Stephanie -- web designer,
Sorry it has taken me so longer to get back to you. The weekends are the busiest time for me.
I appreciate your asking me nicely to remove the manips I made a few months ago -- it was it only a month ago? -- instead of sending me a cease and desist letter. I have removed the manips as you have asked and I have no problem with doing so. I would like, however, to tell you why I made them.
That story arc -- the Shannon on the school café table giving her speech -- was so offensive to me by how unbelievable it was, making the manips was my way of venting my frustration. As someone who would be classified as "Special Needs" by Lynn Johnson's standards -- that she presents in the strip -- I was offended. It was not my intention to hurt Stephanie’s — niece — feelings. I created the manips to vent my frustration. The storyline was so unbelievable, if that had happened in any school in any country a teacher or adult would have been there to put a stop to it and calm Shannon down — where is her TA anyway? The students would not have stood around and listened to it. I understand now that this did happen in reality but it was done in a drama class, which is much more understanding. Why is Shannon’s “disability” blamed on her having her cleft palate fixed at age four? Clearly, there is something more wrong with her than that, she was 17 when April first met her, wasn’t she? Now she’s how much older? Her entire disability was blamed on her cleft palate? It is so much more than that. She got lost in a card store for goodness sake, that’s not a cleft palate disability. It’s insulting, it should be explained what’s really wrong with her, more than she had a cleft palate, and not (on) a school café table.
I had intended to go into why Stephanie’s — niece — feelings should be hurt by the way her aunt is exploiting and patronizing her but I know that’s been said elsewhere already so I will not.
Thank you for hearing me,
Adrianne