cw: euthanasia, filicide . . . . I've heard #TheLastOfUsHBO has a disabled person killing themselves so nondisabled people live. This is 1 of the most tired & most dangerous narratives about disability. Dangerous, as it presents us as impossible burdens & expendable. #Disability

Why does it matter? Because the narratives we tell about people matter. It excuses real world behaviour. In the past five years, over disabled 550 people have been murdered by their family/caregivers. These narratives help normalise those murders, excuse the murderer.

It matters because in Canada MAiD has already become a way of avoiding giving adequate care and accommodation to disabled people in favour of killing them, and Scotland is thinking about following suit. These are not hypotheticals. #DisabilityRights

It matters because when I watch a show, or read a novel, or a poetry collection, which I've been told is powerful & profound, and a disabled character is disposed of for abled gain it reminds me how disposable most of you think disabled people are, that I am. #DisabilityRights

It matters because we're still living through an #AirbornePandemic that is disproportionately affecting disabled people, including the disabled creatives that could tell better frigging stories about disability. #HireDisabledWriters #HireDisabledCreatives

It struck me earlier that these narratives are probably one of the reasons nondisabled people have been so shocked by disabled people's continued pleas for #CovidSafety and refusal to shut up. You're primed by these narratives for us to say, 'yeah, let me die, it's best for you!'

Well, here's the news. We don't want to die. We especially don't want to die just so some nondisabled person can have some great epiphany and then write a book about it. We want to live. We want to thrive. We want to survive. We need these stories instead. #DisabledOracles

The irony is, if you listened to us instead, we'd all have more of a chance of thriving. We are the real final girls. Come with us if you want to live. #DisabledOracles #TheFutureIsDisabled

This is a good article about how this trope appears in #TheLastOfUsHBO , but sadly, it's not the last of the trope. I've been ambushed by it so many times in books the last few years. Enough! No more disability snuff narratives.

If you're not disabled and you read or watch a story in which a disabled person dies, and find yourself thinking 'wow, that's moving' (as the text probably wants you to) I'd love you to think about it again. We are not disposable. #NotYourEpiphany .

A see a lot of fans of the show are exercised about this thread. Some reminders that may be helpful: 1. I'm v clear I've not watched it yet. Clue: "I've heard..." 2. It's okay to not want to watch something you heard has content that will harm you & to have thoughts about that.

3. That some people are more upset I said anything negative about one tv show they like than about the number of disabled people killed by caregivers every year, or the ways disabled people are impacted by the pandemic we're living through is really, really sad.

4. Nondisabled writers need to be extra responsible about how they use disability in storylines, especially if, as here, it is a justification for killing the character. The writers say Frank had MS or ALS. These are conditions with v different prognoses. Real people have them.

5. Real people with these conditions are living through a pandemic, whether you all want to admit that or not, and this story feels horrifically close to a lot of real disabled people's realities. Yes, we all love to see Nick Offerman & Murray Bartlett in love, but not this way.

6. I'll no longer reply to comments on this. I'm not muting comments, b/c it's a useful record of exactly what I'm saying - if you think it's okay it's b/c it tugged your heart strings. Think about that. Also think about why you might be so engaged in having a go at me about it.