Thank you for this. It needed to be said and you did so brilliantly, although it should go without saying.
I'm chronically ill and coming to identify as disabled and I've been very frustrated at the portrayl of disability in fandom. I read things with disabled characters because the world assumes that everyone is ablebodied/neurotypical and for once I want to see someone vaguely like me represented.
But I keep running into terrible stories and people in the comments are all amazing! inspiring! tragic! and I'm left thinking, well that's like my life and I didn't find that story inspirational, it just made me feel bad about myself. And then I wonder if I've got the spoons to deal with criticising someone's ableist masterpiece and probably getting a load of abuse back.
(If you're interested what's currently makng me wince is this story: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4342893/1/A_Dimly_Lit_Summer)
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Date: 2009-10-22 12:08 pm (UTC)I'm chronically ill and coming to identify as disabled and I've been very frustrated at the portrayl of disability in fandom. I read things with disabled characters because the world assumes that everyone is ablebodied/neurotypical and for once I want to see someone vaguely like me represented.
But I keep running into terrible stories and people in the comments are all amazing! inspiring! tragic! and I'm left thinking, well that's like my life and I didn't find that story inspirational, it just made me feel bad about myself. And then I wonder if I've got the spoons to deal with criticising someone's ableist masterpiece and probably getting a load of abuse back.
(If you're interested what's currently makng me wince is this story: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4342893/1/A_Dimly_Lit_Summer)