Pyromania Centered Blogs

idk who needs to hear this rn but suffering is not noble. take the tylenol

okay now how the fuck do we make friends in the tumblr disabled community T-T

should I make a list like other communities do sometimes?

if you - have ADHD - have had a TBI or brain damage caused by multiple concussions - are plural (origin doesn't matter just please tag sys/course and don't talk to us about it) - have sensory sensitivities - use AAC (we usually don't but need to sometimes) - have high support needs (we don't but explicitly don't want to be friends with only low support needs people) - are neuropunk, madpunk, and/or c-punk (we can only ID wit neuropunk and madpunk as far as we know but want friends across all) - have hyperphantasia (not a disability that I know of but definitely impacts ours)

you should follow and say hello!! you can also do that if you're not on this list lol, these are just specific things we thought of

So, I have a morbid curiosity issue but also OCD and anxiety, so sometimes, when I fall down a rabbit hole of something just a bit too creepy (especially when it comes with creepy pictures, like this schoolboy9 thing,) I find myself irrationally afraid of stupid things. Like twenty-ish minutes ago, I was afraid of seeing that schoolboy9 guy in my closet if I got up to go to the bathroom. I knew it was irrational, but I was too scared of that to get up. So here's a solution that worked for me;

Reaction content for kids under twelve.

Seriously. Azzyland, Kyutie, and Reaction Time, Azzyland and Reaction time slightly more but Kyutie does have some more adult-geared content if you'd prefer that. I just watch a couple videos and boom, I'm feeling better and I can get up and do what I need to do. I recommend it.

(Also, those merging games! I know there's a trick with Tetris, where if you see something scary you can play Tetris for a while and it helps you forget whatever than thing was, but I've never been good at Tetris. But merge gemstones games, like Candy Crush or, my favourite, Enchanted Kingdom; Eliza's Adventure, those help me take my mind off of whatever I saw. Plus they're easier.)

When I was a kid I kept failing classes because I'd lose my homework. I'd finish it, but between the dining room table and the classroom it would just walk away. Sometimes it ended up in my backpack, sometimes it didn't; sometimes I finished the homework at school and it got home in my backpack but wasn't there the next day.

To attempt to address this, my parents got me a neon orange folder to put in my backpack; it was my homework folder, all homework was to go into that folder and that folder only, and it was to only come out of that folder when it was being worked on. I was to put homework in the homework folder as soon as it was assigned and if I'd worked on it, put it back in the folder as soon as it was finished. The logic here was that using the folder was supposed to be automatic, and you wanted a bright color so it wouldn't get lost in the depths of a backpack.

I think I lost about eight of those before my parents stopped buying orange folders.

So it was very frustrating to search "how to be organized at work as an adult with ADHD" only to get a list that said "set alarms and write things down and try to make friends with a more organized person" which was immediately followed by tips to help your ADHD child stay organized and the one right at the top was to put their homework in a bright folder so they couldn't lose it.

If you have been harmed by the ADHD Tips Industrial Complex you may be entitled to a packet of fun-dip and a cactus cooler as consolation for losing your homework folder again.

I love the Young Justice Barbara Gordon

[Plain text: I love the Young Justice Barbara Gordon.]

(Keep in mind that I am not paraplegic, just a nerd)

I was never the biggest fan of the original Killing Joke storyline (and I will fight people on this,) but I think Young Justice managed to turn it into a plot that wasn't actually bad. In fact, they did a lot of things really well.

The original storyline, The Killing Joke, gave Barbara Gordon waist-down paralysis after the Joker shot her. The problem with that is that he shot her in the stomach at an extremely close range, the muzzle of the gun literally pressed to the middle of her stomach. At that close a range, depending on the gun and bullet, he probably shattered half of her spinal cord, if not more. The thing about shatter injuries to the spinal cord is that they cause more complications in upper-body mobility than other spinal injuries. If a significant portion of her spinal cord was shattered, Barbara wouldn't be as good as she is at fighting. The damage would cause problems in the rest of her body. And then, of course, everyone is grieving for her and so sad that she'll never walk again and have to retire and I'm pretty sure Batman does something drastic? And that's... really not a plot non-disabled writers should go for.

However, in Young Justice, it's completely different. Barbara saw Cassandra Cain, who was unidentifiable but very small so obviously a young child, going after Joker with a sword, so she chose to get between the child and her target to prevent Cass from doing something that could never be taken back. She took the slash, which hit her lower back, just above her tailbone, so that it didn't go to Joker's neck. And the other characters handled it well. Nightwing was a bit panicked, of course, but that's because Barabara had a severe injury that was life-threatening. Batman, knowing that Nightwing had called for a medical evacuation and that he was handling first aid, took the sword from a terrified Cassandra ever so gently, and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Cassandra was horrified, of course, but it was because she'd just hurt someone who wasn't her target severely, not because Barbara was now disabled. And then Barbara tells her that she didn't do it to save Joker, she did it to save Cass. And Cass is horrified and probably hates herself in the moment, sure, but that memory later becomes something that strengthens her. Cass gets kidnapped in that episode and remembering that during her captivity helps her. It's a memory of the woman who would later become her older sister and one of her best friends. She knows that Barbara, the woman who has done so much for her, will help her. She won't rest until Cassandra is safe, even if it means coming after her herself.

I also really like how the plot handled this. Number one, we don't know off the bat why Barb is paralyzed, it doesn't come up until it's relevant, she's just paralyzed. And when it does come up, it's not a tragedy, it's Barbara risking her life to save the soul of a child who didn't understand the moral consequences of what she was about to do. She chose to do that and she would do it again. That's a really interesting way of subverting the exhausted "disabled by an accident" trope, because yes, it was an accident on Cass's part, but Barbara knew she was probably going to get badly hurt. It's similar to a character running into a burning building to save someone else. They accept the potential consequences because they couldn't live with themselves if they didn't help. She took the risk, she knew what could happen, which is so much better than her having no choice and being shot. It's far less tired an idea and a very interesting spin that I quite like.

Going back to the injury, let's get in-depth about that. I mentioned how a shatter would impact her upper body, too. But the way she was injured in Young Justice, which was probably severing the connection between two very low vertebrae or possibly cutting a vertebra itself if Cass put enough force behind it, makes sense. It wouldn't have as much a major impact on her upper body, so it makes sense that she can throw the person who snuck up on her like it's easy. Barbara can be an excellent hand-to-hand fighter and it's not unexplainable. We don't see her exercising in her chair, likely because she has the wrong chair for both exercising and her disability (she has a hospital-type wheelchair instead of a lightweight chair, which is, I think, just poor research,) but she clearly still does because she's still extremely good.

Also, I like how there's no cure plot. The show might still be ongoing so I don't know if that'll last, but for now, she hasn't been cured and shows no desire to be. The comics would occasionally have her paralysis cured and thank the gods they didn't go with that, even with a character (we won't get into the absolute disaster of Violet Harper here) who could, in theory, heal her, and I love that. For some reason writers are afraid of keeping their disabled characters disabled, so I'm surprised and glad they didn't take the easy out.

Finally, I love that Oracle is still able to do field work with special equipment. Does she go onto the actual field herself? No, not really. But she uses small drones and other things to help out, such as the tiny drone that gave Cass a lock pick or her hacking into systems to protect her allies from security measures. Babs doesn't need to stop being a superhero because she's disabled but also doesn't suddenly use a mech or something, she just finds ways to work with her new circumstances to keep doing what she wants to do, just in a different way. She's still a massive threat to her enemies, just in a different way, utilizing talents she already had (Barbara is extremely intelligent and very creative) to continue to help people.

TL;DR, I really, really like how Young Justice handled Barbara Gordon. If we must have more characters disabled in accidents, this is a very good way to do that.

Man, I’m going to have to put something like ‘lifters don’t interact’ on klepto things going forward, aren’t I? Like it really sucks, but they make actual!kleptos look shittier than we already are and I don’t want people to think the two are the same thing.

Is there anyone else who doesn't remember the "before my TBI" time? Like, you were super young (I was eighteen months) when the TBI happened, and there was never really a "before" for you, this has just always been your reality?

I will never forget the time I was on the bus and I heard some middle school-sounding kid say to his friend "Stop being so autistic, Sam," using autism as an insult.

And another kid, presumably Sam, said "But I am autistic."

That one... that really stuck out to me. An autistic kid having his own disability thrown at him as an insult. Every time I see someone use autistic as an insult, or "acoustic" and "artistic," I think of Sam.

I feel like people forget that pediatric illnesses generally last into adulthood like…childhood cancer survivors often have medical complications for the rest of their (adult) lives. My juvenile arthritis will be around when I’m 75. Crohn’s disease, cystic fibrosis, congenital heart defects - all of these things, when acquired in childhood, have lifelong complications. Childhood diseases aren’t just cute, happy kids smiling from hospital beds. Theyre pain and suffering and learning to live differently forever.

A list of pyromania symptoms one might experience.

Not a guide to diagnosis.

- the urge to ignite flames.

You most likely will feel the urge to start fires in some way, be it activating a lighter repeatedly or creating bigger flames by burning things. The urge can feel like an itch in the brain, a stretch in your fingers or just the sudden need to grab a lighter or fire source. It can be very intense at times, making it hard to resist the impulsion to do so.

- the urge to touch flames

Some experience the impulse to attempt touching fire. From putting your fingertips to a candle or lighter flame to putting your hand on a campfire or bonfire. This of course is a pretty dangerous and possibly self harming urge to have but the majority of the time the intent isn't to harm but simply to feel the warmth and sting of holding fire.

- satisfaction in fire

Many feel relief, relaxed or even euphoric once they've started fire. For many, fire is a sort of stimuli almost nothing else can give them. Watching a small flame dance or watching fire eat away ant kindling can be enough to satisfy the crave in their brain for that stimuli, however for some that still won't be enough, thus why the most commonly known pyromaniacs tend to be people who create much bigger fires than anything.

- stress or depression

More often than not you may feel mood swings due to the lack of stimuli your brain craves from fire. Going without it for long can cause some sort of distress that manifests differently for everyone and can become more intense the longer you are letting your brain crave to give in to the impulses. For some this comes as a depressive episode, high stress levels, anxiety episodes, paranoia and so on, often influenced by any possible conditions one might have in addition to pyromania or simply influenced by their environment. This can cause someone to lash out, isolate and shut down or even lead to them creating a bigger fire to relieve all that distress.

- lacking control

When struggling with an impulse based disorder like pyromania, you may experience a lack of control over your impulse, starting fire and lighting things without thought and being quick to give in to urges. For some this lack of control can be small, they are able to resist the impulses better than others, but for some this lack of control is large and they struggle intensely with the urge to start flames.

- feeling drawn

Many feel obsessed over or lured to fire and flames, an almost intense affinity of some kind for all things related to fire.

- purposeful sparks

Most fires pyromaniacs set are on purpose and if you have pyromania you likely experienced setting more than one or two fires on purpose.

- excitement

Plenty feel a rush of some kind just before starting a fire, almost a thrill in the anticipation or excitement at the idea of the act. Some feel this as glee towards the relief fire gives them. Very rarely is this ever sexual, if it were it would be pyrophilia, a different condition.

- hoarding

Some collect fire related materials like matches and lighters or candles due to their fascination for fire and always feeling the impulse to start one. Some may carry a lighter at all times just to watch the flame in small moments when the urge starts bothering them during the day. It's not uncommon to find a lot of candles or different lighters in there home in varieties, often a range of used, empty or new lighters. Some even keep all their lighters instead of throwing them away after they've emptied.

Unfortunately there is still a lot of research yet to be done about pyromania, it's causes and it's symptoms as it is not a very common disorder to have. Some even call it rare.

This does not mean that very little is currently known, plenty is known about the disorder so far and I intend on sharing as much as I can and making the knowledge as publicly available for free as possible, but there is quite a bit still yet to know.

I'm sure there are symptoms I missed for example.

While I have the disorder myself I am not a professional, nor in the medical field, and so there is much I myself may miss.

While I'm not an expert, I am open to answering questions and discussing as much as possible.

@clusterrune @delightfulweepingwillows @hewasanamericangirl