Marlee Matlin, Oscar winning actress who happens to be deaf, has written (or I think co-written) a series of children's books featuring a deaf girl. I've only read one so far but it's good. Not fantasy. The book I read also has a minor character who is autistic. I do wonder what autistic people would think of how that character is portrayed.
WARNING: Self promotionary comment up ahead: I'm deaf and published a fantasy novel ages ago, in 1990, no longer in print, called Flute Song Magic. Most of the characters in it don't have disabilities, except for one who cannot walk well, has a deformed mouth, and speaks with a bit of a lisp. If I were doing that character over, I would have researched the disabilities he had more carefully and maybe modified them. (I was 16-18 at the time I wrote the book and had this notion at the time that a FICTION writer doesn't need to do research. Of course I know differently now.) There is one very very minor character who is deaf. Readers don't even meet her directly--they just see the main character's memories of meeting her once.
I haven't published any other fiction since then, though I've taken a stab at a few things and have had ideas. I do other things in my life. But maybe some day I'll get back to fiction writing. (At this rate, maybe when I retire :-) )
I want to add a comment to this thread about my personal reaction to a deaf character in a book that I read when I was a little girl. But I do have to work for a living, so I had better go do that and come back to this later. Thanks for doing this post--and especially for raising this issue among mainstream authors who maybe haven't really thought about these issues before. I wish some of the authors I had read as a child could have participated in a discussion thread like this one.
Books BY Deaf authors
WARNING: Self promotionary comment up ahead: I'm deaf and published a fantasy novel ages ago, in 1990, no longer in print, called Flute Song Magic. Most of the characters in it don't have disabilities, except for one who cannot walk well, has a deformed mouth, and speaks with a bit of a lisp. If I were doing that character over, I would have researched the disabilities he had more carefully and maybe modified them. (I was 16-18 at the time I wrote the book and had this notion at the time that a FICTION writer doesn't need to do research. Of course I know differently now.) There is one very very minor character who is deaf. Readers don't even meet her directly--they just see the main character's memories of meeting her once.
I haven't published any other fiction since then, though I've taken a stab at a few things and have had ideas. I do other things in my life. But maybe some day I'll get back to fiction writing. (At this rate, maybe when I retire :-) )
I want to add a comment to this thread about my personal reaction to a deaf character in a book that I read when I was a little girl. But I do have to work for a living, so I had better go do that and come back to this later. Thanks for doing this post--and especially for raising this issue among mainstream authors who maybe haven't really thought about these issues before. I wish some of the authors I had read as a child could have participated in a discussion thread like this one.