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Shadowhunter Alec and Disablity parallel's

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  So I have written a lot about the character Magnus from the TV series Shadowhunters, and I am focusing on the TV character’s as I haven’t read the books in quite a long time. But I thought it was time to focus on Alec(Shadowhunter) as he is an interesting character when you look at the relationships he has with the other people on the show.   As the settings of the show are essentially mirroring a lot of real-life issues.   There has been a lot written on this and discussed both off and online. These are issuing that young people face in what essentially is a very traditional society, as Alec is a Shadowhunter and their purpose in the world is to hunt demons, they are trained from a very young age, to do so and this is reflected in the show and the way that even the actors understand it. As the younger Shadowhunters find relationships, Alec seems to be the odd one out and it comes out in the show that he is gay and closeted. It is revealed in the episode titled raising hell in th

Actors that have championed great causes and why I respect them.

Actors that I have a great deal of respect for them, I discovered Harry Shum jr later in my life as I  mentioned before that I have chronic illness and disabilities and due to this spend far too much time on the couch watching either Youtube or Netflix.  I discovered him in what I would say is a cult hit 'Shadowhunter', playing a character that I really resonate with; a bisexual warlock and the tragedy of his life is he is immortal. So this play's into the idea of well what happens when you don't have to plan for the end of your life but you see the lives of people around you age and die.  What do you do with your time yes he has magic powers to heal and his position as the high warlock is from what I see in the show and books more a political one, being open to warlocks that have issues, and he seems to help a lot of what they call the downworlders, so generally vampires, werewolf's are the ones that seem to be the main ones in what the show and books call the Shad

Men and Consent why we need to include them in the conversation.

  Their lives can be ruined by rumors and innuendo just as much as women especially people in the public eye, and people in such diverse industries. That young man fears offending women due to equality has been taught that women get offended by it, this could be true for some people but not for all, women, and in some industries not all of them. Social media has made this so much worse as people don’t forget anymore it stays up forever and not everyone every day needs to be reminded of one small mistake they made. It can also be taken out of context in a very real way and if people have video editing skills it can end up on the internet and cause a lot of damage to reputations.   People don’t have the compassion they used to, and people would take the time to educate themselves on what they had done wrong and how they could not make the same mistake.     Has dating ruined the way some men feel about relationships or being in a healthy relationship? So things like the men go t

Diversity in the media.

  This is more around same-sex couples and the actors that played the characters in the TV adaptation of Shadowhunters from the book series by Casandra Clare.  They were respectful in their representation of this couple and showed a side that hadn't really been explored before in a fantasy setting and this show didn't shy away from very real complex issues.  This was groundbreaking in its portrayal of same-sex couples and treating them like any other couple and not queer bating it.    Shadowhunters Wins Outstanding Drama Series l 28th Annual GLAAD Media Award - YouTube As Matthew Daddario has said in this clip at an award show he was glad that people knew that people would be crazy to put him up there as at the time he had very little experience in navigating the media and being a big name.  Shadowhunters Wins Choice Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Show & Choice Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Actor - YouTube He has also been an actor that has had some hiccups but he has been able to recover from them

Actors that are championing diversity in a very real way.

  These are two actors I admire Harry Shum jr and Matthew Daddario, that have both received well deserved awards for the work they are doing both on an off screen. I got talking to a friend about them and it was a interesting conversation as  when you talk to people about these two actors only a few hiccups' they have had in there acting careers, and even then they where caused by there colleagues not  themselves.  I know that Harry Shum jr has a interview's  where he says that he isn't in the industry for the fame he is in it to make a difference, he certainly has done this both on and off screen.  It reminded me that it takes very  little to make a difference and how much having a realistic attitude to what you can achieve is amazing. This is key in the disablity community being real and not setting yourself up for major disappointment. As what you can achieve with a disablity can be different to what an able bodied person can.     He has also managed to champion minority

Disablity and why I agree with Dr Jorden Peterson.

  So as the title says I agree with Dr. Peterson. Some in the disability community feel that he doesn't really get the limits we have but he is speaking to a very wide audience. Generally, an audience of lost disaffected people mostly men, who have been raised on a diet of everyone gets trophies, social media, and learning about their rights but not their social responsibilities.  He is teaching them very basic topics that turn a lot of them from men who are angry at the world to men that are taking responsibility for their lives.  So some rules are sensible and were taught but the way that social media has stripped away critical thinking and the ability of people to form relationships in real life and to grasp that things that you say online would have real-world consequences. To have someone talk the real honest truth to them seems to be the wake-up call that they needed. 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson: Summary, Notes, and Lessons - Nat Eliason One of his rules is to aim at

Support orgnizations and day programs.

I live with disabilities and receive limited support through an Australian program called the NDIS ( National Disability insurance program.) at its core and at the time of its inception was designed to improve the lives of people with disabilities, to live " more normal lives,"  This required the establishment of what are called support organizations, and support workers. I asked a person who is a support worker to write about what a good support worker is. This is now what a bad support worker working with people in a vulnerable state can do.  I have heard stories and would love people to email me, or comment about what they have experienced good and bad.  Convince people to enroll in programs and training courses that benefit them and not others  Talk to medical professionals and convince them of unnecessary medical treatments.  To promise what isn't realistic for that person, and tell the person that they just need to try harder.  To have day programs that are a side p

What it's like being a Support Worker under the NDIS

   This is a response to a close friend of mine being asked what is it like being a support worker, under a program called the NDIS. This program is a program that is supposed to help people with disabilities yet it seems to be a burden to most and create more issues proving disabilities to get the care they need.  So I asked her the questions.   What is it like being a support worker?  Being a support worker can be very rewarding, even making a small gain with someone is so rewarding. However, it also has its challenges, some of these can be overcome but others can't but you keep plugging away. The difference between a good and bad support worker is that they think of the person as a person not a number or an easy day's work. The support worker will look to find things that interest their client or suggest alternatives and treat them the way they would like to be treated themselves. The most frustration about clients was when you know they can do something to better themselves

Shadowhunter's cast on Representation.

  Shadowhunters & Beyond Screening 2016 Q&A Panel - YouTube   This is a really interesting discussion around this show it is a great show and something that I see that is very rare is the cast are passionate about the representation of the character and something that resonated with me was that they listened to people who are telling their own story and that your story isn't the story of the larger group.  The actors seem to really understand this, and the level of research that they do is amazing, to not fall into the stereotypes of the tropes of what people think of not what people are, and not the reality, is this has been brought out, in the time of Covid, and shown the reality of what people can do to tell their own stories.  He was talking about the LGBT community yet I see many parallels between this and disability representation. That our stories aren't the typical narrative of life due to illness or disability and this seems to be a similar thing in reality.   

Disablity media and fantasy world's

  Farewell to Shadowhunters: Harry Shum Jr. Talks Malec Heartbreak - YouTube This is a really interesting clip as it shows the actor having a deep understanding of what the character he plays goes through. There is an interesting line when he says everyone is happy for his partner but no one is reaching out to his character, and there he goes to family yet his family isn't the best for him and he knows it.  This is so familiar in disability that it hurts, that it's not going away yet people want to push down the pain of it so hard, especially around what people expect of someone with a disability, to have a "normal," life and what is a normal life.  This for people with disabilities is such a loaded question as we aren't a monolith or even have similar viewpoints.  We are at increased risk of abuse and exploitation and understanding this is a huge step forward to accepting that we are one group that we do need help and understanding to see our place in the world a