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A review by vagaybond
Betrothal or Breakaway by Leah Brunner
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0
Rep: autistic MC, child abuse survivor MC.
This autistic rep was really shitty. Not inaccurate to how people who have no disabled community are too much of the time, but it felt like the rep was written by someone who is removed enough from disability liberation movements to either not know what ABA is or to be an apologist for it.
My main issues with the autistic rep:
- repeated use of the term aspergers (Asperger was a Nazi who experimented on children. He viewed autistic children as a blank slate with no personality, who could be molded to the will of their abusers.)
- emphasis on functioning labels (specifically calling the MC "high functioning") and never explaining or debunking the myriad of issues with this, no mention of masking behaviour
- the acceptance of his teammates is all the exact same, and is uncomplicated, and everyone seems to know what is meant and what his needs are intuitively (presumably based on assumptions and stereotypes?) and they do not actually ask if there's anything he needs in terms of support
- a lot of basic things like stimming etc are never mentioned
- PFL (person first language ie "person with autism") instead of IFL (identity first languahe ie "autistic person") despite IFL being preferred by the vast majority of the autistic community.
I know a lot of this supposedly makes sense for the context and the knowledge the character would have. That doesn't make it feel any less shitty.
This autistic rep was really shitty. Not inaccurate to how people who have no disabled community are too much of the time, but it felt like the rep was written by someone who is removed enough from disability liberation movements to either not know what ABA is or to be an apologist for it.
My main issues with the autistic rep:
- repeated use of the term aspergers (Asperger was a Nazi who experimented on children. He viewed autistic children as a blank slate with no personality, who could be molded to the will of their abusers.)
- emphasis on functioning labels (specifically calling the MC "high functioning") and never explaining or debunking the myriad of issues with this, no mention of masking behaviour
- the acceptance of his teammates is all the exact same, and is uncomplicated, and everyone seems to know what is meant and what his needs are intuitively (presumably based on assumptions and stereotypes?) and they do not actually ask if there's anything he needs in terms of support
- a lot of basic things like stimming etc are never mentioned
- PFL (person first language ie "person with autism") instead of IFL (identity first languahe ie "autistic person") despite IFL being preferred by the vast majority of the autistic community.
I know a lot of this supposedly makes sense for the context and the knowledge the character would have. That doesn't make it feel any less shitty.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Classism
Moderate: Infertility, Toxic relationship, Stalking