Young Writers Society

hi! i have a question.
how do i write disabilities?
i have a work, fallout 4 inspired (untitled currently, and no plot) and i may include disabled characters. i have one of which may be blind, or partially blind, i havent decided, and another who is deaf. how do i write them?
i also may include other characters with different problems, such as a missing arm, leg, etc.

Hi!

Look up Helen Keller. She was blind I believe.

Hey Paige! I’ll try to look up more information later but writing a character with a disability is a very nuanced subject. For one, you need to look up things written by deaf and blind people if you can find them, especially if you don’t know anyone with one of those conditions in real life. There’s a lot more detail than just “they can’t hear.”

For example, there’s a difference between deaf and Deaf. Lowercase is the condition of not hearing. Capitalized is the community and culture. People who are Deaf generally are people born into Deaf families and are a part of Deaf communities. There’s an entirely different culture, and most Deaf people don’t think of being Deaf as a disability to be fixed. In fact, some who qualify for cochlear implants choose not to get them.

I would also say to just be careful, and read a ton on it. Asking here is a great start, but you’re going to need to read a lot of articles on any specific disability you choose to write, and really stop to consider if you should write that or not, and if you feel like you know enough to do it confidently in an inoffensive way.

Again, I’ll try to look up some resources later, but for now, I’d suggest typing into google “writing characters with disabilities” and reading everything you can find. Then, look up the specific disability or condition you want to include and read even more about that. Just soak up the information.

Hope this helps!

Hello Paige!

First off, I think it's awesome that you're wanting to write characters with disabilities. As with basically all minorities or disadvantaged groups, there's not enough representation or inclusion of peoples with disabilities in literature.

May I ask why you're wanting to write characters with disabilities? You don't even have to answer me, but I think this is an important question you should ask yourself. Many people write characters with disabilities because they want the disability to be a plot device, or a struggle the character must "overcome" to further their call to adventure or their character development, or adding disability akin to a personality trait to make a character more interesting.

These are inherently ableist.

Ableism is basically individual and systemic prejudice against non-abled people. If you participate in society at all, you have some kind of ableism built in, we all do. Just like a lot of -isms, it's something those not in those disadvantaged communities (and even within them) must constantly be aware of and battle them.

As @winterwolf0100 said above, writing disabilities require nuance and a ton of research. I'll put some points below to be aware of.

-The character's disability does not have to drive the plot.

Oftentimes, when characters have disabilities, it is an important part of their story and is often considered a "problem". There's a concept that disability is a burden. This isn't true. It can be, but most people with disabilities learn to live the same way abled people do.

-Be aware of your own prejudice.

-Don't make your disabled character one-sided.

Aka, your disabled character should have flaws. There's a trope that minority characters should be perfect, or cannot have flaws because they represent the minority poorly. This just isn't true. Let your characters have flaws.

-Don't write your disabled character to be pitied.

-Disability should not be a teaching moment; dont do inspiration p***.

-Disabled people are oppressed, talk about that oppression.

There are definitely other things to consider. For example, some people in disadvantaged communities believe that you shouldn't write in the POV of marginalized peoples if you aren't a part of that community. While I personally don't agree, I think it's important to recognize why some people say that: no matter how hard you try, you will not be able to completely understand because it is not your story to tell. However, I personally don't think you're doing any harm by trying to understand more and writing it.

Check out this article for some more good advice!

I wish you luck in your writing adventures