Today my therapist introduced me to a concept surrounding disability that she called "hLep".
Which is when you - in this case, you are a disabled person - ask someone for help ("I can't drink almond milk so can you get me some whole milk?", or "Please call Donna and ask her to pick up the car for me."), and they say yes, and then they do something that is not what you asked for but is what they think you should have asked for ("I know you said you wanted whole, but I got you skim milk because it's better for you!", "I didn't want to ruin Donna's day by asking her that, so I spent your money on an expensive towing service!") And then if you get annoyed at them for ignoring what you actually asked for - and often it has already happened repeatedly - they get angry because they "were just helping you! You should be grateful!!"
And my therapist pointed out that this is not "help", it's "hLep".
Sure, it looks like help; it kind of sounds like help too; and if it was adjusted just a little bit, it could be help. But it's not help. It's hLep.
At its best, it is patronizing and makes a person feel unvalued and un-listened-to. Always, it reinforces the false idea that disabled people can't be trusted with our own care. And at its worst, it results in disabled people losing our freedom and control over our lives, and also being unable to actually access what we need to survive.
So please, when a disabled person asks you for help on something, don't be a hLeper, be a helper! In other words: they know better than you what they need, and the best way you can honor the trust they've put in you is to believe that!
Also, I want to be very clear that the "getting angry at a disabled person's attempts to point out harmful behavior" part of this makes the whole thing WAY worse. Like it'd be one thing if my roommate bought me some passive-aggressive skim milk, but then they heard what I had to say, and they apologized and did better in the future - our relationship could bounce back from that. But it is very much another thing to have a crying shouting match with someone who is furious at you for saying something they did was ableist. Like, Christ, Jessica, remind me to never ask for your support ever again! You make me feel like if I asked you to call 911, you'd order a pizza because you know I'll feel better once I eat something!!
Edit: crediting my therapist by name with her permission - this term was coined by Nahime Aguirre Mtanous!
Edit again: I made an optional follow-up to this post after seeing the responses. Might help somebody. CW for me frankly talking about how dangerous hLep really is.
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LISTEN. If we get a bisexual!Buck arc, I will ACTUALLY LITERALLY CRY, I’m already emotional just thinking about it, it will literally bring me so much joy
BUT
I don’t want it at the expense of an Eddie coming out arc…
Bc listen, I read a post talking abt how the writers probably won’t give both of them a really flushed out Queer Realization Arc bc it would be redundant, which like, okay sure, yes, I can see why you wouldn’t want to have two main, male characters going through the exact same thing, so sure, whatever, BUT -
I feel like, out of Buddie, Eddie is going to be the one that really struggles with coming to terms with his sexuality.
Eddie, who had to be The Man Of The House at 10 years old. Eddie, who grew up in the Deep South. Eddie, whose family is Catholic. Eddie, who already had a strained relationship with his judgmental parents. Eddie, who had a WIFE. Eddie, who says that what he had with Shannon was magic & compares every relationship he had to her. Eddie, who was in the military, which is infamous for DADT. Eddie, whose aunt constantly pushes him at random women because he needs to not be alone. Eddie, who canonically suffers from comp-het, saying that dating women feels like putting on a performance, not that he understands why. Eddie, who dated Ana & was planning on staying with her, even though he was unhappy, for his son.
I think Buck would be way chiller with realizing he’s queer - if he doesn’t already know, which is my fav head-cannon - & I feel like he wouldn’t struggle as much bc it’s Eddie, & Eddie is his best friend, and gender wouldn’t play as big a part for him as I think it would for Eddie.
I would love for them both to have an arc where they worked through their expectations when it comes to relationships & realize that they’re queer, but idk man, I feel like Eddie is going to be the one to really struggle & he deserves to really have that flushed out.
Idk, I’ve been thinking about this ever since I saw that post & nobody I know watches 9-1-1 😭
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I've been thinking a lot about art and why it doesn't feel good anymore, and a lot of what I keep coming back to is a) simply not being happy with my style, but b) not feeling comfortable experimenting because I feel like I need things to be """post worthy""" 🙄 so like... it's kind of a vicious cycle lmao so I'm heeding the advice I used to give people trying to overcome perfectionism which was "don't worry about making things that are 'good enough' to post and just post everything."
So... some vague style experimenting 🤷♂️ and also a sketch of Ilya from forever ago that I really liked but kept thinking I would come back and do more with.
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Fireafy shower thoughts that I realized for this story I'm trying to write #1
I remembered that Firey gave / built Leafy an whole ass ferris wheel for her twice
Now of course, the ferris wheel would lead to the downfall of the two, but ya know, for just for a friend... that seems like a big ass gift and work for just a pal
Like Firey doesn't do anything similarly big to any for his other close friends
:thinking:
YES OH MY GOD I THINK ABOUT THIS SO MUCH… and the end part about how firey doesn’t do stuff like that for his other friends… have you ever thought about who his actual friends are? just think about it… everyone he associated with in bfdi were almost just acquaintances… he was super focused on challenges and usually worked more independently when he had the chance He didn’t really make time for friends and stuff.. he had minor friendships with certain people but he mainly stuck to his objective of winning dream island whereas leafy liked to work with people during challenges that didn’t require teamwork (like ice cube and sometimes bubble) or random people she would help during challenges) if you think about it hard enough… leafy was fireys only true friend (at least in bfdi)!!! she was the only one to establish a friendship with firey and it seemed like firey needed that push to see someone as a real friend instead of a fellow competitor (or enemy LOL). she was the only one he ever really stood up for he really really saw her as a friend he has never done any of that for anyone else before either (at least up until then) and he also changed his challenge strategy of independence with her at least a couple times… he stuck with her through the challenge in bfdi 20 (for as long as he could…) and occasionally stuck with her through bfdi 23. firey also really passionately defended her and demanded for her to be back when she died and announcer told him that he sold the recovery centers. and yeah of course the ferris wheel GAH but you already mentioned that! and of course firey saving leafy from her punishment of what they thought would be permanent death even tho they were punishing her for something she did mainly to firey … but to wrap up my point! firey has never expressed compassion the same way he has for leafy with anyone else. she was his only true friend in bfdi she was like the only one he ever really had to consider a friend for that whole season of competition … of course there’s much more to discuss for later seasons but i’ve been typing for like over 30 minutes now so i’m gonna quit HAHAHA SORRYYY there are so many words i am really enthusiatic about them
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man...... man. 30 tags are not enough so under the read more I go
these screenshots are what ALWAYS got me about Thancred's character. like yeah all the scions trust you and all that but Thancred is just so loyal in a completely different way than others might be. specially after shadowbringers like he always try to do things together and it's always the "there's no other way" that he let's the wol do their thing - and still he's always the one to go to them after the deed is done and to sacrifice whatever it takes for the deed to,, you know, be done or whatever
and what I find sooo charming about all of it is that he's so discreet about it all. he very rarely goes out of his way to express his feelings to you or whatever but then you have moments where Ryne talks about the things he said about the WOL and he truly hates her leaving her side (because he's a terrible worrier) but MAN the trust the "As long as she accompanied you." shows just. man.
The whole "it's not about your blessing" is just such a perfect example as well, to his loyalty and faith. It was never for what the Scions had for him, just about their story together and the trust he has earned in that time.PLUS because his view of the world has slightly changed here, he's the "I've done bad things" kind of character but in a "I need to do better form now on" and not the "I'm done for" YOU KNOW? he's just so sincere in his need to just do better and half of the time that makes him have a difficult time coming to terms with that really is right but man. man. He wants to do it. The "tell me what I must do" to Minfilia is SUCH a perfect example. His sacrifice is not martyr-like, it's trial and error until he gets it right, for everybody, not just him. He's not doing it alone, he needs help!! He knows that!! And it SUCKS because he's so used to being better off alone!! But it's the entirety of shb of him saying "we're in this together" that ALMOST feels like he's convincing himself of that AT LEAST until he has to deal with it by himself, and then MAN if he DOES IT and he comes back like "now I can fix things. better even." HES SO
There are far too many traits of perfectionism in him, in the worst ways. He doesn’t know how to deal with his feeling at the beginning of shb, everything seems to get under his skin because it always keeps reminding him of the past he lived/the wrongs he has done/ the things he failed - BUT despite it all, he has time to care so deeply about the First's cause and Minfilia's and even the WOL's to the point were he is always make sure they know: they are together, that if their blessing fails they know the WOL won't, and if they do, it doesn't matter because AGAIN; they are together.
Playing ng+ and knowing how thancred ends in this expansion is so nice, you can clearly point out the signs of his change and signs that he didn't change at all. How he's always the one to take charge and lead when the WOL isn't around, he makes sure to teach that to Ryne ("Thancred once told me that if the efforts to summon you failed, it would fall to me to face the Lightwardens"), how he deals with change so promptly but fails to really express all of it ("I have no doubt that he understands. The question is how he feels.") He's flawed, he knows that but MAN if he doesn't try to fix that.
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Chapter 1 — Cleo
Title: The Ocean's Call
Relationship: Cleo/Lewis
Chapters: 1/?
Summary: It’s never been easy for Cleo to find balance between being a mermaid and a normal girl; still, when she ran away into the ocean, she wasn’t planning on disappearing forever. But as the burden of everything that was going wrong in her life weighed on her, she finally decided to answer the ocean’s call, leaving everything behind: her problems, her family, her friends, the boy she was still painfully in love with… her whole life. But could there be something more behind her decision? And how will the people she left behind deal with the pain and guilt they will inevitably have to face? Friendships will be put to the test as Lewis, Emma, and Rikki's lives shatter before their eyes. They will do anything to find Cleo and bring her back, but will they be able to find a lost mermaid in the vastness of the ocean?
Here's the first chapter of my canon-divergence fic taking place during the events of 2x25 "Sea Change"! Hope you enjoy 💙
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