{"id":3062,"date":"2016-03-15T09:00:36","date_gmt":"2016-03-15T13:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/?p=3062"},"modified":"2020-11-12T19:14:36","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T19:14:36","slug":"disability-metaphors-in-sci-fi-and-fantasy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/2016\/03\/15\/disability-metaphors-in-sci-fi-and-fantasy\/","title":{"rendered":"Disability Metaphors in Sci-Fi and Fantasy"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m a co-founder of Disability in Kidlit as well as an author who regularly writes disabled characters; both my existing SFF novels feature disabled protagonists. On top of that, I\u2019m disabled myself. It\u2019s pretty safe to say I\u2019m a huge fan of disability representation. Specifically, I\u2019m a fan of accurate, respectful, and textual disability representation.<\/p>\n

However, when writing science fiction and fantasy, it doesn\u2019t just stop at featuring textually disabled characters. Many SFF stories contain disability metaphors. These span a wide range \u2014 from purposeful to unintentional, from obvious to subtle, and from well-done to inadvertently offensive.<\/p>\n

Many authors tackle interesting questions through these parallels: questions about human dignity; about violation; about \u201cnatural\u201d versus \u201cunnatural;\u201d about reliance on medication or assistive tools; about the likelihood of ever recovering; about whether people may not be better off dead. However, they don\u2019t always consider that these exact questions are regularly posed to and by disabled people in real life. Worse, authors commonly answer these questions in a way that\u2019s contrary to the way actual disabled people feel about their lives.<\/p>\n

Many disabled people are fed up with these poorly handled disability metaphors, and with the common trope of the \u201cmagical disability.\u201d Even when disability parallels are handled wonderfully, it\u2019s frustrating when these metaphors or made-up, sci-fi disabilities are used in lieu of actual disability representation.<\/p>\n

To give an idea of what I mean when I talk about disability metaphors and parallels, here are a handful of different approaches:<\/p>\n

\"Cover<\/a>\t\n\t
\n\t\t\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tBUY ON BOOKSHOP<\/span>\n\t\t\t\tBOOKSHOP<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t& support independent bookstores\n\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/article> \n\n\t<\/center><\/div>In Kit Whitfield\u2019s Benighted<\/a><\/em>, the vast majority of society are werewolves; the main character is one of the few people who\u2019s human. She\u2019s seen as broken and lesser for it. A similar situation occurs in Janet Edwards\u2019s Earth Girl<\/a><\/em>, in which the few characters who cannot survive on worlds other than Earth are \u201chandicapped\u201d and called \u201capes\u201d and \u201cthrowbacks.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the X-Men<\/a> universe, Cyclops is forced to wear specially made visors\/glasses every minute of every day. These also render him colorblind. Rogue is unable to touch someone without harming them. Telepathic characters exert a lot of energy shutting out people\u2019s thoughts and emotions, if they\u2019re able to do so at all; Sookie Stackhouse in Charlaine Harris\u2019s Dead Until Dark<\/a><\/em>\u00a0outright refers to her telepathy as a disability.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, characters\u2019 actual disabilities intersect with magical abilities, such as characters with narcolepsy or epilepsy whose episodes link into the ability to see into other worlds, into people\u2019s minds, or into the future. Other times \u2014 such as in my own Otherbound<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>\u2014 characters with certain abilities or curses are misdiagnosed with medical conditions because the people around them don\u2019t know the truth.<\/p>\n

In the above examples, the authors drew conscious parallels. That\u2019s not always the case, though. In SFF, where you\u2019re dealing with fantasy creatures \u2014 each with their own strengths and limitations \u2014 as well as magic and technology, accidental parallels are inevitable.<\/p>\n

\"Cover<\/a><\/center><\/div>Take for example characters who are magically mind-wiped; who are brainwashed; who are under supernatural influence; who are artificially created (Frankenstein, clones, androids) \u2026 heck, take zombies. Many zombie stories come down to a kill-or-be-killed situation, but in others, zombies can be restrained and made harmless relatively easily. This is used as a gag at the end of Shaun of the Dead<\/a><\/em>. In that film and John Ajvide Lindqvist\u2019s novel Handling the Undead<\/a><\/em>, zombies retain elements of their previous selves; in the British TV series In the Flesh<\/a><\/em> and Jaclyn Dolamore\u2019s Dark Metropolis<\/a><\/em>, zombies can be \u201crestored\u201d to their former, sentient selves by means of medication.<\/p>\n

Yet, I rarely get the impression that authors are conscious of how those characters relate to the perception of \u2014 for example \u2014 intellectually disabled, mentally ill, or otherwise neuroatypical people, or those with a chronic\/terminal illness. Let\u2019s be clear: I am no way saying \u201cdisabled people are just like zombies\u201d or \u201cit\u2019s sort of like mentally ill people are mind-wiped.\u201d We\u2019re dehumanized often enough as is. I do want to point out that characters in the above categories are often stripped of agency and identity for reasons that are frightfully similar to the reasons given for dehumanizing disabled people in real life.<\/p>\n

SFF features countless heart-wrenching scenes featuring protagonists who decide to \u201cmercy kill\u201d a loved one who underwent a terrible ordeal. It\u2019s meant as a poignant, tragic show of compassion and mercy. The characters will give reasons like: \u201cThey can\u2019t even talk.\u201d \u201cThey\u2019re drooling.\u201d \u201cThey\u2019re not the same person they used to be.\u201d \u201cThey wouldn\u2019t have wanted this.\u201d \u201cThey can\u2019t even look after themselves.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s unnatural keeping them alive like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

What does that imply about the millions of disabled people who fit those descriptions?<\/p>\n

Similar problems arise with other parallels. Characters may be disrespected, treated as burdens, or wallow in their own misery in ways that echo problematic portrayals of disabled people. For all the interesting questions tackled in SFF, I wish I saw more questions of informed consent. Or questions of treatment, of assistive tools, of accommodations, of community. Characters who\u00a0adapt to their situation and move on with their life to the best of their ability.<\/p>\n

While I don\u2019t think disability metaphors are sufficient disability representation, I do think that they\u2019ll come up naturally in many stories, and that they\u2019re relevant to the discussion of disability in SFF. For authors, it\u2019s important to be true to their plot, their world, and their characters \u2026 but it\u2019s also important to consider how their narrative may resonate with and impact disabled readers.<\/p>\n

Note: titles in this article are merely examples. Inclusion doesn\u2019t reflect my opinion of the title or the handling of the disability parallel, whether good or bad.<\/em><\/p>\n

This article previously appeared in SF Signal’s Special Needs in Strange Worlds column<\/a>, and has been reprinted in Speculative Fiction 2014<\/a>. It has been slightly modified since.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While I don\u2019t think disability metaphors are sufficient disability representation, I do think that they\u2019ll come up naturally in many stories, and that they\u2019re relevant to the discussion of disability in SFF.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3064,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_generate-full-width-content":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[266,267,268,269,270,271,221,272],"genre":[9,29,35],"age_category":[],"disability":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3062"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3062"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6631,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3062\/revisions\/6631"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3062"},{"taxonomy":"genre","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/genre?post=3062"},{"taxonomy":"age_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/age_category?post=3062"},{"taxonomy":"disability","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/disability?post=3062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}