• Disability- A disadvantage or handicap that limits a person's senses, activities or movements.

• Social media- Online media and Websites fans use to post content such as videos, photos, gifs, etc. Social media mentioned in text:

  • AO3 (Archive of Our Own)

  • Tumblr

  • Twitter

  • LiveJournal

  • Dream Width

• Social media- Online media and Websites fans use to post content such as videos, photos, gifs, etc. Social media mentioned in text:

  • AO3 (Archive of Our Own)

  • Twitter

• Fan Culture(s)- Communities formed around shared interests on any topic, show, movie, art form etc.

• Transcultural- Involving more than one culture or it can cross different cultures as well.

• Cultural Norms- What is normal in one culture and not normal in another (Each culture has their own type of normal and what is accepted).

Based on my experience of being a fan of Japanese culture including Anime and Manga, I noticed how they take it seriously when it comes to their own work and art. There was an instance where one very popular Author drew a manga panel for their book 9forgot which one) years ago just for someone else to use it in an unpopular Manga years later for their own benefit.

Since these texts are more identity based I decided to include this because the author who originally drew the panels was very upset his hard work was taken away. He felt as if a part of his identity was taken because that Manga was very special to him.

I also wanted to point out that identity in fandom is viewed in many different ways (According to all three texts). Fandom is not only good but can have some drawbacks as well (Not being inclusive, taking other people's work etc.). But fandom is also a way for people to explore and understand Identity.

Question 2: How can a fandom impact a fan? (Can be negatively or positively).

• Fans

• Fandoms

  
  

- There were many similar words such as:

• Fan

• Fandoms

- Words in similar categories such as:

• Fans

• Fandoms

• Media fandoms

• Fan Cultures

• Disabilities are not just from the body, but it is also when their surrounding world does not include or are prepared for them. It is when the world does not think to include someone else and is built to meet other's needs.

• Online communities offer people with disabilities a chance to connect with others and feel included in fan activities and spaces.

• There are communities online that try to make online spaces more friendly for people with disabilities. They try to include anyone, so it is a more inclusive and welcoming place for everyone to explore fandom.

• Fanfiction is a way for people to write about real life and struggles. Examples mentioned in text: Bullying, dealing with sexuality, and not being popular.

• Fandoms can be kind, accepting, and helpful. Fans can seek help and be understood through fandoms and can be guided and connect with other fans in these fandoms.

• Fandom is interpreted differently around the world. What one culture dose in fandom such as using other people's content or images can be seen as stealing in another culture.

• Fans clash and disagree with one another on what should be said, done, and expressed in fandom. Ex: What can be shared (Photos, videos, art, etc.) and what is being discussed or said (Weather or not people agree with what is said or not).

For instance, one text talks about the cultural aspect of fandom and how it can differ from one country to another because of cultural norms. They specify how fandom from one country that takes others work to use for their content is not accepted in Japan because it is considered stealing. This would be seen as what is accepted and considered in fandom because what one country considers normal another country does not.

In another text they talk about fans with disabilities. In this text they talk about being inclusive to everyone including fans who have disabilities. They talk about making fan spaces and communities online for everyone not just specific people. This is seen as how people view identity in fandom and what is being done for others in fandom.

In the final text it states how queer individuals are using online platforms as a way of exploring and understanding identity. This shows how people look for an identity and connection in fandoms.

• "Disability is not a fixed condition of individual bodies, but is produced when bodies come into contact with material and institutional structures that are not prepared for them (Oliver, 2009). For instance, while a person using a wheelchair may have a mobility impairment, this only becomes disabling in the context of a building with stairs and no alternative entrance." (Ellcessor, 202)

• "Online communities can serve as key locations for claiming a disabled identity. On blogs and social media, people with disabilities share experiences, develop a shared cultural space, and come to recognize a social model of disability or to participate in a disability community (Goggin and Newell, 2003; Goggin and Noonan, 2006)." (Ellcessor, 203)

• "Access_Fandom defines itself as “a learning & teaching space” about making online and offline fandom more disability-friendly (2016), and its profile states that it welcomes a range of cognitive styles and members with and without disabilities." (Ellcessor, 209)

• "For writers, fanfiction allows for a low-risk way to experiment with characters, scenarios, and dialogue. “[Young writers] often write stories about bullying or not being popular, and about dealing with things like sexuality,” says Rebecca Black (“not the singer,” as her Skype username specifies), an associate professor at University of California at Irvine who has studied adolescents’ participation in fanfiction communities." (Hu, 4-5)

• "Beyond parasocial relationships with characters, the fanfic community also offers support from fellow fans. Black says that when the young man she encountered told his community that he was going through the same issues that appeared in his fiction, readers were incredibly receptive to his struggles. “The outpouring of support he got through older kids giving him support and advice were really helpful,” Black says." (Hu, 7)

• "As we have argued elsewhere, the process of becoming a transcultural fan is not bound by any necessary cultural, geographical, or national difference or similarity, occurring instead “because of a moment of affinity between the fan and transcultural object” (Chin & Morimoto 2013: 104–5)." (Morimoto and Chin 1).

• "Thus in the early 2000s, for example, non-Japanese fans who understood Japanese fan art as there for the taking, so long as one acknowledged the artist (reflecting, among other things, a “fair use” framework that underpins American transformative works), clashed with Japanese artists who, coming from a more clandestine shadow economy of fanworks, insisted that sic “that will be same [ ] as stealing to us” (Online Fanarts Protection 2006: n.p.)." (Morimoto and Chin 5).

• "For Pratt, communities may be imagined, per Anderson, as essentially homogenous sites of mutual affinity, but in practice they are “contact zones [and . . . those] social spaces where cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power” (34). " (Morimoto and Chin 7).