Great post! Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this.
I have a friend with a degenerative disease whom I got to know through the internet (it's actually the one I convinced to read KNIFE, which she loved), and she has to use a wheelchair. She actually can't go without one and I think she never could. She can do only some things on her own, and sometimes even eating with her own hands is something unfeasible when the cutlery is too heavy for her. But although she requires permanent assistance, she is living on her own, very independently, enjoying her life, working towards her professional goals, doing many awesome things, and being generally awesome.
Lately, when we saw a girl in an electrical wheelchair, another friend of mine said that she would never want a child thus disabled because she was of the opinion that with such a constraining disability, they would never be able to be happy. This point of view made me kind of sad, since I know that it is perfectly possible for someone with a disability to be happy. I haven't come across many disabled characters, but they are mostly portrayed as doomed or unable to live their lives (and disability should never be confused with the unability to be an independent person), which really annoys me. I actually was very satisfied with the way things turned out in KNIFE in the end; and I don't think it's too bad that the character had to be helped out of his bitterness a bit, because I think it's different with people who have to learn to cope with their disability, especially if they were very active before, in sports or otherwise. But it is just the wrong way for people who have been living with their disability since birth or childhood. They've never known another life, and that means that, although they are different from other people in some (frankly minor) aspects, they are mostly just as other people in terms of living their life. They acknowledge their difference, of course, but they don't sit back and decide that they can't be part of our society because of them. They bring variety, just as everyone does, and they are just as wonderful and annoying as other people.
People, and authors, who cannot see through disabilities and see the person beyond, are just narrow-minded in my eyes. And I think that, as an author, you have a responsibility towards the readers, as well as towards people you portray through your characters. The thought that disabled people live unhappy lives didn't come out of the blue; it's caused and enforced by the unrealistic portrayals in literature.
ETA: Dear me, this comment is a lot longer than I intended it to be. :D
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I have a friend with a degenerative disease whom I got to know through the internet (it's actually the one I convinced to read KNIFE, which she loved), and she has to use a wheelchair. She actually can't go without one and I think she never could. She can do only some things on her own, and sometimes even eating with her own hands is something unfeasible when the cutlery is too heavy for her. But although she requires permanent assistance, she is living on her own, very independently, enjoying her life, working towards her professional goals, doing many awesome things, and being generally awesome.
Lately, when we saw a girl in an electrical wheelchair, another friend of mine said that she would never want a child thus disabled because she was of the opinion that with such a constraining disability, they would never be able to be happy. This point of view made me kind of sad, since I know that it is perfectly possible for someone with a disability to be happy. I haven't come across many disabled characters, but they are mostly portrayed as doomed or unable to live their lives (and disability should never be confused with the unability to be an independent person), which really annoys me. I actually was very satisfied with the way things turned out in KNIFE in the end; and I don't think it's too bad that the character had to be helped out of his bitterness a bit, because I think it's different with people who have to learn to cope with their disability, especially if they were very active before, in sports or otherwise. But it is just the wrong way for people who have been living with their disability since birth or childhood. They've never known another life, and that means that, although they are different from other people in some (frankly minor) aspects, they are mostly just as other people in terms of living their life. They acknowledge their difference, of course, but they don't sit back and decide that they can't be part of our society because of them. They bring variety, just as everyone does, and they are just as wonderful and annoying as other people.
People, and authors, who cannot see through disabilities and see the person beyond, are just narrow-minded in my eyes. And I think that, as an author, you have a responsibility towards the readers, as well as towards people you portray through your characters. The thought that disabled people live unhappy lives didn't come out of the blue; it's caused and enforced by the unrealistic portrayals in literature.
ETA: Dear me, this comment is a lot longer than I intended it to be. :D