You got a nice village. [Dan threads another needle and starts to sew the edges of one of the miniature buttonholes to keep it from ripping.] Reckon we need more nice villages like that in the world. Most of the places I been ain't nearly so accommodating.
[Dan's had to get very good at accommodating himself, at developing workarounds and excuses and backup plans, and even with his sharp mind and his decades of experience navigating a world that expects literacy from him, he still exists on the margins. He still feels like he's distinct from society, someone who engages with it but isn't in it. He still feels a profound sense of being unwanted and unaccommodated, of being inconvenient because of his shortcomings. He still feels like no one ever stops to think about the help he might need.
It's not just the literacy, but it's probably most pointed there. So he thinks he does understand a little bit about what it must be like to be small in a world of giants, what it's like to just not be considered, what it's like to need accommodations and have to be the one to self-advocate and find workarounds and never know if being forthcoming will be treated with respect or will be treated as a weakness to exploit. It's a hard position to be in, and it's vulnerable, and Dan hasn't met a person yet who enjoys being vulnerable.
But, unlike Branch, he also has the opportunity to keep that handicap hidden from most people.]
Thank you. I appreciate it. [He sees the trustworthiness as a gift too.] A few folks know already, but it ain't what I want people to remember me for, you know? Anyway.
[He shows the buttonhole to Branch for approval. It's not as tidy as he'd like, due to the small size and the fact that his hands shake a lot these days, but it'll do the trick.]
You found a place to post up in the Pole that feels safe?
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[Dan's had to get very good at accommodating himself, at developing workarounds and excuses and backup plans, and even with his sharp mind and his decades of experience navigating a world that expects literacy from him, he still exists on the margins. He still feels like he's distinct from society, someone who engages with it but isn't in it. He still feels a profound sense of being unwanted and unaccommodated, of being inconvenient because of his shortcomings. He still feels like no one ever stops to think about the help he might need.
It's not just the literacy, but it's probably most pointed there. So he thinks he does understand a little bit about what it must be like to be small in a world of giants, what it's like to just not be considered, what it's like to need accommodations and have to be the one to self-advocate and find workarounds and never know if being forthcoming will be treated with respect or will be treated as a weakness to exploit. It's a hard position to be in, and it's vulnerable, and Dan hasn't met a person yet who enjoys being vulnerable.
But, unlike Branch, he also has the opportunity to keep that handicap hidden from most people.]
Thank you. I appreciate it. [He sees the trustworthiness as a gift too.] A few folks know already, but it ain't what I want people to remember me for, you know? Anyway.
[He shows the buttonhole to Branch for approval. It's not as tidy as he'd like, due to the small size and the fact that his hands shake a lot these days, but it'll do the trick.]
You found a place to post up in the Pole that feels safe?