is violence.)

And I watched Asian F again. (It’s Season 3, episode 3 of Glee. You should watch it before reading further, because it’s relevant.)

Emma Pillsbury is a character (and because I relate to her I’m calling her a human) is a human who has gone through violence. And not many people will recognize it as such. Her parents tied her hands down to get her  to stop her weird movements. And, well, it never worked. (I’ve never met anyone who has been tied down who doesn’t stim still). They were nice with the twine. Others had duct tape, others rope.

The lucky ones (of which I am counted) were redirected and guided. It was just made clear that we couldn’t move like this.

(I move like this more. I’ve always moved like this.  I’ve always shaken my hands out and swung my keys around and paced in my room for hours and hours and hours on end rather than socially interacting. But I move – my hands – my arms- more freely now that it’s occurred to me that it’s okay. I used to self harm instead of move. It was a problem.

But now I move. And now I soothe myself with movement – not a razor – because it works. And now I probably embarrass people more with my moving and my hand flapping and my clapping and my rocking back and forth and my rubbing my legs because I know it’s embarrassing. I’ve been told. Your hands have been placed on mine to tell me to stop.)

It didn’t work. But we weren’t in schools or classrooms or homes, luckily, that considered this a solution.

The unlucky ones have had their wrists broken because they were held down too strong and too long and they wanted to move too much. This force echoes every time you tell me to stop moving, every time you put your hand on mine to make me stop. Every time you even remind me how annoying it is so I go to another room until I can stop (because sometimes I desperately want to be like you, and I want to be better). Because you have…you have the power. You’d have more power if I was a kid and you could tie me down.

You can love me, I can love you, and this can still be true. It has to be.

Will made Emma stop moving her hands in the final scene of Asian F. Quiet Hands. And it was reminiscent of the violence he’d just learned about. And he still made her stop moving her hands. And she was calming herself down and she was not hurting herself, but he still made her stop.

And she did, because, God, does she want to be better for Will. She wants to be the perfect girl for him, and the perfect girl does not have OCD, and she does not move her hands. And oh God, does she try.

But there is violence and there are bodies. We don’t count them. When moms drown their autistic toddlers we don’t light candles for them like we did for Casey Anthony’s daughter because it’s hard to parent a child with autism. We don’t count the deaths. We just….we just don’t, and I don’t know why.

This isn’t the same as shooting up a movie theater.

I know.

You’re making this about disability again.

Because it’s already about mental illness and crazy people and who kills people more often and who should be put away, kept away from society. It hurts that the discussion is there every time someone murders, but I’m not the one who brought it. I wanted to avoid it. I prayed and wished for us to focus all on how it’s morally depraved to murder, rather than who’s crazy and kills and who is sane and should be killing the crazy.

I don’t have defenses, or clean sentences, right now. I just…I have my reactions. I have my movement. I have the ability to close my eyes and hope that this all blows over.

It’s violence to shoot up a theater but it’s also violence to drown a toddler and….and….and…

If you look at the rate of sane and crazy people and who gets killed, you won’t find sane people on top. That’s really what I’d like to say.

I want to add to this, because I like to add commentary, but I honestly for once, have nothing to add. Yes,.all of this.

This post is all I want to day and more.

(But lets also remember that intersectionality does matter in every discussion of ableism, as well, and that a white disabled person is far less likely to be a victim of police violence, for example, than a black one. Almost all the autistic people who were murdered recently were POC,.as well).

^

thatchickfrompittswall:

canoe-err:

MOTHER OF EVERYTHING HOLY

FUQ.

Isn’t this a little bit ableist? :C The beautiful thing about Fullmetal Alchemist was that the brothers’ humanity wasn’t invalidated by their disability. Their disability was actually an asset. Yes, there was a lot more (possibly problematic) complexity in the guilt Edward felt for Alphonse losing his body in their pursuit to get their mother back. And sadly, there could be a lot said in the sense that they ultimately want to get their bodies back to “normal.” (:C yeeeeeee-ah that’s kinda problematic) But was it not refreshing that they weren’t “special” (ableist condescending lingo for exceptional IN SPITE of disability as opposed to treating them like people WHILE acknowledging their disability without it DEFINING them). Their disability offered them their individual experiences while also being a positive aide to them too. The show could be noted for problematic ableism. This “joke” especially just rubs me the wrong way. :( Unless, I’m not checking my able bodied privilege. 

deafmuslimpunx:

thatdeafchick:

as anyone who reads my blog knows i talk alot about d/Deaf issues. i also cherish the Deaf community. 

but i also love the Hearing community for what it is as well. i grew up there. granted it wasnt always the most accessible, or friendly environment but it shaped my experience and my view of the world.

When i started getting involved in the Deaf community it was this amazing place where i was no longer ostracized. I dove in head first and I will admit at one point i was well on my way to becoming a bitter angry militant Deaf girl. but i think i had to go from one end of the spectrum to other truly realize where i needed and wanted to be. 

i no longer like to think of things in terms of the ‘Hearing world’ and the ‘Deaf world’ why are they worlds? we live in one world. they are individual communities, yes. but worlds? hmm.. i think its important to acknowledge the existence of one world where we are all people.

thats not to say i think the world is perfect. far from it. i still have plenty of issues with the way the Hearing community treats deaf people. Deaf history is filled with oppression and it continues to this day. but i wish there were more fusion between the two.

its great to have identities for communities and support, shared experience, and  camaraderie. but when the individual communities start using their identities at the exclusion of everyone else, that become problematic. 

no community is perfect, the Hearing community has a LONG way to go. and the Deaf community is not unflawed heaven either. 

when you get into problems of a community not accepting members because they are not ‘____’ enough, would be new supporters, members and allies are exiled.

moreover, im not sure how i identify. audiologically im deaf. i am profoundly deaf. but plenty of Deaf people would say im not Deaf enough. i grew up with a progressive loss, ive experinced many different levels of hearing loss, i used to be hard of hearing and now i am deaf. as well i was mainstreamed fully oral and i never even knew Deaf culture existed untill college. 

at one point in my identity crisis i hated the term hard of hearing because i felt it separated me. it left me in some middle ground without a community. i had no backing or support there. but ive since come to realize the binary, either you are deaf or you are hearing, is extremely exclusive as well. 

we are all people. 

i want to be involved in both. i went from being fully oral hard of hearing girl feeling alone and lost in the Hearing community to a proud Deafie involved in Deaf culture strong lover of ASL.

now it’s time for me to come back to the middle. and be happily proud to be ‘on the fence’.

I avoid the deaf community in my area like the plague, because it’s small, and stupid rumors are easily started and get around fast. A few of my friends (all deaf) were subjected to hurtful rumors (one friend who is straight and divorced was rumored to be gay, which is false). Also, everyone smokes and drinks—a LOT. I’m too old for that partying shit. If you want to be in the deaf community, you have to be around that shit all the time. The deaf community has so many cliques. Everyone knows each other to an extent. In a way, that fact (that everyone knows each other) is a blessing but sometimes it’s a curse.

Also, I hate cliques and I’m a loner. So I usually go out alone and do things by myself.

But then again, I avoid the Desi and Muslim communities like the plague, too. And I don’t go to punk shows or hang out with punks anymore. I never hang out with people, I’m usually working on my art/creative projects or working with horses. I pretty much hate everyone around me. So what the fuck do I know.

The FBI currently defines rape as “the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will”, which, as Vanessa explained back in April, excludes statutory rape, same-sex rape, forced anal or oral sex, rape with an object and victims who are male or transgender or have disabilities, not to mention those who have taken drugs or alcohol and therefore had their ability to consent

The Uniform Crime Report Subcommittee voted unanimously to change the definition of rape, which had not been changed for 80 years (!) and rape will now be defined as, “penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.”