Disability Writing Advice

Mod M here! 

I go nonverbal occasionally and I think that would be fine! Sure, its not stereotypically done but it shows another way that people can accommodate each other, and (i just did a bit of research on the various ways to transmit morse code via this link) so it would be good. Also think about screen readers/braille writers. There is also this video about the way that people who are hard of sight and deaf communicate through signing. 

There will be some people who aren’t happy with your story, but at the same time if it fits the character then, in my opinion, it would be fine. 

Bear in mind that in the video, it looks like both women are deafblind, which is why both of them need tactile to read each other’s signs. Since only one of the sisters is blind, only the blind sister would need to rest her hands on her sister’s hands to read them. If the blind sister signs back then of course the sighted sister would just see the signs.

I admit some of why I am instinctively resistant to the idea of using morse code as an alternative mode of communication is because it feels like you made the leap to go there based on assumptions about what blind people can or can’t do rather than finding out for sure. Before writing too much of your story or making final decisions on how the sisters communicate, I suggest you do more research into blindness, speech impairment/muteness, etc. and real people with these disabilities adapt the usual ways of doing things. This should include researching more into how deafblind people learn and use sign language to help you consider how a hearing blind person might do the same. Bear in mind that there are learning differences depending on whether a person is born deafblind versus growing up deaf and sighted (or hearing and sighted first) then having to learn to tactile signs when you are older. And more differences again for a person growing up hearing blind–on one hand they may make some of the same mistakes that sighted hearing people make when they are novices at learning sign, but on the other hand they have more experience learning information via tactile than a deaf person becoming blind late in life. 

If you still want your sisters to use morse, consider other reasons why they might choose this method of communication. Maybe there are others around who know sign language, and they need a secret way to communicate? Or maybe for some reason the parents have refused to allow the mute daughter to learn sign language? For example perhaps the parents have the misguided idea that blocking other avenues of communication will somehow force her to be able to talk? If so, what has stopped the girl from finding other ways to teach herself sign language via online videos or seeking out friends who use sign language? If there is no Internet within the universe of your story, then this would obviously remove some avenues for learning independently or finding deaf people or people who are mute/speech impaired. Or the mute sister could have internalized ableism that stops her from trying to learn to sign. If you’re going to remove sign language as an option, there needs to be some reason why that makes sense within the story. And also some explanation how and why the girls first learned morse code.

I always urge people who want to write disability into their stories to follow @disabilityinkidlit and their “sister blog” at http://DisabilityinKidLit.com to learn more about tropes and other things that bother readers with various disabilities. Look for more blogs and videos by blind people–and not just in Tumblr, since Tumblr isn’t a very friendly platform for blind users. With a few exceptions (like @actuallyblind and a few others) many blind people prefer to use other blogging platforms like Wordpress, Blogspot, etc, or Twitter, etc

…consider other reasons why …

Whatever you choose to write (but especially with disability – and other experiences not directly your own), do your research, and work out the “why,” first.

There’s a lot of great advice about writing autistic characters on the internet, and the aim of this post is to link to all of it. If you’ve got something that should be included in this post, please include a link in a reblog.

Accidentally Writing Autistic Characters by Alyssa Hillary

Note to People Thinking of Writing Autistic Characters by Ada Hoffman

How to Write Genuine Autistic Characters by Bard

Writing Autistic Characters: Behaviourizing vs. Humanizing Approaches by Elizabeth Bartmess. The blog this was written for is gold.

On Writing Autistic Characters by ChaoticIdealism

How to Write an Autistic Character by Draggle Ella

Writing characters, not symptoms: A gamer with autism discusses what our hobby gets wrong by Joe Parlock

How to Write Autistic Characters by Karamatsu boy

L. C. Mawson has many great posts about writing autistic characters that discuss words you should know, empathy, and why you shouldn’t write an insufferable genius.

Advice from Loud Enough to Hear

How To Write Autistic Characters ( With Examples From Ruby’s World ) by Neil Kapit

Information on stimming by Packbat with an addendum from Fluffy-critter

So you want to write an autistic character part 1: Integration dysfunction and what to do about it by Senga

Writing Autistic Characters by Real Social Skills

5 Step Guide On Writing A Character With X Disorder or X Disease by ReferenceForWriters with an autistim-specific appendix by YouNeedACat

Tips for Writing Autistic Characters from SilverSarcasm

Great advice from TAL9000

Writing Aspergers from WriteWorld

Writing reference: things to keep in mind when writing autistic characters by Yehudisha

Here’s the thing: Lycanthropy in the Harry Potter universe is a chronic illness. Not only does it function as a chronic illness in-universe (a long lasting incurable disease that gets worse over time* **) Not only that, but HP werewolves are specifically a metaphor for HIV/AIDS(x). Everything – from the side effects to the state of treatment to his fears about passing his condition to his partner or child to the stigma Lupin faces – everything about the presentation of HP werewolves is designed to reference AIDS. And Lupin isn’t really very good representation,*** but he is still positive representation of a grossly under- and mis- represented group of people. Making a canon disabled character trans and going “it’s a metaphor” is not progressive. It is erasure.

The other part of this is that, in using Lupin’s illness as a metaphor for transness, you are comparing transness to an illness. Like we don’t have enough problems with that already? “Gender Dysphoria” (previously Gender Identity Disorder) is still on the DSM. We are constantly being treated as sick against our will – people are constantly trying to “cure” us – and with that being the case it’s honestly just really sickening to see a well intentioned story that buys into that.

And look, I get that the ‘period once a month’ thing appeals to people as a parallel, but honestly it’s just so disrespectful both to trans people and to disabled people alike. For one thing, almost half of the population has periods. People are not marginalized for having periods.**** In addition to that, most people’s periods are relatively mild. Some people have more extreme period related issues,***** but for the vast majority of the population, periods are gross and humiliating at worst. Even with periods triggering dysphoria, it’s still no where near the same level as a stigmatized illness that causes severe pain and injury on an ongoing basis.

As both a trans person and as someone with a chronic (mental) illness,****** this trend in the Harry Potter fandom bugs the hell out of me, and makes it hard for me to access works about my favorite character. And don’t get me wrong, I love trans!remus – but he can be trans and still be disabled, yeah? Here I am, trans and chronically ill both, typing this right now. Please don’t engage in ablewashing. Please don’t compare our genders to illnesses. Please, please, please, engage in creative and respectful exploration of Remus Lupin’s gender and disability both.

Lupin can be either a transgender werewolf or an HIV positive trans boy – and both of those are amazing stories that deserve to be told.

Go out and tell them.