10/31/25 - Friday Video Share: “Ableism in the Cosplay Community. Let's Talk.”
"Ableism in the Cosplay Community. Let's Talk."
Colleen Cosplay - December 5, 2021
I went looking for a video appropriate for Halloween, and found this one. And in the process I found what looks like an interesting and rare sort of YouTube channel. It's by a disabled person, who sometimes incorporates her disability into her content, but is mainly focused on something else – in this case Cosplay. As for the video itself, I guess one of the messages is that ableism really can be found anywhere. No place, service, event, or subculture is entirely free of it. That's not necessarily depressing. It validates our experience with ableism – we're definitely not imagining it. And it suggests that it's no great surprise that we haven't completely conquered ableism, since it's apparently woven deep in pretty much all of modern society. On the other hand, as this video sort of suggests, it's still unfortunately often on us to undo ableism by taking the initiative ourselves, making those uncomfortable requests and observations, even in communities where we thought we could be safe and fully included without having to be assertive.
Meanwhile, have a spooky Halloween!
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