Last week some fellow Spoonies shared something with me that really ticked me off, and I’d like to open up the topic of consent to a level some of you might not have thought about before. Those of us who use mobility devices such as walkers, rollators, and wheelchairs—to name a few—not only consider these … Continue reading
The “Upgrade My Body” trope is one that is frequent in science fiction and other speculative media. This trope generally involves the notion of leaving the disabled or ageing body behind in order to transfer consciousness into another, more “durable” form. This form can involve a robot, android, clone, or another person’s body. I … Continue reading
The trope that I call the “Tiny Tim” is the creation by an author of a disabled character whose exclusive role is to be an object of pity and in need of charity. I have used the name of the best known of these figures from Dickens—”Tiny Tim.” Tiny Tim doesn’t have a life outside … Continue reading
I recently watched the musical Wicked, and one scene particularly stood out to me as problematic. It tied into a few other problematic representations of disability that I have encountered in literature, film, and television. In Wicked: The Musical , the main character’s sister, Nessarose, is a wheelchair user. During the performance, she, at various … Continue reading
I have been trying so hard to stay out of social media arguments these days, stopping myself from reading or writing comments. Mostly because I find it comes to nothing in the end and drains my spoons. But then a thing happened this week I couldn’t ignore. A quote appeared on my Twitter timeline from … Continue reading
I’ve written over sixty books in multiple genres that run the gambit: short fiction, romance, fantasy, poetry, young adult, children’s literature, horror and suspense, even some science fiction. In all of those books, I have never had a character that was disabled—not in any of my books. I was born with cerebral palsy (CP). When … Continue reading
One of the most problematic tropes that is projected onto disabled people and our narratives is the trope of Overcoming. In these narratives, disabled people are able to “overcome” their disability (that is, become able-bodied) by working hard and pushing boundaries. Disability activist Eli Clare observes: “Overcoming bombards disabled people. It’s everywhere. I think of … Continue reading
Scholar Isabel Brittain brings attention to the trope of “The Outsider” in her article on “An Examination into the Portrayal of Deaf Characters and Deaf Issues in Picture Books for Children” (Disability Studies Quarterly 2004, Vol 24, No 1). In this trope, “the character with an impairment is portrayed as a figure of alienation and … Continue reading
The Genius Cripple trope is pronounced in representations of disability in popular media and is generally grounded in the idea of a mind-body dichotomy. The notion of the mind-body dichotomy assumes that the mind and body are distinct from one another. This dichotomy is traced back to the philosopher Descartes, who suggested a distinction between … Continue reading
