yknow what iâll just compile all of this into a little masterpost.
How NOT to make a character with albinism
(by a person with albinism)
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1. Donât give them red eyes. People with albinism donât have red eyes.
This is a myth, we do not have red eyes. Not even animals have red eyes. The reason our eyes look red sometimes is because our eyes are translucent, and when light reflects off our eyes, the red youâre seeing is the back of our eyes, even with animals. Animals donât have hats and sunglasses to protect their eyes, or the camera people are using flash photography, and itâs the same thing. Animals also have naturally blue eyes, itâs just more rare to see that since they donât have access to eye protection. And if it sounds painful, itâs because it is painful. Iâll get into that later though. Our eyes are naturally more blue/greyâŚyou could argue for purple since sometimes thatâs the case depending on the lighting situation. But no people with albinism have naturally red eyes.
2. Our hair and skin arenât perfect! They can still get damaged.
My rule of thumb is the longer the hair, the more likely it is to be damaged. Whether itâs by the sun, or by natural causes, itâs still prone to damage to the point our hair color can turn a sort of buttery color if itâs long enough. our hair grows white from the roots, but the longer it grows, the more damaged itâll get. Itâs not as big of a problem with short hair, but longer hair can pose an issue. itâs usually sort of faded from white into this buttery colorâit doesnât grow in like that. thatâs from natural damage from the elements. And with skinâwe can still have scars, and acne, and pimples, and moles. The only thing with moles is that instead of being brown, theyâre more pink in color. But we arenât marble statues. Weâre gonna have flaws in our skin and hair. Itâs possible. The only thing we canât have are natural freckles, because those come from pigment gained in the sun.
3. Donât give us some name pertaining to our conditionâŚplease.
God, this oneâs such a nitpick and Iâve only ever seen it in movies, but when you name your character after their condition, itâs almost like youâre taking away their humanity. Examples Iâve seen were Bhoot (translates to unwanted spirit/ghost in Hindi), Whitey (twice actuallyâŚone of them was nicknamed Q-Tip...ok.), Powder (even if it was a nickname itâs still objectively bad) and, of course, âThe Albino.â Because how would you know theyâre albino if that wasnât their actual name? Like itâs fine to have a character have a name meaning light, or white, or snowâŚas long as it has a meaning outside of their condition.
4. Donât ignore our disabilities.
Regardless of what type of albinism you have, youâre going to have a visual impairment. You will be legally blind (20/200 vision or lowerâ20/200 basically means that i would need to be 20 feet away from something in order to see something someone with perfect vision could see at 200 feet). Thereâs a varying degree in how bad oneâs vision is, but itâs never going to be above that 20/200 markânot uncorrected at least. And even then itâs impossible to get it to 20/20. Personally, the closest Iâve gotten with double lensed, super prismatic glasses was 20/180, and that was pushing it. Same thing with the photophobiaâphotophobia doesnât mean weâre all vampires who are going to explode when exposed to sunlight, but weâre also not exactly safe in the sun either. We need a hat and/or sunglasses, and sunscreen, even in the winter. I think the longest Iâve been in the sun without burning (and without sunscreen) was fifteen minutes, for reference. We donât have the pigment in our bodies to protect us from the sun like a non PWA does. When you erase the disability part, you cross that line between ableism, and into fetishism. If you donât want to put the effort into researching the disability aspect, donât give that character albinism. You have no right to cherry pick what you do and donât like about this condition. At some point, it boils down to laziness and an unwillingness to put even an ounce of thought into what youâre portraying.
5. People with albinism can still work around their disability.
Yes, being visually impaired makes life difficult, and Iâm willing to give some grace here because people who arenât legally blind donât know what itâs like to be legally blind, but itâs not too hard to figure out solutions to a problem. Iâve never known life without a visual impairmentâno person with albinism has, so thinking of ways to overcome that sort of just comes naturally. For example, I used to work as a cashier, and on the rare occasion people paid with cash, it took me quite a while to count out change because itâs hard to see the numbers on the dollar bills, but I learned pretty quickly that $1 bills were light green $5 bills had a purple tint, $10 bills had an orange tint, $20 bills were similar to $1 bills but more yellowâŚetc. Or when I was first learning to cook and do laundry on my own, I had to buy large print measuring cups, or Iâd mark the ones I already had with a sharpie/bold label. Same thing with the cup you put detergent in. Itâs not impossible, really. Or if Iâm filling a cup of water I usually have to just put my finger along the edge so I can feel when itâs full. Little things like that. You can work around it if you find the right ways to.
6. Donât ignore other eye issues: Exotropia and Nystagmus
These are often overlooked, but our eye muscles are also incredibly weak, in the way a non PWAâs eyes arenât. So, many of us have Exotropia or Nystagmus. Exotropia is basically just when one eye drifts out to the sideâŚit can kinda make it look like youâre looking in two different ways. With me, itâs especially prevalent in photos (mostly cause the flash aggravates it), but there are fixes. Thereâs a surgery that could work (though itâs rare it does), or you can wear an eye patch, I guess. You donât have to though! Itâs a personal thing. If your character would be fine with their exotropia, cool! If not, those are some fixes. Nystagmus is more commonly heard of I thinkâthe way it was explained to me when I was maybe 5 and the way I explain it to people is that itâs also called âdancing eye syndromeââbasically it just means our eyes bounce around from left to right. It actually does increase when weâre tired, or sick, or when eye fatigue is getting badâŚit slows down when weâre wearing prescription glasses or contacts. Allegedly it also completely stops when you get drunk, and I wasnât a witness to thatâŚso. When our eyes mive randomly, itâs basically just muscle spasms. IMy vision moves with my eyes with neither my exotropia, nor my nystagmus. I donât notice it until people point it out, but itâs still a thing people with albinism need to deal with. So donât ignore that either.
There are many methods of technology we useâwhite canes being one of them. Most of us do use a white canes, although sometimes, itâs more so for your safety than ours. It has a double meaningâit both helps us navigate the area so we donât trip and fall on our faces, but itâs also used to indicate to people passing by that weâre visually impaired. There are many different methods of cane usage and types of canes, but thereâs no way I could fit it all on here. Canes do come in all sorts of colors though! So feel free to design a cane of your choosing! All of them are red in the ends, however. Another thing Iâve gotten asked about a lot is a service dog. Service dogs are typically given to people who are legally blind (which all PWAs are), so a guide dog could be a possibility for your character! And if youâre feeling extra spicy, apparently seeing eye ponies existâŚI donât have much info on them though lol. The only downside to a service dog is you need to be beyond proficient in cane usage in order to qualify for a dog. Service dogs arenât pets. But a cane and/or a service dog are typical with PWAs.
This oneâs more of a nitpick on my end, and I guess it depends on who youâre talking to, but most people with albinism arenât too fond of the word âalbinoâ. I canât speak for everyone, I can only speak for myself, but the word âalbinoâ feels borderline animalistic and inhuman. Itâs incredibly degrading and the only reason I refer to myself as âalbinoâ is 1. out of habit and 2. because people know the word albino, but they donât know albinism, the condition. So if I say âI have albinismâ people donât know what Iâm talking about until I say smth like âYeah, Iâm albinoâ. Then people get it, and half the time itâs followed up by âoh like an animal?â But generally speaking, I would strongly advise not using that word. Itâs a âput the person before the conditionâ sort of thing. Person with albinism or PWA is preferred. Albino is such a gross, degrading and inhuman thing to call someone. Thatâs what you call an animal. Again, this might be a me thing, but just to play it safe in case other PWAs feel similarly to how I do, just say person with albinism, or shorten it to PWA.
If youâve seen my posts before, you know about most of these, but there are some stereotypes that get tossed around in movies that people inadvertently attach to their OCs. One of which being the âevil albinoâ caricature. This oneâs the most common oneâalbinism is often portrayed as an evil condition. One that makes the haver of it unsympathetic and villainousâthe most common example is Silas/The Evil Albino from the Da Vinci Code. We arenât evil or mean because we have albinism. If you meet a mean person with albinism, itâs just because theyâre a mean person, not because the condition made them that way. Another one is the âMagical Albinoâ myth. This one started in more secluded parts of Africa I believeâpeople with albinism were often hunted and killed for their body parts, and said body parts were ingested and eaten because people with albinism were thought to hold magical healing properties. Giving your OC with albinism magic is harmful because of that myth. Unless some/all of your characters have magic powers, donât give the one character with albinism magic. Not really a stereotype but please donât make your characters incompetent because of their albinism. Being visually impaired/disabled doesnât make one stupid. Donât make your character with albinism the cookie cutter evil, dastardly character without a heart who has magical abilities. Another thing is, donât let the character be an outcast unless itâs genuinely important to the story. A lot of PWAs are isolated enough as is, so unless itâs a genuine part of the story, Iâd try to avoid it.
10.) Albinism around the world + fetishism
Different places treat albinism differently. As mentioned, in some remote parts of Africa, people with albinism are hunted and killed for food and so their body parts can be made into healing potions. In other countries, albinism is viewed as bad luck, leaving those people ostracised and even abandoned at times. Depending on where your character is from, give a bit of research into how PWAs are treated and responded to in that place. Some places treat us better than others. Itâs all different. Just put a little bit of thought into it. Donât be lazy. Albinism is also an extremely fetishized condition. Itâs often chalked up to the looks, and thatâs not all we are. Itâs easy to fall into the pit of fetishism, but if you think youâve crossed that line? chances are, you have. Even based off of the âfrequently asked google searchesâ about albinism you can tell itâs extremely fetishized. Please just treat your characters with albinism as normal people and not sex toys used for their âunique looksâ. I assure you, no person with albinism wants to, or should be okay with being fetishized like that. Itâs gross.
Anyway, yeah! Thatâs all I can think of. Iâll probably reblog this if I think of anything to add. If you have questions, shoot me an ask! Iâd be more than happy to help. Iâm not gonna candy coat it, but a lot of characters with albinism are made very lazily, and I partially blame the movie industry for how horribly weâre represented, therefore how horribly weâre thought to be, but please give this a read through.
(i donât normally ask this but please feel free to reblog to reach a wider audience! this is incredibly, incredibly important to me <3)
(pardon any typos by the wayâthis isnât proofread and this is just me freehanding it. i canât see my keyboard too well :c)
