{"id":638,"date":"2014-07-11T10:13:47","date_gmt":"2014-07-11T14:13:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.wordpress.com\/?p=638"},"modified":"2020-11-07T16:01:26","modified_gmt":"2020-11-07T16:01:26","slug":"discussion-6-if-we-could-tell-an-author-one-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/2014\/07\/11\/discussion-6-if-we-could-tell-an-author-one-thing\/","title":{"rendered":"Discussion: If We Could Tell an Author One Thing …"},"content":{"rendered":"

For our first anniversary, we\u2019re bringing back the discussion post<\/a> format! In these posts, we ask our contributors for their thoughts on various topics. We\u2019ll post one every Friday this month. Today, we asked:<\/p>\n

If you could tell an author writing a character with your disability one thing \u2014 besides “do your research” \u2014 what would it be? For example: a piece of advice, a warning about a common inaccuracy or iffy plotline, etc.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our contributors share the following:<\/p>\n

\n

Kody Keplinger:<\/a><\/strong>
\nI’d remind authors that blindness, like all things, is on a spectrum. Most characters depicted in fiction are completely blind \u2014 they see nothing. In reality, only 10% or so of blind individuals are completely blind. The other 90% fall on a spectrum. Depending on the disorder or trauma that caused the blindness, a person could see in a thousand different ways. So many people don’t realize this, though. I actually get accused of faking my blindness because I can read large print text on my phone. I often wonder if this is because the media only portrays complete blindness as “blind” and rarely acknowledges the other 90% who have some vision.<\/p>\n

\n

s.e. smith:<\/a><\/strong>
\nSomething that’s really been bugging me a great deal lately is media and pop culture depictions of OCD. OCD is not about being ‘obsessively’ neat or fussy about personal appearance \u2014 it’s a very complex mental health condition that has serious ramifications and manifests totally differently in different people. I’m especially tired of the stereotype that people with OCD are super-clean (although I do keep a very tidy house).<\/p>\n

It might help to break down what OCD is actually about \u2014 obsessive thoughts, and compulsive actions. OCD involves intrusive, traumatic, aggressive thoughts that don’t go away, and compulsive rituals that people use to manage them. Maybe for some people that’s checking the stove four times before leaving the house, or having to double and triple-check locks. But it can also involve hair pulling, or needing to reorder jars on the shelf, or being completely disrupted by environmental change. Avoid cheap shortcuts when depicting OCD, and make it a condition with actual consequences instead of the figure of fun or something quirky.<\/p>\n

\n

Corinne Duyvis:<\/a><\/strong>
\nI’ve spoken a lot about autism, but less so about AD(H)D. I’d love to see more accurate and varied portrayals: It’s not all about distractibility, impulsiveness and hyperactivity! Those traits may be common, but I’d like to see, for example, characters struggling with making decisions, or experiencing hyperfocus.<\/p>\n

\n

Lyn Miller-Lachmann:<\/a><\/strong>
\nI\u2019d ask authors to avoid arranging scenes and entire plot lines around characters with Asperger\u2019s who take everything literally, particularly if the author intends to use it for laughs. It feels as if you\u2019re laughing at us and not with us. Besides, most tweens and teens with Asperger\u2019s have learned what an idiom is and know the difference between literal and figurative meanings, even if the literal meaning conjures amusing images in our minds.<\/p>\n

\n

Marieke Nijkamp:<\/a><\/strong>
\nI’d love to see more spectrums, especially when it comes to daily life with a disability. For example, when it comes to my arthritis, it means I am in pain almost every day. It does not mean I’m in the exact same amount of pain every day, that the pain itself is exactly the same, or even that the pain is the worst of it.<\/p>\n

Some days, I can barely hold a hairbrush. Other days, it’s more like an annoying ache in my bones. Some days, my painkillers are heavenly (and anyone who thinks it’s acceptable to come talk to me about how medication is poison can get out and check their privilege), other days I barely notice them. Some days, I can ignore the pain, and other days, it chips away at the very core of me because it’s so very invasive. It’s a spectrum, and no day is quite like the other.<\/p>\n

\n

Kayla Whaley:<\/strong><\/a>
\nIn terms of my own disability (Spinal Muscular Atrophy), I’d like authors to consider the physicality of it beyond not being able to walk. Realize that neuromuscular diseases don’t affect ONLY one’s legs. My entire body is weaker than most and that affects my physicality \u2014 the way I look and move. I tend to sit leaning forward and to the right because it takes less strength for me than sitting upright. If I’m reaching for something on a table, I have to use my free arm to brace the other. When I’m moving my body (gesturing while talking, adjusting my sitting position, dancing, anything), I don’t tend to be the most graceful because it requires a decent amount of effort to do so.<\/p>\n

I think because the only wheelchair-using characters we’re used to seeing are athletic people who have been paralyzed (not that those portrayals are necessarily accurate either), it’s easy to fall into the trap of focusing on the walking issue while ignoring the rest. (And keep in mind that this is a very, very incomplete list and focuses purely on visible physical differences between me and those who are able-bodied.)<\/p>\n

\n

Cece Bell:<\/strong><\/a>
\nI agree with what several of the other contributors have said: disabilities are on a spectrum. That is definitely true with deafness \u2014 there’s such a big range, and so many different ways that each deaf individual might deal with their own level of deafness. I rarely see deaf people in fiction (probably because I don’t read nearly enough), but I often see them in movies or on TV as minor characters who exist for no other reason than for comic relief. You know, the stock deaf person who shouts all the time because he can’t hear what he’s saying. That joke’s so old even my dog won’t eat it. I guess this advice is more for movie directors than authors, but there you go!<\/p>\n

\n

What about you, commenters? Any advice to offer?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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