I have more thoughts about stilling as disability, and the narrative surrounding stilling.
Stilling as disability is so on point. The person is no longer able to do a task they were previously able to do. They are ostracized by their peers. They often sink into depression.
In the books, we get to explore the experience of stilling with four characters: Logain, Siuan, Leane, and Setalle. Each character handles their disability differently. Logain falls into deep depression and his only motivation to keep going is basically revenge. Siuan has a somewhat similar motivation, although her revenge is much more complex. Leane chooses to embrace her life, to become the woman she would have been if she hadn't become Aes Sedai. Setalle moves away, marries, opens an inn, and works to help women kicked out of the White Tower. Each finds new life after stilling, the women a little more easily than the men (an effect of the taint?).
How do these narratives align with narratives and realities of disability in the real world?
The ostracization is perfect. People are very quick to drop a friend who suddenly requires considerably more effort to spend time with, and who is possibly unable to reciprocate favors, who has almost no money, and who is probably really negative about life. In the books, it's very much presented as the stilled woman being a reminder of what could happen, and no one wants to be around that. Which does also happen with disabled people, especially those with physical deformity. The Aes Sedai take it one step further, though, and pretend that they are ostracizing the woman for her own benefit, to prevent her from feeling the loss that she experienced. I find all of the book narrative of the social response to stilling to absolutely reflect the social response to disability in the real world. Ostracization as "protection" is less common, but it does happen.
Next, we have depression. This is so incredibly accurate to the experience of becoming disabled. I can't speak as well to the experience of congenital disability, but I imagine that they also frequently mourn what could have been. But it's not just the loss of ability that's driving the depression, is it? It's also the loss of social network, standing, and power. Being helpless is depressing. Being socially isolated is hell. The Aes Sedai have another layer to their depression, though: The loss of power and Power. Moving from being one of the most powerful people in the world, someone even kings and queens give deference to, to being just another ordinary person — that stings. To lose contact with a source of Power regularly referred to as something akin to the Sun — that's devastating. The book narrative surrounding depression as a response to becoming disabled is absolutely accurate.
Now let's look at the individual responses of our four stilled characters, what they say about each of them, and what we can about how the narrative handles disability.
Logain has the double disability whammy of being affected by the taint on saidin, and then being stilled. His sanity is suspect from the beginning, but for all appearances, he seems to stay sane throughout the series. The depth and timing of taint-induced insanity is quite random, which is very true of many debilitating illnesses. (Schizophrenia is a pretty analogous illness in that its usual onset is in a person's early 20s, but can manifest across a great range of ages.) When he is stilled, Logain is also pulled from a seat of power. As False Dragon, he had amassed an army and was actively conquering new territory. His decline is 100% in line with someone who has been removed from power and Power, who has a minor identity crisis in accepting that he is not the Dragon Reborn, and who has been removed from his entire social support network to be watched by a bunch of Accepted who would rather do almost anything else. He is having a Very Bad Time. So when Min, Siuan, and Leane pick him up, he is quite understandably hitting rock bottom.
The three of them fight tooth and nail to keep him alive, keep him motivated, and keep him going. Layered with their determination is Min's viewing that he is destined for greatness. Even though his destiny is written, they still have to do the work in the moment that keeps him alive. They choose to shelter and protect him, in part out of fear of what he might do left to his own devices, in part out of compassion for a fellow human being who is Going Through It, and in part out of the habit of believing that he is their responsibility. The disabled banding together to take care of each other is a powerful narrative. It is sad that the world throws us away, but our worth as human beings cannot be so easily destroyed. We bring value and strength to each other, and are able to move forward all the same.
Siuan, very similarly to Logain, is removed from a seat of power, as well as being stilled. She does not have the shadow of the taint to contend with, and her identity is rock solid. She has her mission, which has been her whole world for nearly 20 years, and she simply decides that it will continue to be her whole world. She makes strategic decisions based on long-term plans. She is changed, but also remains the same. In Siuan we see how disability creates difficulties and obstacles that can be overcome. This particular disability narrative is toxic by itself, and yet also a needed narrative within the broader discussion of how disability affects people. It does not serve anyone to pretend that disability is always devastating, never surmountable, always so absolute that there is no escape. So if Siuan's story was the only disability narrative in the books, I would call it inspiration porn. Thankfully, it is not the only narrative. Rand al'Thor has terminal illness that he can't escape. Min has chronic illness that causes her constant problems, and limits her participation in the world. The male channelers have madness that can strike at any time. Within the Wheel of Time, we have a great diversity in disability representation, which places Siuan's arc in the position of true inspiration, not a toxic narrative of applauding ability in the face of disability.
Leane, while occupying a seat of power, was a support power rather than a principle power, and therefore does not have as much difficulty in accepting her lowered position. She does have a new perspective on her identity, though, and actively chooses to embrace who she was before she entered the White Tower. For her, letting Leane the Keeper of the Chronicles go is what allows her to continue forward. She displays a much greater flexibility with her identity than either Logain or Siuan, and more successfully moves into being a new person. She is still a follower at heart, and continues to support Siuan, but it is out of loyalty to Siuan-the-person, not because she has any illusion of regaining political power.
Some people deride Leane for chasing men as a way to deal with her stilling, but they have overlooked some key aspects of who she is. This is a woman who openly flirted with Perrin in The Great Hunt. She is Domani, for whom flirtation is a social construct used to gain and maintain power. I feel like a lot of her critics are prudes who don't want to admit so. Domani flirting is to suggest, to entice, and to leave satisfied even though everyone stayed dressed and sat apart. It is an artform, and she chooses to re-embrace it now that she is no longer tied to the Tower concepts of sexual frigidity masquerading as professionalism.
Leane's response to disability, then, is to embrace something that her ability had taken from her. Many newly disabled people indeed find that they cannot do much standing, but they suddenly have time for fiber arts that they can do while lounging. Or they are physically incapacitated, but now have time to read and think and learn. Similarly to the narrative surrounding Siuan's stilling, Leane's storyline would be disappointing if it was the only disability story in the series. In contrast, however, I cannot think of a single character who was so disabled that they could not do anything productive. I could make excuses for this, such as reading a story about someone who can't do stuff would be boring, or that the world lacked resources to deal with that level of disability, but it falls a little flat for a series as long and complex as The Wheel of Time.
Finally, we have Setalle. Now Setalle is different in that she burned out while interacting with ter'angreal. She was not in a seat of power, but burning out removed not only her Power and social network, but also her life's labor. She could no longer do the work she loved. I've watched quite a lot of Dancing with the Stars, and one of the judges, Len Goodman, can no longer dance. He has been cut off from doing what he loves by a body that betrayed him. He can still function in the world; indeed, he still participates in dance as choreographer, teacher, and judge, but he cannot dance. This is Setalle's experience, without even the peripheral participation. She must find something else to do. When we meet her, she has already worked through her grief, found new motivation for life, and built a business and family. She shows that the Tower is not telling the entire truth about stilling, that life without Power is possible, and that the true reason they kick people out is so that they themselves don't feel discomfort.
Setalle's narrative is so spot on for how most people respond to disabled people. They don't want to associate, because they don't want to remember that they are only human, that disability comes for us all eventually. Her story also highlights the lies we tell about disabled people, as an excuse to not provide accommodations, to brush them into a care home and give up on them.
We as a society create categories of people who we've decided can never be part of society: people with Down Syndrome, Autism, and Schizophrenia, to name some of the better known. While there absolutely exist members in each of these groups who cannot function without 24-hour intensive care, there are many more members who can actually participate fully in society. Such participation requires regular society to make some concessions, however, and people are generally unwilling to do so. An adult having a panic attack and therefore removing themselves from the source of panic? Cringe. What's wrong with them? Someone who talks to imaginary friends? Or who is spaced out most of the time? Creepy. Someone who misunderstands instructions, or often forgets things? What a hassle to deal with. Why should I be the one to bother? We are very unkind to those who do not have what we consider a baseline skill level for dealing with life. But we also didn't even try to bring many people up to their full functioning level. Occupational therapy has changed things for very much the better on that front, though I think we still have a long way to go.
We find ourselves now deep in the mire of disability vs ability. Is a disabled person only valuable with respect to what they are able to do? Is a person not worthy of life and love if they are completely incapacitated and dependent on others? On the other side, should we ignore a person's potential just because they will never acquire certain skills or abilities? How do we find the balance between supporting a person so that they can fulfill their potential as human beings, and providing for them because they cannot do things? The conversation rages, and I do not care to provide answers here. I simply wish to acknowledge that finding that balance is not straightforward, and will be different for each person.
The narrative in The Wheel of Time focuses solely on people who do have ability, whose disability is an obstacle that can be surmounted. I do think it's fair to criticize the story for lack of total disability, but not harshly. The story is about what it is about. Other stories address complete incapacitation. (Please, please read Vorkosigan Saga for a broader perspective on disability and inherent worth.)
With respect to stilling in particular, the story also provides a cure. What's interesting about the cure is that it does not restore the patient to full capacity if performed with the same half of the True Source. So, a saidar user cured with saidar will not be as Powerful as she was before stilling, whereas a saidin user cured with saidar will return to his original strength.
The Cure is always floating in front of the disabled person. If only I could get the Cure, my life would be great again. Which is not entirely true, and the narrative of the cure for stilling does an excellent job of demonstrating this reality.
Logain, when cured, has his full strength, but he also is re-exposed to the taint, and the countdown on his madness restarts. What's more, he is now seen as a danger to the people who have been caring for him, and transitions from being a free-roaming prisoner to being watched and guarded non-stop. The cure did not, in fact, fix his life. He still has to work through the problems at hand. He is not returned directly to his former glory.
Siuan, when cured, is far weaker in the One Power than she was before. Because of the way Aes Sedai rank themselves, she finds herself at the bottom, required to follow. She is stubborn and manipulative, though, and finds a way to maintain her power through Egwene. It's horribly corrupt and delightful to watch. She becomes a puppet master, leading from behind. Even so, she is aware of her limits, and to whom she owes what. Her manipulation is often straightforward, especially with Egwene in particular. She becomes the trusted advisor because she proves herself trustworthy. Siuan's story arc shows that even with the cure, a disabled person will still often come out the other side with lower social standing than before.
Leane, on the other hand, decides that she is a new person, and insists on switching Ajah. Her response to the cure is very similar to her response to the disease: She will become the person she thought she had abandoned and suppressed. Her main point of conflict after being cured was with the Green Ajah accepting her. Her story provides a lens into how a person can change profoundly, but the people around them are unable to accept their change.
Setalle, having burned out rather than being cut off, could quite possibly not be curable, which provides a nice balance to the narrative of the Cure. Not everyone can be cured, and we should still treat those who can't be as full human beings deserving of respect.
On balance, The Wheel of Time provides an array of narratives that give us ways to understand various levels of disability, the different ways disabled people cope with their disability, and the social consequences of disability. While it lacks any examples of complete disability, it does very good work with the themes that it does explore, including what happens when someone is cured.
