#disabled magic users

I’m autistic and have been writing a story where one of the characters is also autistic and completely nonverbal. The story takes place in a magical setting where everyone has latent magic, and it is considered a part of life.

My question relates to how my character communicates. In the story, he uses illusions to communicate through images and colors to show how he’s feeling. Sometimes his magic grow big with strong emotions creating very realistic illusions that affect the world around him. But that is related to how magic is connected to emotions in this world, and is shown to happen to other characters with their magic.

My problem is if this would be considered a magical ‘cure’ for his disability.

In this setting, Magic is as integral as technology is in the real world. (As in it’s a part of life and integrated into laws and such.)

In the story he has problems communicating with people he doesn’t know, since they don’t understand the meaning of a certain color or image. I plan on making it work like AAC cards, but want to make sure the magic itself isn’t erasure.

Is there anything I should avoid or steer clear of in regards to this character? Or ways I can add more context to the disability community in the story?

Hello,

Actually, that's a good idea. It's realistic. In a non-magic world, this character would rely on nonverbal communication and small verbalizations, which work exactly how you intend to make this magic work- the people who know the character can speak his language, understand what certain things mean, use their experience with him to read what he's projecting and respond accordingly. But when people don't know what certain things mean, they can't understand what he's trying to convey or might only be able to understand a tiny piece, not the clearer picture people who know him can get. It's accurate, you're just using magical abstracts instead of body language.

Erasure would be if his magical illusions were an audio of what he means (which can sometimes be accurate via echolalia or mimicking someone, but it's complicated and not going to work nearly as well as people think it would,) or a projection of text that spells out what he's trying to get across. What you're doing isn't that. This is remarkably close to how this works in real life.

Some two handed tasks could actually be easier just to do with magic, since this character is very skilled in magic, including fine motor skill style manipulation of objects, including but not limited to things like typing on a physical keyboard.

Full arm gone, lower and upper. The conjured arm is a constant drain in the mana/energy of the caster. Obvs the mana cost per minute and negative effect of it would differ per person, but the character in question is not bothered by it unless using large amounts of magic for other things. If they are under serious strain they would drop the spell and the arm would disappear immediately. The character generates this arm bc they want to, not bc of anyone else.

Hello,

Yes, that is a robot arm fix. Also, you might want to consider exactly how much control something as complicated as an arm would take. The character would need to consciously control every tiny micro adjustment of their shoulder, upper arm, elbow, forearm, wrist, the palm, the knuckles, and every single finger and every single joint. The amount of nerves and muscles and bones in the human arm that are required to make it work, perfectly replicating the function, especially for tiny actions like typing on a keyboard, would be nigh impossible if you had to manually activate your muscles and nerves to move your fingers and wrists just so. That doesn't just take power, it takes immense control and extreme amounts of concentration. Would it even be possible to do something that complicated, creating an entire arm to type on a computer, while also thinking about what you're typing?

Sure, it could be possible, but it would be a monumental amount of work and there is literally no reason for it when they could easier do things like summoning spells or telekinesis spells to do what they want to do. Those wouldn't take the amount of concentration the creation and perfect use of a magical arm would.

If your character is powerful enough to somehow perfectly replicate something as complicated as an arm, they're powerful enough to use magic to create accessibility and accessibility is going to be easier for them and for you as the writer. Plus, magic accessibility isn't a magic fix. Why not try for magic accessibility instead?

Hi asker,

Yes, I think that would be okay. Seems pretty unique, and to me it reads as if you're presenting the character's autoimmune disorder and chronic pain as just a part of the character.

And, as you note, possession isn't particularly realistic either! So their disabilities following them through possession is about the same as them being able to possess people. The logic here that you can follow seems to be that whatever is a part of the character can stay with them. I like it! I think it's neat.

Hope this helps,

Hello,

So, for people with chronic pain in real life, sometimes (depending on the condition) it helps our exercise tolerance if we're in the water, because the water partially supports our weight. It doesn't make everything go away, but it helps.

Rather than have water completely get rid of her pain and disability, why not modify that? Maybe the water dulls her pain for magic reasons but doesn't erase it completely, like a magical ibuprofen. Maybe, instead of her being ablebodied and able to move without restriction underwater, the water helps her a bit. Moving in water puts less strain on her body. And yes, that can probably help with mobility, but it shouldn't be a perfect cure. Why not give her a kind of aquakinesis? She can control water and aid in her mobility without her body suddenly being completely abled. Use the water to propel her.

Instead of a temporary magical cure, why not go for magical adaptability? Instead of her magic making her abled in some situations, how about making her magic become an accessibility aid in some situations? Just a few ideas because this is kind of a magic fix for disability, which should be avoided.

Hey there, thanks for your question!

My biggest concern with this premise, as you've expressed, would be the framing of disability as a punishment for something--in this case, being a magic user--as well as a potential association with "otherness" depending on how magic users are treated within your setting, especially if they are oppressed or mistreated in any way.

I do want to point out that the fantasy genre in particular has a tendency to depict disability in ways that are fundamentally divorced from the real world, like being acquired in exchange for something like special powers or being a condition of some kind of mystical ability/bloodline/whatever. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, per se, but its predominance makes it--in my personal opinion--a bit of a tired trope.

That said, while these types of premises aren't my favourite for the above reasons, I don't inherently dislike this idea so long as you take care to make sure that their disabilities are not seen as or intended to be punishments. You can avoid this in part by:

Not having the characters resent their disabilities or wish that they weren't magic users.

Not treating magic users poorly in your setting (I don't know if they are, because it isn't included in the ask, but since it's a common fantasy trope I'll add it anyway).

Depicting what kinds of accommodations would reasonably exist in a setting where magic use is tied with disability would also go a long way, especially if magic users make up a large portion of the population. This would help the disabilities not seem like a fun flavour thrown in for drama while not actually being realistically thought through.

Finally, I also strongly recommend including disabled characters who are not magic users in your story. Disability in speculative fiction is rarely shown just... existing the same way it does in real life. Disabled people exist all around you, not just as a quirk to serve in fantasy worldbuilding, and I certainly encourage all fantasy authors in particular to remember this.

Other disabled people are welcome to add their thoughts as always!