I got the idea to write a story about a blind girl after visiting an exhibit called "Dialogue in the Dark," where a blind guide led you through a pitch-black area and you could really experience how it felt to be blind. However, I ended up only writing a poem about it. {Which I've posted here: http://holyworlds.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=119&t=3181}

Anyway, it got me wondering - what would it be like to be blind or deaf or otherwise "disabled" in a fantasy world? How would you battle the enemy? What would you do to survive? What do y'all think?

Have you written any characters with disabilities?

What do you think the challenges would be for someone in a fantasy world with disabilities {of any kind}?

I actually have an MC who is blind. She is blinded midway through the book and has to learn how to fight so she can free the man she wants to marry (they're engaged if I recall). She has help of course, but it takes a long time and I've yet to figure out if she could actually fight outside of a one-on-one encounter.

I've got a couple of characters with disabilities. One of my fantasy/sci-fi protagonists, Kennith, spends the whole story with a bad reaction to light--too bright and long exposure makes him sick. Plus he constantly had headaches.

Jarid, one of my shapechangers, is blind in his human form. I haven't actually done a lot of writing with him, so I don't know how that would always work out.

Oh, and I kind of crippled Llewellyn. One leg ends up shorter than the other and his hands tremble all the time. Poor guy is broken and I haven't figured out how to put him back together yet.

I think the challenges would vary depending on the character's social status and gender. Blind nobility is a little less "useless" than blind peasant, who might only be able to beg to survive. Regardless, at least one thing is likely to be universal; prejudice (you're useless, etc.). Depending on the disability, making money may be difficult to impossible. The character might have to rely on others to provide food and shelter. Fighting also might be difficult to impossible, and same with travel.

I was going to try to come up with examples using my characters but I realized I wasn't coming up with much that was actually applicable. So I'll just leave it at this.

Ironically, I was thinking about this very thing yesterday. I wanted to make an MC that was deaf and I wanted to write a story around it. I'm not entirely sure of the storyline, but I think writing books with people with disabilities opens up a whole other possibility for moral lessons.

Fascinating thoughts, everyone! I'm not alone! {*has thought that a lot around HW *}

I think writing a main character who's disabled would have some major difficulties, but those difficulties could provide the central or a central conflict for the story. But it would make the story a lot more complex if you wanted to include much beyond the disability in "normal life."

I think using disabilities creatively and effectively can add interest to your book by making your characters unique. The only challenge would be in writing the disability realistically, which could be hard if you don't have the disability or know anyone that has it.

In Alaidia (Peter's Angel), I plan to have a secondary character that is deaf. She's a young girl living with her middle-to-lower class family. She's been deaf since birth, and her adoptive parents run a sewing business, so she doesn't have a lot of struggles with coping. However, it adds interest to her character and defines her relationship with others. She teaches her "adoptive brother" sign language. In one scene, she rambles derogatory comments in sign language, thinking the other person won't understand, when it turns out the person does!

I am considering making another character in Alaidia blind in one eye. This is mostly for character development, as well as to give him a memorable physical feature. It doesn't cause him many physical problems, but people tease him for it. Or, when he gets in trouble, people might assume it was prejudice over his eye, when it wasn't. That kind of thing.

In one story, my coauthor and I had an idea to make a character from our world go blind on another world, because this other-world's sun hurt his eyes... I think that story is staying in "this world" now, though, so I don't know if that plot element will stay. But it was a neat idea.

Just a question that came to mind; what about writing a story from the POV of a character with disabilities? Maybe even in first person?

I have a blind character. She's been blind all her life, or at least most of it, so she's used to surviving. She's a tinkerer (steampunk style) so she's good at building things and using her hands and she judges her surroundings by touch and sound. She can feel and smell the different plant matters she forages for in the desert and living with a large dragon helps to keep her safe.

Wow, I never knew how popular disabilities are! I guess one of the attractions, other than making the character memorable and giving them a serious obstacle to overcome, is that the suffering is more significant and there is a real lifelong cost & price involved with disabilities. Hm. *just got a brilliant idea for the near-end of my book!!*

Robert Treskilliard's Merlin is blind in his books. Perhaps we could get him in here to talk about how he writes from a blind man's POV. I'm sure he would have some good advice. He usually does.

I say go for it! Absolutely. Just be sure to research.

For a book like that to be scientifically accurate, you'll want to research the disability. Asking real people that have that disability would be extremely helpful. That way you'll ensure that you get an accurate, not a fantasized, representation.

But don't let that deter you from exploring and dreaming, wondering what it would be like.

A long time ago I had a story about a character who was mute. I should revive it someday, methinks. I'll have to put some research into it, though.

And in one of my stories, a supporting character is going to end up with a dismembered hand. Poor guy. Ah well.

Also something I'd have to research.

I have never written a story where a main character has a disability. It is something I would like to work on including sometime in the future though!

(@Philly) Yupyup! Miss Medical Geek Me will definitely do loads of research. Thank you, Philly!

Here's a thought - what about a fantasy disability? What kind of disabilities can non-humans (or humanoids with significant alterations) get? If people in your fantasy world have special abilities or cobha at birth, are there any that are disabled in those areas? Just a thought.

A good thought.

Yes, a *very* interesting thought... I guess this would be akin to being power-less in a race where everyone has some power... That would be VERY unusual and cool!

Ooh! And then the powerless person ends up saving his people from something or something. *scurries off to post idea in Village Commons*

eru

ezzakly!

I have characters with more mental disabilities; problems more than anything. Issues. Which I won't mention; it being a controversial subject.