Disabled main carictors?

[OZ]

I loved the Dan Wells trilogy. I hope he writes something else soon. (Or has he already and I missed it?) Marvel comics Daredevil is another well known character with a handicap (blindness) although the way it's written, his super powered other senses and his "radar" sense more than make up for his loss.

Jeffrey Deaver's Lincoln Rhymes is a quadriplegic detective. At least one of the stories, The Bone Collector, was made into a movie although I haven't seen it. I remember reading a series of short stories about a blind detective when I was a teenager but I don't remember the author or any of the titles. I just remember that I enjoyed them.

I have thought before that I would like to write a story with a handicapped protagonist (or even a group of people, perhaps from some sort of care facility ) but I have been afraid that I would not do them justice since I personally have not experienced what they have.

[Aminar]

Odd fact.  Dan Wells next book is out in German, but won't hit the US for several more months.  It's about a schizophrenic.(I think)

[cenwolfgirl]

Okay so you went only slitly off topic i had to read the last post twice to understand it
When i say my charictor has a disabilaty it is to give her depth and just to prove that we with sensery disabilaties and any one for that matter can do anything
interesting things like magicle abilaties ect don't just happen to normal '20"20's
but i am glad that i am not the only wrighter who gives other prespectives
 

[Darkshore]

Okay so you went only slitly off topic i had to read the last post twice to understand it
When i say my charictor has a disabilaty it is to give her depth and just to prove that we with sensery disabilaties and any one for that matter can do anything
interesting things like magicle abilaties ect don't just happen to normal '20"20's
but i am glad that i am not the only wrighter who gives other prespectives
 

Writing characters with disabilities adds to the realism factor for me, but it all depends on your target audience. I understand that you have sight problems and this effects your spelling, but it would be very beneficial for you to take extra time with your posts (as I hope you do with your writing) to ensure that there isn't an abundance of misspellings. Is English perhaps not your first language? To me that would make sense as many of your words are spelled oddly. Wright compared to Write, for example. No offense intended, just trying to help.

[cenwolfgirl]

sorry
english is my first language but
i spell things therneticly most of the time
okay therneticly is a hard word
you say that you have gathered that I have sight problems
take a minet to think about this
if you were to blink constently for that hole minet
you have gust entered what my life is like constently
as that is avrage
my glasses bearly make a diffrens most of the time
and you wonder why i can not spell as well as you lot
and today it is worse than normal but what can you do

[Kali]

I don't really mind that you don't spell as well as I do.  I don't sing as well as Christina Aguilera. It's just a thing. People are different.

What bothers me is the harsh reality check you're in for when you find out that neither agents, editors, nor readers will cut you any slack for your disabilities.  Their only concern is, "I can't read this."  It's not their job to work with your disability, it's your job as a writer to minimize the impact it has on your writing.

On board posts? Whatever. Y'know, it's no big thing.  I sometimes am not in the mood to try and translate your posts but so what? No big deal.  But if you want to be a writer, this IS something you're going to have to address and you haven't said word one about what you do to try and address it.  Do you use a spell checker in your writing?  Do your first readers fix your spelling for you? 

It does no good to get defensive with us when we're not being offensive. We're not attacking you for your spelling, just wondering what, as a writer, you're doing to address this difficulty.

[cenwolfgirl]

OH
i get it
i have the most wonderful friend who help with my grammer and spelling
she checks all of those things
i also use spell check
and when wrighting thestory or most long peaces of wrighting i use dragon speak easy witch helps a lot
i can't use it for my posts as i am down stears and my sister and mum come in and talk to me will i type

i apoligis if my preves posts where agressive

[Kali]

They were a little, but I get it. I wouldn't be surprised if you've gotten odd looks for wanting to write, with your difficulties. But hell, Helen Keller managed and she was blind. Stephen Hawking's almost completely paralyzed and he manages to write books just fine.

I'm glad to hear you're learning how to beat your problems into submission.   

[Aminar]

She won't do that forever though; editing gets tedious.  Were I you I would think about using a dictation program for your writing.  That will make it much much easier for someone to look over.  As Kali has said, we're really just trying to help you out.

[cenwolfgirl]

I get that and thanks i am going to find my head pones and start up dragon i ges i have been getting too lazy with the spelling
thanks 

[Paynesgrey]

Back on topic, one popular character with disabilities is Miles Vorkosigan.  Pre-natal poisoning left him with long bones that had the consistancy of chalk.  (Kind of like Mr. Glass in the Bruce Willis flick "Unbreakable.")  He's hunchbacked, and breaks very, very easilly.  He's also clinically bi-polar as hell. 

[Shecky]

Back on topic, one popular character with disabilities is Miles Vorkosigan.  Pre-natal poisoning left him with long bones that had the consistancy of chalk.  (Kind of like Mr. Glass in the Bruce Willis flick "Unbreakable.")  He's hunchbacked, and breaks very, very easilly.  He's also clinically bi-polar as hell.

Good point. Miles is LOADED with weaknesses. He more than compensates for them, though, which is a great story in and of itself.

[jeno]

Miles has disabilities, yeah, but it becomes a plot point in later books that most of them are corrected. Even the bi-polarness settles down once he *spoilers*. There's another disability that pops up later, but that one gets controlled with, er, medication.

Not that this is a bad thing as far as the books go (in fact it make sense that the disabilities are corrected, given Vorkosigan's particular ambitions and the level of technology in his world), but I know that a lot of people side-eye books that focus mostly on 'curing' disabled people so that they can become normal. The Vorkosigan books, though not specifically about Miles' disabilities or the curing thereof, still fall under that pattern. Just something to keep in mind.


Random Vorkosigan quote:

"Schizoid or no, not even you could compartmentalize yourself to that extent."
"I am not schizoid," Miles bit off. "A little manic-depressive, maybe," he admitted in afterthought.
Galeni's lips twitched. "Know thyself."
"We try, sir."

[Shecky]

I've often wondered about that. If I understand correctly, differently-abled people are often lambasted for seeking to eliminate that difference. If this is the case, are we to privilege the differently-abled-and-proud-to-stay-that way viewpoint over the differently-abled-and-desirous-of-changing viewpoint? Correct me if I'm wrong, but the whole point of correctness, of equality, is to accept and see the good in all viewpoints.

[jeno]

I don't think the issue is with privileging certain viewpoints (proud vs wanting to change) over others. That's just diversity of opinion. It's more of an issue when there's a long pattern of people (particularly people who don't have disabilities) writing about how curing disabilities makes disabled characters normal/happier/better etc.

It's not an argument that can be applied to individual works (like, say, Vorkosigan) because all things can, theoretically, be justified in the text. It's more about the broader context and implications of what you're writing, which can be something you ignore, but is still not something you can avoid, if you see what I'm saying.