as small as a world and as large as alone, andreashettle: purplepuella: silversarcasm: ...

4:49pm May 21, 2014

purplepuella:

silversarcasm:

fullmetalcaitlin:

silversarcasm:

fullmetalcaitlin:

mrakato:

silversarcasm:

disabled princesses and disabled superheroes are so important where the fuck are they

I think we can agree that Toph is anything but disabled.

no, Toph is disabled, being disabled is not a bad thing why are people so adamant that she isn;t disabled what the fuck is this

I was saying she isn’t disabled because it really does not cause a hinderance.

and yet she is seen as weak by her family and many others for being blind and is restricted because of it, hence being disabled

like disabled people can go out and be awesome and kick ass god we don’t just suddenly stop being disabled when we do things

Toph is disabled and I am not letting you take away one of the few god damn fictional characters that represent disabled people in fiction let alone one of the few characters I can relate to as a disabled person.

I know a blind person who plays all kinds of sports and a person with asperger syndrome who both run in marathons. I have a wheelchair using friend who went overseas to represent our country in wheelchair basketball.

I have Cerebral Palsy and trust me when I tell you I achieved things doctors thought I wouldn’t.

These include things such as drawing. The fact of the matter is I struggle writing at a decent pace and I still managed to teach myself how to write in Japanese and have straight As in the subject in high school which included writing in it in exams.

Let’s talk about how Toph’s disability and how it’s shown in the show:

She can not see when she is on sand, the grains are too small for her to use her method of “seeing” (which is through tiny vibrations through the earth)

She can’t see when in water. Hence the kissing of Suki thinking it was Sokka.

She can’t read.

She can’t put a poster the right way up because she literally can’t see which is the right way up.

You know it hinders her in some ways but not in others. Did you know that disabled people actually adjust to their conditions because they live with it all the time and learn to deal with it. Which is exactly what Toph did. She learned another way of seeing. She learned how to fight. She learned how to turn her weakness into a strength and there is no way in hell I’m letting you take that away for me.

Please get rid of your ablest notion that if a disabled person achieves or adjusts to their disability that they have somehow “overcome” their disability and are no longer disabled any more. That is so disgusting and wrong.

Reblogging for all the added commentary. Plus, this bit? “like disabled people can go out and be awesome and kick ass god we don’t just suddenly stop being disabled when we do things” Also works the other way around as well. We don’t just suddenly stop “being awesome and kicking ass” when we are disabled. We should not have to deny part of who we are in order to be “awesome” or to “kick ass”. We’re awesome and kick ass JUST AS WE ARE. AS DISABLED PEOPLE. Period.

To define someone as being no longer disabled just because YOU don’t see the hindrances is to essentially equate disability to a complete and total incompetence in every area of life. And that’s not what disability is. ANY disability usually only impacts certain, specific areas of functioning while leaving many other possible areas of strength untouched. It’s possible to be incredibly skilled in one way while ALSO being severely disabled in other ways. It’s also possible to be severely disabled in certain ways while having completely average skills, or only mildly below average skills, in many other ways unrelated to the disability. Just because a disability only serves as a hindrance in certain specific contexts and not at all in other contexts doesn’t mean that the disability has vanished. It just means, you’re seeing the person in a new context.

I’m a brilliant writer and, earlier in my career, had several jobs that relied on my writing skills for my salary. I am also a deaf woman with attention deficit disorder. I don’t stop being a good writer just because I have multiple disabilities. I don’t stop having multiple disabilities when I write something exceptionally brilliant. I don’t become unable to write just because I need to turn the caption decoder on in order to watch television or because I didn’t hear when someone tried to call my name when I was facing the other direction. I don’t view it as complimentary when someone tries to tell me that they “don’t see” my disability just because they have trouble reconciling the idea of multiple disabilities with a person who also can be competent and talented, or vice versa. I’d rather people accept ALL aspects of my being, not just the aspects that impress them.

Instead of trying to define disabilities out of existence every time a person with a disability shows that it’s possible for a person to be simultaneously able to do one thing while also being unable to do another thing, please try to learn a more nuanced understanding of what “disability” and “talents” actually are.