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athousanderrorsvia http://ift.tt/2pUH8oT:
ardatli:
shiraglassman:
downtheupstairs:
shiraglassman:
1. Read media by people in the group. Fiction, nonfiction, blog posts – anything from “how my day went today” to 300-page epic adventure novels to history pamphlets. (By people in the group, not just about them. This is important.)
2. Google “How not to write a [the group] character” because the odds are that at least a few people in the group have written blog entries rattling off all their least favorite tropes representing their demographic. I’ve seen lesbians writing about how not to write lesbians, Asians talking about offensively-written Asians, etc. Refraining from writing the overused, negative, one-dimensional tropes listed in posts like this is probably a good start.
I want to emphasize this in relation to writing disabled characters. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read works - from fanfiction to famous literary works - where it is strikingly obvious that the author has never actually read about or talked to someone with this disability about their experience.
And I understand. Before I became disabled, I too thought that all I needed to know in order to write a disabled character were the facts about the disability. The symptoms, the causes, the treatments, how it impacts the body, etc. I thought that all I needed to know was what doctors have written about it.
But there’s so much more to being disabled than just your impairment. It impacts you socially, financially, emotionally… every single aspect of your life. So, if you want to write about a character with a disability, please please PLEASE read stuff people with that disability or at least a similar disability have written about it. And look into communities on tumblr. Most disabilities have at least a small tumblr community where people talk about their experiences. Also get involved in the ableism community, because unless you are disabled or are reading what disabled people are saying about it you aren’t noticing 90% of the ableism in your life that your character would likely notice.
This is a good addition to my post. So many disabilities have clichéd narratives that fiction learns to repeat from other fiction, not from the experiences of people with that disability.
This is an excellent post and thread – I want to tangent, however, and reiterate that public policing is never appropriate. People with disabilities are going to have a huge range of different experiences and attitudes towards their disabilities / illnesses / chronic pain, and many of those with direct experience won’t have posted about it, or have it listed in their bios.
You (generic ‘you’) won’t always be able to tell whether someone is a member of group x / y / z from their tumblr alone, so if you’re really concerned, a private message (or just ignoring it completely) is the better way to go than a public callout which tries to force what could be very personal disclosure.
(Your picture was not posted)
ardatli:
shiraglassman:
downtheupstairs:
shiraglassman:
1. Read media by people in the group. Fiction, nonfiction, blog posts – anything from “how my day went today” to 300-page epic adventure novels to history pamphlets. (By people in the group, not just about them. This is important.)
2. Google “How not to write a [the group] character” because the odds are that at least a few people in the group have written blog entries rattling off all their least favorite tropes representing their demographic. I’ve seen lesbians writing about how not to write lesbians, Asians talking about offensively-written Asians, etc. Refraining from writing the overused, negative, one-dimensional tropes listed in posts like this is probably a good start.
I want to emphasize this in relation to writing disabled characters. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read works - from fanfiction to famous literary works - where it is strikingly obvious that the author has never actually read about or talked to someone with this disability about their experience.
And I understand. Before I became disabled, I too thought that all I needed to know in order to write a disabled character were the facts about the disability. The symptoms, the causes, the treatments, how it impacts the body, etc. I thought that all I needed to know was what doctors have written about it.
But there’s so much more to being disabled than just your impairment. It impacts you socially, financially, emotionally… every single aspect of your life. So, if you want to write about a character with a disability, please please PLEASE read stuff people with that disability or at least a similar disability have written about it. And look into communities on tumblr. Most disabilities have at least a small tumblr community where people talk about their experiences. Also get involved in the ableism community, because unless you are disabled or are reading what disabled people are saying about it you aren’t noticing 90% of the ableism in your life that your character would likely notice.
This is a good addition to my post. So many disabilities have clichéd narratives that fiction learns to repeat from other fiction, not from the experiences of people with that disability.
This is an excellent post and thread – I want to tangent, however, and reiterate that public policing is never appropriate. People with disabilities are going to have a huge range of different experiences and attitudes towards their disabilities / illnesses / chronic pain, and many of those with direct experience won’t have posted about it, or have it listed in their bios.
You (generic ‘you’) won’t always be able to tell whether someone is a member of group x / y / z from their tumblr alone, so if you’re really concerned, a private message (or just ignoring it completely) is the better way to go than a public callout which tries to force what could be very personal disclosure.
(Your picture was not posted)
