I recently got into a huge fight with an abled friend about disabled representation, in which he was completely convinced that the stance he held was that of an ally. He’s a long time friend of mine and I know he really did think he was fighting for us and coming from a place of trying to help us.
And it really got me thinking about the way abled people perceive disabled people. And how that message is internalised and reinforced in so many ways.
My friend was trying to say that characters like Cyborg, Misty knight, Daredevil, Toph, Edward Elric, Bucky, Nebula, etc were not good representation. And he at first refused to listen to me (an actual disabled person) when I was like; no, we like that. we love that. we LOVE seeing badass and competent and sexy disabled people. It’s validating and empowering.
His argument was that it didn’t really count because nobody saw them as disabled and that it would be the same thing as saying Gamora is black representation.
While I understand where he was coming from, both of us also being black, it was hard to get him to understand how it wasn’t the same thing.
Gamora is a black actress painted green to portray a green-skinned alien. She has black features, yes, but within the narrative she very much is not a black woman. She’s an alien.
But a disabled character is always still a disabled character. Regardless of how high tech or SciFi or magical or fantastical the world or universe is; an amputee with a prosthesis is still an amputee. They are still disabled. Yes, even if their prosthesis shoots lasers.
And other characters, like Toph and Daredevil, who are both blind, have superpowers/superhuman abilities that allow them to overcome their disability. That does not make them less disabled.
Their blindness still impacts their everyday lives. They can’t read. They can’t draw. They don’t know what things or people look like, or what color things are. They can’t read someone’s facial expressions during a conversation. They can’t follow a map without assistance.
When I asked my friend for examples of what he considered good disabled representation he said Professor X, Oracle, and the Thinker. And that made me pause and I won’t lie, it upset me. It felt degrading. I got kind of angry at him and it got a little heated.
Because what he was saying is: the smart one in the wheelchair that never actually joins the battle because their body is too frail? Those are the only good disabled characters? The ones who still need to be protected and treated tenderly and are physically weaker?
Do we only exist when you can view us as some subhuman lesser other that you can take pity on?
But it’s not only my friend who thinks this way.
I’ve seen quite a few arguments online about people who don’t think Edward Elric is disabled, despite being an amputee.
Who don’t think Cyborg is disabled, despite the fact that his entire power set is due to a life support and mobility aid device.
And my friend was shocked that I, and many other disabled people, find these depictions of strong and confident and capable disabled people empowering. He fully expected that I would find those depictions offensive.
And that’s when it really hit me.
The issue is not that characters like Bucky or Toph or Daredevil are bad representations of disabled characters.
The issue is that people don’t perceive them as disabled. They’ve internalized this belief that disabled people have to be weak and delicate and fragile and in some way physically inferior.
They’re only considered disabled if they’re tragic and/or weak. Or ugly. People love to project a tragic subhuman otherness onto disabled people who are ugly.
If they’re cool and badass that confuses them. That doesn’t fit with the narrative that’s been built in their heads.
The idea of a competent, confidant, and strong disabled character, especially a cool disabled character is just so completely foreign to them that they don’t even consider it.
NowI’m not saying that depictions of disabled characters like Oracle or professor X are bad or harmful. We need representation of disabled people who aren’t strong and don’t have superpowers and maybe don’t feel particularly empowered. That’s a genuine representation of many disabled people.
It just isn’t the only one.
I think the issue with disabled representation is not that it doesn’t exist (as I’ve seen many abled people online claim in our defense) but that we need to shift the way we think of disabled people so we stop overlooking a lot of the really cool and badass and awesome disabled characters we do already have.
So if you read this far through this essay, please stop for a moment and consider the preconceptions you have about disabled people.
Have you ever overlooked a disabled character because they were strong, powerful, charismatic, or, (God forbid!)SEXY?
And if so, I’d ask you to take some time to examine in yourself why you don’t think of disabled people as being able to be those things.
Literally everyone will ask if you broke your leg(s). Everyone. Even people you don’t know. Theyll ask a lot and think you’re extremely fragile.
bruises show up within the first day of rolling around, and they can really suck
people will try to grab your chair if they think you’re struggling and it can be hard not to snap at them for it
static electricity is a huge issue. You will probably either continuously shock your leg when you’re rolling around or do what I did today and zap someone so hard as you pass that both of you nearly keel over
people will call you out as a faker if you do anything even remotely fun ever on your wheelchair. Wheelies? Obviously your legs are fine lol not like you have to go down fucking curbs /s
puddles are the worst and if there’s a curb with a puddle all around and you have some ability to walk its a better idea to just stand up and navigate the chair than to fall backwards into said puddle
weird looks from people are inevitable, especially from people who don’t like you
bus drivers will often push your chair and give you advise you don’t want to hear, even if you tell them nicely you can push yourself. Its really hard not to get mad at them for it
no wheelies in school. Though if you do it in the elevator when no one else is with you you can’t really get caught.
speaking of wheelies, always be ready to throw at least one arm behind you in case you fall. They say tuck your chin in but its easier and more reliable to throw your hands back and keep your neck up so you don’t hit the floor. Sore arms are way easier to put up with than head injuries
don’t even bother to try and roll back up curbs. You will either be there for an hour or fall backwards. I managed to do both.
90% of classrooms that aren’t special ed are not very wheelchair accessible.
people will automatically assume you’re faking something if you’re not considered dumb enough in their standards to fit in with disabled students (aka high class ableism at its finest)
people are going to give you weird looks if you don’t suddenly start sitting with the other disabled kids
standard backpacks usually dangle way too much to keep on you easily, so try to pack light
built in storage on wheelchairs cannot sufficiently carry books
don’t try to hold an umbrella. Period. Especially not with your teeth. It doesn’t work.
don’t try to give the bus driver your ticket while you’re stuck on the ramp. And speaking of, its easy to start falling down the bus ramp so be careful, and when in doubt throw on the breaks
and finally if you’re like me pray to god you don’t go nonverbal when someone is trying to push you and you don’t want them to because it is hard to get them to stop if you can’t speak
able-bodied people can and should 1000% reblog this, some of these things I’ve seen on tips about using a wheelchair but a lot of these weren’t things I’ve seen
Seriously, never, ever touch someone’s mobility aid without their permission.
A very helpful guide, both for first-time wheelchair users and those around them!
Fix is an engaging story about two disabled teenage girls trying to cope with internalised ableism, weird boys and overbearing mothers.
This was a visceral book for me to read. I tried reading it 12 months ago and had to put it down about 10 pages in because the way Mann writes about Eve, our leading lady, waking up from spinal surgery just triggered the bleep out of me. But I wanted to see how her story ended and I’ve found so few disabled authors writing about disability that I wanted to try the book again - this time skipping the triggery start.
And I got a really good reading experience. Mann writes about Eve’s fear and pair so starkly that it’s impossible to look away as she falls apart again and again. There was a nice element of mystery with her best friend, Lidia, who is present in the flashbacks written in verse but not in the present-day prose. And I liked the friendship Eve developed with Thomas.
An excellent read for fans of Far From You by Tess Sharpe and any disabled people wanting to feel seen - but do read with caution if medical trauma is a trigger for you.
Warnings: drug use and abuse, medical content and medical trauma.
Babs being so independent and healing from her injury and becoming oracle without the batfams help is so important to her character and important to me as a disabled woman.
ogrefairy.com/shop is now officially live!! Please come on over and check it out if you have any interest in prints (or a couple stickers) with disability and/or fantasy themes.
Now Shipping to USA and Canada
This is my debut as a small business! You can feel free to use the discount code: WELCOME for 10% off your order.
[ID: a digital drawing of a young woman standing in the center with her left arm raised with elongated fingers. She has pale skin and long white hair. She is wearing a shirt that says “No Pity” and an olive trench coat and jeans. The background is patchwork like a quilt. On the quilt are very basic images telling her past including, kidnapped by robots, friends dying, dealing with her powers, experimentation, fighting robots, and accepting help from friends.]
“What? Like, a disabled protagonist? How would that even work? How could someone with a disability be the hero in an action show?” local anime trash boy wonders while sitting next to his box sets of Full Metal Alchemist, showing no hint of irony or self awareness.
but is Ed really disabled? sure I get he lost his arm and leg
but he’s still able to move and do things perfectly
He has prosthetics. Having prosthetic limbs (that more than once break amd need repair) doesnt make him not disabled
It should also be noted that Ed:
-had to undergo very painful surgery to get automail
-had to relearn how to write because of his prosthesis (there’s a post going around showing he had to switch hands etc) and his handwriting is likely a lot worse due to that. This means automail isn’t super good for delicate work, unsurprising, considering what it’s made of.
-experiences phantom limb pain and therefore other associated stuff (this was only really shown in the manga)
-cannot go anywhere too cold without changing his automail or he’ll get really bad frost bite and it will stop working
-cannot go anywhere too hot, period, because the metal attached and under his skin will overheat and he will be badly burned
-Reattachment is painful, but needs to be done frequently if he breaks or outgrows his automail
- it’s HEAVY so much so that the strain has the potential to cause stress on his body, enough that it’s even theorized as possibly stunting his growth.
-it requires regular maintenance or it will break down, as shown when he forgets to do that and it…breaks down
-when it does need to be repaired, it takes time to do that, during which Ed uses regular prosthetics (that usually don’t quite fit him).
-costs a lot of money (not a problem for Ed due to high state alchemist salary/having mechanics as surrogate family, but explicitly noted to being the reason why most people in the fmaverse stick to regular prosthetics along with the painful surgery)
So Ed can’t actually do everything perfectly and experiences a lot of extra hassle, problems and pain people without automail don’t have to deal with! And any advantages he does have are more suited to fighting than day to day life (being able to incorporate weapons/fake out people who want to blow up his arm).
Arakawa did her research and thought it through. Automail is by no means a magic cure that solves all problems associated with losing a limb.
This is barely an addition, but I’m pretty sure it was proven that it stunted his growth. It was mentioned in Dublith, and then Winry made him lighter automail in Briggs. Now, after a couple of days of being together, the two of them don’t meet up again for months.
When they finally meet up again:
You could argue something about angles here, but at the end of the series?
In conclusion, the original automail did stunt his growth.
As a writer, creating a disabled character can often be difficult. Ed only worked because the world he was created in has very advanced prosthetics which (despite some draw backs) move and acts exactly like real limbs. It’s a very particular case and required some additional write-arounds to make work. And plus the disability factored into the story which is good.
In many scenarios a disabled character simply wouldn’t work. And a writer isn’t obligated to make their character disabled.
Give an example of a story in which none of the characters truly and honestly could not be disabled in some form or fashion. Explain how it “simply wouldnt work.”
Because Im a writer, and that sounds like unimaginative laziness.
Yeah I have no idea how disabled people could possibly be heroes, that’s why Luke Skywalker had all his limbs and appendages through every Star Wars movie, cause if he had a prosthetic he wouldn’t work. And that’s why Tony Stark is never written as having a life threatening heart condition and being on 24/7 life support surgically implanted into his body, then it just wouldn’t make sense for him to be Iron Man. And it’s why Bucky Barnes has all his limbs too, and why Daredevil’s known for having eyes that definitely work. And who could forget that memorable scene at the end of the first How To Train Your Dragon movie where Hiccup slays the Red Death, and then immediately jumps up and talks about how great it is he didn’t lose a foot in the process, before going on to be the lead in six TV seasons and another two movies, while definitely having both feet. God knows people are helpless the second they aren’t completely abled.
Like… the thing about disabilities is that there is always going to be a work around. That’s kind of how it works. If someone is born disabled, or suddenly becomes disabled, they don’t just shrug and go “oh well guess i’m never doing things ever again”. This may shock you, but disabled people actively work to adapt to their situation and find ways to lead the life they want to lead. So people missing limbs are going to have prosthetics, and they’re going to know what they’re doing with them, because that’s kind of the point of having a prosthetic in the first place. People missing senses will find ways to fill in the blanks that leaves behind, cause they still have lives to lead and they figure it out as they go.
Believe it or not, disabled people don’t magically stop being disabled when they’re not completely helpless.
Just nudging in to remind everyone that a lot of us are adapted to living in conditions abled people would struggle with a lot more. Like post-apocalyptic wasteland that isn’t suitable for human travel? I call that going to Tesco. World full of people who randomly hate you and wish you ill? That’s being visibly neurodivergent. We spend more time than you ever will, thinking about unconventional travel hacks and ways to avoid potentially dangerous conflict with others. You think in the event of some cataclysmic event, you’re just suddenly going to learn those skills? Go roll a manual wheelchair across 10 metres of pavement with a gentle camber and come back to me.
^THIS. Being autistic, and an adult with a good amount of control over my environment, I do so many workarounds now that are integral to how I’ve set up my home and routine and life that I do not even notice them anymore until something interrupts the adapted world I’ve built. Even just my “EDC” or EveryDayCarry stuff in my small backpack is highly specific to my needs.
Every time I move now I have to weigh the amount of energy it’s going to take me to make the effort against whatever I want to do the rest of the day, week and MONTH. Every. Time. I move. That’s a lot of statistics. I am constantly running that “math”. Probably from the same area of the brain that lets you throw a baseball by calculating angles and speeds. But I’m doing it with a damaged-functioning brain as well, because this is a neuroimmune condition.
Anyone who has been Disabled for a long time will NOT handle their disabling obstacles presented by the world in the same way as you would if you tried some kind of simulation. We have community, often online, and we learn and teach each other, swap lifehacks, and adapt to how to survive in an often actively hostile/alien environment- a world never meant for us to move through it like most of you do. How inhibited someone looks to outside eyes has nothing to do with whether they’re disabled.
Professional Ballerinas make what they do look easy when it’s actually putting incredible strain on every bone in their body. Disabled people are often very similar. We will often show you only the performance, not the pain. I could write essays on why we choose to or have to do that sometimes- how people see us and treat us is a lot of it- but! I’m outta spoons. ; )
Writing Characters with Chronic Pain and Disabilities
PSA: Writing characters with disabilities and chronic pain is great for representation, but I’m seeing harmful tropes and portrayals perpetuated in the way chronic pain and disability is treated in parts of the whump community. Abled people need to stop using chronic pain and/or disabilities purely for “fun and whumpy” purposes. To help address the (hopefully not ill intended) ignorance that likely causes perpetuation of hurtful tropes and harmful portrayals of disabled characters, I’m sorta writing a guide on what to do and not to do when you write a character who is disabled or has chronic pain. I am disabled myself (connective tissue disorder that causes chronic pain among other debilitating symptoms) but obviously all disabled experiences differ so take this all with a grain of salt.
What to do/what is okay to do: An injury causing chronic pain and that being just a part of a character, or a character who becomes disabled (or has been from birth). Their struggle is/can be obviously present and a significant part of their life BUT they must still be a rounded/whole chataver (background, personality, relationships, etc) if the narrative surrounding their disability was omitted. Writing characters with disabilities and chronic pain is good for representation! I’m not saying it’s bad to have chronic pain be caused by injuries for a character, including whump sustained injuries. A good example of a disabled character done right is Kaz from Six of Crows (Leigh Bardugo is disabled herself tho which obviously plays into why he’s done so well). Kaz uses a cane and has chronic pain caused by a wrongly healed broken leg. His pain and his cane are mentioned often throughout the novel and influence his life experience and perspective. However, his narrative doesn’t focus on his chronic pain: he’s not looking desperately for a cure, his goal is not to someday stop using his cane, etc. (These things are harmful tropes because they portray disability as something completely and totally bad, to be avoided at all costs). Kaz is a badass and competent character, as developed as the other (able bodied) main characters of the story, and his disability is one of many trait about him. If you wanna write a disabled character as an abled person, try to keep those kinds of things in mind (make them developed, make sure their narrative doesn’t focus fully around their disability even tho their disability can/could be a large part of their life, don’t use the “looking for a cure” trope as their whole motive, don’t present disability as a fate worse than death or similar.)
What not to do: What I’m sorta mad about is when someone writes a character who’s constantly suffering from chronic pain/disability and is written in a way where they’re constantly miserable from it and can never feel anything other than the constant sadness/pain their disability causes them. (Perpetuates the trope that disability is constantly horrible and sometimes creates the idea that a life with disability isn’t worth living- which is harmful because it creates the idea that people with disabilities can’t be happy/successful/etc unless they’re faking their disability). It is harmful when their pain or disability is their only trait and/or is only used to make them suffer for “fun” or whump (perpetuates harmful stereotypes around disability- gives the idea that it’s impossible to be happy/a successful person/etc while disabled or having chronic pain, makes light of disability.), Do not write a disability unrealistically and do your research to prevent from ignorance turning into harm. When a character is written disabled/in pain purely for whump, harmful tropes usually end up being perpetuated (the search for a cure trope, the idea that a disability is a tragedy and must be avoided at all costs, etc). Chronic pain is not fun, disability is not whumpy. If you want to write it, do it respectfully. Putting it as the focus of a whump story or as the only trait of a character, especially if you’re an able bodied person and just want to write suffering is not okay. Doing so mitigates and makes light of the real shit people with chronic pain and disabilities live through every day.
Abed people don’t clown on this post. Do not start discourse on this post.
This is very eloquent and raises important things to think about.
I’ve been disabled for all my life but only in the last few years have I become extremely physicallydisabled, and writing has been a way to kind of process a lot of that, so I’ve given many of my characters certain problems.
I didn’t even realize that one’s journey through healing from trauma and accepting his new physicality was kind of mirroring me working through my own thought process as I worked from the initial panic at change, to grieving the things I lost, into finding a new life worth living and full of exciting things I plan to do.
I just so heartily agree that any time you’re going to write a character with a chronic illness, pain or disability, you need to keep an eye on what story you’re telling with it, and what you’re saying about the lives of people like that. people like us. Like me.
I recently got into a huge fight with an abled friend about disabled representation, in which he was completely convinced that the stance he held was that of an ally. He’s a long time friend of mine and I know he really did think he was fighting for us and coming from a place of trying to help us.
And it really got me thinking about the way abled people perceive disabled people. And how that message is internalised and reinforced in so many ways.
My friend was trying to say that characters like Cyborg, Misty knight, Daredevil, Toph, Edward Elric, Bucky, Nebula, etc were not good representation. And he at first refused to listen to me (an actual disabled person) when I was like; no, we like that. we love that. we LOVE seeing badass and competent and sexy disabled people. It’s validating and empowering.
His argument was that it didn’t really count because nobody saw them as disabled and that it would be the same thing as saying Gamora is black representation.
While I understand where he was coming from, both of us also being black, it was hard to get him to understand how it wasn’t the same thing.
Gamora is a black actress painted green to portray a green-skinned alien. She has black features, yes, but within the narrative she very much is not a black woman. She’s an alien.
But a disabled character is always still a disabled character. Regardless of how high tech or SciFi or magical or fantastical the world or universe is; an amputee with a prosthesis is still an amputee. They are still disabled. Yes, even if their prosthesis shoots lasers.
And other characters, like Toph and Daredevil, who are both blind, have superpowers/superhuman abilities that allow them to overcome their disability. That does not make them less disabled.
Their blindness still impacts their everyday lives. They can’t read. They can’t draw. They don’t know what things or people look like, or what color things are. They can’t read someone’s facial expressions during a conversation. They can’t follow a map without assistance.
When I asked my friend for examples of what he considered good disabled representation he said Professor X, Oracle, and the Thinker. And that made me pause and I won’t lie, it upset me. It felt degrading. I got kind of angry at him and it got a little heated.
Because what he was saying is: the smart one in the wheelchair that never actually joins the battle because their body is too frail? Those are the only good disabled characters? The ones who still need to be protected and treated tenderly and are physically weaker?
Do we only exist when you can view us as some subhuman lesser other that you can take pity on?
But it’s not only my friend who thinks this way.
I’ve seen quite a few arguments online about people who don’t think Edward Elric is disabled, despite being an amputee.
Who don’t think Cyborg is disabled, despite the fact that his entire power set is due to a life support and mobility aid device.
And my friend was shocked that I, and many other disabled people, find these depictions of strong and confident and capable disabled people empowering. He fully expected that I would find those depictions offensive.
And that’s when it really hit me.
The issue is not that characters like Bucky or Toph or Daredevil are bad representations of disabled characters.
The issue is that people don’t perceive them as disabled. They’ve internalized this belief that disabled people have to be weak and delicate and fragile and in some way physically inferior.
They’re only considered disabled if they’re tragic and/or weak. Or ugly. People love to project a tragic subhuman otherness onto disabled people who are ugly.
If they’re cool and badass that confuses them. That doesn’t fit with the narrative that’s been built in their heads.
The idea of a competent, confidant, and strong disabled character, especially a cool disabled character is just so completely foreign to them that they don’t even consider it.
NowI’m not saying that depictions of disabled characters like Oracle or professor X are bad or harmful. We need representation of disabled people who aren’t strong and don’t have superpowers and maybe don’t feel particularly empowered. That’s a genuine representation of many disabled people.
It just isn’t the only one.
I think the issue with disabled representation is not that it doesn’t exist (as I’ve seen many abled people online claim in our defense) but that we need to shift the way we think of disabled people so we stop overlooking a lot of the really cool and badass and awesome disabled characters we do already have.
So if you read this far through this essay, please stop for a moment and consider the preconceptions you have about disabled people.
Have you ever overlooked a disabled character because they were strong, powerful, charismatic, or, (God forbid!)SEXY?
And if so, I’d ask you to take some time to examine in yourself why you don’t think of disabled people as being able to be those things.
most people who don’t use white canes themselves tend to not understand how they work, and so, when portraying blind characters who use them, tend to get it very wrong. so, i thought i’d write up a small informative post about white canes, how they’re designed, and how they’re used.
most of these misconceptions seem to be based around the mistake of thinking a white cane and a cane meant for mobility are more similar than they actually are. which makes sense - most people know at least one person who uses a cane for mobility, while relatively few people interact with the blind. so, because they’re both canes, they must be the same, right? the answer: nope.
purpose
mobility canes are meant to provide additional support for people who, for whatever reason, have difficulty walking without more support.
meanwhile, the main purposes of a white cane are to:
detect obstacles
give the user detailed info about the texture of the ground
detect ledges, steps, and curbs
identify them as blind to the people around them
these things and the things mobility canes are meant to do, beyond the incredibly general “Help user get around”, don’t really overlap at all. so of course, they’re different to suit their different uses.
design
first things first: canes for the blind don’t come in any other colors, they’re always white. thus white cane is synonymous with cane for the blind - it is a color meant to identify the user as a person with a vision disability.
one thing about white canes is, because they are not meant to support weight, they don’t need to be particularly strong. it’s not like you could easily grab one and break it, of course, but they simply do not need to be the same kind of solid and sturdy that a mobility cane is.
strength isn’t a priority here. thus, their design is based around convenience instead.
white canes are hollow, making them more lightweight. also, most of them fold up so it’s easier to hold them while sitting down. if i’m on the train or the bus, i typically fold down the top section, and when i’m in class, i fold it up, pull the loop over to hold it together, and keep it by my feet.
[image: a white cane partially folded]
another thing about white canes is that they’re long. generally, they’re meant to reach to around a little bit under your shoulder. for example, im 5'3"/160cm tall, and my cane is 4'5"/132cm long. that’s a huge portion of my height!
[image: a person holding a white cane in an inactive position, while to their left is a person walking white holding a white cane.]
looooooooong
one more thing! tips.
white canes have removable tips, and this is pretty important for several reasons.
the tip of a cane will get VERY dirty. personally, when i get home, i remove the tip before i use my cane indoors; this helps keep dirty and water off my floor!
and because white canes are used by either dragging or tapping them across the ground, the tip wears down. tips can be bought separately, meaning you don’t need to replace your cane entirely every time it’s worn down too much.
and that opens up some possibility for different tips!
[image: white cane tips, from left to right: a standard tip, a teardrop tip, a metal tip, and a roller tip.]
standard tips are the ordinary kind, and come with the cane.
teardrop/marshmallow tips (different names for the same thing) are fatter. the thing is, white canes dragging across the ground will get caught in a LOT of things. listen. when my cane gets stuck in a crack in the sidewalk, the inevitable thing is that it gets jammed into my thigh and a giant bruise forms. because of their shape, marshmallow/teardrop tips get caught less often.
metal tips are very narrow and made of metal. they’ll make a louder sound when tapped, and they last way longer than nylon tips. using them outside is guaranteed to get caught even more frequently than a standard tip, but they’re quite useful in large indoor areas like a mall or a school.
roller tips are basically like a ball - they roll straight over cracks and stuff, and are the least likely to get caught. they’re also the most expensive type to get.
use
there’s several ways to use a white cane.
these two methods are the most common, and both serve the purpose of letting the user know about obstacles in their path and notifying them of curbs and steps. in both cases, the cane is swiped from 2in/5cm out from their shoulder on one side, to 2in/5cm out from the other:
method 1: tap a point on the ground out from one side and to the other repeatedly. this involves lifting the cane off the ground.
method 2: swipe the cane out from one side to the other without lifting it, keeping it in constant contact with the ground.
when standing, typically the user will hold the cane upright to take up less space and decrease the likelihood of tripping someone. so yeah they’re not gonna just keep it out stretched.
end
that’s pretty much it! if you have any questions, feel free to ask, and please tell me if my word choice is unclear/there’s some place that’s too confusing.
all of this information is stuff i learned while being trained to use a cane, as well as my experience using one.
websites where you can get more info about blindness:
I’ve seen a lot of talk in the fandom lately regarding Viktor and the representation of his disability. There’s a lot of anger going around on both sides of the argument. A lot of people seem to think that disabled people asking for proper representation is a targeted attack on artists. I don’t agree with this.
I do see how things could have been phrased kinder. Absolutely, I do. I understand why the artist’s response was defensive. But, I have also seen a good deal of misrepresentation with Viktor’s disability in this fandom. It’s everywhere. It’s understandable, especially for disabled people, to be upset about it.
This misrepresentation of Viktor’s disability ranges from infantilization of his character, to simply being represented incorrectly, to not being represented at all.
From my perspective as a writer, I am not disabled. I do my best to represent disabilities properly and can fully recognize that I might fail at that. If a disabled person starts telling me I am representing it wrong, how should I respond?
Well, I am not the one who is seeing my experiences being consistently erased. I am not the one who is being harmed by this erasure. I am not the one who knows what it is like to be disabled.
For abled people, this is one conversation, and an effort to be better. For disabled people, this is their lives. This is what they deal with, every single day. It’s going to get frustrating after a certain point. It’s going to be disheartening to see this erasure, over and over. As abled people, it is so easy to say, “Oh, this should have been worded kinder,” when we are not the ones who are being affected. But it’s not that simple.
If I am being informed I’m representing a minority wrong, when I have not lived that experience, all I can do is be better with this information. To make an effort to represent things better in the future.
Which is truly all people are asking for - that we, as creators, make an effort,andlisten.
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Chiming in as a disabled person to support this and to add:
Everyone’sexperience with disability is different.
So it’s important to practice patience, empathy, and self-compassion when working towards a shared understanding when discussing disability representation. Bodies are inherently political, acutely so when talking about disability representation. For so many disabled folk, our very erasure in fandom is a reminder of how most societies prefer their disabled citizens invisible or dead.
Did you ask for a miniature essay on Viktor, disability representation in fandom, life as a disabled person, and being a disabled writer? No. Did I want to write one instead of editing chapter three of Arcane Treats? 100%. You’re welcome.
Fandom and Disability Representation
Fandom and disability representation have a long history. Fan creations — whether that be writing, art, animation, cosplay, craft, etc. — and fandom offer safe escapist spaces where disabled people can feel truly seen without being subjected to exclusionary media censorship where our disabilities are regularly minimised, fetishised for non-disabled folk (see inspiration porn), completely erased or even worse, presented as a death sentence.
When you’re disabled, your disability shapes a significant part of your identity growing up because your disability affects how you navigate the world. In Viktor’s case, his disability affected his self-perception and self-worth growing up, including how he interacted with his Zaunite peers as a child and how he gravitated towards invention, where he felt empowered by and valued for his intellect.
It also underpinned his motivation for seeking Jayce out years later in Act I. Viktor saw parts of himself in Jayce’s desolation; and he gave Jayce the thing that Viktor, himself, held onto for years:
Hope.
Hope for a brighter future. Hope for innovation. Hope for invention that could “improve lives” of the disenfranchised, of the disaffected and of the disempowered people of Zaun, in Viktor’s case.
Viktor’s experiences as a disabled child growing up in Zaun, without the disability supports he needed — and seeing how being physically disabled was a death sentence (systemically constructed by the Piltover oligarchy, might I add) in Zaun — is closely tied to his hopes of bettering the lives of others. One day I’ll write an essay about disability representation in Zaun and the Piltover oligarchy. Today is not that day.
Viktor’s hope — this yearning and drive for a more equitable future is part of the reason why Viktor is so beloved. Not just for his ambition, pacifist nature, kindness, diligence, sparkling wit and genius intellect (and cheekbones that could, honestly, slice haloumi). But also because these traits are part of his identity as an academic, an inventor, an innovator, a reckless and stalwart companion and friend, and a disabled man.
Viktor isn’t defined by his disability but it’s an integral part of his identity. His disability doesn’t make him a hero nor does it villainise him nor does it disempower him and make him a victim.
It’s part of the reason he’s considered a nuanced and refreshing disability representation in fandom. His desperation in Arcane isn’t because he’s disabled, it’s because he’s grappling with the mortality of a terminal diagnosislikeany non-disabled person.
The (Disability) Invalidation Game
Being disabled is often layered with years of trauma from not only rejection, but humiliation, invalidation, disappointment and frustration spent navigating a world that constantly defines you solelyby your disabilities to strip you of your agency, autonomy and individuality.
This can include, but is not limited to, infantilising you and thus invalidating your experiences and struggles, creating — quite often —inaccessible and disappointingly lacking disability support systems for the layperson to navigate, making erroneous assumptions about your capability based off your disabilities, or comedically worse, claiming you’re a disability-friendly venue but having no accessible toilet for disabled folks, no elevator or ramp access to the venue, etc. (like, why??!)
Being constantly invalidated and disappointed by people, systems and spaces that claim to support you is exhausting. Let alone frustrating, harmful and enragingwhen it already feels like you’re constantly fighting to be able to safely navigate, and exist in, our world.
So it’s an understandable frustration when people we admire are unaware of their internalised biases that devalue and erase disabled people’s identities, similarly to the media censorship that is shown in films, books, TV shows, advertisements, etc. The media continues to associate disabilities with naivety and impotency (powerlessness), a poor moral compass, or suggesting characters’ disabilities are their ‘superpower’, e.g. Daredevil, Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Forrest Gump, Captain Hook, the Joker, Harlequin (earlier iterations), etc.
So sometimes our frustration can come across unkind and abrupt, because we’re upset. We’re so used to having to yell to be heard. Not listened to, but just heard. Just making noise to validate our physicalexistence.
Making an effort to listen to input from disabled people on how to have more nuanced, affirming and empowering disability representation is one of the most validating things you can do.
It also makes you a better ally for disabled people.
Writing Disability Representation
That written, my experiences as a disabled person are inherently unique to me.
My mobility experiences and struggles are not identical to others. My conditions and how they affect me are not identical to others. My relationship to my disabilities, including how they fluctuate, is not identical to others. They can be similar but the underlying experience is inherently different.
Even as a disabled writer, I still listen to my disabled peers when writing about disability to ensure it doesn’t perpetuate stereotypes or repeat patterns of poor disability representation. I am just as susceptible to unconscious internalised ableism as non-disabled people.
My un-dismantled ableism was a huge part of the reason that it took years to identify as disabled and access disability supports, which markedly improved my quality of life (pals, baby wipes can only get you so far). Disability prejudice is the underlying reason why each chapter for Arcane Treats takes a month, at least, to write.
Reader is disabled. Not physically like Viktor or because of underlying chronic illnesses like me, but because of her mental illnesses.
I have different mental illnesses and conditions from Reader, which also manifested for entirely different reasons. So a lot of my writing process is engaging with disabled friends for sensitivity reading and/or questions, and doing a heck-tonne of research (and praying to Apollo that my work is worthy enough to avoid submission for divine retribution from Nemesis). That feedback and research has helped me become a better writer, a better artist, and a better critic — and arguably, a better academic.
Conclusion
Personally, we have an obligation as people to listen to diverse and marginalised voices, e.g. LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, disabled, neurodivergent, etc. Even when it’s confronting and it pains us.
It’s part of the journey of living on this space rock hurtling at 30km/s (67,000m/h) around a star called the 'Sun’. But more importantly, it’s the first step to creating a better future for ourselves, others and future generations — similar to what Viktor wants.*
*Let’s ignore his transformation to The Machine Herald at this point because, uh, that’s, um, an essay for another time.
Luke Cagewas one of Netflix’s original series I had waited all summer to watch. Being a blerd and someone who enjoys comics, I was proudly a part of the #Cagetember fandom seen on Twitter. What excited me was not just Luke’s amazing abilities, but the fact that he was a Black disabled character, an existence that does not receive enough attention or respect within comic spaces. Luke…
This isn’t necessarily one of the most technically impressive attacks I’ve drawn this month but it’s definitely up among my favourites - I had such a good time drawing Aruru here and getting to depict a badass disabled character
[image description: a digital illustration of a young woman with large white wings, cat ears and a tail. She is standing with forearm crutches, looking back over her shoulder as though waiting for someone offscreen. Her left leg from the knee down and the end of her tail are both prosthetic, built from interlocking metal panels. She has a curly blue mohawk and is dressed in navy blue semi-military style clothing.]
Been digging out some bits I did in 2021 but never posted - starting with some sketches of Sylvie to explore both posing and figure out their dress sense a lil more. I think I want to push them a bit more grunge than egirl now though lmao
[image description: a set of digital sketches drawn with a blue and red brush. They show a figure sitting in a wheelchair from various angles, wearing a mixture of outfits, including a a hoodie with cat ears, knee-high boots and a lapelled jacket, and a close-fitting formal dress.]
ALT