Thread by @TransWorldView

I published a #DisabilityDayofMourning article on @awnnetwork_'s blog today exploring the history of filicide of disabled people in folklore, and how that folklore still affects perceptions of autistic and disabled people today.

This thread explores the topics.
#DDOM2021

My blog post uses Netflix's show "Fate: The Winx Saga" to provide a framework for how changeling myths are still culturally relevant today.

The show re-interprets the myth to promote acceptance, with a changeling being the hero of the show.

awnnetwork.org/neurodiversity…

#DDOM2021

For centuries, folk beliefs led to disabled children being labeled as "changelings."

A "changeling" is a faery or enchanted object believed to have been left in place of a human child abducted by faeries.

Children labeled as changelings were routinely murdered.

#DDOM2021

This belief that disabled children were changelings remained widespread through the end of the 19th Century in Ireland, the UK, Germany, Scandinavia, and immigrants from those places.

Dozens of accounts survive today, including one from 1924: pitt.edu/~dash/changeli…

#DDOM2021

In almost all of these accounts, the parents abuse, abandon, or murder their disabled children in mis-guided attempts to drive the "changeling" out and get faeries to return their “normal” child back to them.

#DDOM2021

Even if few parents today literally believe in changelings and faery kidnappings, the concept that one’s “normal” child has been “kidnapped” by autism and other disabilities is incredibly widespread, and leads to abuse and filicide: dsq-sds.org/article/%C2%A0…

#DDOM2021

The plot of Netflix's Fate: The Winx Saga revolves around the main character Bloom being a faery "changeling," yet unlike historic accounts of changelings which are usually told from the parent's perspective, it's told from Bloom's perspective.

#DDOM2021

In my blog post I explore the many ways in which Bloom has neurodivergent-coded traits (including autistic traits) which fit with folklore accounts of changelings.
awnnetwork.org/neurodiversity…

#DDOM2021

Bloom's neurodivergent traits in Fate: Winx Saga are explained through magic rather than medical language.

Her intense passion and her anger at feeling marginalized fits well with her connection to fire magic, and there's some similarities to Prince Zuko from #Avatar

#DDOM2021

The show tells a story of Bloom's journey to controlling her unique magic powers as a "fire faery," and these powers are linked to her emotions, including emotions related to marginalization and trauma. In this way, Bloom's magic is essentially a form neurodivergence.

#DDOM2021

Bloom has difficulty with maintaining healthy relationships and pushing away people who care about her, often at times when her emotions are triggered by trauma. These traits mirror experiences such as autistic "meltdowns" and PTSD.

#DDOM2021

Bloom's emotional volatility, which makes her fire magic unpredictable, also fits with certain aspects of being bipolar.

Bipolar scholar Kay Redfield Jamison used the phrase "Touched with Fire" as a metaphor for being bipolar in a book on the subject.

#DDOM2021

At the end of the first season when Bloom “comes out” as a faery changeling to her parents, they have to re-examine their past and learn to love who she really is.

This is a common experience for many people who identify as neurodivergent -- and for LGBTQ people

#DDOM2021