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There are many different ways an author can express a sign language on the page; let’s take a closer look.

“How did you manage to capture that voice?” beta readers would ask. “How did you know to describe those particular feelings?” I was starting to have a few self-revelations about that.

It’s clear that many people, including pre-diagnosis me, don’t know much about hypermobility; this only makes the need for representation more necessary.

I wanted to write about a real girl with real emotions struggling in a world that too often is unforgiving to those who don’t fit the right mold.

The most common wheelchair-using character has acquired paraplegia, but why is this particular narrative so prevalent, and at the expense of all others?

Writing disability respectfully can be difficult, especially in the midst of large, seemingly contradictory conversations about representation. How should frustrated or concerned authors approach this?

We take a close look at the state of recognizable representation of visibly disabled characters on book covers.

To help authors make informed decisions about what language to use, we talk about disability terminology — from outdated words and cringe-worthy phrases to straight-up ableist slurs, and everything in between.

If you looked at me as a teenager, particularly during my freshman year in high school, I would not have stood out from my peers. If you looked closer at my dominant right hand, though, you’d see there was a significant problem.

Authors must allow their depictions of epileptics to catch up with modern medicine, instead of disseminating ancient beliefs and clichés for the sake of drama.

Portrayals of scoliosis in fiction often lack realism. Why is there so little reflection on the factors that affect a person’s journey?

Magic and technology often minimize disability in SF/F. How can authors meaningfully engage with disability and the ways that speculative elements can affect disabled characters?

Speculative fiction is work that focuses on difference, work that immerses us in it. But the choices we make when building a fictional world can reflect on the world that we live in now. So how do we worldbuild with disability in mind?

These magical or futuristic “fixes” seem rooted in a discomfort with disability: many writers cannot (or don’t want to) imagine a life without sight and therefore create excuses to give their character equivalent sighted experiences.

While I don’t think disability metaphors are sufficient disability representation, I do think that they’ll come up naturally in many stories, and that they’re relevant to the discussion of disability in SFF.

For as long as I could remember, I had been surrounded by people with special needs; I wasn’t aware that there were kids my age that didn’t have disabilities.

It’s time for #alamw16: all the information on ARCs, signings, and awards related to disability representation.

A thorough overview of common autism tropes that mirror and reinforce real-life stereotypes, with links to news stories, research, book reviews or commentary, and blog posts describing relevant real-world experiences.

I used to think there would be a magical cure for my blindness. I don’t remember this, but my mother assures me it’s true.

Today we get most forms of entertainment at the push of a button, so we tend to hate having to wait. The situation is even worse if you can’t read print — resulting in an endless waiting game for blind readers.

Science fiction and fantasy tell us that anything can happen, and yet disabled people are often told that their narratives don’t fit into the genres.

What about readers like me, who never see their own illnesses depicted? To see story after story where depression draws a straight line to suicide is, for better or for worse, expressing that depression only functions in one way.

Autistic people learn, change, and cope like anyone else. However, when a character is autistic, many authors appear to see only one route for character growth: effectively making the character less autistic.

My name is Philip and I write to communicate. Authors who write about us should first learn from us; in their stories, they should present us as whole characters with interests and personalities.