Living up to patterns, and what it gets you

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Warning: this is (1) absent-minded and rambling, (2) specific to the TV!verses, and (3) by TV!verses I mostly mean the one from the 90s.

Was Zoey Clark cosplaying Prank?

I mean, she clearly didn’t want to be Megan Lockhart, the badass private investigator who helped the police catch notorious serial killer James Jesse.

But she was just as clearly trying to match up with a previously existing persona. She didn’t try to run with the idea of “I’m not Prank, I’m something better”; it was more “I’m something better, and I’m still Prank just like you wanted.” It’s trying to fit into the role she already knows Jesse likes.

(And then there’s Axel. Talk about trying to fit into a role that you already know Jesse likes. (This is possibly related to my headcanon that Axel, who I can only imagine was an utterly starstruck teen, daydreamed or wrote RPF about Jesse.))

Back to Zoey: it feels a little like she’s recreating the original with more love and attention than the concept/identity was given the first time around. As someone who’s written tens of thousands of words about a character who–for the longest time–had less than five minutes of screentime, I feel like there’s something there worth poking at. It seems like a very fannish thing to do.

(Do I need to put in a disclaimer that I’m talking about the techniques, not the end goals? I hope not.)

It’s also interesting to me that the people that the Trickster gets interested in, the ones who we see catch his attention and who he wants to be around? They’re overwhelmingly the ones who actively dislike him. Megan, 90’s Barry, a hint of it starting around Iris… Compare that to how little attention Zoey and Axel get.

There’s something there I feel it might be worth turning over; some idea that the Trickster (I’m not sure if I could generalize to the other personas James Jesse used) is more likely to notice people who go against the grain of what he expects, and more likely to want to fix them into what he wants, because they’re obviously interesting or real.

I've been thinking up an AU where all the mains on the Flash are disabled and use aids and/or adapti

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This concept is wonderful! Here’s my take on it - with headcanons for each character’s impairments and the assistive tech they use. (I got @stungunmilly2′s approval to do this, since it was their idea!) I’ve gone with canon-divergent or canon-relevant impairments for a lot of them - you could go WAY more diverse with disability types than this… but you know canon-friendly me.

Barry Allen - still mobility-impaired after his injury from Zoom. Even a speedster’s spine doesn’t fully heal from something like that (as Caitlin hinted in canon that it might not). For a year, he used a wheelchair. Now the injury causes him chronic pain, and he has to walk with a cane whenever he’s not tapping into the speed force. Even when he is, every second of running still hurts. He uses a wheelchair when he’s overdone it with the running - which is a lot. Oh, and he also has ADHD.

Iris West-Allen - is now visually impaired, due to a meta attack. She regularly reminds ableist bastards that “I’m not Daredevil” and that her other senses have not magically got stronger to ‘compensate’. She uses a white cane that Cisco’s rigged to give her complex tactile signals in advance of oncoming barriers or dangers. It took a long time for her to learn to use it, though, and there were many frustrations. She took them in stride because she’s Iris fucking West-Allen, but she still struggles, even if she’s not always good at talking about it. She co-runs Team Flash with Cisco now, since he’s often grounded by migraines. They’re both in Barry’s ear, with Cisco watching and Iris leading on strategy.

Cisco Ramon - has the migraines they’ve alluded to in canon (gets them at least weekly), plus other neurological damage caused by the use of his powers. He’s designed a machine he can sit in, for a couple of hours a week, that regenerates some of his neurology and takes the edge off (if he remembers to use it regularly) and allows him to continue to use his powers sometimes. He can’t be cured, though. Is a proud spoonie. Has a ‘chronic pain very gentle high five’ he does with Barry. He still goes out in the field as Vibe from time to time, but only when they really need him. He’s mostly busy coordinating with Iris now.

Hartley Rathaway - is Deaf (and an American Sign Language user). He’s a consultant to the team. Communicating with him is not easy, because most of them don’t know ASL. They’re all learning, but that takes a long time. Barry knows decent ASL because he has a Deaf cousin, but even he struggles with simultaneous translation, which is very challenging. Hartley doesn’t use hearing aids, these days - even the ones he’s designed himself bring many problems with them. Plus he’s an advocate of Deaf culture and just prefers not to use them. He uses a lightning-fast speech-to-text device that he designed himself, which produces spoken English. But he prefers not to, because “I don’t have to spend my life adapting to your language and culture, assholes - it’s way easier for you to adapt to mine. And you should, because Deaf culture is awesome. Also, multiple languages are the future. Learn some.” (Hartley is here because he’s my favourite sort-of disabled DC character, so there.)

Caitlin Snow - everyone in Team Flash would take seriously that she experiences DID and other mental health problems. (”Just because some of it was triggered by an evil science experiment, doesn’t make it any less neurodivergence,” is Caitlin’s statement on the matter.) They all also recognise that Killer Frost nonetheless has the right to be treated with respect, as an alter within the Caitlin-Frost system. Caitlin’s mix of mental health problems often come with a lot of fatigue, and she gets peopled-out. Barry and Cisco arranged a quiet room for her in the basement of STAR Labs - she goes there to sleep or meditate. Sometimes Hartley and Barry use it too. Every so often, someone will wander down to find all three of them asleep on the sofa. 

Harry Wells (e-2) - has PTSD. It was at his insistence that they established the STAR Labs trauma support group. As Caitlin puts it, “Given everything we’ve been through, is there a superhero among us who doesn’t have PTSD?” - and she’s not kidding. (Oliver Queen was the first non-Team Flash person to attend the group.)

Nora West-Allen - has ADHD and an autistic spectrum condition. She has a lot of meltdowns. A week after she joins the team, Cisco hands her a copy of the key to the STAR Labs quiet room and says, “You know, it might be time to set up a second one.” She grabs the key and says, “Oh, awesome! I’ve been hiding out in the time vault!” Cisco shudders loudly as he walks away…

Ralph Dibny - has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (connective tissue disorder that can make people… well, stretchy, but also brings a lot of other impairments.)* Dark matter may have made him even stretchier, but it didn’t take away his chronic pain or joint dislocations. Cisco designed him personalised splints (which hold his joints in place) and highly-engineered fibreglass crutches, on request. (Cisco may grumble about having to design assistive tech for everyone at STAR Labs, but he loves it really.) 

The people from the other teams: 

Felicity Smoak, who has used a wheelchair ever since her spinal cord injury, loves how accessible STAR Labs is. She visits often, wheeling in under the computer desk and logging on as Overwatch, especially when Cisco’s out in the field and Iris needs strategy team backup. “I’m the woman in the chair!” she says, and everyone pretends she’s never made that joke before. 

Oliver Queen hovers around STAR Labs like a shadow when he needs a support group meeting, and he never has to ask for it - most of Team Flash is suddenly available and interested, whenever he looks like he needs one. 

Curtis Holt often joins him, cheerfully reminding Barry and Nora to come along, and that neurodivergent people like them (and him) need to watch their mental health, especially under a lot of stress. 

Sara Lance (PTSD, bipolar) joins when she can. Each time she brings a different skeptical-looking Waverider crew member in tow. 

Speaking of the Waverider, it’s well-known as a haven for neurodivergent and disabled superheroes, who all love STAR Labs for its disability-positive atmosphere. Mick Rory is currently lobbying Sara Lance for a quiet room on the Waverider. He says it’s for Ray Palmer… Nate Heywood pops in to discuss haemophilia treatment options sometimes, since Gideon likes to try and persuade him to let her ‘cure’ him, and he thinks that sounds awful.

John Diggle is at the Labs a lot, too. He never recovered from his nerve damage, and Cisco and Caitlin put their heads together to develop an advanced treatment for chronic pain, delivered via an implant that needs regular maintaining by Caitlin. Barry and Cisco are always really encouraging and supportive about how you can still be a superhero in the field with chronic pain.

On occasion, Kara Danvers has even travelled from another universe just to hang out at the disability-positive STAR Labs. She hasn’t told many people on her earth that she has a sensory processing disorder (she can hear everything) and experiences long-term depression. She, Barry and Iris have had a lot of chats about workplace discrimination. Kara says she has two workplaces where she has to pretend to be a superhero – “even the one where I’m not officially one” – and never show any weakness or non-normalcy. “It could be catastrophic for people to lose faith in Supergirl, but it wouldn’t be much better for Kara Danvers if her bosses did.” Iris totally gets that, as a disabled woman - and she tells Kara about her different, specific experiences as a disabled woman of colour. And then the team all take Kara out for drinks in the more accessible parts of Central City. They all know the neurodivergent-friendly bars, and they don’t blink when she puts on very high-tech noise-cancelling headphones. (”Yeah,” Cisco sighs, “those are my designs, too.” And then Ray Palmer turns around to ask him what ideas he’s got for assistive tech for visual sensory overload and visual stress…)

*Credit for the Dibny headcanon goes to @bold-sartorial-statement. I wouldn’t love sharing an impairment with him, but it does make sense! She also reminded me that Cisco has been shown with migraines in canon. Thanks :)

Tagging people who might like… @pinkletterday @yesokayiknow @hiverforesteevee @arodrwho @wintertruffles @jewishgarygreen @zariadriannatomaz @lacommunarde @terrayoung …I know I will have forgotten someone - sorry!