FedSearch - Federated network search engine

TheBird · @TheBird

1286 followers · 1755 posts · Server ni.hil.ist

I want to talk about disability representation and healing in Legend of Korra.

I know Legend of Korra only calls the poison "metal" and doesn't ever identify it, but based on these facts:

1. silvery-grey
2. Is in liquid form at room temperature
3. Causes neurological symptoms
4. Causes inability to feel limbs
5. Causes inability to walk or loss of coordination and/or balance
6. Vision problems
7. Severe pain

This all fits with Mercury poisoning. Now mercury poisoning is a slow neurotoxin killer. It has to build up over time in order to kill someone, which is why Zaheer and his lackeys put a shit-ton of it into Korra. She had to have so much in her blood for it to work fast enough to actually take her down in the Avatar state. This also accelerated her symptoms.

And it's why she is in a wheelchair unable to move or feel her legs, why she has neurological issues afterward, and why it takes her so long to recover and learn how to walk and have coordination and balance again.

Mercury poisoning if left in the system for a long time can cause kidney and brain damage; however, lucky for Korra it's not in her system long enough. Barely an hour or so I think? It's hard to say about passing of time in that show, but Team Avatar and others got to her pretty fast. So that means it wasn't in there long enough for permanent brain and kidney damage.

However, she'd still need to be regularly checked for any neurological issues that might pop up overtime. This could include vision problems, nerve issues such as nerve pain or tenderness or numbness, tingling in her extremities, and others more specific to the brain or nervous system within her spine.

This doesn't mean she'd die at a young age. A person with these issues can live to a ripe old age as long as they continue to be monitored and given the care they need. Korra has that care with all the people who loves her, and I'm positive Asami would make sure Korra has the best care in the world (considering Asami's wealth). So Korra could easily live to an old age with Asami.

She would still be able to do Avatar duties as well, even if she ends up with some neurological issues down the line. She just needs to adjust her approach to compensate and allow others to aid her in her duties (like Asami helping her and the brothers and Air Nation, etc). It's okay to rely on others.

This is all to say that Korra is disabled now, and that's okay. Disabled people like myself exist and we deserve love and care too. We deserve to THRIVE. There is nothing bad or evil about disability.

I know that our society tries to shove 'disability=bad' down our throat, but that's to justify the horrific treatment society does to us.

Anyone can become disabled at any time. Maybe that might instill fear into some people, but I can assure you that it doesn't have to be scary. If we build systems of care instead of systems of harm, we wouldn't have to fear becoming disabled because that system of care -- like the one Korra has at the end of the show -- would help us thrive to the best of our ability.

We deserve those systems of care. We deserve love. We deserve good healthcare, housing, food, and other necessities for free/low-cost.

We don't have to live in systems of exploitation that throw away our lives because the capitalist overlords deemed us non-productive and worthless. We can take their shitty ideology and throw it in the wastebin.

And instead build up communities of care and mutual aid. We see how Korra's PTSD and her symptoms improve once she is back in the circle of her community of care with Asami, Mako, (eventually Bolin), Tenzin, Jinora, Ikki, Meelo, Pema, Kya, Bumi, and even the Beifong family and Lin. All of them provide care and support. Through that community of care, Korra learns how to thrive again.

That is what we need to build up. That's why I love her arc.

I too went through that dark period of pain and isolation. I too ran from my PTSD, literally as in ran to a different state to escape it, which like Korra discovers, doesn't quite work out well. We can't escape it. We have to face it and CHOOSE to heal.

It is ONLY when we CHOOSE to heal that we experience true growth. We don't learn and grow because of suffering in or itself. That's a lie told to us by society to get us to stay in suffering, to not choose to heal, to not choose to end the exploitation that hurts us.

No, we learn and grow because of the CHOICE to heal and build ourselves up in a healthier and more just and kinder and more loving way. Often, we make that choice because we have support to aid us in that healing, to give us what we need to follow-through.

Growth and learning cannot happen until we choose them.

Korra choose to heal when she's with Toph, and in doing so, she reconnects with her community of care, who in turn helps her recover and helps her learn to thrive again. So no matter what the long-term repercussions of mercury poisoning is for Korra, she will have her community of care to help her get through that and continue to thrive.

That is what I wish all disabled people could have.

#korrasami
#LegendOfKorra
#AvatarKorra
#TLOK #Korra #TheLegendOfKorra
#writing
#disability #disabled
#DisabledRepresentation
#MercuryPoisoning
#Healing #CommuntiesOfCare