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Writing Advice Part 3: Disability And Sadness

After covering infantilization(Part 1) and !demonization!(Part 2), now we are onto another way that writers and other media types mess up the simple phrase "disabled adults are adults"

Now We Are Onto:

"Disabled Adults Are Self-Hating"

A lot and, I mean, A LOT of writers tend to hear disability and think "what type of disabled are they?" According to bad representation of disability, disabled adults have two types defined by one-dimensional emotional attitudes that have an undercurrent of ableism and bad writing.

The list goes like this:

Anger

Sadness

FIRST: Anger And One-Dimensional Unlikeability

When disabled characters are defined by their anger they actually have to subtypes of existence depending on who they hate

Either they are a villain who is evil because they're envious of able-bodied people because they hate themselves and their disabled existence so much.

Or they're a one-dimensional annoying character whose anger is either sympathetic only to disabled audience members and not producers/characters because their anger comes from their boundaries being disprespected or annoying because they're just the most one-dimensional hateful person.

Obviously, making your one example of a disabled character evil is bad. I won't go into that too much since I covered that in Part 2 Writing Advice: Disability and Evil.

The problem with this narrative of self-hating existence is that it turns a complicated topic of internalized ableism as a way of making them a villain for abled-bodied people!

Obviously, when a person's only example of disabled characters is as the hateful unsympathetic villain they internalize that and project it onto themselves if they're disabled and onto others!

"But {name I don't have}, didn't you say that writing unlikeable disabled characters is good?"

Yeah but the problem tends to be that when you have an unlikeable character you either need to make them sympathetic and/or competent.

These characters aren't unlikeable because authors want to explore the internal lives of unlikeable people! They're unlikeable so that when they die/suffer, we cheer!

"When The Audience Cheers For The Death Of A Villain They're Also Cheering The Death Of A Disabled Person"

SECOND: Sadness And Self-Hating Existence

The existence of disabled characters is often marked through unimaginable hardship with disabled characters often acquiring their disabilities through traumatic accidents instead of the more common story of disease and congenital conditions.

Disabled characters are often shown being depressed and hopeless about their disabilities as they sometimes turn to villainy as an act of vengeance.

The only way they can gain happiness is through either being cured by magic/"moral eugenics" or by distancing themselves from disability.

That "distancing from disability" storyline is often demonstrated by characters becoming overjoyed at the prospect of losing their mobility aids such as wheelchairs! That's shitty.

I will adress the whole "self-hating narrative" in my conclusion since both anger and sadness are focused on the self-hatred narrative.

Firstly, don't cure characters who have incurable conditions. Because, guess what! Real disabled people with incurable conditions exist! They will still exist when your character is cured. All you've done is remove their representation and effectively said that the only way they can be happy is to not exist :) That's shitty.

Secondly, stop thinking that disabled people hate their assistant devices!

While wheelchairs might make you, able-bodied author, think of being trapped, disabled people who need wheelchairs need them in order to fully utilize their strengths. Wheelchairs are symbols of freedom!

FINAL: Self Hating Narrative

Disabled people aren't instinctively self-hating, you know? Like, if people didn't hate/ignore the existence of disabled people then there would be no problem?

You are writing a world that is divorced from reality. In a world where spies can dodge bullets. In a world where dragons exist. In a world where power fantasy exists.

Why, in that world, did you decide that ableism must exist?

Why can't you write a world where disabled people aren't defined by self-hated?

Why can't you check out the disabled community before you write your bullshit representation to see campaigns such as "My Face Is A Masterpiece" or "I'm Not Your Villain" that disprove your assumption that all disabled people are self-hating?

Not all disabled people are self-hating and most don't hate all able-bodied people!

Most disabled people live happy-filled lives marked by the type of struggle you, standard person, goes through.

Disability doesn't have to be the isolating, depressing, and self-hating experience you assume it is.

There are thousands of people right now who are loving their existence and assistant devices.

There are thousands of people right now working to get to that point.

You could write the story of disabled characters who are happy in their disabilities and who struggle with the problems you do.

You could write disabled characters in a way that doesn't invalidate their problems but also doesn't show disability as a death sentence.

Writing Rant: Irrational Hatred Of Certain Tropes

Hi! Writer Here™. Does anyone have these "most hated tropes" that you know aren't intrinsically bad the same way that, like, "romanticizing abuse" in a not dark romance setting is always bad?

Like, tropes that just grind your gears so much that whenever you write, you write specifically to counteract those tropes. Basically, spite. I'm talking about spite.

For example, if you have read some of my posts you already know that I hate when I can feel the author's hand physically moving characters around and denying their agency.

I hate when the main character/protagonist is the least influencial character in the story. So, because I am a spiteful bitch, all of my characters are either written to be so competent they don't even need to know everything in order to do shit.

For example, I have a character named Nonkosi Tyali who, despite randomly being pulled into a new world, functions as a sort of anti-hero by using poisonous beetles in order to prevent the universe from getting destroyed.

Or Hetrunmeass who despite never seeing the world beyond the "death mountain", is able to create a system that allows them to effortlessly kill politians in the most efficient way possible.

They all have flaws but stupidity and being pulled by the author isn't one of them

Writing Advice: Give Your Characters Agency

Have you ever read a story where it felt like the protagonist was being personally guided by the author?

When a character has to always rely on their love interest, friends, allies, and even enemies in order to get from point A to point B

When the only reason a character is even on their journey is because they're the "Chosen One" or God themselves is literally dragging this random along.

Well, you probably hated this character because they lacked Agency.

Agency is defined as when a person makes a specific action, hoping to garner a certain result.

Agency is goal, motive, and plan. A person wants(motive) something(goal) so they try to get it(action).

Based on this definition, it's incredibly hard to write a compelling protagonist and story without agency.

Agency is what makes an interesting plot as plot is based on "what is a character willing to do in order to get their goal".

If your protagonist never tries to do anything and whenever they do try to do something, it never impacts the surrounding world either negatively or positively, you've managed to written a story that has squandered all it's potential.

You might be saying "What about characters who are trapped in these circumstances, trapped in general, or Fate?"

Well let me tell you, I don't know where you got the assumption that all abused/kidnapped individuals just stopped thinking and desiring when the abuse happened but it's wrong!

Maybe your abused character is trying to leave their circumstances so they make some decisions to seperate themselves.

Maybe your abused character is trying to help their abuser so they make decisions that help their abuser.

Maybe they're planning something!

Also, for the Fate thing. You could have your characters actively fighting Fate? Nevermind if they succed or fail!

You could have the existence of Fate be a plot twist?

There is just no proper excuse to not write a character that doesn't make decisions to get what they want!

If you didn't want to write a Point Of View character that interacts with the world you could've written an omniscient character who is travelling around. Or a narrator who is reading the journals of the actual main character(like in Book Thief).

If you didn't want to make this character have an impact on the world, you could have chosen a different character to be the protagonist!

Writing Advice: Characterization

Sometimes, the best inspiration for how you should characterize your character is how they first appear and struggle you have with writing them.

For example, when it comes to writing a character's sexuality or gender identity, I just let my struggle decide.

For example, I knew Théo was a trans woman before she knew since she kept switching between appearing as a man and as a woman so much. Eventually my brain decided "woman" but I decided to bring up her past with dicks by making her a trans woman.

Or Claude Covarrubias who gave me the biggest chase for gender i've ever seen! Genuinely, I kept trying to get a lock on their gender but it was futile as a cat trying to catch a bird from outside. I eventually decided that their gender was "ambiguous". What genitalia were they born with? I don't know. What do they identify as now? Murderer

Or Atlas who could not make up his fucking mind about his gender. Were they trans or cis? We didn't know. Woman, man, or nonbinary? We didn't know. So, Atlas was born into this world as Intersex but only discovered this fact through puberty when he randomly developed breasticles. They identify as nonbinary(genderqueer) and can go with any pronouns.

Basically, use your struggles to define your characters. Can't decide if they are paranoid or laidback? Make that their character struggle!

Sad Version Of "'Found Family" Trope

I have used the "found family" trope numerous times as all of my characters inevitably make friends. However, I also enjoy the sad/realistic versions of the "Found Family" trope which I will talk about.

Found Family Seperated

Myroslava Kyrylenko was just an ordinary control-freak of a business woman who became trapped in a isekai-styled world based off her favorite fantasy story.

True to cliche, Myroslava decideds to raise the protagonist and antagonist in order to prevent the bad ending of the novel from taking place.

Despite her inexperience and self-aware inability to hand children, she finally starts finding her confidence in parenting as she becomes more and more aware of how Yijun(antagonist) and Cai(protagonist) aren't just words on a page but actual children who definitely don't deserve their cruel fates.

Eventually, this fun slice of life adventure through the fantasy world is revealed to be anything but as her repeated travellings between our world and the fantasy world are revealed to be causing a rift through space which will become so large that an interdimensional God may travel through the rift and onto Earth.

The story ends with Myroslava and her children being seperated as the rift between worlds is permanently closed with their only memories and proof of each other's existences being the drawings Cai and Yijun gifted her and her list of advice for the still-aging children.

2. Found Family Estranged

When Yuuma Mochizuki was discovered by a child vigilante who was desperately looking for a parental figure, they knew they weren't up to the task.

They tried to ignore the child as much as possible although they eventually relented in giving the child advice on how to survive as a vigilante.

However, this developing parent-child bond was broken once the child's aunt was found and contacted by social services.

Yuuma Mochizuki gave the child a tearful goodbye as they were both aware of the fact that they would probably never see each other again.

3. Found Family Imperfect

Unlike in other stories where the characters have little bickerings and always patched up arguments the superheroes/virtuous community including Verne Lawless are anything but perfect

No one has been truly honest about themselves or their pasts. They hide their emotions. They hide their problems. They lie to each other most days. But they love each other. They let each other have alone time whenever one of their fellows have died. They scream how much they hate each other, suffer that pain for the next few weeks, and let their relationships never be the same again.

They are dysfunctional and barely scraping past the veneer between insanity and sanity. But they love each other. They care about each other so much. It's real love.

Writing Advice: Too Many Characters

A common advice when writing stories is "don't write too many characters". But, like with everything creative and good, there is no definitive answer to how many characters should be in a book!

So I will be discussing numerous variables in storytelling which impacts how many characters you should have and what makes something in a book "pointless".

Themes! Themes! Themes! (Omori Spoilers, Not Too Much)

The most important question that a writer has to ask themself is "what is this scene/book/media trying to do?". If your story is based on the relationships we have with others and the impact they can have on our psyche then having a close-knitted community of people will drive the message of intimate connection better then just having more people in there. If your story is focused primarily on introspection, looking inward, individuality, and other spiritual activities then the protagonist is more likely to spend longer durations of the media by themselves.

An example of these to forces is the popular game of Omori.

(SPOILERS ABOUT OMORI<3)

Omori is a game that focuses on acceptance first and foremost. Self-acceptance to be more specific. Due to the fact that the game is a piece of introspection both for Sunny and for the player, the most important moments in the game such as the "reveal" sequence of pictures and Black Space are ones that are done on your own.

However, the game also prioritizes the relationships Sunny has between his friends as this serves as motivation for the final duet. The final duet was an act of bonding as Mari and Sunny just wanted to spend time together, doing something they liked.

The introspection moments are pushed towards the end of the game because it's only when Sunny has that support and belief in his friends, can he rise above his doubt and shame and fear.

2. What Is The Purpose Of This Character?

All characters need to have a purpose in the narrative. Both within the context of the world and in the context of the book.

Within the context of the world, they need a goal that is going to impact the protagonist either positively or negatively.

Within the context of the book, what is this character giving to the audience that wouldn't otherwise be there?

Pro tip: All the characters you have need to have more then one purpose! Characters that give exposition can't JUST give exposition.

If you have a love interest that can be cut out without taking away a vital part of the story either from a thematic(theme) standpoint or a narrative(plot) standpoint, just replace them with an object and move it along!

If you have an ally character that only shows up twice and can be changed into "I went down to the store to buy these items", give that "ally" tag to someone more story relevant"!

3. Priorites?

Ask yourself this: "Do I have the book length to dedicate time to this person?"

If the answer is no, follow my next steps. If the answer is yes, here is how to make them better.

When I say "prioritize", I mean you need to figure out what type of character this character is. Are they a main character? A side character? Cannon fodder? A symbol? WHAT ARE THEY?

Also, can you give these character responsibilities to someone else? This simultaneously gives those characters deeper complexity and eliminates more characters

Example: Love Interest, after being trapped by the villain, uses their intelligence in order to provide information about the villain to the hero. (Love Interest + Ally + Informant)

Example: Friend is revealed to be a double agent on the side of the Villain. However, it's revealed that Friend was secretly a triple agent who is finally redeemed from their original believed betrayal. They're back to being an ally. (Friend + Betrayer + Ally + Enemy)

Writing Prompt: Reluctant Chosen One

The only problem with this trope is the expectations we as the audience have for the "Chosen One" trope. We, as the audience, know we are reading a story about a protagonist who is going to defeat Big Bad without any issues. It also just seems kinda surface level and less "actual concern" and more "superficial relatability".

So I am going to add more genuine story behind this plot and less "superficial annoyance for the sake of faux relatability"

Hates Being The Chosen One

So why is this character not following the plot?

My answer: Has several answers :)

The writer needs to demonstrate how dangerous being the "Chosen One" actually is! Set the stakes!

Give the protagonist a highly understandable reason for why they don't want to fight the Big Bad personally. Ex: They personally support Big Bad and now they have to hide their forced double agent status from both Big Bad's allies and Hero's allies

Protagonist knows personally that the Big Bad is personally favored by the Gods and the "Chosen One' position only exists to provide entertainment for the Gods!

The "Chosen One" Protagonist has literally everything they could ever want at the beginning of the story. Riches, fame, adoration, and an arranged marriage on the way! Why would they risk their life to get more of what they already have?

The "Chosen One" misanthropic cynic who desperately hates humanity! Why did the Gods chose them to be on Team Humanity!?

To be the "Chosen One" means that you must be cursed(with something, you decide) by the Gods in order to properly "earn your title". Everyone in the world is pressure you to agree to a deal you never even wanted

These aren't all of my ideas. I honestly could keep going forever but i'm going to stop it here.

Feel free to share your own idea for how to spruce up some boring and overdone story/character cliches!

Explanation time: I agree with the majority of what you said but I'm just going to be here in order to defend my legacy and try to explain what I was trying to say in my original post.

Sometimes I have to cut down on things in order to boost the clarity and that's unforunate.

Basically, when I wrote that "Insecurity Isn't A Good Trait", I wasn't saying that being insecure is a moral failing nor was I saying that having insecure characters is bad.

What I was trying to say was the fact that insecurity tends to be romanticized in media as a good desirable trait for teenagers and adults like to be since insecurity is often conflated with humbleness and other good qualities.

What I meant by "Insecurity Is Not Good" was just "Insecurity Is Not A Desirable Trait Despite How People Tend To Write It".

Because Insecurity is a flaw. When people are insecure about themselves that's a bad thing, a human thing, but a bad harmful thing nonetheless. It causes them suffering. There is no benefit to being insecure. BECAUSE INSECURITY IS NOT BEING HUMBLE!

Obviously, write whatever types of characters you want. I consider that my writing philosophy and the philosophy of this entire Tumblr account. I just want to help people complicate archetypes, snaz all the tropes up, and have fun while doing it!

P.S: I'm sorry if this came across as aggressive or argumentative! I was just trying to use your reblog as a way of giving someone some advice while also trying to engage with you since you engaged with me!

I really appreciate people who have an emotional response to my advice and my takes! Don't worry! I'll obviously follow you after this!

Writing Advice: Insecurity

Remember: Insecurity Is Not A Good Trait!

What makes people hate so many insecure characters is because their insecurities are never given proper weight in the story!

At best, it's "humble bragging". At worst, it's annoying and an obvious ploy to get superficial relatability!

Insecurity isn't being humble nor is insecurity the mark of a good person!

Insecurity Makes People Hurt Others To Rise In Life!

Insecurity Can Cause You To Abandon Accountability!

Insecurity Can Lead Towards Being Self-Absorbed!

Insecurity Can Lead To A Mental Health Crisis!

Being insecure shouldn't be treated as the equivalent of being humble nor should it be treated as necessary to being a good person!

In fact, insecurity, as a negative character trait, often leads people in real life to act out in spoiled, selfish, immature, and horrible ways

CONFIDENCE DOES NOT EQUAL EVIL

INSECURITY DOES NOT EQUAL GOOD/SYMPATHETIC

Hi, make sure to interact with my post about donations! I personally can't do much in regards to donating and I know that some of you can't either. So if you could just take a couple of seconds to reblog some of the posts that would be amazing :)

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.

Writing Exposition And Info Into The Story

This specific post is for @loverboyxbutch who has asked for multiple things with multiple caveats so we have to absolutely get this perfectly answered!

Question One: Exposition And Letters

The quote: I was wondering if you had any advice about telling part of a narrative through things like letters or diary entries?

There are two different ways to incorperate diary entries and letters. It all depends on your formatting

You could have the person's letter be an actual quoted segment of the letter so the reader could physically read it or you could have the basic information be relayed to the reader by the characters.

Neither way isn't better than the other but they do have different pros and cons.

The benefits of quotes is the fact that it allows the reader to see the original writer's personality to come through in their writing. The con is the fact that this quoting can quickly get out of hand and the information is kinda under the emotion.

The benefits of characters relaying the information is the fact that this cuts down on flowing emotion. All the information is laid out there! The negative is the fact that this information lacks emotion and personality.

Objectively speaking, expositio is best gathered through story since it's more natural without having to do an infodump!

Question Two: Balancing Emotion With Info

Quote: "I’m not too sure how to balance the realism and emotion with the information that needs to be displayed."

Remember, realism in stories is less "factually accurate" and more "consistent within itself".

In this case, realism in information is "would this character say this" and "how would this character say this"?

Audiences hate "infodumps" because it feels like the character's personality has turned off and now a college professor is speaking.

So it's definitely important you maintain a character's unique voice and personality when reporting on information. However this can lead to some unreliable narrating.

Ultimately, a character's emotion trumps all else. If a character doesn't have a personality that would reveal all this information in an objective way then they will hide stuff or tell the information in a way that validates their own perspective.

However, in the case a character is willing to reveal information without trying to impress their ideology and beliefs onto your character you need to keep in mind what a character could reasonably know and care about.

Two characters could know the same information but prioritize others. For example, D might focus on the damn bread prices rising again while C is focused on the official's death.

Question 3: What Context The Reader Needs

Quote: "I struggle to imagine how much context the reader would want or need."

This is definitely the hardest thing to answer since this is a highly case by case basis but I will try.

The best universal measurement for what a reader needs to know is how much a character needs to know.

Your characters have information that the readers don't have and the readers have information that the characters don't have but readers don't want to know everything.

Readers need a little confusion and curiousity so they will keep reading and investigating.

The key is to get enough information out there that readers will be emotionally incentived to chase after the rest.

For Worldbuilding, unless this information directly impacts the characters then unfortunately readers just wont care about all the little details.

For future events, forshadowing and outlines are your best friend. You can also use an unconventional story formatting by having "flashbacks" be imbedded into the story as their own individual chapters.

For characters, you can use the "show, don't tell" method. Characters who aren't actively trying to deceive others will lay their personality on their clothing, their face, their room, their friends, and the way they speak.

I hope this was informative @loverboyxbutch . I genuinely appreciate your constant support and I wanted this to be an amazing post for such an amazing mutual :)

How To Write Character Flaws

One of the most important aspects when writing a character are flaws since flaws increase reader immersion, reader investment, and the overall compelling energy of a story.

Flaws are necessary in creating character arcs where either these initial problems are improved or exacerbated.

Despite the fact that flaws are important, writers can struggle with how to seemlessly incorperate flaws within their characters in an interesting and natural way without just feeling like they're throwing bad traits in randomly.

Here we go!

A) All Character Traits Are Both Flaws And Strengths

Flaws are often dark reflections of the positive qualities identified in an individual.

If your lover is a strong and determined person then you are also likely dating someone who is stubborn.

If your friend is emotional and caring then they're also overly sensitive.

This is due to the fact that flaws are really just character strengths taken to their logical extreme. As the saying goes "the dose makes the poison". An excessive amount of carelessness, curiousity, love, emotion, confidence, and every single virtue inevitably results in personality defects.

You most likely have your character's strengths somewhat laid out whether these strengths be open-mindedness, kindness, determined, and anything else.

Taking these strengths to their logical extreme, you will often find flaws such as naivety, savior complex, stubborness, and other such flaws.

B) Whether Something Is A Strength Or A Flaw Depends On Context

Character A is trusting and Character B is distrusting.

Let's put them in the situation of meeting someone in order to illustrate how both character's defining traits could be their downfall depending on who this character is.

If this "someone" is a helpful individual, then Character B's flaw of distrust create unnecessary discorse within the group and could drive away this positive influence.

If this "someone" is a manipulative someone, then Character A's trusting nature harms the group as it allows someone harmful to enter.

Whether or not a character's actions are perceived as beneficial or harmful depends on if the result is good or bad for the character's goal.

This means that when you are presented with a character who seemingly has no flaws, what you can do is create situations where these good actions result in bad results.

An open-minded character might accidentally walk face first into a cult because they were too accepting of the weird activities

A kind character might cause their allies to become overly dependent on the individual's generosity

A determined character might be so obsessed with succeeding at this specific task that they fail to see the bigger picture and the more effective solution

write as much as you can about them, use random prompts, write aus, this will help you to get to know them

in terms of how they interact with other characters, let them have similarities, but show their differences, highlighting contrasts is always fun

I need everyone’s best character advice. STAT.

I have an autistic level one (low support needs) character that doesn’t speak, but physically can. Just finds it painful (emotionally? not physically) and hard. He was mute before I decided he was autistic, and I want to know if it can be the sole cause for it? I’ve seen a lot of contradicting opinions on what being nonverbal means. He used to speak bc he is physically capable but he got comfortable w himself and others and doesn’t do it anymore, or very rarely. Can this be solely autism-related? I feel like it is not selective mutism because not speaking is simply what they prefers, not something caused by any particular emotion or anxiety. I experience that sometimes and would like to know if it can ever be permanent/full-time and in that case if it can be considered being non-verbal.

Hi,

Autism is definitely a common reason for people to not speak, or to previously have been able to speak but no longer being able to do so, either at all or consistently.

Here's a blog post from Assistiveware, an AAC company, explaining intermittent, unreliable, insufficient, and expensive speech! It has its own resources. To me it seems like your character experiences intermittent or expensive speech — I hadn't heard of expensive speech before, but I knew of the other three — and is therefore semiverbal.

Nonverbal is more for people who don't speak (whether it's because they never do, or cannot), and people can become nonverbal without having been so their whole life. Sometimes it's extended to people who have maybe a couple words, like 1-5.

You could potentially describe your character as 'doesn't speak,' or 'rarely speaks,' and those are perfectly acceptable descriptions, too.

Hope this helps!

– mod sparrow

Overused Disability Tropes

Woohoo here we go. I expect this one to be a bit more controversial because I am using specific media as examples. I would really prefer if, when critiquing this post, you avoid defending specific media, and focus instead on what’s actually being said/represented about disabled communities. If you feel I’ve done a really grave injustice, you can come into my askbox/DMs/replies to talk to me about it, but I might not answer.

One more time: I am not interested in getting into a debate about whether something is a good show/movie/book/whatever. I’m not telling you it’s bad, or that you shouldn’t enjoy it! People can like whatever they want; I am only here to critique messaging. Do not yell at me about this.

Newest caveat aside, let’s get into it!

Inspiration Porn

Without a doubt, our biggest category! Term coined in 2012 by badass activist Stella Young, but the trope has been around for literal centuries. There are a few different kinds that I will talk about.

Disabled character/person is automatically noble/good because of their disability. A very early example would be A Christmas Carol’s Tiny Tim, or, arguably, Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Real life examples include the Jerry Lewis MDA telethon, or children’s hospital ads that exploit sad-eyed kids with visible illness or disability.

Having a disability does not automatically make you a kind/angelic/noble person. This many not seem harmful, and may even seem positive, but in reality, it is condescending, inaccurate, and sets bizarre standards for how disabled people should behave.

This portrayal is often intended to elicit pity from abled audiences, which is also problematic.

In these portrayals, disability is not something to be proud of or identify with, only something to be suffered through.

Disabled character person does something relatively mundane and we all need to celebrate that. This is less common in writing, but happens in the real world when people do things like post pictures of disabled people at the gym captioned “What’s your excuse?”

This is condescending, and implies that anything disabled people are capable of, abled people are automatically capable of.

Makes it seem like it’s an incredible feat for a disabled person to accomplish tasks.

Uses people’s actual lives and actual disabilities as a reminder of “how good abled life is.”

The “Supercrip” stereotype is a specific kind of inspiration porn in which disabled people are shown to be capable of amazing things, “in spite of” their disability.

The Paralympics have been criticized for this, with people saying that advertisements and understandings of the Paralympics frame the athletes as inspiring not because they are talented or accomplished, but because their talents and accomplishments are seen as “so unlikely.”

Other examples include the way we discuss famous figures like Stephen Hawking, Alan Turing, or even Beethoven. Movies like The Theory of Everything and The Imitation Game frame the subjects’ diagnoses, whether actual or posited, as limitations that they had to miraculously break through in order to accomplish what they did. Discussions of Beethoven’s deafness focus on how incredible it was that he was able to overcome it and be a musician despite what is framed as a tragic acquisition of deafness.

The pity/heroism trap is a concise way of defining inspiration porn. If the media you’re creating or consuming inspires these emotions, and only these emotions, around disability, that is a representation that is centered on the feelings and perceptions of abled people. It’s reductive, it’s ableist, and it’s massively overdone.

Disabled Villains

To be clear, disabled people can and should be villains in fiction. The problem comes when disabled people are either objects of pity/saintly heroes, or villains, and there is no complexity to those representations. When there is so little disabled rep out there (less than 3.5% of characters in current media), having a disabled villain contributes to the othering of disability, as well as the idea that disability can make someone evil. There are also a few circumstances in which particular disabilities are used to represent evil, and I’ll talk about how that’s problematic. 

Mentally ill villains are colossally overdone, particularly given that mentally ill people are more likely to be the victims of violence than perpetrators of it.  This is true of all mental illness, including “””scary””” things like personality disorders or disorders on the schizoaffective spectrum. Mental illness is stigmatized enough without media framing mentally ill people as inherently bad or more suspectible to evil. This prejudice is known as sanism.

Explicit fictional examples of this include the Joker, or Kevin Wendell Crumb in Split.

People can also be coded as mentally ill without it being explicitly stated, and that’s also problematic and sanist. In the Marvel movie Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, Wanda’s appearance and behavior are coded as mentally ill. This is used to make her “creepy.” Horror movies do this a lot - mental illness does not render someone creepy, and should not be used as a tool in this way.

Visible disability or difference to indicate evil is another common, incredibly offensive, and way overdone trope. This is mostly commonly done through facial difference, and the examples are endless. These portrayals equate disability or disfigurement with ugliness, and that ugliness with evil. It renders the disabled villain in question an outcast, undesirable, and uses their disability or difference to dehumanize these characters and separate them from others. This is incredibly prevalent and incredibly painful for people with visible disability or facial difference.

An example of visible disability indicating evil is Darth Vader’s prosthetics and vastly changed physical appearance that happen exactly in time with his switch to the dark side. In contrast, when Luke needs a prosthetic, it is lifelike and does not visually separate him from the rest of humanity/the light.

Dr. Who’s John Lumic is another example of the “Evil Cripple” trope.

Examples of facial difference indicating evil range from just about every James Bond movie, to Scar in the Lion King, Dr. Isabel Maru in Wonder Woman, Taskmaster in Black Widow, Captain Hook in Peter Pan, and even Doofenschmirtz-2 in Phineas and Ferb the Movie. Just because some of the portrayals are silly (looking at you, Phineas and Ferb) doesn’t make the coding of facially scarred villains any less hurtful.  

A slightly different, but related phenomenon I’ll include here is the idea of the disability con. This is when a character fakes a disability for personal gain. This represents disabled people as potential fakers, and advances the idea that disabled people get special privileges that abled people can and should co-opt for their own reasons. 

In The Usual Suspects, criminal mastermind Verbal Clint fakes disability to avoid suspicion and take advantage of others. In Arrested Development, a lawyer fakes blindness in order to gain the sympathy and pity of the jury.

In much more complex examples such as Sharp Objects, a mother with Munchausen by proxy fakes her daughter’s illness in order to receive attention and pity. Portrayals like this make Munchausen or MBP seem more common than it is, and introduce the idea that parents may be lying or coaching their children to lie about necessary medical treatment.

Disability as Morality

Sometimes, the disabled character themselves is a moral lesson, like Auggie in Wonder. Sheerly through existing, Auggie “teaches” his classmates about kindness, the evils of bullying, and not judging a book by its cover. This also fits well under inspiration porn. This is problematic, because the disabled character is defined in terms of how they advance the other characters’ morality and depth.

In the “Disabled for a Day” trope, an otherwise abled character experiences a temporary disability, learns a moral lesson, and is restored to full ability by the end of the episode/book/movie. Once again, disability is used as a plot device, rather than a complex experience, along with more permanent disability being rejected as impossible for heroes or main characters.

Examples include an episode of M*A*S*H where Hawkeye is temporarily blinded, an episode of Law and Order: SVU where Elliott Stabler is temporarily blinded, and an episode of Criminal Minds where Agent Hotchner experiences temporary hearing loss.

Real life examples include sensitivity trainings where participants are asked to wear a blindfold, headphones, or use a wheelchair for a given amount of time. This does not impart the lived experience of disability. It should not be used as a teaching tool. 

Disabled people as inherently pure. This is related to inspiration porn and disabled people as noble, but is different in that it is usually appears in combination with developmental, cognitive, or intellectual disabilities. These characters are framed as sweet, “simple,” and a reminder to other characters to be cheerful, happy, or grateful.

Examples include Forrest Gump, Rain Man, I Am Sam, and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.

No matter what the stereotypes of a given diagnosis are (yes, I’m thinking of the automatic cheerfulness associated with Down Syndrome), disabled people have personalities. They are capable of being sad, angry, sarcastic, irritable, annoying - any number of things beyond good/sweet/pure. It is reductive to act otherwise.

Disability as Surreal

Less common than some of the others, but still worth thinking about!

Disabled characters are framed as mystical, magical, or other than human, a condition that is either created by or indicated through their disability status. This is especially common with little people.

“Disability superpower” is when a character compensates for, or is uniquely able to have a superpower because of, their disability. Common tropes include the Blind Seer, Blind Weapon Master, Genius Cripple and Super Wheel Chair.

Examples include Pam from Supernatural, Charles Xavier from X-Men, or the grandpa in Spy Kids.

Disability as Undesirable

Last and least favorite category here. Let’s go.

Disabled people as asexual or not sexually desirable. Disabled people can be asexual, obviously. When every portrayal is asexual, that’s a big problem. It frames disabled people as sexually undesirable or implies that it is impossible for people with disabilities to have rewarding, mutually satisfying sexual relationships.

Examples include The Fault in Our Stars or Artie in Glee.

Abandoned due to disability. Hate this trope. Often equates disability with weakness. Don’t want to talk about it. It’s all right there in the title. Don’t do it.

Examples: Quasimodo in Hunchback of Notre Dame, several kittens in the Warrior Cat series, several episodes of Law and Order: SVU, Bojack Horseman, and Vikings.

Discussed in 300 and Wolf of Wall Street.

Ancient cultures and animal nature are often cited as reasoning for this trope/practice. This is not founded in fact. Many ancient civilizations, including Sparta, cared for disabled people. Many animals care for disabled young. These examples should not be used to justify modern human society.

Disabled characters are ostracized for disability. Whether they act “““normal”““ or odd, characters with visible or merely detectable disabilities are treated differently.

Examples include pretty much every piece of media I’ve said so far. This is particularly prevalent for people with visible physical disabilities or neurodivergence. Also particularly prevalent for characters with albinism.

This is not necessarily an inaccurate portrayal - disabled people face a lot of discrimination and ableism. It is, however, very, very common.

Bury your disabled. What it says on the label.

Examples: Animorphs, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, American Horror Story, Criminal Minds, Dr. Who, Star Trek, The Wire.

Mercy killing is a subtrope of the above but disgusting enough that it deserves its own aside. I may make a separate post about this at some point because this post is kind of exhausting and depressing me.

Examples: Me Before You, Killing Eve, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Of Mice and Men, and Million Dollar Baby.

Disability-negating superpowers imply that disability is undesirable by solving it supernaturally instead of actually portraying it, and giving their character powers instead.

Examples include (arguably) Toph from Avatar: the Last Airbender, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Legend of Korra, Dr. Strange, and Daredevil.

Overcoming disability portrays disability as a hindrance and something that can be defeated through technology and/or willpower.

Fictional examples include WALL-E, Kill Bill, The Goonies, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Heidi, The Secret Garden, The Inheritance Cycle, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, The Big Bang Theory, Dr. Strangelove, Sherlock, The Witcher.

Real life examples include videos of wheelchair users standing from their chair to walk down the aisle at a wedding, or d/Deaf children “hearing” for the first time through cochlear implants.

What Does This Mean for Your Writing?

First of all, congratulations for making it this far!

Now, as I have said again and again, I’m not going to tell you what to write. I’ll ask some questions to hopefully help guide your process.

What tropes might you be playing into when writing disabled characters? Why do you find these tropes compelling, or worth writing about? How prevalent are these tropes? How harmful are they? What messages do they send to actual disabled people?

Just because they are common tropes does not mean they are universally awful. Cool fantasy or futuristic workarounds are not necessarily bad rep. Showing the ugly realities of ableism is not necessarily bad rep. It’s just a very, very common representation of disability, and it’s worth thinking about why it’s so common, and why you’re writing it.

As always, conduct your own research, know your own characters and story, and make your own decisions. If you have questions, concerns, or comments, please hit me up! Add your own information! This is not monolithic whatsoever.

Happy writing!

Disability Writing Guides

Collecting all of these in one convenient place! If you have any requests, questions, comments, and especially concerns about what/how I’m writing these, please let me know!

Writing Chronic Pain

Writing Deaf Characters

Writing Disability and the Idea of Cure

Writing Wheelchair Users

General Disability Etiquette for Writers

Overused Disability Tropes

Writing Blind/Low Vision Characters

Writing Facial Difference

Writing Seizures

Writing Visible vs. Invisible Disabilities

Writing Disability and Eugenics

Asks!