Writing Advice: Disability And Infantilization

Writing Advice: Disability And Infantilization

Here Is Life Lesson To Take Into Everything: Disabled Adults Are Adults

In My Multi-Part Series, I Will Be Talking About The Different Ways That Writers Alike Mess Up This Phrase.

Disabled Adults Are Children?

This is a common mistake that authors make when attempting to write distabled characters. This is especially common when representing intellectually disabled characters but it definitely appears in the representations of the physically disabled.

Infantilization is a form of ableism where an individual talks/thinks/acts with a disabled person the way you might interact with an infantile child or dumb dog.

This type of infantilizing tends to impact those

If you want to understand how infantilization impacts real humans living in the real world and not characters, there are a ton of resources online and on Tumblr.

For disabled characters, love interests, allies, and the narrative itself relegate these characters to "funny animal sidekick" or "symbol of innocence".

I'm going to go through a rapid fire list of how authors infantilize and downplay how amazing their characters could be if you gave them something to do. Ok? Ok!

Never Giving Your Disabled Character Something To Do In The Story Besides Sitting There And Looking Innocent

Portraying Your Disabled Or Disabled-Coded(autism-coded) Character As Ignorant Or Unwanting Of "Adult Things" Like Sex, Problems, And Unhappiness

Assuming That Your Disabled Character Couldn't Do [THING] Despite Not Asking Mommy Google About It

Not Treating A Disabled Person's Desires, Beliefs, And Opinions Are Serious Which Often Leads To Characters Violating Their Boundaries

Having Your Likeable Characters Treat The Disabled Character Condescendingly Like Patting Their Head Or Acting Disapprovingly Shocked When A Character Goes Outside This

Refusing A Character's Ability To Be Independent By Having Them Only Rely On Others To Do Everything

When you, author, treat your intellectually/physically disabled character as a symbol of innocence or a child, you deny audiences the ability to see well-developed characters on screen! Disabled adults are adults who do things that adults do!

They drink if they want to

They have sex if they want to

They identify as [Something] if they want to

They date if they want to

They swear if they want to

They believe if they want to

Caretaker/Friend/Love Interest characters should not be romanticize when they disrespect this character, desexualize this character, and violate the boundaries of this character.

"When you deny the humanity of certain characters, you deny the humanity of certain people. "

My Favorite Version Of Character

I have noticed a ✨theme✨in a lot of my characters so I will give you a step-by-step explanation of my thought process so you can steal it and i'll know I have helped a generation of tumblr users

Step 1: Grab A Mystical Creature

Bonus: They Are Associated With Purity

Think angels. Maybe even aliens? Just something on the supernatural side of things.

Step 2: Make Them Horny :)

Grab that angel character you just made and make them interested in sex or "sexy things". Grab that alien you just made and have be an alien who studies human reproduction with a focus on the actual "sexy" aspect because it's something unfamiliar to aliens.

Either way, they have a focus. A Drive

Final Step: Don't Judge Them For This, They Have Other Issues

One of my angel characters, Gabriel, is basically Nagito-levels of submissive. Complete sexual undercurrent throughout so many of their actions.

And this is never seen as bad. Heck, Gabriel is literally named Gabriel as a reward for being God's Favorite Angel due to his religious devotion and belief in God's message. Since that's all God cares about!

Gabriel has flaws that make life a little awkward but this isn't one of them.

Lesson: Sex Isn't Evil

A character being sex-positive shouldn't be shown as a bad thing. No one should be judged for their sex habits if they are using protection and regularly checking their STD status.

Sex doesn't corrupt. An active sex life isn't incapitable with morality.

If your character genuinely adores sex and this isn't a trauma response or a bad coping mechanism then they should be able to do that. #sex positive

Thank you so much for adding my thoughts! Sometimes I have to cut down on information and exceptions for the sake of clarity and to make a point. Luckily, I don't have all-comsuming influencing power over people's writing ;)

Writing Advice: Writing Out Of Character

No, this time I am not going to trash bad examples of characters being "out of character". Instead I am going to explain to you what seperates a good character who is behaving differently and a bad character who is behaving illogically.

Question 1: Why Is The Character Behaving Like This?

When we writers put our characters through the ringer we often see our characters change in drastic and "unexpected" ways. This is an example of "good character arc" and not "out of character" because if you supply justification for why your character is changing things up and doing different things then it's character development!

Virtuous Character A, in a desperate bid to stay alive and after being repeatedly pushed to the brink by these harrowing cirumstances, kills Character B? That is good character development!

Intelligent and prudish Character C suddenly starts acting like they're staring in a smut fic towards Character D as their "body betrays them" due to horomones they should've learne to control in their teens? That is out of character!

Has this writer(me) been writing informative yet argumentative works but has tried to start offering a softer and less confrontational side in order to appeal to more people? That is character development!

Question 2: Have You Given Your Character Enough Time To Evolve?

Unlike what love stories try to convince you, it takes a pretty long while for people to change their behaviors and mindset!

Has your normally stoic character who has been practicing understanding their emotions finally expressing some emotion? That's character development!

Have I been slowly adding more informative perspective and softer actions throughout my rants? Then it's much more believeable that I would express a softer side towards this issue!

My Favorite Version Of Character

I have noticed a ✨theme✨in a lot of my characters so I will give you a step-by-step explanation of my thought process so you can steal it and i'll know I have helped a generation of tumblr users

Step 1: Grab A Mystical Creature

Bonus: They Are Associated With Purity

Think angels. Maybe even aliens? Just something on the supernatural side of things.

Step 2: Make Them Horny :)

Grab that angel character you just made and make them interested in sex or "sexy things". Grab that alien you just made and have be an alien who studies human reproduction with a focus on the actual "sexy" aspect because it's something unfamiliar to aliens.

Either way, they have a focus. A Drive

Final Step: Don't Judge Them For This, They Have Other Issues

One of my angel characters, Gabriel, is basically Nagito-levels of submissive. Complete sexual undercurrent throughout so many of their actions.

And this is never seen as bad. Heck, Gabriel is literally named Gabriel as a reward for being God's Favorite Angel due to his religious devotion and belief in God's message. Since that's all God cares about!

Gabriel has flaws that make life a little awkward but this isn't one of them.

Lesson: Sex Isn't Evil

A character being sex-positive shouldn't be shown as a bad thing. No one should be judged for their sex habits if they are using protection and regularly checking their STD status.

Sex doesn't corrupt. An active sex life isn't incapitable with morality.

If your character genuinely adores sex and this isn't a trauma response or a bad coping mechanism then they should be able to do that. #sex positive

What Makes A Disabled Character "Good"?

A disabled character shouldn't be judged as a failure when they need caretakers and other reliances for the important stuff in life no matter their age

A disabled character shouldn't be mocked as weak or spoiled when they refuse to break their boundaries or be happy

A disabled character shouldn't be shamed when their medical problems impede on their sex capabilities or hygiene or anything else like that

A disabled character shouldn't be celebrated only when they do break the impossible odds since most characters never break the odds

A disabled character shouldn't be dehumanized when they act cheerful

A disabled character shouldn't be treated like a child when they aren't a child

A disabled character shouldn't be forced into leading an "idealic" life that wasn't built for individuals like them

A disabled character needs to be accepted by the author when they fail to thrive, to die, to succeed.

A disabled character needs to be created by an author who understands that life is complicated and that the things they think as "necessary" to leading a fulfilling life may not be in the cards for certain characters

A disabled character needs to be understood by the author as a disabled character who can't do everything an able-bodied character can do.

And when a disabled character is not fully independent, self-sufficient, and thriving, an author should know that even in these circumstances, fulfillment and joy can be found. Disabled people do it all the time.

Many people aren't breaking odds, being fearless activists, and thriving. They struggle. They break sometimes. They succeed sometimes. But in this life, they can find the ability to be content.

I'm saving this so when I have to write a character who likes classical music, i'll have some information

If it sounds like the composer is trying to blast you with the orchestra until you're as deaf as he is, it's Beethoven.

If it sounds like the composer might be a vampire, it's Bach.

If it sounds like the composer is trying to set the violins on fire, it's Vivaldi.