I remember when the broken code first came out and people speculated that Bramblestar had rabies or a rabies-like disease. While that could make a great horror story, even a kid's horror story, I would never trust the warrior cats writing team with something so real and dangerous. And then seeing this is how they treat seizures, it's just so irresponsible
Surprised that they haven’t had a rabies case/arc in Warriors so far. Across all the books has it even had a passing mention? The closest was the sickness in DotC but I don’t think that’s what it was. Rabies is terrifying and I think they live in a rabies free setting so maybe I shouldn’t be that surprised. 🤷♂️
@@SunneyRabbit Apparently google has spoken 'It's not found in the UK, except in a small number of wild bats.' Since the books are or were originally based in England due to the Forest Territories... probably don't have rabies there ig? Except there were some wild bats so it does exist but has the books ever even mentioned bats?
I honestly forgot about Shadowsight having seizures and I think it’s because of how poorly written it was that I kinda retconned it out of my interpretation of Shadowsight. All they had to do was have the cats put moss or something soft under the victim’s head, roll them on their side, give them a quiet space with nothing they can injure themselves on and sit by them quietly comforting the cat until the seizure subsided.
This. Right here. Plus a little extra they mishandled entirely. *I* have seizures irl. One of my puppies had a seizure when she was little. We only knew what to do because my own mother works with disabled kids and knew *exactly* what to do and what not to do because of it. I had to teach my own friend, who reads Warriors, not to hold me down if I have a seizure. I had to teach my own *girlfriend* not to do that for the same reason. This *does* have an impact on what people learn about what to do and what not to do with people in this scenario. There's also the topic of religion being tied to it. Long and short, it *shouldn't.* Seizures in the past were tied to religion, leading to neglect when it came to researching the topic because "They're just blessed with prophecy." And before anyone says anything about how that's an old belief, *people still believe this.* I'd know since I have to argue with my own relatives about taking medication for my seizures because, and I quote, "Taking those pills is rejecting your lord and savior. He has blessed you, and you're rejecting him." alongside all the promises of, you know, *burning in hell* whenever it comes to rejecting a religion. To portray seizures as something religious is harmful since it's making that "okay" to believe. They just need to not tie seizures to that. Like, ever again. And maybe do some research on what seizures really are like, and what to do when someone has one. Because it's clear they did *not* do that here.
I never knew that they had been associated with religious prophecies before. The whole situation is not good all around with Shadowsight specifically :l
I do think there is a way they could rewrite the books in reprint to fix it- having jayfeather instead tell the other cats to get moss bedding to cushion the area around the cat having a seizure That way the scenes wouldn't be changed drastically but instead show a more accurate way to treat seizures
Wasn't it once said that the cats technically have seizures when receiving a prophecy? I wonder how, in-universe, they differentiate a cat having a prophecy (before being told it was a prophecy) from a cat having a regular seizure then? If at all...but with the way Warriors is written I doubt they even thought about that when creating this scenario honestly ¬_¬
As someone with epilepsy, I remember being so confused/put off by how Shadowsight's seizures were handled. It really isn't that hard to do some damn research, hell even ask a doctor/someone who has seizures to see how to properly handle this stuff and write it in the books. Goddamn.
This is why I say "if you're gonna make a character with an extreme disorder, do your research". Like, if I'm going to even write a character with rabies in WC, I'll research the various stages of rabies and how it affects the cat/if cats even get rabies that often. It's so I can write it out to describe it better as well as make sure I'm not offending anyone doing it. Now onto seizures specifically: if they were to introduce some character who was possibly doing an ominous "watching from the shadows" thing who then jumps in to do what you actually should do in the case of a cat having a seizure, that would be pretty amazing. They think this loner is out to hurt this cat who's already in a bad position, but they're keeping the medicine cats from doing worse. They really need to fix bad writing like this. They need to look up how things work before writing them to prevent it from getting bad.
@@BugsyBugYT Mishandling of mental/physical disorders (for lack of better words) is one of my greatest gripes with the series. Like, please, at least teach the medicine cats how to properly treat cats who are having seizures. Even if it were just a "whoop-dee-do, we retconned out the bad handling of it" it would be better than doing nothing.
If I write a character with disorders I personally have I still do research because I know I can accidentally portray something poorly too. It’s not that hard! The fact that they can’t do that or even hire someone to check their writing for this kind of stuff specifically is appalling. I’m still salty over how they ruined Moth Flight (I have ADHD) after she had kits. She was so wonderful… Basically, able bodied or not, do research anyway. Find out what’s wrong, what’s offensive, what’s true, and anything else you can, and then have someone else (preferably someone with experience with/that has that certain disability) check it as well. And listen to disabled voices above able-bodied voices 😤 (And I’m sorry if able-bodied is the wrong term, I’m still adjusting to accepting that I _am_ disabled even though my disabilities are mental (besides my eyesight lol), so I don’t know all the proper terminology quite yet 💛 if there’s a better one absolutely lmk!)
I'm going to share my experiences here. I remember a time when I was home alone and my pet ferret was having horrible seizures before she passed away. It was one of the most traumatizing experiences in my life. The way Warriors treats this is completely horrible, and I will not tolerate it. However, I do think they did handle one scene alright in my opinion. In the novella Cloudstar's Journey, there was an elderly cat named Petalfall who suffered from epilepsy before she died. No cat was trying to hold her down during a seizure, but SkyClan's medicine cat, Fawnstep, waited for the convulsions to ease and comforted Petalfall. Then she used poppy seeds to put her to sleep. However, the way the books handled the later seizure incidents really gets under my skin. No person should ever think this is okay. Please take my opinions with a grain of salt, as I have never had a seizure before, but this was certainly a well put together video. This very much needs to be addressed to the authors.
Sorry to hear about your ferret. It’s always hard to lose a pet. I was reading about Petalfall before so I had a full understanding of how seizures appeared in Cloudstar’s Journey. Weird how it sort of back slid into what we have now. It might have been written by someone else. That was back in 2013 while Tawnypelt’s Clan and Raging Storm were 2019 and 2018 respectively.
It's definitely sad and actually says a lot that Vicky, the one who wrote CJ, knows how to write how to handle seizures better than whatever the fuck this current team has been doing with Puddleshine and Shadowsight. Like, ik they don't reread their books or something but THAT is even more frustrating, how do you screw up something that was done correctly RIGHT THERE.
It seems like the list of things that could be helped by hiring a sensitivity reader is growing daily. I think the additional portrayal or seizures as associated with religious visions can be really problematic with the history of people with epilepsy being seen as “blessed with prophecy.” Historically, the disease was called “the Holy disease,” which led to a neglect in research and treatment of it. Warriors is consistently having severe problems with portrayals and concepts that I’d accept with a newer series by a younger author, but these books are written by a team and have been going for almost 20 years. It’s past time for them to hire some sort of consultant or to get some sensitivity readers. At this point, it feels more like negligence than anything.
Well the cats are shown to be superstitious, and honestly it makes sense. People used to think this was okay. the cats may have "Docters" But they are clearly not on par with human medical professionals.
@@tell-me-a-story- Not really… it’s less that they are shown as superstitious and more that they are portrayed as cats with a cat-like understanding of the world. Additionally, the problem is that their cat understanding of Shadowsight’s disability is never questioned, or shown to be incorrect. The cats are *religious,* and their treatment of Shadowsight’s seizures is tied into this. It’s not helpful in representation, and any sensitivity reader could have told them this.
_Maybe_ it could've been interesting if other cats thought Shadowsight's epilepsy was a blessing, but he was frustrated that they weren't giving him the help he needed.
I hope if we have to deal with seizures again, that they try to use the holding down method and if just spirals out of control, so that forces the medicine cats to learn to not do that ever again
sigh. i trully wanna say there is no reason for it honestly. because it has been established many times over and over again that the cats are made to be furry people with four legs, the writters simply took from life and by that i mean: by their gross misconseptions of a medical emergency many people have had to deal with periodically. the writers wanting to write a seizure and thought what would one do? and thought of their very dangerous idea of what one would do. this could have been avoided. but no care was afforded and it is honestly so infuriating. epilepsy has been in my familly since i was born and both for my aunt and grandfather someone holding them down during a seizure is something they've had nightmares about
I'm so sorry that your aunt and grandad have nightmares about this issue! It is honestly disgusting what these authors chose to write about in these books. The issue of epilepsy is certainly a dangerous and traumatizing thing to experience, and them treating it as this strange quirk that signifies prophetic powers is ableism at its worst imo. Hope your family is still in good health! 💝
Tbh, I think they took inspiration for Shadowsights "seizures" was fivers visions in Watership down, where he is explained convulsing and constantly muttering his visions. They never say its a seizure in the books. The difference: when FIVER has a vision, no-one holds him down! They may steady him and let them know they're there, but they let his vision run his coarse. Fivers "seizures" I believe is more respectful towards the real like conditions. It is sadly fantasized, but the way Hazel and the rabbit treat seizures is more realistic and more SAFE FOR BOTH THEMSELVES AND OTHERS. If the Erin's wanted to truly TRULY depict this horrible condition and teach kids how to handle an animal handling a seizure, they need to look up how to care for a cat during one! Don't hold them down, let it run its course,and pet the kitten and let it know you're here and they're safe,then give them herbs to calm them once it's passed Which for warriors is simple: groom the cat, talk to them,then give them Thyme for the shock
I stopped reading Canon Warrior Cats when Dawn of the Clans came out. That being said, you are absolutely right about how they should be taken to task for giving out false information like its something that will actually help. However, I think that they should bring it up again, only this time with somecat being absolutely horrified by how they're holding the individual down, and have the cat say all of what you've said here for how it isn't the correct way to help people who have seizures.
I wish the book, and popular media in general, would acknowledge that there are different types of seizures. For example, I don't dramatically fall to the floor and have convulsions, I just freeze in a spot for a couple of minutes and am somewhat confused afterwards. From the outside it may look like I got lost in thought. The belief that all epileptic people must have convulsions is so strong that I weren't able to receive proper diagnosis and care until I was nearly 30.
This is not misguided of you at all. I think it’s very important what you said, I, a 25 year old woman, have never seen someone have a seizure, nor would I of known what to do. I think if they are going to put event such a seizures, but they must also put how to handle the seizures in a proper way. Yes it’s a book targeted to a younger demographic BUT the people reading the series are impressionable at that age. You never know them, saying, that in the book might just help somebody in the future. say later on when the person as a teenager, someone is having a seizure and they think about what experiences they have with that so unlikely maybe they’ll remember a book maybe they’ll remember in this book that it says not to hold down somebody having a seizure, maybe it could help them. Even though it a book it could help somebody.
Thank you for this! i started reading TBC recently and I genuinely didn't know the proper way to deal with a seizure before watching this video It's not likely that I'll have to take care of someone having a seizure but someone else might, and they may take example from these books.
As someone with a girlfriend who has epilepsy, I find this absolutely *revolting*. I hadn't read these books yet (I haven't gotten the chance; But I've gotten enough spoilers that I don't care at this point) and I didn't know about this. It's horrifying because this isn't some small thing that won't cause any harm. Like you said, young people who don't know any better read these books and could easily think that it's the appropriate way to handle these situations. It's such an easy thing to look up, and is INCREDIBLY important with how real the issue is. Thank you for making a video talking about this. A lot of people do brush these kinds of things off under the assumption that people just shouldn't listen to a book anyway. But it's still an author's job, especially when the books are read by young people, to not spread false information, especially on such important topics.
I have a very cynical perspective on Working Partners/the Erins/Warriors, mostly due to its nature as a paycheck fodder series that all contributors have little care for. It doesn't surprise me in the least that sensitive topics (neurodivergences, disabilities, xenophobia, sexism, age gap relationships, etc) are so poorly handled due to a never-ending streak of not giving a care about this series. Warriors practically prints money by being a large series of cat xenofiction aimed at kids just entering their edgy phases, not by being a creator's passion project with well-thought-out characters, plots, and worldbuilding that _happens_ to be for kids just entering their edgy phases. This is why plot and character arcs are so poorly executed; this is why cat biology is flirted with at best; this is why worldbuilding is either inconsistent or nonexistent; and this is why sensitive topics like this are so shoddily handled. They just don't _care._ And honestly? I've numbed myself to that, because I alone cannot do anything about it, save for a few things: - Tell others about their failures and fk-ups. You did your part here, Sunney, you told people that Warriors mishandles how to respond to an individual suffering from a seizure and informed those how to properly go about doing so. Plenty of others have done the same with other topics (albeit on varying levels of kindness and nuance). Our complaints about these books are immense, too big for even the Erins to go back and fix every single instance of it, but for the smaller infractions (like the ableist SFH line), something _can_ be done, and this could also be used going forward: - _Twist. HarperCollins'. Hands._ Does no one remember how only a few years ago, the fandom got an Erin booted from the team? If the entire community boycotted Warriors and the other works of Erin Hunter (including the merch!) and stated our demands ("hiring a sensitivity reader" could be among them), that might be enough to get HarperCollins to pay attention and let Working Partners handle things with more care. You can still _read_ Warriors during that time from libraries or pirated PDFs or audiobooks, but you shouldn't _buy_ any new books or purchase any minis or keychains or shirts or plushies or _anything_ until HarperCollins/Working Partners _does_ something about it. And if this happens, I want to remind people that this would take _time._ If a mass-boycott like this is successful in garnering HC/WP's attention, it's not going to be fulfilled within the span of two days or two weeks or two months that all of Warriors' fixable problems are fixed; mind you, ASC: Shadow is probably being finished up and Book Four is being written. This would take _a while._ Also, this "stating claims" does _not_ mean harassing anyone or sending death threats. We're better than that. It's easier to catch flies with honey than it is with vinegar. Give people room for change, dammit.
Well said! I'm glad people are finally starting to open their eyes to the harmful elements of these books. In the past, I feel like we've given the books too many excuses, or straight up misrepresented characters to try and make the writing less deplorable. I definitely think your plan could work to get Harper Collins attention, but another part of me just wishes for the books to be canceled all together, as I imagine that Harper Collins would just give up and abandon the series instead of putting actual work into improving the writing quality and themes. But that's just my opinion! We'll wait and see!
It's terrifying to see someone have a seizure especially if it's a loved one, my elder sister has them but not as much as when we were kids. It's scary to expenice and it's disgusting how warriors just treat as something like that.
I am not diagnosed officially with epilepsy, but had a grand mahl seizure a few years back and I still don’t have a diagnosis for why it happened. The first thing my loved ones did was take me to a doctor who would know what happened and know how to treat me. I wasn’t allowed to be on my own, especially outside, for 6 months following my seizure in the case that I had one and fell on the ground and injured myself. It would have been great to see Shadowsights friends and family helping him and supporting him afterwards rather than treating it like a gift or a “special” thing about him. Even though it turned out to be, I’m sure they were traumatic experiences for him and it would have been lovely to see him get that kind of support.
I had seizures up until kindergarten Heck I had my first Grandmal barely a year if that. There's more to seizures especially at that age, my mom always had to be careful if I was sick because I'd start seizing with a fever.
as someone with a cat that has epilepsy and has a few seizures every year thank you for making this video! pinning down anyone during a seizure but especially a small animal can potentially really hurt them and the authors are being extremely irresponsible showing it as an example on how to deal with seizures (unfortunately not the first time the wc writers have added potentially hurtful content in the books)
I don't buy the warrior books anymore. I mostly download them from my public library. That way if I read it and don't like it I can at least feel I didn't contribute money to that book. Granted not all of the books are in the Library but then I might go on Akira or Moonkiti and watch their overview on the books and decided for myself if their worth my time or money. Oncestar Novella especially, watching Akiras thoughts on the Onestar book made me glad I didn't invest any time reading it.
As someone whose family member has had a seizure before this is just appalling. I know someone might go 'yeah they know what it is but they might not know how to deal with it' yabababa shut the hell up. I highly doubt the cats would be that stupid, I think that the authors just thought it was.. funny.. or something? I don't even bloomin know. As Sunney stated, young children might think this is the right thing to do and seriously harm someone. This is just mad and extremely inappropriate. The Erin's are (mostly) all crazy, from treating seizures horribly to paedophilia. I really hate the authors.
I've always felt weird with people making designs of shadowsight where he has "different" eyes where he has one of his seizures as well, I find it odd.
I have myoclonic epilepsy, so I actively have seizures. Even a few days ago, I had three in a day. Terrifying experience, wouldn't it be? When I read Shadowkit's seizures it disgusted me. Back then I didn't have seizures, but now that I have (they have started around late 2021-early 2022), I realize how horribly and inaccurately written it was. Here are some personal tips for handling seizures. Please note that I may not know the full story, as most of the advice I had been given was during my epileptic attacks, but this is what I can do to the best of my ability. 1. *Call 911* or any medical hotline before doing ANYTHING. Do not attempt to handle it yourself if you are unsure what to do however you should turn the seizing person to their side or, what I more highly recommend, lift their body upwards so they do not choke on spit and, if they bit the inside of their mouth or their tongue, blood. 2. *Do not hold the seizing person down.* This is extremely dangerous especially for them, as I stated previously, they could choke on their spit and blood and even potentially die. Try not to lay the victim down but if you can't lift them upward serve it as a last resort and keep them on their side. 3. If they are seizing for longer than five minutes, *they should be carrying some special kind of nasal spray.* Good examples include diazepam and midazolam. Normally these will be FDA approved and it can stimulate the nasal nerves, thus slowing down or even stopping a seizure. 4. *Call any emergency contact.* For example I, myself, bring a bracelet on me that shares emergency contacts on it. It's very likely these contacts have a much greater idea on what to do than you do. 5. *If the epileptic person has a service animal, keep it leashed or close to them at all times.* Very likely if it is well trained, it will react quickly and alert nearby people when the person is close to having an epileptic attack. If they are already seizing, try not to keep the animal all up in their face but I still highly recommend keeping it close by. Do not listen to what a book tells you. Books can be manipulative or misleading.
I have had a seizure before! But it doesn't really apply to what we're talking about here. The seizure was strange and honestly not what you think of when you think of seizures. I won't say my whole experience here, because it's pretty long and confusing since I was out for most of it. All I can say is that how they deal with most illnesses, disablilities, and medical situations in warriors is GROSSLY undereducated and wrong in so many ways. But I'm almost certain it's not malicious. This was a mistake on the author's part, but I hope they apologize for the mishandling and replace it because that thing with Sandstorm was NOT COOL. Sandstorm from the first series- or any series for that matter, WOULD NEVER SAY THAT.
Recycling my comment from a Moonkitti video: You know how sometimes you'll hear about a teenager saving their friend because they learned how to make a tourniquet from reading the Hunger Games, or performed the Heimlich Maneuver after seeing Dan and Phil do it? I feel like Warriors is going to do the opposite. First it was encouraging kids to drown themselves to save others, now this.
TRUE the books portray medicine cats holding seizing cats down. and i think leafpool said something about a possibility of a cat choking on their tongue. makes me so upset
As someone who suffers from seizures myself I can definitely understand that the Warrior Cats team made a, bbig oopsie with this one. yYu shouldn't try to do things like this if you don't know what you're talking about, if you want to write into the books a cat who suffers from seizures the on its own is fine but, I agree the way the medicine cats dealt with it was totally wrong. You don't do that with someone who suffers from seizures, as I said I would know because I have epilepsy and that means I suffer from seizures, not all the time of course but, I do have one occasionally and, they are not meant to be dealt with the way the medicine cats dealt with them!
I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought it was disgusting. I used to work in the restaurant that also taught about health and safety. We were taught about seizures and we were told to NEVER hold someone down. Literally the first thing we taught there.
I never would have thought that holding someone down while having a seizure could be wrong, it sounded like it made sense, thank you for spreading awareness, now I'm questioning on whether you're supposed to put something in someone's mouth during a seizure to prevent them from biting off their tongue or swallowing it low and behold this practice could damage their jaw or teeth and swallowing their tongue is a myth I'm glad no one has ever had the bad luck and danger of a seizure around me who was terribly and dangerously misinformed id say sunny rabbit is doing starclans work, but sunny is arguably not a dictator ghost cat leading a xenophobic ablist cult
Ugh, THANK you. I would understand if they focused on the fact that they didn't have experience with seizures, so they thought it best to restrain them, only for Shadowkit to get a broken bone or something from that idea. Thus leading them to realize you shouldn't do that.
I remember the one time that I had a seizure. It was TERRIFYING, because my father has epilepsy, and I had been exposed to them from the age of 6, so I was terrified that I was starting to develop it, which given the fact that I have had to have brain surgery before was a completely logical progression to me at the time. Also! Thanks for standing up for those who have epilepsy. I'm not sure if father would actually care, but I am grateful for it.
It would probably be good if we had a scene of either Puddleshine or Shadowsight remember their seizures and the event of being held down as something awful and traumatizing. Then have them realize the correct way to handle a cat having a seizure.
Woah, I suffer from seizures but I was never treated because a doctor said I was pretending for attention (without any sort of tests) and my mother believed her, I was used to not be helped during mine, even in class most of the teachers just waited until I stopped having my seizure until I moved schools, I didn't realize how badly they were treated in warrior cats, thank you for this video! I'm only now informing myself on how dangerous seizures can get and its not something to be ashamed of, if only warrior cats had treated this topic better maybe I would have realized sooner
@@SunnyWings If medical professionals aren't believing you without thorough studies you should convince your mom for another check-in. That could potentially be very dangerous.
My cat had a seizure this evening (my first time personally dealing with one) and although I have known for a long time not to hold a seizing person or animal down, having watched this video recently meant the knowledge was fresh in my mind again, and I was able to better remember what to do and to stay calm. Charlie and I are going straight to the vet in the morning but for now he’s recovered and comfortable and hasn’t had any more seizures. Anyway, thanks for making this ^-^
I'm sad that they did it wrong my mom has seizures the first things she taught me was how to safely move them and that something needs to put a soft something to keep them safe
Listening to this made me tear up bc i've experienced two cats in my life have seizures, one of them by a miracle after having them all night survived and slowly recovered. The other one heartbreakingly did not make it we made him as comfortable as he could possibly get during it. It's not fun or great experience, it is scary and absolutely heart wrenching to witness so the way they write them in the book is awful
My dog started to have seizures when he was already pretty old (11), and usually when it happened my father just knealed next to him, kinda shielding him from our second dog, as of course that one was curious, while petting, and softly speaking to him until the seizure stopped. We never moved him while he had seizures, nor did we panic or run around. Everyone went quiet and my father just did his thing, as calm as possible to not scare my dog. Sadly the seizures were pretty much a warning, as the vet diagnosed my dog with a failing heart just 2 days after the first seizure and my dog passed within 2 weeks after that, as the medicine he got just wasn't enough to get him any better.
It sounded like the writers wanted to revive the prophecy seizures but backed out midway and made a trash portrayal of seizures in general. The writers just don’t understand disabled characters or people. If they did this “holding down” thing towards an autism-coded character series, this might end up making the writers worse than Sia with her movie “Music” and holding an autistic person down when they’re having a meltdown is considered dangerous and deadly. As someone who had a grandmother who had multiple strokes where it either erased her memories or killed her, If they write more characters with deadly strokes or write ones with strokes that give them some form of amnesia in a way that it’s just not taken seriously or brushed aside or treated poorly or done in such a quick and done way, I would advocate against buying from the series until the writers and publishers and editors get their act together and stop lying to fans. The fact that these editors and publishers saw this and are like “yeah this is okay to read by young readers” is such an oversight that should have gotten someone punished.
I read Cloudstar's journey a while back so I'm not too familiar with the details but one of the elders in it also suffers from seizures. I think her name was Petalfall and she had some sort of illness while she was deputy that led to her having seizures and she had to retire. I don't remember how they treated her seizures other than them giving poppy seeds for her to relax/fall asleep, there might have been other things too but I read it in my second language (Polish) so I didn't fully understand. All this is to say there might have been good representation(?? I doubt it tho lol, drugging her seems a bit odd) You would know better than me so I would recommend reading the chapters with her in it. It really is gross how they've treated them in other books, espescially since The Broken Code was released recently, they should really know better by now.
My mother, when she was a child, had seizures and through that she learned how to deal with them. My dog had a seizure when I was young, and my mother told me to make sure they were in a safe environment, away from any spot they could fall from, and make sure they get water, and that the patient usually doesn’t know what’s happening, and its basically the brain restarting (she might have said more but considering it was so long ago I can’t remember everything.) She also told me about different kinds of seizures, and that the one my dog was having wasn’t that serious. I agree that how Warriors dealt with this was very irresponsible and, considering how they deal with other situations, shouldn’t be in the books. Unless they get their act together and correctly portray it. (Edit): If they are having a very bad seizure, then definitely take them to the ER
I used to have seizures when I was little, and it terrifies me that Warriors is trying to say that holding someone down is a good way to deal with a seizure.
When I watched teh this video i almost cried about this little “ solution”. My father has seizures and that’s how I pretend to handle them and the people that have them. When I had to help with one of his seizures and thought of doing the same thing as the books(I hadn’t read them tho. I was a small child at the time) but thankfully my grandmother was there to stop me from doing it. Recently I have Been keeping away from him having seizures unless I’m the only one around. I hope that no one here is reading this comment doesn’t have the same problem as my father and that everyone is having a good day or night!
I want the Erin's to fix this . So bad. I WANT to like the warriors writers, I WANT to support the books, but this is unacceptable. Seizures are nothing to do no research on, and the fact they aren't doing anything about this traumatizing misconception is downright horrid.
As someone with epilepsy, I was happy to have a character that could show representation for me, but the holding down and the hinted at idea that Shadowsight was mentally ill because of his seizures and that his visions were fake BECAUSE of them rubbed me the wrong way… :(
This! I had a cat that had seizures in the later half of her life. I had no idea what to do, but common sense had me stay by her side and just pet and talk to her until she got up. She only had like 2, but if I could figure out how to keep her comforted without proper training, surely the writing team could have done a better job!
I have had seizures before and kinda forgot about this. I dont think they did research on it tbh, and i was never mad at them but it is irresponsible. If you hold someone down during one you can hurt them or get accidentally hurt too, remove objects around them that could hurt them and let it do its own thing, *then* check to see if they are okay
Not enough people mention seizures being mishandled (Shadowsight's was the worst). I'm epileptic and have used this as a comfort series for a LONG time (eight years or so) but after The Broken Code I just... couldn't do it anymore and stopped reading the series. It is true that when someone has a seizure you should leave them alone and stuff like that. For humans there's a specific recovery pose and steps to do (like timing the seizure). But seriously, this is not the only issue with Shadowsight's epilepsy that exists. The other issues include the religious aspects and the fact that his seizures were taken away. Instead of having a character represent a disability, they took that disability away by seemingly forgetting about it.
As someone looking to write a story that has a cat who has seizures (as someone with epilepsy). At the most, I’ll have other cats give a sniff but otherwise leave them alone till they are done (in their eyes this cat is having a vision and so they don’t disturb them).
I'm pretty sure in oots, molepaw and mousewhisker(correct me if I'm wrong)had a seizure, or something like that. they were held down also, but there was a herb that helped them- I don't think this was a seizure but it was like it.
I noticed too that I think either the first or second book in the broken code they removed him from having seizures. I wonder if they got backlash from how it was handled.
Hm. I agree. Kind of funny, a little while back I did a ton of research on seizures and the effects of head trauma because I wanted to write a character who had gone through that. I never did get around to writing it, but I learned some stuff. It's absoloutely *baffling* to me that the Warriors writers have so much access to resources and yet they almost NEVER do the appropriate research. They write books professionally! They should know better than this.
As a mentally disabled person, I never liked how they portrayed both physical and mental disabilities. I love this series and I love Shadowsight and The Broken Code but this stuff shouldn't be allowed. Forcing every disabled character to become a medicine cat? Handling seizures in a way that can be triggering to readers? Restraints are life-threatening and traumatizing. The blatant ableism written in the books is uncomfortable to read about. They didn't have to incorporate this stuff into their books but they CHOSE to. They forced Cinderpelt to be a medicine cat because of her leg, they forced Jayfeather to be a medicine cat because of his blindness. The list goes on. They killed off Snowkit because they didn't know how to write a deaf character and how to make him become a warrior. I believe they made Briarlight live in the medicine cat den until she died because of her back legs and I believe they made Alderheart a medicine cat because of his anxiety and Shadowsight a medicine cat because of his seizures. Is it THAT hard to appropriately represent a minority? Is it THAT difficult to do proper research? Cats can still live fulfilled lives if they are disabled, same thing goes for humans. Disabled people can live fulfilled lives despite their disability. It's so dehumanizing to read about the ableism in these books as someone who struggles a lot with their own disability. If there is something the Warriors team should do better about it's the disability representation. Don't kill them off and stop writing them entirely, do research and figure out how to appropriately represent these characters.
I’ve got two people in my life with epilepsy one with photosensitive and the other frontal lobe. I have had to help on a few occasions to keep them safe. The way they treated seizures is bad but I’m not surprised as the series is basically a money generator and they throw a few ideas together without thinking through. Could it be improved yes. example being by having an outsider come in or a cat learns the correct way to handle a seizure by getting taken somewhere or something. They should also in reprints and add to the audio book’s similar to what Disney had done a disclaimer stating seizures should not be handled in the way they were in the books. I.e due to subjects in the books viewer discretion is advised. The mishandling of seizures occur in this book and actual seizures should not be handled in this way. If an individual is suffering a seizure roll them over onto their side resting something under their head and call an ambulance. Then they add a website that is verified in the country that the book is in ie the nhs website. That being said I doubt they will change as this is a repeated issue and the writers still believe the old method of seizure ‘assistance’.
Kids read these books and this sets a bad example in potentially life-threatening circumstances. They could have a medicine cat tell another cat to lie down next to them so their head is cushioned by the other cat’s body, as a start, but the lack of research is potentially teaching kids dangerous ways to try and treat someone having a seizure
@@Babababababababbabababababa and I’m confused as to how that relates to this… just because one kid knows what to do in case of a seizure doesn’t mean all kids, or even all adults, do as well
Wasn't it once said that the cats technically have seizures when receiving a prophecy? I wonder how, in-universe, they differentiate a cat having a prophecy (before being told it was a prophecy) from a cat having a regular seizure then? If at all...but with the way Warriors is written I doubt they even thought about that when creating this scenario honestly ¬_¬
I remember when the broken code first came out and people speculated that Bramblestar had rabies or a rabies-like disease. While that could make a great horror story, even a kid's horror story, I would never trust the warrior cats writing team with something so real and dangerous. And then seeing this is how they treat seizures, it's just so irresponsible
I agree... you are right on alot of levels and I have nothing else to add
Surprised that they haven’t had a rabies case/arc in Warriors so far. Across all the books has it even had a passing mention? The closest was the sickness in DotC but I don’t think that’s what it was. Rabies is terrifying and I think they live in a rabies free setting so maybe I shouldn’t be that surprised. 🤷♂️
@@SunneyRabbit Apparently google has spoken 'It's not found in the UK, except in a small number of wild bats.' Since the books are or were originally based in England due to the Forest Territories... probably don't have rabies there ig? Except there were some wild bats so it does exist but has the books ever even mentioned bats?
@@SunneyRabbit I have a seizure disorder but not grand Mal I have myoclonic siezures
I honestly forgot about Shadowsight having seizures and I think it’s because of how poorly written it was that I kinda retconned it out of my interpretation of Shadowsight. All they had to do was have the cats put moss or something soft under the victim’s head, roll them on their side, give them a quiet space with nothing they can injure themselves on and sit by them quietly comforting the cat until the seizure subsided.
This. Right here. Plus a little extra they mishandled entirely. *I* have seizures irl. One of my puppies had a seizure when she was little. We only knew what to do because my own mother works with disabled kids and knew *exactly* what to do and what not to do because of it. I had to teach my own friend, who reads Warriors, not to hold me down if I have a seizure. I had to teach my own *girlfriend* not to do that for the same reason. This *does* have an impact on what people learn about what to do and what not to do with people in this scenario.
There's also the topic of religion being tied to it. Long and short, it *shouldn't.* Seizures in the past were tied to religion, leading to neglect when it came to researching the topic because "They're just blessed with prophecy." And before anyone says anything about how that's an old belief, *people still believe this.* I'd know since I have to argue with my own relatives about taking medication for my seizures because, and I quote, "Taking those pills is rejecting your lord and savior. He has blessed you, and you're rejecting him." alongside all the promises of, you know, *burning in hell* whenever it comes to rejecting a religion. To portray seizures as something religious is harmful since it's making that "okay" to believe.
They just need to not tie seizures to that. Like, ever again. And maybe do some research on what seizures really are like, and what to do when someone has one. Because it's clear they did *not* do that here.
I never knew that they had been associated with religious prophecies before. The whole situation is not good all around with Shadowsight specifically :l
Hearing how they handled the whole Briarlight thing in Squirrelflights Hope, I doubt HC would do anything.
I do think there is a way they could rewrite the books in reprint to fix it- having jayfeather instead tell the other cats to get moss bedding to cushion the area around the cat having a seizure
That way the scenes wouldn't be changed drastically but instead show a more accurate way to treat seizures
Wasn't it once said that the cats technically have seizures when receiving a prophecy? I wonder how, in-universe, they differentiate a cat having a prophecy (before being told it was a prophecy) from a cat having a regular seizure then? If at all...but with the way Warriors is written I doubt they even thought about that when creating this scenario honestly ¬_¬
As someone with epilepsy, I remember being so confused/put off by how Shadowsight's seizures were handled. It really isn't that hard to do some damn research, hell even ask a doctor/someone who has seizures to see how to properly handle this stuff and write it in the books. Goddamn.
This is why I say "if you're gonna make a character with an extreme disorder, do your research". Like, if I'm going to even write a character with rabies in WC, I'll research the various stages of rabies and how it affects the cat/if cats even get rabies that often. It's so I can write it out to describe it better as well as make sure I'm not offending anyone doing it.
Now onto seizures specifically: if they were to introduce some character who was possibly doing an ominous "watching from the shadows" thing who then jumps in to do what you actually should do in the case of a cat having a seizure, that would be pretty amazing. They think this loner is out to hurt this cat who's already in a bad position, but they're keeping the medicine cats from doing worse. They really need to fix bad writing like this. They need to look up how things work before writing them to prevent it from getting bad.
you have created a better filler plot then some wc main plots
@@BugsyBugYT Mishandling of mental/physical disorders (for lack of better words) is one of my greatest gripes with the series. Like, please, at least teach the medicine cats how to properly treat cats who are having seizures. Even if it were just a "whoop-dee-do, we retconned out the bad handling of it" it would be better than doing nothing.
@@ZirconiaGacha i agree
If I write a character with disorders I personally have I still do research because I know I can accidentally portray something poorly too. It’s not that hard! The fact that they can’t do that or even hire someone to check their writing for this kind of stuff specifically is appalling. I’m still salty over how they ruined Moth Flight (I have ADHD) after she had kits. She was so wonderful…
Basically, able bodied or not, do research anyway. Find out what’s wrong, what’s offensive, what’s true, and anything else you can, and then have someone else (preferably someone with experience with/that has that certain disability) check it as well. And listen to disabled voices above able-bodied voices 😤
(And I’m sorry if able-bodied is the wrong term, I’m still adjusting to accepting that I _am_ disabled even though my disabilities are mental (besides my eyesight lol), so I don’t know all the proper terminology quite yet 💛 if there’s a better one absolutely lmk!)
@@SketchUT i dont know why hc dont research before they put something into a book a little knowledge goes a long way
I'm going to share my experiences here. I remember a time when I was home alone and my pet ferret was having horrible seizures before she passed away. It was one of the most traumatizing experiences in my life. The way Warriors treats this is completely horrible, and I will not tolerate it. However, I do think they did handle one scene alright in my opinion. In the novella Cloudstar's Journey, there was an elderly cat named Petalfall who suffered from epilepsy before she died. No cat was trying to hold her down during a seizure, but SkyClan's medicine cat, Fawnstep, waited for the convulsions to ease and comforted Petalfall. Then she used poppy seeds to put her to sleep. However, the way the books handled the later seizure incidents really gets under my skin. No person should ever think this is okay. Please take my opinions with a grain of salt, as I have never had a seizure before, but this was certainly a well put together video. This very much needs to be addressed to the authors.
Sorry to hear about your ferret. It’s always hard to lose a pet.
I was reading about Petalfall before so I had a full understanding of how seizures appeared in Cloudstar’s Journey. Weird how it sort of back slid into what we have now. It might have been written by someone else. That was back in 2013 while Tawnypelt’s Clan and Raging Storm were 2019 and 2018 respectively.
It's definitely sad and actually says a lot that Vicky, the one who wrote CJ, knows how to write how to handle seizures better than whatever the fuck this current team has been doing with Puddleshine and Shadowsight.
Like, ik they don't reread their books or something but THAT is even more frustrating, how do you screw up something that was done correctly RIGHT THERE.
It seems like the list of things that could be helped by hiring a sensitivity reader is growing daily. I think the additional portrayal or seizures as associated with religious visions can be really problematic with the history of people with epilepsy being seen as “blessed with prophecy.” Historically, the disease was called “the Holy disease,” which led to a neglect in research and treatment of it.
Warriors is consistently having severe problems with portrayals and concepts that I’d accept with a newer series by a younger author, but these books are written by a team and have been going for almost 20 years. It’s past time for them to hire some sort of consultant or to get some sensitivity readers. At this point, it feels more like negligence than anything.
Well the cats are shown to be superstitious, and honestly it makes sense. People used to think this was okay. the cats may have "Docters" But they are clearly not on par with human medical professionals.
@@tell-me-a-story- Not really… it’s less that they are shown as superstitious and more that they are portrayed as cats with a cat-like understanding of the world. Additionally, the problem is that their cat understanding of Shadowsight’s disability is never questioned, or shown to be incorrect. The cats are *religious,* and their treatment of Shadowsight’s seizures is tied into this. It’s not helpful in representation, and any sensitivity reader could have told them this.
_Maybe_ it could've been interesting if other cats thought Shadowsight's epilepsy was a blessing, but he was frustrated that they weren't giving him the help he needed.
I hope if we have to deal with seizures again, that they try to use the holding down method and if just spirals out of control, so that forces the medicine cats to learn to not do that ever again
sigh. i trully wanna say there is no reason for it honestly.
because it has been established many times over and over again that the cats are made to be furry people with four legs, the writters simply took from life and by that i mean: by their gross misconseptions of a medical emergency many people have had to deal with periodically.
the writers wanting to write a seizure and thought what would one do? and thought of their very dangerous idea of what one would do.
this could have been avoided. but no care was afforded and it is honestly so infuriating.
epilepsy has been in my familly since i was born and both for my aunt and grandfather someone holding them down during a seizure is something they've had nightmares about
I'm so sorry that your aunt and grandad have nightmares about this issue! It is honestly disgusting what these authors chose to write about in these books. The issue of epilepsy is certainly a dangerous and traumatizing thing to experience, and them treating it as this strange quirk that signifies prophetic powers is ableism at its worst imo. Hope your family is still in good health! 💝
Tbh, I think they took inspiration for Shadowsights "seizures" was fivers visions in Watership down, where he is explained convulsing and constantly muttering his visions. They never say its a seizure in the books.
The difference: when FIVER has a vision, no-one holds him down! They may steady him and let them know they're there, but they let his vision run his coarse. Fivers "seizures" I believe is more respectful towards the real like conditions. It is sadly fantasized, but the way Hazel and the rabbit treat seizures is more realistic and more SAFE FOR BOTH THEMSELVES AND OTHERS.
If the Erin's wanted to truly TRULY depict this horrible condition and teach kids how to handle an animal handling a seizure, they need to look up how to care for a cat during one! Don't hold them down, let it run its course,and pet the kitten and let it know you're here and they're safe,then give them herbs to calm them once it's passed Which for warriors is simple: groom the cat, talk to them,then give them Thyme for the shock
I stopped reading Canon Warrior Cats when Dawn of the Clans came out. That being said, you are absolutely right about how they should be taken to task for giving out false information like its something that will actually help. However, I think that they should bring it up again, only this time with somecat being absolutely horrified by how they're holding the individual down, and have the cat say all of what you've said here for how it isn't the correct way to help people who have seizures.
I wish the book, and popular media in general, would acknowledge that there are different types of seizures. For example, I don't dramatically fall to the floor and have convulsions, I just freeze in a spot for a couple of minutes and am somewhat confused afterwards. From the outside it may look like I got lost in thought.
The belief that all epileptic people must have convulsions is so strong that I weren't able to receive proper diagnosis and care until I was nearly 30.
This is not misguided of you at all. I think it’s very important what you said, I, a 25 year old woman, have never seen someone have a seizure, nor would I of known what to do. I think if they are going to put event such a seizures, but they must also put how to handle the seizures in a proper way. Yes it’s a book targeted to a younger demographic BUT the people reading the series are impressionable at that age. You never know them, saying, that in the book might just help somebody in the future. say later on when the person as a teenager, someone is having a seizure and they think about what experiences they have with that so unlikely maybe they’ll remember a book maybe they’ll remember in this book that it says not to hold down somebody having a seizure, maybe it could help them. Even though it a book it could help somebody.
Thank you for this! i started reading TBC recently and I genuinely didn't know the proper way to deal with a seizure before watching this video
It's not likely that I'll have to take care of someone having a seizure but someone else might, and they may take example from these books.
As someone with a girlfriend who has epilepsy, I find this absolutely *revolting*. I hadn't read these books yet (I haven't gotten the chance; But I've gotten enough spoilers that I don't care at this point) and I didn't know about this. It's horrifying because this isn't some small thing that won't cause any harm. Like you said, young people who don't know any better read these books and could easily think that it's the appropriate way to handle these situations. It's such an easy thing to look up, and is INCREDIBLY important with how real the issue is.
Thank you for making a video talking about this. A lot of people do brush these kinds of things off under the assumption that people just shouldn't listen to a book anyway. But it's still an author's job, especially when the books are read by young people, to not spread false information, especially on such important topics.
I have a very cynical perspective on Working Partners/the Erins/Warriors, mostly due to its nature as a paycheck fodder series that all contributors have little care for. It doesn't surprise me in the least that sensitive topics (neurodivergences, disabilities, xenophobia, sexism, age gap relationships, etc) are so poorly handled due to a never-ending streak of not giving a care about this series. Warriors practically prints money by being a large series of cat xenofiction aimed at kids just entering their edgy phases, not by being a creator's passion project with well-thought-out characters, plots, and worldbuilding that _happens_ to be for kids just entering their edgy phases. This is why plot and character arcs are so poorly executed; this is why cat biology is flirted with at best; this is why worldbuilding is either inconsistent or nonexistent; and this is why sensitive topics like this are so shoddily handled. They just don't _care._
And honestly? I've numbed myself to that, because I alone cannot do anything about it, save for a few things:
- Tell others about their failures and fk-ups. You did your part here, Sunney, you told people that Warriors mishandles how to respond to an individual suffering from a seizure and informed those how to properly go about doing so. Plenty of others have done the same with other topics (albeit on varying levels of kindness and nuance).
Our complaints about these books are immense, too big for even the Erins to go back and fix every single instance of it, but for the smaller infractions (like the ableist SFH line), something _can_ be done, and this could also be used going forward:
- _Twist. HarperCollins'. Hands._ Does no one remember how only a few years ago, the fandom got an Erin booted from the team? If the entire community boycotted Warriors and the other works of Erin Hunter (including the merch!) and stated our demands ("hiring a sensitivity reader" could be among them), that might be enough to get HarperCollins to pay attention and let Working Partners handle things with more care. You can still _read_ Warriors during that time from libraries or pirated PDFs or audiobooks, but you shouldn't _buy_ any new books or purchase any minis or keychains or shirts or plushies or _anything_ until HarperCollins/Working Partners _does_ something about it.
And if this happens, I want to remind people that this would take _time._ If a mass-boycott like this is successful in garnering HC/WP's attention, it's not going to be fulfilled within the span of two days or two weeks or two months that all of Warriors' fixable problems are fixed; mind you, ASC: Shadow is probably being finished up and Book Four is being written. This would take _a while._
Also, this "stating claims" does _not_ mean harassing anyone or sending death threats. We're better than that. It's easier to catch flies with honey than it is with vinegar. Give people room for change, dammit.
i fully agree with this
Well said! I'm glad people are finally starting to open their eyes to the harmful elements of these books. In the past, I feel like we've given the books too many excuses, or straight up misrepresented characters to try and make the writing less deplorable. I definitely think your plan could work to get Harper Collins attention, but another part of me just wishes for the books to be canceled all together, as I imagine that Harper Collins would just give up and abandon the series instead of putting actual work into improving the writing quality and themes. But that's just my opinion! We'll wait and see!
It's terrifying to see someone have a seizure especially if it's a loved one, my elder sister has them but not as much as when we were kids. It's scary to expenice and it's disgusting how warriors just treat as something like that.
I am not diagnosed officially with epilepsy, but had a grand mahl seizure a few years back and I still don’t have a diagnosis for why it happened. The first thing my loved ones did was take me to a doctor who would know what happened and know how to treat me. I wasn’t allowed to be on my own, especially outside, for 6 months following my seizure in the case that I had one and fell on the ground and injured myself. It would have been great to see Shadowsights friends and family helping him and supporting him afterwards rather than treating it like a gift or a “special” thing about him. Even though it turned out to be, I’m sure they were traumatic experiences for him and it would have been lovely to see him get that kind of support.
I had seizures up until kindergarten
Heck I had my first Grandmal barely a year if that.
There's more to seizures especially at that age, my mom always had to be careful if I was sick because I'd start seizing with a fever.
as someone with a cat that has epilepsy and has a few seizures every year thank you for making this video! pinning down anyone during a seizure but especially a small animal can potentially really hurt them and the authors are being extremely irresponsible showing it as an example on how to deal with seizures (unfortunately not the first time the wc writers have added potentially hurtful content in the books)
I don't buy the warrior books anymore. I mostly download them from my public library. That way if I read it and don't like it I can at least feel I didn't contribute money to that book. Granted not all of the books are in the Library but then I might go on Akira or Moonkiti and watch their overview on the books and decided for myself if their worth my time or money. Oncestar Novella especially, watching Akiras thoughts on the Onestar book made me glad I didn't invest any time reading it.
As someone whose family member has had a seizure before this is just appalling. I know someone might go 'yeah they know what it is but they might not know how to deal with it' yabababa shut the hell up. I highly doubt the cats would be that stupid, I think that the authors just thought it was.. funny.. or something? I don't even bloomin know. As Sunney stated, young children might think this is the right thing to do and seriously harm someone. This is just mad and extremely inappropriate. The Erin's are (mostly) all crazy, from treating seizures horribly to paedophilia. I really hate the authors.
I've always felt weird with people making designs of shadowsight where he has "different" eyes where he has one of his seizures as well, I find it odd.
I have myoclonic epilepsy, so I actively have seizures. Even a few days ago, I had three in a day. Terrifying experience, wouldn't it be?
When I read Shadowkit's seizures it disgusted me. Back then I didn't have seizures, but now that I have (they have started around late 2021-early 2022), I realize how horribly and inaccurately written it was.
Here are some personal tips for handling seizures. Please note that I may not know the full story, as most of the advice I had been given was during my epileptic attacks, but this is what I can do to the best of my ability.
1. *Call 911* or any medical hotline before doing ANYTHING. Do not attempt to handle it yourself if you are unsure what to do however you should turn the seizing person to their side or, what I more highly recommend, lift their body upwards so they do not choke on spit and, if they bit the inside of their mouth or their tongue, blood.
2. *Do not hold the seizing person down.* This is extremely dangerous especially for them, as I stated previously, they could choke on their spit and blood and even potentially die. Try not to lay the victim down but if you can't lift them upward serve it as a last resort and keep them on their side.
3. If they are seizing for longer than five minutes, *they should be carrying some special kind of nasal spray.* Good examples include diazepam and midazolam. Normally these will be FDA approved and it can stimulate the nasal nerves, thus slowing down or even stopping a seizure.
4. *Call any emergency contact.* For example I, myself, bring a bracelet on me that shares emergency contacts on it. It's very likely these contacts have a much greater idea on what to do than you do.
5. *If the epileptic person has a service animal, keep it leashed or close to them at all times.* Very likely if it is well trained, it will react quickly and alert nearby people when the person is close to having an epileptic attack. If they are already seizing, try not to keep the animal all up in their face but I still highly recommend keeping it close by.
Do not listen to what a book tells you. Books can be manipulative or misleading.
I also want to add that in some scenarios the Heimlich Maneuver also works. But again please call a medical professional before doing ANYTHING.
I have had a seizure before!
But it doesn't really apply to what we're talking about here. The seizure was strange and honestly not what you think of when you think of seizures. I won't say my whole experience here, because it's pretty long and confusing since I was out for most of it. All I can say is that how they deal with most illnesses, disablilities, and medical situations in warriors is GROSSLY undereducated and wrong in so many ways.
But I'm almost certain it's not malicious. This was a mistake on the author's part, but I hope they apologize for the mishandling and replace it because that thing with Sandstorm was NOT COOL.
Sandstorm from the first series- or any series for that matter, WOULD NEVER SAY THAT.
Recycling my comment from a Moonkitti video:
You know how sometimes you'll hear about a teenager saving their friend because they learned how to make a tourniquet from reading the Hunger Games, or performed the Heimlich Maneuver after seeing Dan and Phil do it? I feel like Warriors is going to do the opposite. First it was encouraging kids to drown themselves to save others, now this.
TRUE the books portray medicine cats holding seizing cats down. and i think leafpool said something about a possibility of a cat choking on their tongue. makes me so upset
As someone who suffers from seizures myself I can definitely understand that the Warrior Cats team made a, bbig oopsie with this one. yYu shouldn't try to do things like this if you don't know what you're talking about, if you want to write into the books a cat who suffers from seizures the on its own is fine but, I agree the way the medicine cats dealt with it was totally wrong. You don't do that with someone who suffers from seizures, as I said I would know because I have epilepsy and that means I suffer from seizures, not all the time of course but, I do have one occasionally and, they are not meant to be dealt with the way the medicine cats dealt with them!
I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought it was disgusting.
I used to work in the restaurant that also taught about health and safety. We were taught about seizures and we were told to NEVER hold someone down. Literally the first thing we taught there.
I never would have thought that holding someone down while having a seizure could be wrong, it sounded like it made sense, thank you for spreading awareness,
now I'm questioning on whether you're supposed to put something in someone's mouth during a seizure to prevent them from biting off their tongue or swallowing it
low and behold this practice could damage their jaw or teeth and swallowing their tongue is a myth
I'm glad no one has ever had the bad luck and danger of a seizure around me who was terribly and dangerously misinformed
id say sunny rabbit is doing starclans work, but sunny is arguably not a dictator ghost cat leading a xenophobic ablist cult
Ugh, THANK you. I would understand if they focused on the fact that they didn't have experience with seizures, so they thought it best to restrain them, only for Shadowkit to get a broken bone or something from that idea. Thus leading them to realize you shouldn't do that.
I remember the one time that I had a seizure. It was TERRIFYING, because my father has epilepsy, and I had been exposed to them from the age of 6, so I was terrified that I was starting to develop it, which given the fact that I have had to have brain surgery before was a completely logical progression to me at the time. Also! Thanks for standing up for those who have epilepsy. I'm not sure if father would actually care, but I am grateful for it.
It would probably be good if we had a scene of either Puddleshine or Shadowsight remember their seizures and the event of being held down as something awful and traumatizing. Then have them realize the correct way to handle a cat having a seizure.
Woah, I suffer from seizures but I was never treated because a doctor said I was pretending for attention (without any sort of tests) and my mother believed her, I was used to not be helped during mine, even in class most of the teachers just waited until I stopped having my seizure until I moved schools, I didn't realize how badly they were treated in warrior cats, thank you for this video! I'm only now informing myself on how dangerous seizures can get and its not something to be ashamed of, if only warrior cats had treated this topic better maybe I would have realized sooner
Sorry if this was a very personal comment btw, this is just a topic that hits very close home and I'm very grateful that you decided to talk about it
@@SunnyWings If medical professionals aren't believing you without thorough studies you should convince your mom for another check-in. That could potentially be very dangerous.
My cat had a seizure this evening (my first time personally dealing with one) and although I have known for a long time not to hold a seizing person or animal down, having watched this video recently meant the knowledge was fresh in my mind again, and I was able to better remember what to do and to stay calm. Charlie and I are going straight to the vet in the morning but for now he’s recovered and comfortable and hasn’t had any more seizures. Anyway, thanks for making this ^-^
I'm sad that they did it wrong my mom has seizures the first things she taught me was how to safely move them and that something needs to put a soft something to keep them safe
Listening to this made me tear up bc i've experienced two cats in my life have seizures, one of them by a miracle after having them all night survived and slowly recovered. The other one heartbreakingly did not make it we made him as comfortable as he could possibly get during it. It's not fun or great experience, it is scary and absolutely heart wrenching to witness so the way they write them in the book is awful
My dog started to have seizures when he was already pretty old (11), and usually when it happened my father just knealed next to him, kinda shielding him from our second dog, as of course that one was curious, while petting, and softly speaking to him until the seizure stopped. We never moved him while he had seizures, nor did we panic or run around. Everyone went quiet and my father just did his thing, as calm as possible to not scare my dog. Sadly the seizures were pretty much a warning, as the vet diagnosed my dog with a failing heart just 2 days after the first seizure and my dog passed within 2 weeks after that, as the medicine he got just wasn't enough to get him any better.
It sounded like the writers wanted to revive the prophecy seizures but backed out midway and made a trash portrayal of seizures in general. The writers just don’t understand disabled characters or people. If they did this “holding down” thing towards an autism-coded character series, this might end up making the writers worse than Sia with her movie “Music” and holding an autistic person down when they’re having a meltdown is considered dangerous and deadly. As someone who had a grandmother who had multiple strokes where it either erased her memories or killed her, If they write more characters with deadly strokes or write ones with strokes that give them some form of amnesia in a way that it’s just not taken seriously or brushed aside or treated poorly or done in such a quick and done way, I would advocate against buying from the series until the writers and publishers and editors get their act together and stop lying to fans. The fact that these editors and publishers saw this and are like “yeah this is okay to read by young readers” is such an oversight that should have gotten someone punished.
I read Cloudstar's journey a while back so I'm not too familiar with the details but one of the elders in it also suffers from seizures. I think her name was Petalfall and she had some sort of illness while she was deputy that led to her having seizures and she had to retire. I don't remember how they treated her seizures other than them giving poppy seeds for her to relax/fall asleep, there might have been other things too but I read it in my second language (Polish) so I didn't fully understand. All this is to say there might have been good representation(?? I doubt it tho lol, drugging her seems a bit odd) You would know better than me so I would recommend reading the chapters with her in it. It really is gross how they've treated them in other books, espescially since The Broken Code was released recently, they should really know better by now.
My mother, when she was a child, had seizures and through that she learned how to deal with them. My dog had a seizure when I was young, and my mother told me to make sure they were in a safe environment, away from any spot they could fall from, and make sure they get water, and that the patient usually doesn’t know what’s happening, and its basically the brain restarting (she might have said more but considering it was so long ago I can’t remember everything.) She also told me about different kinds of seizures, and that the one my dog was having wasn’t that serious. I agree that how Warriors dealt with this was very irresponsible and, considering how they deal with other situations, shouldn’t be in the books. Unless they get their act together and correctly portray it.
(Edit): If they are having a very bad seizure, then definitely take them to the ER
I used to have seizures when I was little, and it terrifies me that Warriors is trying to say that holding someone down is a good way to deal with a seizure.
When I watched teh this video i almost cried about this little “ solution”. My father has seizures and that’s how I pretend to handle them and the people that have them. When I had to help with one of his seizures and thought of doing the same thing as the books(I hadn’t read them tho. I was a small child at the time) but thankfully my grandmother was there to stop me from doing it. Recently I have Been keeping away from him having seizures unless I’m the only one around. I hope that no one here is reading this comment doesn’t have the same problem as my father and that everyone is having a good day or night!
I want the Erin's to fix this
.
So bad.
I WANT to like the warriors writers, I WANT to support the books, but this is unacceptable. Seizures are nothing to do no research on, and the fact they aren't doing anything about this traumatizing misconception is downright horrid.
As someone with epilepsy, I was happy to have a character that could show representation for me, but the holding down and the hinted at idea that Shadowsight was mentally ill because of his seizures and that his visions were fake BECAUSE of them rubbed me the wrong way… :(
This! I had a cat that had seizures in the later half of her life. I had no idea what to do, but common sense had me stay by her side and just pet and talk to her until she got up. She only had like 2, but if I could figure out how to keep her comforted without proper training, surely the writing team could have done a better job!
I have had seizures before and kinda forgot about this. I dont think they did research on it tbh, and i was never mad at them but it is irresponsible. If you hold someone down during one you can hurt them or get accidentally hurt too, remove objects around them that could hurt them and let it do its own thing, *then* check to see if they are okay
Not enough people mention seizures being mishandled (Shadowsight's was the worst). I'm epileptic and have used this as a comfort series for a LONG time (eight years or so) but after The Broken Code I just... couldn't do it anymore and stopped reading the series.
It is true that when someone has a seizure you should leave them alone and stuff like that. For humans there's a specific recovery pose and steps to do (like timing the seizure). But seriously, this is not the only issue with Shadowsight's epilepsy that exists. The other issues include the religious aspects and the fact that his seizures were taken away. Instead of having a character represent a disability, they took that disability away by seemingly forgetting about it.
As someone looking to write a story that has a cat who has seizures (as someone with epilepsy). At the most, I’ll have other cats give a sniff but otherwise leave them alone till they are done (in their eyes this cat is having a vision and so they don’t disturb them).
I'm pretty sure in oots, molepaw and mousewhisker(correct me if I'm wrong)had a seizure, or something like that. they were held down also, but there was a herb that helped them- I don't think this was a seizure but it was like it.
I noticed too that I think either the first or second book in the broken code they removed him from having seizures. I wonder if they got backlash from how it was handled.
Hm. I agree. Kind of funny, a little while back I did a ton of research on seizures and the effects of head trauma because I wanted to write a character who had gone through that. I never did get around to writing it, but I learned some stuff. It's absoloutely *baffling* to me that the Warriors writers have so much access to resources and yet they almost NEVER do the appropriate research. They write books professionally! They should know better than this.
I needed someone in a ninjago rp to pull me aside and tell me that this is a HORRIBLE idea to do to someone who’s having a seizure, glad she told me 💀
Maybe the books don't even really get edited anymore... if ever... they've just been publishing the first draft each time...
As a mentally disabled person, I never liked how they portrayed both physical and mental disabilities. I love this series and I love Shadowsight and The Broken Code but this stuff shouldn't be allowed.
Forcing every disabled character to become a medicine cat?
Handling seizures in a way that can be triggering to readers? Restraints are life-threatening and traumatizing.
The blatant ableism written in the books is uncomfortable to read about.
They didn't have to incorporate this stuff into their books but they CHOSE to.
They forced Cinderpelt to be a medicine cat because of her leg, they forced Jayfeather to be a medicine cat because of his blindness. The list goes on.
They killed off Snowkit because they didn't know how to write a deaf character and how to make him become a warrior.
I believe they made Briarlight live in the medicine cat den until she died because of her back legs and I believe they made Alderheart a medicine cat because of his anxiety and Shadowsight a medicine cat because of his seizures.
Is it THAT hard to appropriately represent a minority? Is it THAT difficult to do proper research? Cats can still live fulfilled lives if they are disabled, same thing goes for humans. Disabled people can live fulfilled lives despite their disability.
It's so dehumanizing to read about the ableism in these books as someone who struggles a lot with their own disability.
If there is something the Warriors team should do better about it's the disability representation. Don't kill them off and stop writing them entirely, do research and figure out how to appropriately represent these characters.
They don't even respect disabled or Adhd or autistic characters what did you expect
I’ve got two people in my life with epilepsy one with photosensitive and the other frontal lobe. I have had to help on a few occasions to keep them safe. The way they treated seizures is bad but I’m not surprised as the series is basically a money generator and they throw a few ideas together without thinking through. Could it be improved yes. example being by having an outsider come in or a cat learns the correct way to handle a seizure by getting taken somewhere or something. They should also in reprints and add to the audio book’s similar to what Disney had done a disclaimer stating seizures should not be handled in the way they were in the books. I.e due to subjects in the books viewer discretion is advised. The mishandling of seizures occur in this book and actual seizures should not be handled in this way. If an individual is suffering a seizure roll them over onto their side resting something under their head and call an ambulance. Then they add a website that is verified in the country that the book is in ie the nhs website.
That being said I doubt they will change as this is a repeated issue and the writers still believe the old method of seizure ‘assistance’.
I had two minor seizures when I was little - one right after the other
wow
Im only one minute in and I think its fine for it to be in the books because there cats and they don't know what's going on.
Kids read these books and this sets a bad example in potentially life-threatening circumstances. They could have a medicine cat tell another cat to lie down next to them so their head is cushioned by the other cat’s body, as a start, but the lack of research is potentially teaching kids dangerous ways to try and treat someone having a seizure
@@lindseylindsey9200 I'm 12
@@Babababababababbabababababa and I’m confused as to how that relates to this… just because one kid knows what to do in case of a seizure doesn’t mean all kids, or even all adults, do as well
Wasn't it once said that the cats technically have seizures when receiving a prophecy? I wonder how, in-universe, they differentiate a cat having a prophecy (before being told it was a prophecy) from a cat having a regular seizure then? If at all...but with the way Warriors is written I doubt they even thought about that when creating this scenario honestly ¬_¬