The reaction to Jake Lloyd’s illness has made me so angry. Seriously. For every supportive article, there’s a clusterfuck of cruel, mocking, ableist comments (this small sample is not even the worst of them) and I am also mentally ill and I am sad and I am furious.
Does the problem lie with nerd culture? Does the problem lie with Star Wars fans? (Bit of overlap between those two, I know.) Does the problem lie with society in the general, and its innate ableism? God knows. But I am incredibly disillusioned with Star Wars fandom, I really am.
(You can donate to Star Wars Fans for Jake Lloyd here, if you wish. Also, help us flood the Internet with support for him? God knows, he could use it.)