As for alphonse, his disability isn't being in armor... he's missing most of his senses. He can hear and see but he has no sense of touch, taste, or smell. He can't eat or sleep. He doesn't feel pain, and because of that he gets into some dangerous situations.
It's like my disassociation/ADD (inattentive kind), vertigo, and my lack of proprioception in my joints due to my hEDS, FND/randomized nerve damage from seizures, deformities, etc. I hurt myself because I can't tell where my arms are (I stop truly feeling and recognizing them from the shoulders until I get to my hands where the nerve damage and arthritis hurts so much I start recognizing those again), I run into things when I space/zone out, I've swerved my car/lost time due to disassociation (have gotten from point a to b and had no idea how), have literally left my body like it was the avatar and my conscience was the player and essentially have troubles with touch and sense. As for the taste/smell part and even eating and sleeping, ever since I fell and gave myself a TBI and gained migraines due to my concussion and broke my nose (all thanks to clumsiness from the above), my sense of taste has gone way down (couple it with my past overcoming of Anorexia, my ADD, my side-effects from meds, and then the fact that my meds for migraines make me have no taste and/or hunger due to also being weight loss meds; yay Topamax. /s), I basically have no sense of smell (and if I do smell something, it's either really strong;bad stuff or is in a waft and I don't catch it til I've walked past and recognize the smell long after it is gone), sometimes my migraines or past eating disorder or ADD or meds will make me so turned off by food I can go 24+ hours without eating and not even realize it, and sleep comes off and on; either I can't sleep at all or I sleep too much thanks to my pain and IBS and migraines/mental illnesses like ADD. Between all this and then personality, I have been told I resemble and I also feel like I related to him a lot.
It isn't a 1 to 1 relation, but there is a connection to a real life condition called Locked In Syndrome: locked-in syndrome symptoms Symptoms and Signs of Locked-In Syndrome Patients with locked-in syndrome have intact cognitive function and are awake, with eye opening and normal sleep-wake cycles. They can hear and see. However, they cannot move their lower face, chew, swallow, speak, breathe, move their limbs, or move their eyes laterally. Like I said not a 1 to 1 recreation, because Al can speak and move their limbs, but he can't move his mouth, chew, or swallow... the author traded some of the more normal symptoms for more fantastical... not needing to eat or sleep, but it is very easy for me to view it as a form of a fantasy version of Locked In Syndrome.
Alphonse always reminded me of Darth Vader - trapped in a suit, unable to do certain things, viewed as other because their appearances are different. Disability wise he also reminded me of CIPA, specifically for being unable to feel pain. And well - people who have to use an ENT tube to get nutrition because they have swallowing issues which means they don’t actually taste the food. Except Alphonse kind of bypasses all the tube issues by having it so that he can’t actually do or feel those things such as eating because he doesn’t have the body parts for it to be needed, which is a whole other issue for him. It’s kind of interesting that Alphonse is either a mishmash of illness and disabilities or Locked In syndrome like the above said tho. Pretty fun to speculate.
I always thought that his condition resembled that of quadriplegic people: he has a sharp mind but his body is a sarcophagus entirely unable to experience the world through sense organs, to the point that even his memory begins to lose stability and he gets to the point of questioning his own existence.
I'm thinking of Berserk. Guts has a prosthetic arm that is very efficient in combat, but then there's that one scene where he reaches for Casca's hand but his prosthetic arm isn't able to hold onto her. It's that very relatable feeling, where you can live most of your life normally, but every once in a while you come across some obstacle, and you're reminded that you're not like other people.
Fun fact: Toph’s fighting style was based on praying mantis so Toph was based on the person who supposedly invented praying mantis who is believed to be a blind woman. Praying mantis is a good fighting style for people with low vision.
I like the idea of disabled character in fantasy, it can add a lot of world building showing how different types of people are able to live in the world can help you understand how the world works for others you may not have seen with regular stories
@@Darkloid21 There can be a multitude of reasons, just because something on paper might have a cure, it isn't accessible to everyone. Socio-economical factors are the easiest to imagine: treatment rare, expensive, dangerous, or only available to higher class rich types. With fantasy being the most free flowing, malleable, and easiest to work with genre that can encompass so much, what's anyway wrong with a bit of ego stroking? No shortage of power fantasies or the likes. Just because you have wish fulfillment elements in a text, it does not mean it is by itself bad. Focusing on "why not just cure it?" and mandating it would be a chain and ball, when many types of stories would never need to explore that kind of topic. A character simply is. There is no need to justify it, or why they are that way, per se. Especially if it is outside the frame of the story.
@@Darkloid21I disagree. Fantasy is the most free flowing genre. You can fit so many different stories into the genre. The cure discussion isn't mandatory (as few things are in writing), and can be outside the frame of the story being told. It is not always relevant, and characters simply are (as people), needing no deep explanation as a requirement. Also, considering fantasy contains no shortage of power fantasies, why would it be bad for people with disabilities to get in on that too? Instead of a blond, blue-eyed white masculine dude galloping around to save the day as some chosen one, let it be some guy with a cane and chronic pains deciding to go give the forces of evil a mighty good walloping. People with disabilities simply exist too, and thus misadventures, adventures and shenanigans happen that most of the time have nothing to do with some misguided quest for a cure or whatever.
@@Darkloid21 I disagree a bit here. Ana's objection very much feels like a "just because" using your metric. She could get it healed but she holds it as a reminder. If I had the power to cure my vision so that I didn't need to wear glasses I probably would but it's such a trivial condition that I don't particularly mind having to wear glasses despite the occasional inconvenience. Moving on, I want to touch on Dungeons and Dragons because it is often at the heart of many of these discussions. All of these discussions are somewhat doomed within this metric because even if everyone only uses 5e DnD as the metrics for ttrpg fantasy settings (and those that are inspired by it), there is disagreements. How many characters can cast lesser restoration in a world (how many level 3+ bards, clerics, druids, celestial warlocks, divine soul sorcerers, & how many level 5+ paladins, rangers, & artificers are there in the world, or level 6 mercy monk)? How much would it cost to pay somebody to cast lesser restoration or to get a potion to address a condition? What versions of being paralyzed, deafened, blinded can lesser restoration cure? Which can only be cured by greater restoration? Which can only be addressed by regeneration? Which require a wish spell exclusively? Each of these rises in the ranking of spells to a narrower and narrower band of characters capable of casting it (and greater restoration uses up diamond dust worth at least 100 gold when cast). Even following the rules there can be ambiguity on which of these can address it and that's before GMs homerule mechanics to fit the setting (I've had a gm nerf goodberry because it kind of invalidates the need to acquire food & has healing exploit mechanics).
@@Darkloid21 I disagree with the notion that disabled characters should be "fixed" if it's in any way possible in the universe. A lot of disabled people, especially those who were born disabled, don't want or need a cure. Things like autism or developmental disabilities are part of who we are, we wouldn't be the same person if we were suddenly "cured" by magic. A lot of people who were born Deaf, blind, or with body differences - their disability is a part of their life and they're adapted to life with it, it's a part of who they are too. I think all of us deserve representation in fiction, too. Characters whose disability isn't a problem to be fixed in the first place - it's just something that needs accommodations. I think it's good to ask the question "why fix it?" and not just "why not fix it?"
A recent example of great disability rep in fantasy is Eda from The Owl House- she has a curse that essentially acts as a fantastical chronic illness, one she gradually works to manage better over the course of the series.
And the best part is that she learns to accept herself, and knows that she’s not inherently wrong or less valuable because of her disability. Added bonus of her having agency and the ability to choose what she wants to do about her disability, instead of that choice being made for her.
I’ve never seen The Owl House, but I had this sort of thing in mind throughout the whole video. My own character deals with something very similar to how this sounds! I’d love to write it better.
When i really think of it, edward is the only character with prosthetic limbs who actually has to deal with problems caused by it. Luke skywalker, solid snake, they just get cool robot hands. Yang from RWBY has to deal with PTSD from losing her arm but not really complications from the prosthetic itself. Ed's constantly needing tuneups, or risks frostbite from the metal, or outgrowing his limbs.
One of my biggest things I want to see in rep which is why I loved his characterization because I've complained about the concept of being put into a robot and stuff and no one questioning how the brain would react. Seizures screwed up my wiring and my brain can't really recognize my arms and different parts of me and I am not even an amputee, so how do they just think people's brains would just easily accept being in a robot or how their bodies would just accept prosthetic limbs? It's one of the reasons I really loved the show.
Edward is probably the best example of "its a tool he can't get rid of" for him it means he always has something he can transmute into a weapon but it also comes with loads of issues
Witch Hat Atelier is great for showing disabilities in a fantasy setting, and what the culture around that magic means in regard to it all. Also the magical goat chairs, chef kiss. Ascendance of a Bookworm is also fairly interesting in that it actually shows someone needing and having a carer/s, and a lot of people just not having access to lifesaving treatments in that setting, or most people not even having an idea of what's wrong, never minding a proper diagnosis. It's a power fantasy without being flippant about a chronic illness. The light novels are cool, the anime isn't bad.
I highly recommend the video "Witch Hat Atelier: The Importance of Representation" made by lines in motion. They have a section talking about disability in a magical setting. Also both Witch Hat Atelier and Ascendance of a Bookworm are goated series.
Ascendance of a Bookworm is also interesting in that canonically that specific chronic illness actually has value to those filling to use it for their advantage. It's usually the rich who force the desperate under their service, just to have the ability to live past childhood.
I've always thought Daredevil was really interesting because sure his sonar is superior to sight in *most* ways... except that he can't use it to read text on a screen or page. *Daredevil* is so seldom inconvenienced by his blindness that he is effectively not disabled at all. But *Matt Murdock* , who is a lawyer and must deal with mountains of text every day, is certainly affected by it.
Which is kind of the point people are not supposed to know that daredevil is blind. That’s a closely guarded secret because there are so few blind people that have his qualifications that it would instantly expose him.
@@CuppaLLX There was a particularly fun bit I just remembered where some badguy was suspicious of his identity and thought Murdock was *faking* blindness as a cover. So he set up some supervillain trap type thing involving and *outwardly* perfect model Foggy Nelson corpse. And Daredevil just barely clocks the fake corpse, he can tell it has the wrong internal densities, he knows its not real, and he doesn't bother figuring out who its supposed to outwardly resemble. And whichever villain is just like "Jesus Christ this one one stone cold bastard!"
There is a key difference between a story that doesn’t *feature* any specific disabled, queer, non-white, non-human, etc. characters… And writing with the intent that they don’t exist, period. I mean, Tolkien’s writing wasn’t without its issues, but he didn’t deny the existence of POCs at least. Nor does his setting *preclude* the existence of certain groups (although he likely would not have given it much thought). In the case of FMA, we actually have a character whose spine is severed and it’s pointed out that they can’t use Automail legs because that technology still requires attaching them to working nerve endings. This on top of Edward and other characters who have Automail; on one hand they don’t get taken off like prosthetics in our world, but they still need to be maintained time to time regularly… And they create issues with extreme heat and cold because that’s still metal attached to your nerves; at one point he has to upgrade to a special alloy to prevent getting frostbite in the snowbound North. The Avatarverse does so much with disabled characters, not just Toph either; Teo has a great wheelchair to accommodate his own disability in ATLA. In TLOK, we have a villain character without arms who is no less powerful, and Korra herself deals with a degree of disability due to injury (and needs considerable rehabilitation time to be able to move again); this also ties into psychological trauma. And that’s certainly not “cure-able”. In general, on the “using magic to cure it” thing? How would a magic that can do that even work…? And yes, if it can do that, what are its limits?
In TLOK, in Book 3, there is also a captain of airship where Korra and Asami were being captured. At the end of episode is was relieved that the captain doesn't have a hand and actually has a hook. Nobody made a big deal about it, and Korra casually shakes hands with him. Sweet simple scene.
Percy Jackson was created to be a hero for Riordan’s son who was struggling with adhd and dyslexia and Rick has said many times that the message of the series is what makes you different is what makes you strong. I’d mention neurodivergence (partly because I’m neurodivergent) in The Owl House, but other people have already done that here. But I’ve got one other example. In the Rick Riordan Presents program (something started by Rick to explore other mythologies and showcase diverse authors who come from the culture) there is a series called Storm Runner (the one most similar to PJO that I know of) where the main character has an irregularly grown leg and he needs a cane to move around. I don’t know anyone with a similar condition but I’d love to hear from anyone who does.
I heard many people see Edward's automail as cool and somehow better, that they'll stay like that, and completely miss the point that Ed is an amputee, his right arm is missing of all things. When he shows his arm to Rose at the beginning of the show and said "this is what playing god gets you", despite how look it looks he ment it in a negative way, these arnt his limbs, he told her "stand up and walk. You have two good legs, so use them!" he compared himself to icharus, who flew to close to the sun and fell down to earth. He likes his prosthetics but they're still a reminder of his mistake. It's very beautiful how in a religion themed episode, an atheist guy whithout a leg tell a biblical reference whith a twist, to a girl who was indoctrinated and lost her faith. This says "i had it worse but im still going on, so you have to find your own way to keep going" it's like "if i can do it you can too" and that's like what? episode 2? its crazy good. Also lets not forget the entire journey revolved around geting their original bodies back, not just for Alphonse, he also wanted to recover his limbs. And I like how they also show him whithout his prosthetics, reminding us that he doesn't have his limbs. And he needs to fix them regularly, it hurts him when they re attach them to his nerves, and in the episode where he dug under the rain he stated that his limbs ake when it's going to rain. And despite that he rigged whith all his effort, even throwing up at one point because of how bad he felt. his life isn't miserable, but his aids will never be better than his original limbs, and he would rather not have them. This is realistic and many people don't see it because they're too focused on the superficial coolness of having a shiny arm. In fact, in regards to Alphonse we have non less than 3 times where someone talks about how great his new body is, no need to eat nor sleep e.t.c. exactly the same thing some people on internet say about Ed, but in all 3 examples another character reacts negatively to that statement, because having a big shiny body doesn't let him enjoy things we take for granted. I would've been cool if you had all this in mind but I understand it's just a casual chat among friends and not an in depth analysis necessarily. But FMAB is an amazing story and besides that has incredible representation, not because he makes disability seam cool but because despite having cool stuff it's still something people have to deal whith daily, FMAB is the opposite of transhumanist and understands disability more than most stories tbh I'm not a youtuber but I could make an entire video essay just on d8sability portrayed in FMAB Since this is geting too long I won't talk about Toph but she's the only example I know of realistic depiction of blindness and more so of people whith low vision, because she carries herself so well that the rest of the team sometimes forget she's actually blind. Many people don't understand why she's the best blind character in all fiction in my opinion. They think it's because she's badass and kicks butt, and it's not because of that. It's because they portray situations we people whith low vision know too well, and also, I repeat. She is ACTUALLY blind, she doesn't have some bat sonar, or inexplicably good hearing who somehow allows her to travel by herself. She senses the earth in ways the others can't, she doesn't need to face the things she observes, but everything that's not on a sturdy ground, she just doesn't see it, she got boncked on the head when Sokka passed her the championship belt, because since she can move and fight he assumed she would catch it. That's the most realistic thing ever. The other blind heroes in fiction either see but whith a red filter, or supposedly have such good ears they can do everything, which 5o me denotes a lack of understanding of blindness and is very cliche. but the way they made Toph's blindness be combined whith her powers is hands down the best thought out way. If she and Ed are cool and badass and kicks many butts is something to be appreciated but secondary, because many cheesy or uninspired disabled characters in fiction are just that, coolness whith no logic or substance
Another UA-camr I've watched actually mention Encanto, with disabled representation. Julieta can cure just about anything yet both her husband and daughter need glasses. One of the things they brought up is how it's possible that her abilities can recognize something that NEEDS healed vs something that people can live with or even want to live with. It's a magic system that would be so interesting to see deeper into.
As discussed in this video, that could be the difference between a disability which is rooted in someone's genetic make-up vs disabilities that come about as a result of physical injury 💡
I am once again finding myself singing the praises of Brandon Sanderson and his respect, research, and accurate depictions of people with disabilities in his works, notably in the Storm Light Archives. There are 3 examples of people with disabilities in the setting, one non-visual, and the other two very much visual, and the way the magic system in the setting works makes it perfect to show how they deal with their disabilities. The man goes to great lengths to make sure he is not depicting things like mental illness, trauma, or disabilities in a disrespectful light and will bring on consultants in these particular fields to make sure he is writing these characters with as much respect and positive representation as possible.
I want to write a bisexual wheelchair user character in my urban fantasy story, but I have few ideas on what to do with her. Her character is supposed to be the “straight man” of the story, as she’s the only human character. I figured it would be good to deviate from the typical white able-bodied man being portrayed as the “default”. I definitely need the opinion of other disabled people (especially a wheelchair user) to help me out with this character.
@@Reed5016 idk if its mentioned in the video, but there are people who will read over your writing and give advice regarding representation for a reasonable fee. Usually such things are listed under sensitivity reading.
There's a lot more than 3 examples of people with disabilities in Stormlight. Feels like half the point of the series is showcasing just a metric ton of disabilities, and how people are affected by them and overcome them. It's a lot more than just Shallan's DID, Kaladin's depression and PTSD, Rysn's paralyzed legs (though those are, of course, the most prevalent ones at the moment). A lot of characters also show very severe PTSD, and in the future I'm sure we're gonna have even more. We're gonna get autism from Renarin (something we already have with another character, but this one will be shown through a lens of a much younger character who will likely need to deal with the issues that stem from that, compared to Steris who was already a middle aged woman during the series), I'm sure Lift's deal about wanting to be seen as young forever is some disability I haven't heard of, Jasnah's backstory is gonna go into something as well I'm sure. It even shows some more low-key issues like Adolin's anger issues, that gives the character something to struggle with while being more nuanced than it's typically portrayed. Granted, maybe we're simply talking about physical disabilities, which Stormlight has a lot less of. I haven't watched the whole video yet, but it seems that most of the point of the video is physical disabilities rather than mental ones. But it feels to me like if you're bringing up Stormlight, you've definitely got mental disabilities in mind, and it's still very important to talk about mental representation as well
@@aneonfoxtribute When I made this comment, I was speaking mainly through the lens of visible disabilities because that's what was on my mind at the moment and completely blanked on non-visible disabilities, which in retrospect was short sighted of me and ironic given the fact that I wear glasses. I completely blanked on the fact that not all disabilities are visual or blatant. And if we wanted to delve deeper in to the subject, we can talk about Dalinar's alcoholism, Kaladin's survivors guilt which feeds in to his PTSD and depression, or Navani's low self esteem due to...well we can just say Gavilar and be done with it. The broad spectrum of disabilities and subtle nuances that Sanderson manages to bake in to his characters and not make them caricatures is mind blowing in it of itself.
i think about ironwood from rwby sacrafising his limbs to save others and his people, and then a writer went "him losing his arm is him also losing his humanity" bruh
@Castersvarog Ironwood always showed concerning authoritarian tendencies as well as an egocentric attitude toward leadership where he believed he was only one capable of it so it isn't that far out of left field for him to have a villain arc. I do have problems with the execution though.
I’m a bit disappointed that they didn’t bring Havoc when they were talking about FMA. We see him becoming a disabled on the series, dealing with the self pity and the frustration that it involves. The character also serves to contextualize the limitations of the automail in this world, as he’s asked if he can get a pair of new legs like Edward but it is explained that because the damage was done on his spinal cord, it’s not an option. And even after being put out of service from the military the author still found ways to utilize him and serve as essential support for Mustang till the end. Sure, by the ending he’s cured with the philosopher's stone, but we are talking about something that from the beginning was introduced as a mean that make you immortal and ignore the fundamental laws of the world, so it would have been weird not using it when it was offered to Mustang.
Witch Hat Atelier is a really good example of incorporating disability in fantasy and discussinng people's barriers to access due to the magic system and their disabilties.
I'm writing about a metal superhero guitarist that lose her guitar playing hand, then get a sweet robot arm but has to learn guitar again, a training arc focusing on disability
This happens in Power Rangers, cosmic fury the black Ranger loses his entire arm and he was a guitarist, and he’s been several episodes trying to learn to play the guitar
I've always wanted to see my disability represented in fantasy: Tourette's Syndrome. Mainly because it would affect how magic is used just like how daily functions occur. Would a mage have tics based on their spells? What if you ticked and suddenly messed up an incantation? If you were a water elemental, would your water change states of matter while you're ticking because you can't control your body and your magic is an extension of that? All of these are questions I've asked myself because when asked what class I'd be in a DnD world or what superpower I'd have, because my Tourette's Syndrome fundamentally denfines how i interact with my environment. I can't just magic it away without ot not being me anymore. I guess I'll probably have to write what I know and be the change I want to see in the world but it's frustrating how people want to eradicate what little rep we have when there are so many communities who are still desperate for it.
The messing up the incantation because of their tic makes me think of Wild Magic sorcerors in D&D, where they have a random chance of causing random effects whenever they cast a spell. These are some interesting ideas. I'm thinking of a wizard who accidently fires off a spell during a tic and nearly hurts someone, and he has to seriously consider if he can responsibly continue learning more powerful spells. Maybe he decides to give up damage spells and focus only on support magic.
Not quite Tourette's but I love thinking that a Wild Mage in D&D is essentially what you're wanting in a way. They can properly or improperly cast spells and even then, they still don't get the same or wanted results. Things go horrible sometimes (like killing yourself) and can also get chaotic like random transformations into a squirrel and such.
I’m reminded of the documentary: Me, My Mouth and I, in which Jess Thom (a comedian and actor with Tourette’s) explores her and other neurodivergent disabilities in preparation for a play (which is one woman monologue). The interesting part that stood out to me was that she could perform the monologue verbatim, with none of her usual tics interrupting her, until a pause, at which point she would suffer from a deluge of uncontrollable verbal tics (worse than normal.) It was like her focus on the monologue held the tics back like a cork in a bottle, and as soon as she stopped it all rushed out like a dam had been burst. To this day one of the most eye opening documentaries I have ever seen.
Idk if you’ve read it but I’m currently reading a book and the main character has Tourette’s syndrome it’s called Michael Vey: The Prisoner of cell 25. Idk if it’s accurate or not since I just started reading it tho.
I always think it's funny when people act like wheelchairs are this new thing. The concept is as simple as Wheel + Chair, it's not exactly rocket science.
Exactly. The first recorded one was in 1595. I saw a "powered" one back in the 1800s that was a hand cranked one where people used essentially bicycle pedals to wheel themselves around. I don't understand how people act like it's such a new or crazy concept...
@@NoOneReallySpecial Ultimately it's as simple as this: Do both wheels and chairs exist in the setting? Then wheelchairs can exist in the setting. Because even just attaching some wheels to a normal chair is something average people do today and although it's usually done as a gag, the principle remains.
On the note of the post from the start of the video, I like how they seem to ignore how omitting disability in fantasy also just flattens the complexity of a high fantasy world. Like yeah sure maybe magic can be used to "fix" a disability but just because it can doesn't mean every person in that world is going to have access to that kind of magic, like there could be interesting commentary and world building built around how a disabled person navigates a world with that kind of magic. That kind of thinking also flattens a magic system into something that can just hand wave things away instead of making the system into something interesting and dynamic that can be played with in the world.
If you’re gonna do that hand way, then you basically just create a world where the level magic is common place and can fix any elements with that point every character is immortal as long as they survive the encounter and get back to town I’ll be fully healed
My (chronically ill and disabled) partner and I were pleasantly surprised by the way disability was presented in the show Dragon Prince. There are matter-of-fact depictions of disability, like characters using mobility aids or having support animals. There's even an arc where a character becomes disabled and accepts his new body but a relative of his cannot accept it, and she subjects him involuntarily to a magic cure that is very costly and contributes to her turn to villainy. We were similarly surprised in the more recent show Blue Eye Samurai, which is a less fantastical historic fantasy. That show also includes a lot of matter-of-fact depiction of disability and acknowledges both congenital and acquired disabilities in a world where disabling injuries are quite common.
This discourse always seems to position itself against a situation where disability is exactly like it is in the modern world, but it doesn't make sense in that setting. i agree this could be an issue, but it's always light on actual examples. Usually, this is just a setting where someone assumes that the magic or tech present should be able address a disability in a certain way with no actual basis for that belief. Like, in the real modern world, we can make deaf people hear, but have pretty limited options to deal with blindness. Some prosthetics are great. Some aren't. It depends on the amputation.
The same is true for vision impairments. What those of us who are extremely nearsighted forget, is that until 400-odd years ago in the West and 600 years ago in China, the equipment did not exist to successfully treat nearsightedness, and even in both areas it was only in the late 19th century that it became readily available to common folk. Cataract treatments may go back to ancient Egypt, but again you had to be wealthy (or be owned by someone wealthy enough) to be able to afford the treatment. If you wear glasses, until 1850 in the West we WERE disabled, and in some places that same condition still goes untreated and you would be disabled. We just got lucky and were born in a place where our disability could be treated.
@@deanaarmstrong3976 I think you could write a very interesing fantasy world where they have the magic means to cure SOME disabilities very easily (maybe regrowing limbs is a level 1 spell), but they have absolutely no means to handle other disabilities that are easily treated in real life (like nearsightedness).
If I remember correctly, the brother of the guy who made one of the most famous cereals was disabled simply cause he couldn't see well (and couldn't find good enough glasses to help) and thus couldn't make money on his own so when his brother refused to market/sell his cereal recipe, he bought it with the savings his brother gave him for helping at his mental asylum and became rich by doing that. But in the end still could not see, which people took advantage of.
I think both have serious issues, but I personally like Hyakkimaru (from Dorororo) and Akko Katsuragi from Little Witch Academia (not quite fantasy but does have a magic system). In the former case, I think Hyakkimaru's own arc is a bit of an issue given the 'fighting towards a cure' format. It's established early on and built up both thematically and plot wise, which may help, but I was still a bit peeved by the ending. However, one thing I really liked was that Hyakkimaru is not the only disabled character in story. There is a war on and as such people with scars, prosthetics or unaccommodated injuries appear in several episodes, and Hyakkimaru is typically interpreted by those around him as a soldier of some kind, given his grevious injuries. Thus we see the fantasy world used to recontextualise disability. Akko is less explicit and more 'potential learning disability', but in reading her difficulty riding a broom and casting spells in terms of an invisible disability, we see a series in which the characters disability is both only relevant because of the magic system, and in which the magic system becomes something she has to find her own way of working within. I think this is generally well done across the show, and she always gets a mention for me because the scene where she manages to sail a broom along maybe 6 inches off the ground late in the series is close to the most directly represented I have felt in anything (mild cerebral palsy that gave me issues with riding bikes, where I can't do a right turn). Letting a small experience that is positive for Akko be celebrated (even if it wouldn't normally be notable) is so important because it recognises that this matters to her and both her friends and the narrative framing are prepared to meet her there and be happy, rather than using it as a prelude to an arc about Akko 'getting better'.
Witch hat attelier: That's the manga at is best. No amount of individual briliant magic solution can solve systemic issues. There is no replacement for a community that cares to make itself in a way that has disability in mind. Community that don't care to make space for differences do so at their own peril.
One of my favorite disabled characters growing up was the main protagonist of Return of the Condor Heroes. Granted he doesn't become disabled until way later into the story. The MC gets his right arm cut off and he becomes weaker from it. But eventually he becomes far more powerful than before. He never gets his arm back or even a prosthetic. He does learn how to use this giant and extremely heavy broadsword with his left arm. He's also an inspiration for a character of mine.
If I had a penny each time a facially disfigured person becomes a villain because everyone treats them like shit anyway I'd rich. Take Scar, The Opera ghost, literally any Bond villain for example.
That's why I love Ged from Ursula K Le Guin's Earthsea (the horrible tv miniseries is an atrocity and has nothing to do with the book). I don't want to spoil too much of the first book, but half of Ged's face gets disfigured by both his own hubris and the beast he unleashes . However, he grows into a truly fascinating hero who subverts traditionally masculine roles in fantasy. We see him at both his best and his very weakest in the Earthsea saga. He's definitely a fascinating character, and it was the first time I saw a character in fantasy with a facial disfigurement that doesn't become evil.
I have a joint deformity that makes me very weak when doing certain movements (my muscles are underdeveloped in some areas and fine in others) I wanna see more rep for stuff like that. Cuttinng off a characters arm and giving them a replacement that works perfectly fine doesnt do it for me. All-might is the closest thing to rep we got with a real chronic illness/injury. Also, things like mecha-maru dont equal good rep for that sort of thing. All disabled/chornically injured characters are evil/jealously coded.
There's a series I think you would like if you enjoyed All-Might as rep, but wanted more. It's a Choose your own adventure series called "Heroes Rise." Specifically, I'm thinking you'd enjoy "Redemption Season." You play as a superhero who has a rotating set of animal powers that change at midnight every night. Some days, you have awesome powers that let you kick ass. Other days, you have powers that make it physically painful to exist, and the story does a lot to center disability in a world full of people with superpowers. I see elsewhere that you said that you don't really care for representation, but I think this story is a really good example of what (science) fantasy can offer as a space to explore disability representation
@@Eagledude131Thank you for much for the suggestion, Ill also clarify that I dont like representation based on a bias that most representation ive seen had been bad, so good representation can DEFINITELY change my mind 👍🏼 I should try to not sound so opinionated
I'm curious what you thought about Toga, because a lot of MHA's writing was focused on showing how hard it was to fit into a world that refuses to accommodate her needs
@@zacharybosley1935 Now that you mention her, I remember liking Toga as a character but not remembering why; she was treated more like an individual who didnt have their needs met more than an actual villian. While I may not resonate with her entirely, I definitely noticed a more human aspect to her.
Positive depictions of diverse characters continue to be one of the main reasons I continually gravitate toward the fantasy genre be it through literature, Western animation, or anime. My first trip down the anime rabbit was Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 (yes, I am that old) and it was truly the first time that I saw a disabled main character that was totally badass, intelligent, empathetic, mercurial, and courageous; Edward Elric still has to be one of my favourite characters to this very day. As someone who is queer and also struggles with anxiety and ADHD, I've found a lot of comfort in watching the Owl House. Yes, I know I am much older than the intended target audience, but Edda's curse really resonated with me. I feel like my neurodivergence can be a curse at times and that my anxiety can sometimes turn me into an "owl beast", however, I have amazing friends, hobbies, and coping strategies I can use to help me. Looking forward to watching this full video!
As someone else with ADD (I call it that because I am inattentive and I just feel like the H makes everyone see me in a bad light when I am not really hyper at all) I just wanted to say that it's ok to watch cartoons or anything people deem "not in the intended audience" because the way I see things is that if it makes you happy and makes like easier to cope with then it's for anyone regardless of age.
Thank you for your kind comment. I used to feel immature for enjoying anime and media that was targeted at younger audiences and tried to hide my enjoyment of some teen -targeted media from friends and family. However, now I'm learned to love this media for the beautiful storytelling, diverse casts of characters, and tough themes that are tackled. It does indeed make me happy and provides comfort when times may get difficult.
I was looking forward to this being a video essay but now I found out its just a podcast style discussion. While I'm sure most of your subs like that I much prefer the video essay style. I'll probably give it a watch later, just not now.
Fantasy pulls heavily from mythology and there's several depictions of disability in myth. Hephaestus is depicted as "lame" ie he walks with a limp. Tyr a god of war and combat is one handed. Nuada Airgetlam had a silver arm prosthetic. Hodr was blind. There's a lot more but my point is that disability has always existed and our tales and myths reflect this. Saying a fundamental part of the human experience shouldn't appear in modern storytelling is just bigotry. That twitter post is just someone trying to rationalize their ableism. I hope they grow as a person because the person that wrote that lacks compassion.
I like the idea of disabilities in fantasy where spells were worked on to “fix” them but failed. Like it’s a time period where the art of the arcane has only scratched the surface.
@@matt0044 or what about a world where the spells are like disability aids or meds? They work, but you have to reapply them regularly. I was born with extreme pigeon toe (and neither foot never did quite lay flat). The orthotics have to be continually reshaped to fit changing conditions in the foot and joints. I could see spells working like that, not like an addict needing a greater fix, but constantly needing to change the transfiguration or illusion just a bit here, taking a bit off there every few months.
Actually one of my favorite works has something similar with Insulin. It's explicitly mentioned in Canon that at some point they worked on creating a potion which essentially worked as Insulin but magic, however there were some major negative side effects they couldn't fix, so they abandoned it and continued to use regular non-magic insulin. This does come up later when one of our protagonists Grant -himself a Type 1 diabetic- loses access to healthcare and therefore Insulin, and needs to find a way to rework that potion so that it actually functions properly in order to not die.
See- I like that cause it feels like my life in an eggshell: Oh hey, let's go have surgery to fix this, wake up from surgery only to find nothing really got fixed, cuss out doctor cause he promised you'd be fixed, then rinse and repeat for, like, 16 times. >.
It's interesting to consider how there also usually in fantasy stories is a lot of dangerous stuff going on. There is no shortage of disabilities, illnesses or conditions that fly into that ballpark that can stem from for example combat. Anything from easier to imagine things like limb loss to more difficult things such as chronic pains and chronic fatigue syndrome style woes. Which can lead to very interesting spins on events as far as stories go and make things far more interesting. Because people with disabilities often need to really be creative and get clever about figuring out how to handle things, a fantasy setting allows that to bloom into an amazingly creative barrage of different scenarios and ideas. Clever skill and power usage is always grand to see!
in my opinion, the best example of disability in fantasy is with eda in the disney show the owl house, because it shows how it can never be cured, it just has ways of keeping it in check, and specially, how that curse has affected her life and her relationships (I don't wanna go into the specifics because of spoilers, but trust me is an amazing show)
I’m gonna preface my statement with the fact that I am pro the fantasy wheelchair and similar elements. I do think we need to keep some of this in context, especially regarding the magic system talk. D&D is dominating large parts of this discussion and it comes with its own magic system - not one built by the players or DM. I’m not saying I agree with this conclusions, far from it, but he is more pointing to issues in if you can regrow perfectly functioning Limbs, remake an entire body from ash or nothing, why would you be unable to “cure” common disabilities with magic in the context of D&D. The idea that magic is prohibitively expensive for commoners is also part of D&D, leading to some of his odd conclusions. The problem lies in D&D adding these elements in the first place - likely due to players or DMs not wanting to deal with disabilities and their effects from a narrative or gameplay level back in the day, maybe even in an intentionally regressive way. I think D&D in an effort to let DMs have as many options at their disposal as possible for play preference, made it unclear how to tackle these issues in a tactful way. I think ultimately you should do everything in your power to represent disabled individuals in your world and think about how their struggles fit into D&D’s Magic system but I see why he’s having this issue and how it keeps being debated in the play space of D&D specifically.
Even in DnD, healing spells are generally a lot "weaker" than damaging spells. You can do a lot more damage by casting a single Fireball than you can heal with a spell of a similar level. Now to my knowledge, DnD generally doesnt really deal with limbs being lost. Like a lot of games, so long as your health doesnt hit 0 your injuries are basically fully recoverable, but that could entirely depend on your DM.
Olivia from Funger is soo good. Her disability is tied into the narrative, gameplay, character and theming. Not to mention how shes both a lovely character and one of the best in the game :)
So many ways of doing this are so fun, I do this at my TTRPG table and I have something to say about this, I intentionally avoid humanizing disabilities and use a different angle. Humans are evil, be something else. Replace your arms with paws/claws, get spider legs, or become sighted through psychic means. It's so much more fun! psychic sight disables you from seeing race but they can see emotions. The player who has this can tell if they are in a room full of depressed or rapturously happy people.
His chronic pain is overshadowed for me by the fact that he just feels like a Gary Stu in everything else; like how he's supposed to have memory loss but he somehow just knows how to fight and such. I get it's a game based on the books, but as someone who never read them, when I tried to get into the game play I just couldn't like his character cause he just felt too perfect to me. And I am saying this as someone who has chronic pain and has gone through several surgeries to get fixed (only for it to get worse) and loves all sorts of RPGs but I just can't get into Witcher.
@@NoOneReallySpecial His combat skills are reflexive. He doesn't remember the name of his stances, or skills, just when and how to react. He's over a hundred years old, and a hundred of those years are as a Witcher. He is definitely not perfect, and definitely not all-powerful. He's very good at fighting, and as far as most of the people around him are concerned, that's the only important thing about him. That's why he presents as someone with no emotions, he is a man who cares deeply and worries deeply for those close to him, but he knows those things will give the people who want something from him power over him. As physically capable as he is, he is very weak when it comes to his relationships to others. That's what makes him compelling to me. He's a stubborn ass with a heart of gold.
Neurodivergence and especially autism is another facet of this conversation that I wish I saw more representation of in fantasy. At least in the fantasy media I've consumed, the representation of neurodivergence/autism isn't very common, and if ND characters exist at all, their neurodivergence is usually only implied or allegorical. Such as robots being an allegory for autistic people because "ha ha, autistic people are bad at socializing and have low empathy!" The stupid thing is, there are some aspects of autism/neurodivergence in real life that I think could easily be reinterpreted as a particular set of powers or magic. The main two that come to mind for me are autistic people often having special emotional connections to animals and being hypersensitive to stimuli like sound or taste. The second item could also be a great way to show that the symptoms of autism/neurodivergence aren't all bad and can be useful under some situations. The main example I can think of off the top of my mind that does this well is Percy Jackson, where all the demigods are dyslexic and have ADHD. Their conditions often cause them to struggle in the modern society, but they give them a natural advantage in battle and other contexts. Percy Jackson was especially inspiring to me as someone who has ADHD and is autistic myself, and it's influenced a lot of my fantasy writing. :)
Oh god how I hate that - that all autistic people have low empathy. Far from the truth. Some of us got the scale the other way instead - we have too much of it. Or normal amounts too. But hey, stereotypes. But yeah, some more representation where they actually admit that a character is autistic instead of dancing around it (Hey there, Bones...) would certainly be nice.
This video actually got me thinking about how I'd go about writing an autistic character. I've been wary about doing that, because I'm a late diagnosed autistic and I tend to put a lot of myself into my characters, and if I have a specific character be autistic, I worry people will assume the others are definitely neurotypical, when I'm sure a lot of them could easily be read as autistic, because I am. But I was thinking, maybe I could do something with changelings, since that was an initial explanation of neurodivergence. And I can easily make the main cast all changelings, so they'd all have fantasy autism.
While not a direct example, as an autistic person I could easily relate to Naruto Uzumaki’s struggles with social ostracization and a determination to prove oneself as the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox!
I relate to Nadine Ross from Uncharted, particularly when we see more of her in Lost Legacy. She constantly talks about wildlife to a degree that her companion, before getting used to her, is like "wtf are you even talking about." She is very blunt, sometimes she doesn't understand what people are trying to say to her especially if they're indirect or use metaphors/euphemisms. She tries to make jokes but they fall flat, she speaks candidly and people laugh. I definitely headcanon her as autistic
ASOIAF is a melting pot of disabled characters, from the reverse fantasy of Jaime Lannister and Bran Stark to the more subtle characters like Davos who can't read and of course the various women who have to navigate a system ruled by men. The Nights Watch teaches Jon about his privileged upbringing in contrast to his poorer brothers.
Been working on a werewolf novel for a few years now. This discussion got me interested in playing with how disabilities might interact with lycanthropy. Glad this discussion got the gears turning.
Oh gosh, with my hEDS and arthritis and joint deformities and knee subluxation and FND, I can only imagine how horrible lycanthropy would be on top of all that. I mean, the American Werewolf in London/Paris transformations already made it look painful... >.
Might be in the video, (haven't started it yet to be honest lmao,) but I always gotta mention it and comment engagement is good. One Piece has some great disabled characters like Shanks and as of recently Kiku (who is also trans!) Their struggles with having physical disabilities are rarely touched on but it's nice to see so many important characters (10 off the top of my head) who do have a missing arm or leg or eye etc. Shanks doesn't have a power that can replace his arm or a prosthetic one like some characters either, his missing arm is just something he has to live with and he's still one of the toughest pirates on the sea.
I did see a bit of discourse last year, when Russell T. Davies’ return to “Doctor Who” involved using the established time travel to justify the villain Davros no longer being disfigured and in a mobility aid… It was a short aired for “Children in Need” - Davies specifically felt that depicting a disabled villain for a charity that’s about aiding disabled children, would be in poor taste. And I agree with him there, but it’s also his choice to show said character there… and to say that his disability no longer happens in the timeline. Thing with Davros is that he was always an evil man; DW Extended Universe material pre-disfigurement (and immobility) showed he wasn’t made bad by it but already horrible. Whether his appearance is iconic enough they shouldn’t undo it, it’s a mixed bag to even use Time Travel to have later versions of him be a case where whatever disabled him didn’t take place anymore… At least he’s still no less evil.
This discussion about disabilities in fantasy reminds me of one of my all-time favorite characters. Gifford from Legends of the First Empire by Michael J Sullivan. Gifford the character is born disfigured, he has trouble walking without support and has issues pronouncing the letter R. These issues would have seen him left to die if his community didn't come together to help him survive and thrive, he becomes a great potter and a hero for his entire race. There's a character who routinely helps him improve his movement by being there to support him and make braces to help with leg pain. In a later book he saves his people from near certain destruction as the person who rides out to get reinforcements during a siege. In another book he and the other main characters descend into the underworld to save their people during a war. While in the undetworld, he is just as capable as anyone else in his party because while his body is crippled, his mind and spirit isn't, which is more important than the body when dead. He doesn’t make the entire journey through the underworld because he won't leave someone he cares about behind in soul crushing despair. When he gets back to his body he's back to being crippled and had to readjust to it again. In the end he never cures his disability he just continues to live with it and work around it. He finds value in it in a way that no one else could without living his life.
In the Violet Evergarden anime, you can see Violet biting things to test their hardness and texture since she cant feelthing through her prosthetic arms, a disability she has to learn how to navigate (although just mentioned in dialogue and in flashbacks). I love the scene where she's trying to cook a meal and she mashed eggs through the rim of a bowl because she doesnt kno how much force to apply
i kinda get why barbera isnt crippled anymore like at this point we have to understand that batman recovered from a similar spinal injury ON SCREEN, like the common viewer just genuinely thinks dc characters can heal from it and its not because of barbera. like at one point I was explaining it and someone brought up nightfall and we had to like pretend to not know how spines work
@@linkeragon7885 personally i wouldve just given her jim gordons power armor but in general people kinda had to admit that like anyone can be the guy in the chair and oracle didn't attract much attention to the comics
@@linkeragon7885 in the last version I saw Barbara can walk because she had basically a prosthetic spine, which can malfunction. The problem is just like death income is that these things become so common after point that like feels almost disingenuous to keep the disabled. Do like Barbara gets shocked by the Joker and is firmly paralyzed for the rest of her life and need mobility aids. Bruce has a his back strapped in half bybane. And is fine. Also death has no meaning as everyone has been back. It’s why in my universe each character have a life/arc and others come in becase they are inspired by past ones. Death and permanent Injery are a thing
Disabled myself, legally blind, and this was very neat! But also, something I have noticed in terms of blindness representation in particular is that it is perhaps a bit odd how almost always it's just a character that is, like, 100% all blind. Like a lot of people have this idea that blindness is like an on-off switch like it's all or nothing. Even though people like me, who have residual vision where we do see something and that little does help but also... we are still functionally blind in most situations. Like I see.. ok-ish for like maybe 2 inches in front of me but from there the further anythig gets the more blurry and unclear it gets so the world is just blurry shapes and colours for me. But since my situation is as good at it is, I can manage most things in life on my own and despite going around with a white cane I have come across people who question whether or no I am "really blind" because I manage to move about as easily as I do. (well, it might also be a factor that pretty much the only other blind person in this small town is an elderly 100% all blind man who always has an assistant leading them by the arm around so in comparison me going around by myself with certainty and confidence.. yeah) Also, yes, I like Toph. She's great. And from my experience a lot of disabled people do have a big sense of humour about their own disability. I sure as heck do.
Personally something I've done is limit healing so that it only works for a specific timeframe, for one this allows people to not just be born with disabilities but also receive them through life, I also like it because it allows thing like physical scars from a traumatic backstory to continue existing as well as adding some more stakes to fights as whatever injuries are recieved may not all be able to be healed
This is incredibly helpful. I've been working on a fantasy novel and one of the things thats got me frozen is that one of my characters becomes disabled. I need to be ethical in this and I often worry I'm being ablest as I am not physically disabled. Id love to hire Charlie for help.
In my second fantasy series a early rule I set up is potions leave scars magic don’t so you have lower level adventures with various scars. Heck one character has no eyes becase they were magically removed. Theirs just skin where the eyes should be
Disability is so ubiquitous in Chinese fantasy dramas, I’ve almost stopped noticing. The sheer variety of visible and invisible disabilities would challenge anyone doubting the place of disability in fantasy. What’s cool to me is how often it’s not even a plot device. It just is. And it’s mostly good rep.
That sounds cool! What are some of your favorites and what are some of the invisible disabilities portrayed? I'm not into dramas but I'd love to see some clips
@@inuendo6365 wheelchairs, chronic and terminal illness, blindness, mental illness, amputees, gigantism and dwarfism. Also, plenty of neurodiverse characters. Also, in Chinese fantasy (xianxia and wuxia) there are always characters getting sick, poisoned, or losing their martial arts. Which in those worlds are serious disabilities. Nirvana in Fire has a main character who’s lost his martial arts and has a debilitating chronic illness. He’s awesome. Wei Wuxian in The Untamed or The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation… well, that’d be massive spoilers. One could argue there’s a running allegory about disability in it. Also, the two male leads are considered to be ADHD and ASD. If you want a visible disability, the classic Return of the Condor Heroes has a blind antagonist who kicks butt and a marvelous blind villain as well. Some consider the mc as ND. A main character in Joy of Life has a wheelchair. And the main character had terminal MG in his previous life. Oh, and there’s a “blind” guardian. The fl has tuberculosis. Gee, JOL has plenty!
@@duckraft wow, you weren't kidding it's nearly ubiquitous, that a lot! Thanks for the recs The reason I asked about invisible disabilities specifically was because I have seen a number of visible or well known ones portrayed in Western media, like the shows mentioned in this video, French movies and various Euro made games. Heck even Anime has had some good deaf, blind and amputee leads, or at least primary cast members, over the past few years and Japan is... weird... about disabilities speaking from experience. But it's rare to see the invisible disabilities like chronic illness and neurodivergence done well Western media and even then it's usually only through a tertiary or one-off character. The best lead I can think of is Karlach from Baldur's Gate 3 with a terminal illness? So it's really cool to see how China has brought such characters in. I'm off to check out some clips now, thanks again for the names!
This is a fantastic video! I would love to see a follow up that is more focused around mental disabilities. As an autistic person myself, I would love to see that kind of discussion; furthermore, there are a lot of picks to choose from, as shown in the comments; unfortunately, there are also plenty of bad examples as well.
The term "differently abled" I think sums it up a lot better and actually opens up a lot of potential for some interesting conflict in a fantasy/sci fi setting. For the most part, disabled people aren't incapable but limited because the world isn't made with them in mind for the most part. That is a fantastic premise for genre fiction. Beyond the fact that it's just lazy and uncreative to believe that the existence of magic/super high tech would eliminate the existence of disabilities (and/or disabled people...), it would honestly create even more disabled people. And on the other hand, you've got something like Rick Riordan's world that reinterprets a lot of disabilities as attributes that are compatible in the world of the mythology but not modern day which is a really great, child friendly way of interpreting that.
this might be a strange one, but as someone with a chronic illness (POTS) I've always related to Deku's struggle with OFA/being quirkless. In the context of MHA, being quirkless essentially constitutes having a disability, and when he's given a quirk, he isn't "cured". In fact, using said power hurts him and is much harder for him to use than his peers. They use the expression of a quirk not fitting someone's body, and them having to work harder to achieve normal things that able-bodied (or people born with quirks) can do no problem. Also, I absolutely love that he goes BACK to being quirkless at the end of the series, and is eventually able to fulfill his dream with support items (technology being developed to help the quirkless fight crime). sorry if this doesn't make much sense, but to me, there is some great disability rep and disability allegory in MHA that often goes overlooked. Thats my perspective anyway
One show you didn't mention that I think does a great job with is Dot from Transformers Earthspark. She's a former soldier who lost her leg in the war between the Autobots and Decepticons and now needs a prosthetic. One particular episode had one of the Transformers (who's considered her child for reasons that are too complicated to explain) tries to add some new functions to her leg like a laser cannon, and Dot has to explain that doing something like that without permission is a violation of her privacy. Overall, it gives a lot of respect to her disability.
There are some elements of some of the GitS stories that deal with disability issues from neurodivergence to body dismorphia. Mostly from a corporatist and miltarist exploitation angle.
I kinda want to mention the game rogue legacy, it uses disabilities kinda as modifiers for your characters, and I dunno, I think it's kinda cool cause it's juste, sometimes you have to roll with what life gives you and make the most of it. And some of those are brutal while other are mild inconveniences, some of those can be beneficial in niche ways, some can be inconsequential most of the time but screw you over when you expect it least, and some are more or less impactful depending on the class of your character, which is also very true that disability can affect you differently depending on your goals and ressources. It's not really that deep in term of storytelling but it's an interesting way to portray diversity in abilities and make you experience it
Regarding Ghost in the Shell, I am partial to Pandora in the Crimson Shell, which I think might be possible canon prequel, with a different tone. It being pretty connected to disability with tge first full body cyborg, after her body had a severe illness, while most who have something are just a prosthetic.
I think an adventurer in a wheelchair might be a lil unwieldy in a dungeon that probably wasn't built to be ADA compliant, I say lean in to the fantasy aspect and give me cool mounts or ridable floating tables or something, give me a Lothric and Lorian esc large knight and spell caster.
Olivia in Fear and Hunger 2 is so much fun because while going up stairs is difficult, zooming down stairs and slopes far faster than anything in the game can move is just so good. Every disadvantage that comes of her disability comes with some advantages in the right context ;p Also I ship her with Marina and wish there was an extra ending dedicated just to these two rolling off and living a long, happy life together ;p.
Olivia is great, but the unrealistic wheelchair physics break immersion for me. Having realistic wheelchair physics wouldn't make for a very fun game though. (You'd have to leave the wheelchair behind whenever you need to crawl, rolling down stairs would have a 99% chance of causing severe injuries)
@@EpicEverz Honestly the wheelchair just going into your video game inventory doesn't even mess with my immersion anymore lol the hammerspace is just that naturalised I don't even think about it.
I would love to hear your thoughts on Clara Sesemann from Heidi (1974), I feel like that show has so much more depth than one would expect given the genre (e.g. I had not picked it up when I watched it as a kid, but on a recent rewatch I realised that, during her staying in Frankfurt, Heidi is suffering from a form of severe depression and it takes a doctor to assess the gravity of the situation).
Some examples of people with disabilities came to my mind while watching this, but I feel many don't delve much into the subject. Spoiler alert. I thought about Violet Evergarden, which uses prosthetic arms and this is important in leading the character to work as a writer and making the action scenes in the end more dramatic, but thorough the story it is used more as a hint of her background for other people and is shadowed in importance to the very own character in comparison with her "emotional scars", so to say. Also Hayate Yagami from Lyrical Nanoha A's, which begins in the series in a wheelchair due to a magical book draining her forces, but at the end is able to walk after kinda of turning into the book's master. I think the show was capable of demonstrating in most episodes how she was still able to be happy and make friends without caring about her condition, and that the final scene of her walking by herself served as a increment to a emotional conclusion. But I also understand if the end may not be much relatable to some people watching (maybe to those who have some curable disease, but not to those paralyzed). An interesting case maybe is Doned, from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. He is in a wheelchair in the beginning of the game due to an unnamed disease, but is teleported with the other kids to Ivalice where he can walk, and due to this he does not want to return to the real world, confronting his older brother because of that. This makes most people actually dislike the main character for wanting to drag everyone back, while he is at first the only one who wants that. GoT maybe does a good work of portraiting people with disabilities (and nanism as well), in the sense that they have difficulties that are never really "fixed" but still have active roles (thinking about Bran, Aemon and Jaime especially). The Ranking of Kings also is interresting, in intentionally discussing the way people with disabilities dealing with them may be a sign of their inner strenght, but the message is somewhat lost after the main character gets to do fine in unrealistic ways and too early on (getting a friend that magically can translate everything he wants to say, and learning a fighting style that makes him super strong). It kinda of turns away the premisse of the story, and ends up telling that physical prowerss really matters at the end. Still, it shows that doing things your way is the way to go.
I'd be interested to see you do a follow up to this discussion focusing on non-physical disabilities if you're up for that, particularly for authentically representing disabilities that don't make sense to yet have a name in your world - for example if it's historical fiction and you've got an autistic character. But it's a good discussion for sure.
Wow, super surprised you didn't talk about Brandon Sanderson...he does excellent representation with disability. Tress of the Emerald Sea has a deaf character. Stormlight Archives has a wheelchair user, amputee, ASD and mental illness. I know he uses sensitivity readers(I hope that's the right title but basically someone who is that disability helping them get it right). Also while some get healed but others keep their disability because they view of themselves. The thing i wish I'd see is more diversity within the disability. Just because your disabled doesn't mean everyone is disabled like you. Blindness is a spectrum, some are completely blind some have vision left. I'm legally blind, but it's mainly my visual field is down to 10%. I like to say I've got enough vision to be dangerous.
*wears glasses* "I'm not physically disabled." I dont mean to be mean. I know there's different severity of disability but I think 'partial' blindness or something similar is still a disability. You do use a glasses to see after all.
Honestly, that is kind of weird, how glasses have become so mainstream that we don't even think of bad eyesight as a disability anymore. Even though a lot of us would barely be able to function in the world without them.
@@EpicEverz It's because a) near-sightedness has become an epidemic, so it's really normalized and b) easily corrected with an aid and one can live a very normal life. It's a good argument for the social model of disability, which states that disability isn't inherent but something that's created by society and the barriers that keep disabled people from fully partaking in society. I don't fully agree with that, but the way we view myopia shows that there is more to disability than just a biological impairment.
A world without disabled people is, quite frankly, a boring one. Like a world without people of color or LGBT+ people. Who wants a word where everyone is the same? I don't!
I'm pretty sure there's more to people than their body, mental capacity, skin color, gender identity, or who or what they want to fuck, and you thinking non character defining and shallow traits are all that matters is worrying.
Some of the best overtly coded autistic representation that I’ve personally encountered includes Entrapta from Netflix’s SHE-RA and Futaba Sakura from PERSONA 5 ROYAL!
I think Entrapta is a very fun bit of representation, but idk if I'd call her good representation. Because the show infantilizes her a LOT. From implying that she basically doesnt understand moral issues to literally putting her on a leash so she doesnt run off... She is probably my favourite character of the show, but she has a lot of issues.
I also think it’s important since if they aren’t, disabled people are only “allowed to exist.” in contemporary settings which is super boring. Give me more ADHD time travelers, more OCD Wizards struggling with their past, more autistic protagonists who don’t need a map to get around a fantasy world.
...some of us with ASD don't actually have no sense of location. Or it is kind of broken. Without Google Maps, I wouldn't be able to find the stores in my tiny town. Or my way home. But I guess that if a character in a story was like me, that would probably be pretty annoying after a while. :) I envy those autistic people who are in the other end of the scale with their sense of location.
@@Elora445 This, here. I use landmarks in some cases to help if I know the places well (my hometown) but otherwise I am screwed without google or someone to navigate.
Vader to me is so. i dont know how to put it. he's probably the character with the most disabeling aspects ive interacted with, with the multiple prosthetics with limited mobility, assisted breathing and speech, need of a feeding tub and of spending a lot of time healing in a bacta tank (for all of those 20 years he wore the suit), even the suit itself is not great, it's incredibly heavy, has an outside shutdown system to further disable him at will, and is hackable, not to mention the pain (initially forced by sidious, who you could claim is likely ableist, but then accepted as pratice by vader himself, the pain is not only limited to the wearing of the suit itself but the various procedures and surgeries involved, performed without anesthesia and with a conscious patient), and even his connection with the force is affected by all of this, which for someone brought up as a jedi could be argued to be a disabilty as well. and yet none of this is really mainstream knowledge of the character, it's buried in novels comics and sourcebooks, which most fans will never read. i dont really know what my point with this ramble is, but i think it's a shame that vader's disability is so often ignored by people. sorry for the long ass comment no one asked for and im sure someone else in the comments has addressed this already. love the video and channel
People like the first poster feel like they'd say something like "Pokémon trainer who needs a wheelchair because she's got paraplegia? Why doesn't she just use a Paralyze Heal?"
I don’t have a physics disability (besides glasses) but I am neurodivergent. I wish more fiction showed positives and negatives instead of either showing it giving characters super powers or making them incompetent. ADHD fricken SUCKS sometimes- including its “superpowers.” Yes, I may be able to hyper focus for hours, but it is almost never on what I NEED to be focusing on and it is often physically taxing as I forget to eat or sleep. Yes, I may be able to come up with creative ideas, but it’s hard to focus on then long enough to bring the to fruition. For me at least these ideas can also be nearly physically painful to not immediately get it on paper , to not immediately start working on them. Yes,I may be able to make connections, but this can make conversations difficult as I jump from one topic to another. Yes, I can be super energetic sometimes but it can be at inopportune times (before going to bed, in a place your expected to sit still, etc.). Yes, I am quite empathetic, but it makes it so second-hand embarrassment or other strong emotions physically painful to watch/read. Yes, I can come up with many different ways to solve a problem, but this can keep me from actually DOING anything as I’m overwhelmed by choices. The problem with showing neurodivergence as “super powers” is two-fold. The first is that it dismisses the valid frustrations that come along with them (as I explained above). “Look on the bright side- these characteristics make you special!” The world- and its systems- were designed to work best for “normal” (neurotypical) people. This makes my life harder as I need to work around the parts of me that doesn’t fit- the “special” part of me. Showing only the good side makes it seem like one is simply being negative when they become justifiably frustrated at having the disorder and needing to put so much more effort to simply exist. This goes into the second point- it paints those don’t succeed/struggle to be useful to society as being “lazy” or “not trying hard enough.” This is more seen with autism/autism-coded characters but the idea is similar. If I’m not using these “super powers” to be useful to society- if I’m not reality’s equivalent to super genius hacker- I am a failure. If I struggle to BECOME someone “useful” I am simply being lazy. After all, I should be able to wield these abilities as one might a sword, and find a place in the system where they will flourish. This (character/real life person) did. On the other hand, I and other neurodivergent people aren’t incompetent. We don’t have nor need a pass to be jerks just because we struggle with social interaction and relationships. We may need help sometimes understanding what we missed/didn’t understand , but it’s not something we aren’t able to figure out. Many of us have- life had taught us in one way or another. We also aren’t automatically stupid because we struggle with a “normal” task or with focusing. The ADHD character (coded and explicitly diagnosed) are often shown as airheads- ones unable to focus long enough or simply too stupid to learn anything. This isn’t true- while focus is a problem, we still have the intelligence and ability to learn. It just might need to be taught in a slightly different way. The reason many characters end up dropping into this black-and-white characterization is because of WHAT their character arches are focused on and what role they are often used in the story. The character’s specific conflict is almost always a struggle with relationships/socializing. They show the character’s horrible understanding of social cues, their annoying hyperactivity or the effect their lack of focus/ not listening affects those around them and not much else. To seem balance, writers often overcompensate, making their “super powers” both effortless and always positive. This is also often used to make up for how “mean” or “unfocused/silly” the character is otherwise- to help explain why this character is with this person or group. These characters are often used as comic relief as well- the social awkwardness or lack of focus being the joke. My advice for anyone trying to avoid falling into these tropes is to switch what the primary conflict of these characters to something other than JUST interpersonal relationships. Make it so the character struggle is to learn a skill they find boring. Have their hyper focus affecting their abilities. You can (and probably should) have the character still struggle with socializing, but don’t make it their ONLY struggle. Be careful if you decide to involve them in comic relief. Make sure it goes beyond just “ha,ha, person said/did something wrong/mean or “ha,ha, the neurodivergent character didn’t get it.” Ask if this joke would make sense/be funny if the character was neurotypical. If the joke/set up doesn’t or it would make the character look like a jerk, then it probably should be cut or changed.
I have a cleft lip and cleft palete I wish there more characters in fiction with my condition. It doesn't even need to be the main character or have to be a vocal point in the story
I think the first example was more of an example like in a world where you can waive your hand in the repair bones. The likely that there is some sort of magic system that could help with muscular problems or or neurological issues I think would be pretty high if they have that level of magic System. Just to play devils advocate for this guy but I think that’s what his point was. Harry Potter is a great example of that like it seems very obvious like that they can cure basically anything with magic unless it’s like curses or mental illnesses. They literally have a drug that makes you regrow your bones, which is crazy to think about like that’s such a common issue.
8:42 His point wasn’t that he has a problem with a wheelchair being in the thing is a problem with a modern looking wheelchair. He literally said that like this whole thing just comes across as bad faith even if the guy was coming across his bad faith too it doesn’t make you guys look good if you’re just skimming over the point.
19:55 it is not eugenics or at least an unethical eugenics to say you know this shitty gene that basically causes my life misery or my case one day my immune system will start killing me could be tomorrow. Could be in 30 years yeah that doesn’t keep me up at all night at all. if I could get rid of that gene entirely out of the human race, I would do it in a heartbeat and I think the world would be a better place. And I’m positive a bunch of people who have horrible muscular or neurological illnesses, or mutations would say the same.
I love disabilities in fantasy. It’s fascinating to wonder how the people would have aids and such. Though I’d like to see more mental disabilities in fantasy, such as autism. Imagine how powerful an autistic wizard would be? I do know autism isn’t just "know everything" as I have it myself, having the fallbacks of ASD in the character would be amazing too
Ehh, as someone with autism, I don't actually like that idea. It just contributes more to the destructive idea of the "genius savant" stereotype that is associated with the disability. Modern perception of ASD is that you're either a genius savant or a drooling idiot and I'd honestly like to see more characters like Laios from Delicious in Dungeon. He's a average person who simply has ASD and that's far more relatable than yet another autistic savant.
@@kaijuultimax9407 If you completely read my comment you would see that I would like an ASD character with the fallbacks of being autistic along with advantages. It would be nice to not just have a wizard but also a paladin or knight
@@Darkloid21 Maybe some people want representation in media? Maybe some people want just ONE character where they autistic character isn’t sheldon cooper or the good doctor
A bit different, but i created a mostly non-verbal autistic elf rogue in DND. Her name is Lilith. Shoemaking is her special interest. She's very good at being sneaky, and she's a decent fighter, but she is easily overstimulated by loud noises and I actually worked out a mechanic with my DM to see if she can avoid a meltdown when they happen, similar to how Caleb's PTSD is handled in Campaign 2 of Critical Role. Lilith is honestly one of my favorite dnd characters i've ever made, i had so much fun with her. DND can actually be a cool place to explore disability, as long as your DM is willing to work with you on it. Also I am actually autistic, by the way.
It's weird that sci fi leans into disabilities a lot for characters while fantasy doesn't as much. I really think something like FMA is a gold standard for it though. I thought it was very cool when Orochimaru couldnt use his arms in Naruto and had to fight with his legs, but that didnt last too long.
I love the idea that characters in a medieval fantasy wouldn’t be able to figure out wheelchairs. It’s a chair. With wheels. This is not an unintuitive concept. Even the “make the wheels big so the person in it can use there arms to move it on their own” part isn’t hard to figure out if the fantasy society is the type to not immediately dismiss and neglect people who become unable to use their legs. Yes, dress it up to fit the setting. But it’s a wheelchair. It’s not some super high tech fancy thing that we need to rationalize the concept of with the greatest minds of the fantasy setting.
While I personally don’t have a horse in this race, I had an older sibling who was born disabled, so I wanna say _something_, you know. Personally I think it’s a fine idea, it makes sense that there would be disability rep in fiction, being disabled is nothing new even as a species. But I feel like you still need to add in some kind of spice to it depending on the context. General stuff like how the physically can travel around by the changes in a location, stuff like ramps and the like. Or the more fantastical, like how a simple wheelchair can be something more fitting of a setting. Plus there’s factoring in how an able bodied person who ends up with a disability and how that affects them, or even someone who’s born with a disability.
I never get why people are now up in arms with disabilities in fantasy, the Blind badass troupe has been popular for years, Augus is my all time favorite but Daredevil, Toph and Hyakkimaru are also awesome. And even without Full Metal Alchemist as an example, character prosthetics and even movement aids have been popular for years, Naruto, Bleach, JJK, all have disabled characters who are popular.
Fantasy prosethics that dont exist or represent actual prosthesis methods or the difficulty of adapting to a prosthesic doesnt represent disabled people
It's probably dudebros who want everything to be a white cishet macho power fantasy for them. TV tropes has a trope page called "handicapped badass" and that was a page that was around for a while. It's an established trope so the reason they are suddenly freaking out about disabled badasses in fantasy is pretty clearly because they believe it undermines their isekai harem fantasy.
@@RozenGermain Honestly that would explain a lot, I can't imagine any true fan of fantasy causing a ruckus but someone trying to live out some personal Fantasy nonsense makes sense.
@@sternritternovad Fun Fact: I looked for the trope page I mentioned and it was made in 2008. It's definitely been an established trope for even longer too. These people are absolutely the types who care about their own wet dreams more than they do good writing.
@@RozenGermain Here's another fun fact Zatoichi was made in 1962, and influenced a lot of blind swordsman fiction said influence is still felt to this day.
Says hes not disabled but wears glasses lol Nah but real talk vision impairment is a disability because for alot of people the only reason they can see clearly is because of glasses! So dont discount them!!
Yeah, before I went through eye surgery, I was so near-sighted that I could only see clearly about ten centimeters/one decimeter from my eyes. Completely useless without my glasses. What I had was definitely a disability. If someone took my glasses, then I could barely see anything, period. The world was a blur.
This does seem in kind for what I am currently trying map out a bit before writing. I was inspired by queerness and experience with neuro diversity for a setting that a minority of people turn into monsters, all the classics that still have human aspects. And I want to involve difficulties of a different body, to discrimination. My current thoughts would be people have the change appear at puberty, so one would suddenly turn into something like a centaur, mermaid or dulahan. Although the demons don't often show physical changes until adulthood, but might not ever know except for having difficulties with the magic that typical humans are all good at. I want it baked in the society uses a typical society, with those who don't could have a disability with their body, mind and magic. But in turn have different magic that can do things. My sticking point at the moment is trying to figure out the late 20th century like setting. Where the not "monster" population can pretty easilly use a light magic has some level of social communication and use other magic items like constructs. But on paper is meant to be becoming inclusive and changing from a more openly discriminatory past with more modern inventions. As an example, I want vampires to be a stand in for immune deficiencies, without being offensive. For starters in not instinctively a danger, and being more at risk to light magic. And the undeath being a extra step, that is the opposite of a prolonged lifespan, outside of misconceptions.
"The idea of Vader's armor is that it's uncomfortable to him on purpose" that's cannon? Oh no. I was gonna...I was gonna do a character that was basically a Darth Vader who's suit hurts them because they're in a belief system that tells them suffering improves things and they're out here causing suffering and thinking "yeah we really helped those guys by hurting them and taking they're stuff, now they'll struggle and that struggling...will make them strong." It was a parody of Conservativism, you see. Now you tell me this is actually happening in Star Wars by itself.I can't when did this happen, somebody stop it.
Happened in the original legends. Vader even makes a better suit but never switched becase that means putting trust in paplpatined surgeons. So he has thus clunky suit full of pins that are designed to keep him irritated and thus hooped up in dark side force power
Toph is rep done right, shes blind and earthbending doesnt give her that sight back, it gives her a new perspective she otherwise wouldnt have without being blind. They also never give another character Tophs groundsense, because its not a magic power; its literally her just using the same magic powers everyone else has in a way that specifically helps her.
@@Bionickpunk I dont think that brings down how unique groundsense is, its not just a natural thing all earthbenders can learn, Toph specifically has to teach it to people because they otherwise wouldnt come up with it on their own, because they arent blind. Im okay with her children having it because it was taught, not a passed off power. Its not really a power, its understanding Toph yanked from her own life experiences.
The fundamental issue is that when you include disabilities for "representation" or get upset if they are portrayed as negative, which many disabilities ARE (they are not a badge; people who have them would rather not and are severely hindered by having it), you're romanticizing them, basically not representing them at all since you're refusing to portray the reality of living with them honestly. 7:30 this I just find extremely dishonest, typical internet guy "found a random image and acting like an expert" (and telling people to "do research" when they have done none, lol). That is a picture of Confucius (NOT disabled) in a WHEELED CART (basically a pushed rickshaw) by a 17th century artist (which they grabbed directly from Wikipedia's Rickshaw article so they KNOW they are lying). This person acts like this is the same as self propelled wheelchairs being invented in 6(!!) century BC. They downright refuse to engage with what challenges with accessibility would be like for a disabled person in that era.
I always kinda figured that with Avatar (blue people), Cameron intended to paint the narrative as a "oh hey, we treat our troops like shit, huh?" but I think that intent could have been kept without infantilizing Sully or removing his disability. God does that movie have a paper thin plot
Avatar is a setting with eugenics, thats how you get the Avatar program, engineered life with mixed DNA of human hosts and the Navi. It a setting where physical disabilities and disfigurments can be cured or healed, life expectancy prolonged, mapped the entire human brain to an extent that they can copy memories on a hard disk, but most of it is inaccessibly to commoners of the overcrowded and polluted Earth. And I disagree that it has a paper thin plot, that type of conclusions usually come from people that disregard the movies cause "humpf, super successful alien smurf movie made by this director I hate".
So if a healing spell only speeds up the body's natural systems, could you use it to work out by making recovery take minutes? Could you speed up pregnancies? Does the spell give the body superspeed, or is it time magic?
![Always Evil Races in Fantasy [Are Kind of Boring]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/lD1mYDHZe9Q/mqdefault.jpg)
![Always Evil Races in Fantasy [Are Kind of Boring]](/img/tr.png)
As for alphonse, his disability isn't being in armor... he's missing most of his senses. He can hear and see but he has no sense of touch, taste, or smell. He can't eat or sleep. He doesn't feel pain, and because of that he gets into some dangerous situations.
He feels like whatever he is going through wasn't real because he couldn't feel it. Genuinely horrible.
It's like my disassociation/ADD (inattentive kind), vertigo, and my lack of proprioception in my joints due to my hEDS, FND/randomized nerve damage from seizures, deformities, etc. I hurt myself because I can't tell where my arms are (I stop truly feeling and recognizing them from the shoulders until I get to my hands where the nerve damage and arthritis hurts so much I start recognizing those again), I run into things when I space/zone out, I've swerved my car/lost time due to disassociation (have gotten from point a to b and had no idea how), have literally left my body like it was the avatar and my conscience was the player and essentially have troubles with touch and sense.
As for the taste/smell part and even eating and sleeping, ever since I fell and gave myself a TBI and gained migraines due to my concussion and broke my nose (all thanks to clumsiness from the above), my sense of taste has gone way down (couple it with my past overcoming of Anorexia, my ADD, my side-effects from meds, and then the fact that my meds for migraines make me have no taste and/or hunger due to also being weight loss meds; yay Topamax. /s), I basically have no sense of smell (and if I do smell something, it's either really strong;bad stuff or is in a waft and I don't catch it til I've walked past and recognize the smell long after it is gone), sometimes my migraines or past eating disorder or ADD or meds will make me so turned off by food I can go 24+ hours without eating and not even realize it, and sleep comes off and on; either I can't sleep at all or I sleep too much thanks to my pain and IBS and migraines/mental illnesses like ADD. Between all this and then personality, I have been told I resemble and I also feel like I related to him a lot.
It isn't a 1 to 1 relation, but there is a connection to a real life condition called Locked In Syndrome: locked-in syndrome symptoms
Symptoms and Signs of Locked-In Syndrome
Patients with locked-in syndrome have intact cognitive function and are awake, with eye opening and normal sleep-wake cycles. They can hear and see. However, they cannot move their lower face, chew, swallow, speak, breathe, move their limbs, or move their eyes laterally.
Like I said not a 1 to 1 recreation, because Al can speak and move their limbs, but he can't move his mouth, chew, or swallow... the author traded some of the more normal symptoms for more fantastical... not needing to eat or sleep, but it is very easy for me to view it as a form of a fantasy version of Locked In Syndrome.
Alphonse always reminded me of Darth Vader - trapped in a suit, unable to do certain things, viewed as other because their appearances are different.
Disability wise he also reminded me of CIPA, specifically for being unable to feel pain. And well - people who have to use an ENT tube to get nutrition because they have swallowing issues which means they don’t actually taste the food.
Except Alphonse kind of bypasses all the tube issues by having it so that he can’t actually do or feel those things such as eating because he doesn’t have the body parts for it to be needed, which is a whole other issue for him. It’s kind of interesting that Alphonse is either a mishmash of illness and disabilities or Locked In syndrome like the above said tho. Pretty fun to speculate.
I always thought that his condition resembled that of quadriplegic people: he has a sharp mind but his body is a sarcophagus entirely unable to experience the world through sense organs, to the point that even his memory begins to lose stability and he gets to the point of questioning his own existence.
I'm thinking of Berserk. Guts has a prosthetic arm that is very efficient in combat, but then there's that one scene where he reaches for Casca's hand but his prosthetic arm isn't able to hold onto her.
It's that very relatable feeling, where you can live most of your life normally, but every once in a while you come across some obstacle, and you're reminded that you're not like other people.
Fun fact: Toph’s fighting style was based on praying mantis so Toph was based on the person who supposedly invented praying mantis who is believed to be a blind woman. Praying mantis is a good fighting style for people with low vision.
I like the idea of disabled character in fantasy, it can add a lot of world building showing how different types of people are able to live in the world can help you understand how the world works for others you may not have seen with regular stories
I agree. In general, having diversity of characters gives a wonderful way to show off all sorts of things about a fantasy world.
@@Darkloid21 There can be a multitude of reasons, just because something on paper might have a cure, it isn't accessible to everyone. Socio-economical factors are the easiest to imagine: treatment rare, expensive, dangerous, or only available to higher class rich types.
With fantasy being the most free flowing, malleable, and easiest to work with genre that can encompass so much, what's anyway wrong with a bit of ego stroking? No shortage of power fantasies or the likes. Just because you have wish fulfillment elements in a text, it does not mean it is by itself bad. Focusing on "why not just cure it?" and mandating it would be a chain and ball, when many types of stories would never need to explore that kind of topic. A character simply is. There is no need to justify it, or why they are that way, per se. Especially if it is outside the frame of the story.
@@Darkloid21I disagree. Fantasy is the most free flowing genre. You can fit so many different stories into the genre. The cure discussion isn't mandatory (as few things are in writing), and can be outside the frame of the story being told. It is not always relevant, and characters simply are (as people), needing no deep explanation as a requirement. Also, considering fantasy contains no shortage of power fantasies, why would it be bad for people with disabilities to get in on that too? Instead of a blond, blue-eyed white masculine dude galloping around to save the day as some chosen one, let it be some guy with a cane and chronic pains deciding to go give the forces of evil a mighty good walloping. People with disabilities simply exist too, and thus misadventures, adventures and shenanigans happen that most of the time have nothing to do with some misguided quest for a cure or whatever.
@@Darkloid21 I disagree a bit here. Ana's objection very much feels like a "just because" using your metric. She could get it healed but she holds it as a reminder. If I had the power to cure my vision so that I didn't need to wear glasses I probably would but it's such a trivial condition that I don't particularly mind having to wear glasses despite the occasional inconvenience.
Moving on, I want to touch on Dungeons and Dragons because it is often at the heart of many of these discussions. All of these discussions are somewhat doomed within this metric because even if everyone only uses 5e DnD as the metrics for ttrpg fantasy settings (and those that are inspired by it), there is disagreements. How many characters can cast lesser restoration in a world (how many level 3+ bards, clerics, druids, celestial warlocks, divine soul sorcerers, & how many level 5+ paladins, rangers, & artificers are there in the world, or level 6 mercy monk)? How much would it cost to pay somebody to cast lesser restoration or to get a potion to address a condition? What versions of being paralyzed, deafened, blinded can lesser restoration cure? Which can only be cured by greater restoration? Which can only be addressed by regeneration? Which require a wish spell exclusively? Each of these rises in the ranking of spells to a narrower and narrower band of characters capable of casting it (and greater restoration uses up diamond dust worth at least 100 gold when cast). Even following the rules there can be ambiguity on which of these can address it and that's before GMs homerule mechanics to fit the setting (I've had a gm nerf goodberry because it kind of invalidates the need to acquire food & has healing exploit mechanics).
@@Darkloid21 I disagree with the notion that disabled characters should be "fixed" if it's in any way possible in the universe. A lot of disabled people, especially those who were born disabled, don't want or need a cure. Things like autism or developmental disabilities are part of who we are, we wouldn't be the same person if we were suddenly "cured" by magic. A lot of people who were born Deaf, blind, or with body differences - their disability is a part of their life and they're adapted to life with it, it's a part of who they are too. I think all of us deserve representation in fiction, too. Characters whose disability isn't a problem to be fixed in the first place - it's just something that needs accommodations. I think it's good to ask the question "why fix it?" and not just "why not fix it?"
A recent example of great disability rep in fantasy is Eda from The Owl House- she has a curse that essentially acts as a fantastical chronic illness, one she gradually works to manage better over the course of the series.
And the best part is that she learns to accept herself, and knows that she’s not inherently wrong or less valuable because of her disability. Added bonus of her having agency and the ability to choose what she wants to do about her disability, instead of that choice being made for her.
I’ve never seen The Owl House, but I had this sort of thing in mind throughout the whole video. My own character deals with something very similar to how this sounds! I’d love to write it better.
When i really think of it, edward is the only character with prosthetic limbs who actually has to deal with problems caused by it. Luke skywalker, solid snake, they just get cool robot hands. Yang from RWBY has to deal with PTSD from losing her arm but not really complications from the prosthetic itself. Ed's constantly needing tuneups, or risks frostbite from the metal, or outgrowing his limbs.
One of my biggest things I want to see in rep which is why I loved his characterization because I've complained about the concept of being put into a robot and stuff and no one questioning how the brain would react. Seizures screwed up my wiring and my brain can't really recognize my arms and different parts of me and I am not even an amputee, so how do they just think people's brains would just easily accept being in a robot or how their bodies would just accept prosthetic limbs? It's one of the reasons I really loved the show.
Edward is probably the best example of "its a tool he can't get rid of" for him it means he always has something he can transmute into a weapon but it also comes with loads of issues
Fully agree in your statement, but the Metal Gear nerd in me is screaming that the Snake that gets a robot arm isn't Solid Snake, it's Venom Snake.
Witch Hat Atelier is great for showing disabilities in a fantasy setting, and what the culture around that magic means in regard to it all. Also the magical goat chairs, chef kiss.
Ascendance of a Bookworm is also fairly interesting in that it actually shows someone needing and having a carer/s, and a lot of people just not having access to lifesaving treatments in that setting, or most people not even having an idea of what's wrong, never minding a proper diagnosis. It's a power fantasy without being flippant about a chronic illness. The light novels are cool, the anime isn't bad.
I highly recommend the video "Witch Hat Atelier: The Importance of Representation" made by lines in motion. They have a section talking about disability in a magical setting. Also both Witch Hat Atelier and Ascendance of a Bookworm are goated series.
Ascendance of a Bookworm is also interesting in that canonically that specific chronic illness actually has value to those filling to use it for their advantage. It's usually the rich who force the desperate under their service, just to have the ability to live past childhood.
I've always thought Daredevil was really interesting because sure his sonar is superior to sight in *most* ways... except that he can't use it to read text on a screen or page.
*Daredevil* is so seldom inconvenienced by his blindness that he is effectively not disabled at all.
But *Matt Murdock* , who is a lawyer and must deal with mountains of text every day, is certainly affected by it.
Which is kind of the point people are not supposed to know that daredevil is blind. That’s a closely guarded secret because there are so few blind people that have his qualifications that it would instantly expose him.
@@CuppaLLX There was a particularly fun bit I just remembered where some badguy was suspicious of his identity and thought Murdock was *faking* blindness as a cover.
So he set up some supervillain trap type thing involving and *outwardly* perfect model Foggy Nelson corpse.
And Daredevil just barely clocks the fake corpse, he can tell it has the wrong internal densities, he knows its not real, and he doesn't bother figuring out who its supposed to outwardly resemble.
And whichever villain is just like "Jesus Christ this one one stone cold bastard!"
There is a key difference between a story that doesn’t *feature* any specific disabled, queer, non-white, non-human, etc. characters… And writing with the intent that they don’t exist, period.
I mean, Tolkien’s writing wasn’t without its issues, but he didn’t deny the existence of POCs at least. Nor does his setting *preclude* the existence of certain groups (although he likely would not have given it much thought).
In the case of FMA, we actually have a character whose spine is severed and it’s pointed out that they can’t use Automail legs because that technology still requires attaching them to working nerve endings. This on top of Edward and other characters who have Automail; on one hand they don’t get taken off like prosthetics in our world, but they still need to be maintained time to time regularly… And they create issues with extreme heat and cold because that’s still metal attached to your nerves; at one point he has to upgrade to a special alloy to prevent getting frostbite in the snowbound North.
The Avatarverse does so much with disabled characters, not just Toph either; Teo has a great wheelchair to accommodate his own disability in ATLA. In TLOK, we have a villain character without arms who is no less powerful, and Korra herself deals with a degree of disability due to injury (and needs considerable rehabilitation time to be able to move again); this also ties into psychological trauma. And that’s certainly not “cure-able”.
In general, on the “using magic to cure it” thing? How would a magic that can do that even work…? And yes, if it can do that, what are its limits?
In TLOK, in Book 3, there is also a captain of airship where Korra and Asami were being captured.
At the end of episode is was relieved that the captain doesn't have a hand and actually has a hook.
Nobody made a big deal about it, and Korra casually shakes hands with him. Sweet simple scene.
Percy Jackson was created to be a hero for Riordan’s son who was struggling with adhd and dyslexia and Rick has said many times that the message of the series is what makes you different is what makes you strong. I’d mention neurodivergence (partly because I’m neurodivergent) in The Owl House, but other people have already done that here. But I’ve got one other example.
In the Rick Riordan Presents program (something started by Rick to explore other mythologies and showcase diverse authors who come from the culture) there is a series called Storm Runner (the one most similar to PJO that I know of) where the main character has an irregularly grown leg and he needs a cane to move around. I don’t know anyone with a similar condition but I’d love to hear from anyone who does.
There's also a deal character in Rick Riordan's Magnus Chase series. Hearthstone I believe.
I can’t believe I forgot about Hearthstone. A deaf elf who suffered under an ableist abusive dad and found a real family in Magnus and friends.
I may not be a fan of Riordan’s work (it’s just not for me), but I got so much respect for him.
I heard many people see Edward's automail as cool and somehow better, that they'll stay like that, and completely miss the point that Ed is an amputee, his right arm is missing of all things. When he shows his arm to Rose at the beginning of the show and said "this is what playing god gets you", despite how look it looks he ment it in a negative way, these arnt his limbs, he told her "stand up and walk. You have two good legs, so use them!"
he compared himself to icharus, who flew to close to the sun and fell down to earth. He likes his prosthetics but they're still a reminder of his mistake. It's very beautiful how in a religion themed episode, an atheist guy whithout a leg tell a biblical reference whith a twist, to a girl who was indoctrinated and lost her faith. This says "i had it worse but im still going on, so you have to find your own way to keep going" it's like "if i can do it you can too"
and that's like what? episode 2? its crazy good.
Also lets not forget the entire journey revolved around geting their original bodies back, not just for Alphonse, he also wanted to recover his limbs.
And I like how they also show him whithout his prosthetics, reminding us that he doesn't have his limbs. And he needs to fix them regularly, it hurts him when they re attach them to his nerves, and in the episode where he dug under the rain he stated that his limbs ake when it's going to rain. And despite that he rigged whith all his effort, even throwing up at one point because of how bad he felt.
his life isn't miserable, but his aids will never be better than his original limbs, and he would rather not have them.
This is realistic and many people don't see it because they're too focused on the superficial coolness of having a shiny arm.
In fact, in regards to Alphonse we have non less than 3 times where someone talks about how great his new body is, no need to eat nor sleep e.t.c. exactly the same thing some people on internet say about Ed, but in all 3 examples another character reacts negatively to that statement, because having a big shiny body doesn't let him enjoy things we take for granted.
I would've been cool if you had all this in mind but I understand it's just a casual chat among friends and not an in depth analysis necessarily.
But FMAB is an amazing story and besides that has incredible representation, not because he makes disability seam cool but because despite having cool stuff it's still something people have to deal whith daily, FMAB is the opposite of transhumanist and understands disability more than most stories tbh
I'm not a youtuber but I could make an entire video essay just on d8sability portrayed in FMAB
Since this is geting too long I won't talk about Toph but she's the only example I know of realistic depiction of blindness and more so of people whith low vision, because she carries herself so well that the rest of the team sometimes forget she's actually blind. Many people don't understand why she's the best blind character in all fiction in my opinion.
They think it's because she's badass and kicks butt, and it's not because of that. It's because they portray situations we people whith low vision know too well, and also, I repeat.
She is ACTUALLY blind, she doesn't have some bat sonar, or inexplicably good hearing who somehow allows her to travel by herself. She senses the earth in ways the others can't, she doesn't need to face the things she observes, but everything that's not on a sturdy ground, she just doesn't see it, she got boncked on the head when Sokka passed her the championship belt, because since she can move and fight he assumed she would catch it. That's the most realistic thing ever.
The other blind heroes in fiction either see but whith a red filter, or supposedly have such good ears they can do everything, which 5o me denotes a lack of understanding of blindness and is very cliche.
but the way they made Toph's blindness be combined whith her powers is hands down the best thought out way.
If she and Ed are cool and badass and kicks many butts is something to be appreciated but secondary, because many cheesy or uninspired disabled characters in fiction are just that, coolness whith no logic or substance
Another UA-camr I've watched actually mention Encanto, with disabled representation. Julieta can cure just about anything yet both her husband and daughter need glasses.
One of the things they brought up is how it's possible that her abilities can recognize something that NEEDS healed vs something that people can live with or even want to live with. It's a magic system that would be so interesting to see deeper into.
As discussed in this video, that could be the difference between a disability which is rooted in someone's genetic make-up vs disabilities that come about as a result of physical injury 💡
I am once again finding myself singing the praises of Brandon Sanderson and his respect, research, and accurate depictions of people with disabilities in his works, notably in the Storm Light Archives. There are 3 examples of people with disabilities in the setting, one non-visual, and the other two very much visual, and the way the magic system in the setting works makes it perfect to show how they deal with their disabilities. The man goes to great lengths to make sure he is not depicting things like mental illness, trauma, or disabilities in a disrespectful light and will bring on consultants in these particular fields to make sure he is writing these characters with as much respect and positive representation as possible.
I want to write a bisexual wheelchair user character in my urban fantasy story, but I have few ideas on what to do with her. Her character is supposed to be the “straight man” of the story, as she’s the only human character. I figured it would be good to deviate from the typical white able-bodied man being portrayed as the “default”.
I definitely need the opinion of other disabled people (especially a wheelchair user) to help me out with this character.
@@Reed5016 idk if its mentioned in the video, but there are people who will read over your writing and give advice regarding representation for a reasonable fee.
Usually such things are listed under sensitivity reading.
@@russianbear0027 Sounds good. I appreciate it.
There's a lot more than 3 examples of people with disabilities in Stormlight. Feels like half the point of the series is showcasing just a metric ton of disabilities, and how people are affected by them and overcome them. It's a lot more than just Shallan's DID, Kaladin's depression and PTSD, Rysn's paralyzed legs (though those are, of course, the most prevalent ones at the moment). A lot of characters also show very severe PTSD, and in the future I'm sure we're gonna have even more. We're gonna get autism from Renarin (something we already have with another character, but this one will be shown through a lens of a much younger character who will likely need to deal with the issues that stem from that, compared to Steris who was already a middle aged woman during the series), I'm sure Lift's deal about wanting to be seen as young forever is some disability I haven't heard of, Jasnah's backstory is gonna go into something as well I'm sure. It even shows some more low-key issues like Adolin's anger issues, that gives the character something to struggle with while being more nuanced than it's typically portrayed.
Granted, maybe we're simply talking about physical disabilities, which Stormlight has a lot less of. I haven't watched the whole video yet, but it seems that most of the point of the video is physical disabilities rather than mental ones. But it feels to me like if you're bringing up Stormlight, you've definitely got mental disabilities in mind, and it's still very important to talk about mental representation as well
@@aneonfoxtribute When I made this comment, I was speaking mainly through the lens of visible disabilities because that's what was on my mind at the moment and completely blanked on non-visible disabilities, which in retrospect was short sighted of me and ironic given the fact that I wear glasses. I completely blanked on the fact that not all disabilities are visual or blatant. And if we wanted to delve deeper in to the subject, we can talk about Dalinar's alcoholism, Kaladin's survivors guilt which feeds in to his PTSD and depression, or Navani's low self esteem due to...well we can just say Gavilar and be done with it. The broad spectrum of disabilities and subtle nuances that Sanderson manages to bake in to his characters and not make them caricatures is mind blowing in it of itself.
i think about ironwood from rwby sacrafising his limbs to save others and his people, and then a writer went "him losing his arm is him also losing his humanity"
bruh
Well... to save his rich people. All of the poor people get to be Grimm chow as a distraction, but yeah the casual ableism isn't great.
@@OniLink147 no he does it to save everyone that whole thing comes way later and for different reasons
God what they did to Ironwood was so dirty
@Castersvarog Ironwood always showed concerning authoritarian tendencies as well as an egocentric attitude toward leadership where he believed he was only one capable of it so it isn't that far out of left field for him to have a villain arc. I do have problems with the execution though.
@OniLink147 I mean it's pretty left field
I’m a bit disappointed that they didn’t bring Havoc when they were talking about FMA. We see him becoming a disabled on the series, dealing with the self pity and the frustration that it involves. The character also serves to contextualize the limitations of the automail in this world, as he’s asked if he can get a pair of new legs like Edward but it is explained that because the damage was done on his spinal cord, it’s not an option. And even after being put out of service from the military the author still found ways to utilize him and serve as essential support for Mustang till the end. Sure, by the ending he’s cured with the philosopher's stone, but we are talking about something that from the beginning was introduced as a mean that make you immortal and ignore the fundamental laws of the world, so it would have been weird not using it when it was offered to Mustang.
Vaders armor wasn't designed by him to make it painful. Palpatine made it that way to continuously torture vader and keep him focused on his own pain.
Witch Hat Atelier is a really good example of incorporating disability in fantasy and discussinng people's barriers to access due to the magic system and their disabilties.
I'm writing about a metal superhero guitarist that lose her guitar playing hand, then get a sweet robot arm but has to learn guitar again, a training arc focusing on disability
This happens in Power Rangers, cosmic fury the black Ranger loses his entire arm and he was a guitarist, and he’s been several episodes trying to learn to play the guitar
@@CuppaLLX darn I thought I was being original, eh
I've always wanted to see my disability represented in fantasy: Tourette's Syndrome.
Mainly because it would affect how magic is used just like how daily functions occur.
Would a mage have tics based on their spells? What if you ticked and suddenly messed up an incantation?
If you were a water elemental, would your water change states of matter while you're ticking because you can't control your body and your magic is an extension of that?
All of these are questions I've asked myself because when asked what class I'd be in a DnD world or what superpower I'd have, because my Tourette's Syndrome fundamentally denfines how i interact with my environment. I can't just magic it away without ot not being me anymore.
I guess I'll probably have to write what I know and be the change I want to see in the world but it's frustrating how people want to eradicate what little rep we have when there are so many communities who are still desperate for it.
@@BaobhanloreArt I think Piers Anthony had a character with it in a book, but I am blanking on which Myth book.
The messing up the incantation because of their tic makes me think of Wild Magic sorcerors in D&D, where they have a random chance of causing random effects whenever they cast a spell.
These are some interesting ideas. I'm thinking of a wizard who accidently fires off a spell during a tic and nearly hurts someone, and he has to seriously consider if he can responsibly continue learning more powerful spells. Maybe he decides to give up damage spells and focus only on support magic.
Not quite Tourette's but I love thinking that a Wild Mage in D&D is essentially what you're wanting in a way. They can properly or improperly cast spells and even then, they still don't get the same or wanted results. Things go horrible sometimes (like killing yourself) and can also get chaotic like random transformations into a squirrel and such.
I’m reminded of the documentary: Me, My Mouth and I, in which Jess Thom (a comedian and actor with Tourette’s) explores her and other neurodivergent disabilities in preparation for a play (which is one woman monologue). The interesting part that stood out to me was that she could perform the monologue verbatim, with none of her usual tics interrupting her, until a pause, at which point she would suffer from a deluge of uncontrollable verbal tics (worse than normal.) It was like her focus on the monologue held the tics back like a cork in a bottle, and as soon as she stopped it all rushed out like a dam had been burst. To this day one of the most eye opening documentaries I have ever seen.
Idk if you’ve read it but I’m currently reading a book and the main character has Tourette’s syndrome it’s called Michael Vey: The Prisoner of cell 25.
Idk if it’s accurate or not since I just started reading it tho.
I always think it's funny when people act like wheelchairs are this new thing. The concept is as simple as Wheel + Chair, it's not exactly rocket science.
Exactly. The first recorded one was in 1595. I saw a "powered" one back in the 1800s that was a hand cranked one where people used essentially bicycle pedals to wheel themselves around. I don't understand how people act like it's such a new or crazy concept...
@@NoOneReallySpecial Ultimately it's as simple as this: Do both wheels and chairs exist in the setting? Then wheelchairs can exist in the setting. Because even just attaching some wheels to a normal chair is something average people do today and although it's usually done as a gag, the principle remains.
On the note of the post from the start of the video, I like how they seem to ignore how omitting disability in fantasy also just flattens the complexity of a high fantasy world. Like yeah sure maybe magic can be used to "fix" a disability but just because it can doesn't mean every person in that world is going to have access to that kind of magic, like there could be interesting commentary and world building built around how a disabled person navigates a world with that kind of magic. That kind of thinking also flattens a magic system into something that can just hand wave things away instead of making the system into something interesting and dynamic that can be played with in the world.
If you’re gonna do that hand way, then you basically just create a world where the level magic is common place and can fix any elements with that point every character is immortal as long as they survive the encounter and get back to town I’ll be fully healed
My (chronically ill and disabled) partner and I were pleasantly surprised by the way disability was presented in the show Dragon Prince. There are matter-of-fact depictions of disability, like characters using mobility aids or having support animals. There's even an arc where a character becomes disabled and accepts his new body but a relative of his cannot accept it, and she subjects him involuntarily to a magic cure that is very costly and contributes to her turn to villainy.
We were similarly surprised in the more recent show Blue Eye Samurai, which is a less fantastical historic fantasy. That show also includes a lot of matter-of-fact depiction of disability and acknowledges both congenital and acquired disabilities in a world where disabling injuries are quite common.
I'm not blind, but the episode where Toph is in the desert and the sand makes her internal vision fuzzy felt relatable.
This discourse always seems to position itself against a situation where disability is exactly like it is in the modern world, but it doesn't make sense in that setting. i agree this could be an issue, but it's always light on actual examples. Usually, this is just a setting where someone assumes that the magic or tech present should be able address a disability in a certain way with no actual basis for that belief. Like, in the real modern world, we can make deaf people hear, but have pretty limited options to deal with blindness. Some prosthetics are great. Some aren't. It depends on the amputation.
The same is true for vision impairments. What those of us who are extremely nearsighted forget, is that until 400-odd years ago in the West and 600 years ago in China, the equipment did not exist to successfully treat nearsightedness, and even in both areas it was only in the late 19th century that it became readily available to common folk. Cataract treatments may go back to ancient Egypt, but again you had to be wealthy (or be owned by someone wealthy enough) to be able to afford the treatment. If you wear glasses, until 1850 in the West we WERE disabled, and in some places that same condition still goes untreated and you would be disabled. We just got lucky and were born in a place where our disability could be treated.
@@deanaarmstrong3976 I think you could write a very interesing fantasy world where they have the magic means to cure SOME disabilities very easily (maybe regrowing limbs is a level 1 spell), but they have absolutely no means to handle other disabilities that are easily treated in real life (like nearsightedness).
If I remember correctly, the brother of the guy who made one of the most famous cereals was disabled simply cause he couldn't see well (and couldn't find good enough glasses to help) and thus couldn't make money on his own so when his brother refused to market/sell his cereal recipe, he bought it with the savings his brother gave him for helping at his mental asylum and became rich by doing that. But in the end still could not see, which people took advantage of.
I think both have serious issues, but I personally like Hyakkimaru (from Dorororo) and Akko Katsuragi from Little Witch Academia (not quite fantasy but does have a magic system).
In the former case, I think Hyakkimaru's own arc is a bit of an issue given the 'fighting towards a cure' format. It's established early on and built up both thematically and plot wise, which may help, but I was still a bit peeved by the ending. However, one thing I really liked was that Hyakkimaru is not the only disabled character in story. There is a war on and as such people with scars, prosthetics or unaccommodated injuries appear in several episodes, and Hyakkimaru is typically interpreted by those around him as a soldier of some kind, given his grevious injuries. Thus we see the fantasy world used to recontextualise disability.
Akko is less explicit and more 'potential learning disability', but in reading her difficulty riding a broom and casting spells in terms of an invisible disability, we see a series in which the characters disability is both only relevant because of the magic system, and in which the magic system becomes something she has to find her own way of working within. I think this is generally well done across the show, and she always gets a mention for me because the scene where she manages to sail a broom along maybe 6 inches off the ground late in the series is close to the most directly represented I have felt in anything (mild cerebral palsy that gave me issues with riding bikes, where I can't do a right turn). Letting a small experience that is positive for Akko be celebrated (even if it wouldn't normally be notable) is so important because it recognises that this matters to her and both her friends and the narrative framing are prepared to meet her there and be happy, rather than using it as a prelude to an arc about Akko 'getting better'.
Witch hat attelier: That's the manga at is best. No amount of individual briliant magic solution can solve systemic issues. There is no replacement for a community that cares to make itself in a way that has disability in mind. Community that don't care to make space for differences do so at their own peril.
One of my favorite disabled characters growing up was the main protagonist of Return of the Condor Heroes. Granted he doesn't become disabled until way later into the story. The MC gets his right arm cut off and he becomes weaker from it. But eventually he becomes far more powerful than before. He never gets his arm back or even a prosthetic. He does learn how to use this giant and extremely heavy broadsword with his left arm. He's also an inspiration for a character of mine.
I am amazed at your rate of production. You come out with good content so fast!
If I had a penny each time a facially disfigured person becomes a villain because everyone treats them like shit anyway I'd rich. Take Scar, The Opera ghost, literally any Bond villain for example.
That is concerning and gods, we don't think about that trend's existence enough
That's why I love Ged from Ursula K Le Guin's Earthsea (the horrible tv miniseries is an atrocity and has nothing to do with the book). I don't want to spoil too much of the first book, but half of Ged's face gets disfigured by both his own hubris and the beast he unleashes . However, he grows into a truly fascinating hero who subverts traditionally masculine roles in fantasy. We see him at both his best and his very weakest in the Earthsea saga. He's definitely a fascinating character, and it was the first time I saw a character in fantasy with a facial disfigurement that doesn't become evil.
I have a joint deformity that makes me very weak when doing certain movements (my muscles are underdeveloped in some areas and fine in others) I wanna see more rep for stuff like that. Cuttinng off a characters arm and giving them a replacement that works perfectly fine doesnt do it for me. All-might is the closest thing to rep we got with a real chronic illness/injury. Also, things like mecha-maru dont equal good rep for that sort of thing. All disabled/chornically injured characters are evil/jealously coded.
There's a series I think you would like if you enjoyed All-Might as rep, but wanted more. It's a Choose your own adventure series called "Heroes Rise." Specifically, I'm thinking you'd enjoy "Redemption Season."
You play as a superhero who has a rotating set of animal powers that change at midnight every night. Some days, you have awesome powers that let you kick ass. Other days, you have powers that make it physically painful to exist, and the story does a lot to center disability in a world full of people with superpowers. I see elsewhere that you said that you don't really care for representation, but I think this story is a really good example of what (science) fantasy can offer as a space to explore disability representation
@@Eagledude131Thank you for much for the suggestion, Ill also clarify that I dont like representation based on a bias that most representation ive seen had been bad, so good representation can DEFINITELY change my mind 👍🏼 I should try to not sound so opinionated
I'm curious what you thought about Toga, because a lot of MHA's writing was focused on showing how hard it was to fit into a world that refuses to accommodate her needs
@@zacharybosley1935 Now that you mention her, I remember liking Toga as a character but not remembering why; she was treated more like an individual who didnt have their needs met more than an actual villian. While I may not resonate with her entirely, I definitely noticed a more human aspect to her.
Positive depictions of diverse characters continue to be one of the main reasons I continually gravitate toward the fantasy genre be it through literature, Western animation, or anime. My first trip down the anime rabbit was Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 (yes, I am that old) and it was truly the first time that I saw a disabled main character that was totally badass, intelligent, empathetic, mercurial, and courageous; Edward Elric still has to be one of my favourite characters to this very day. As someone who is queer and also struggles with anxiety and ADHD, I've found a lot of comfort in watching the Owl House. Yes, I know I am much older than the intended target audience, but Edda's curse really resonated with me. I feel like my neurodivergence can be a curse at times and that my anxiety can sometimes turn me into an "owl beast", however, I have amazing friends, hobbies, and coping strategies I can use to help me. Looking forward to watching this full video!
As someone else with ADD (I call it that because I am inattentive and I just feel like the H makes everyone see me in a bad light when I am not really hyper at all) I just wanted to say that it's ok to watch cartoons or anything people deem "not in the intended audience" because the way I see things is that if it makes you happy and makes like easier to cope with then it's for anyone regardless of age.
Thank you for your kind comment. I used to feel immature for enjoying anime and media that was targeted at younger audiences and tried to hide my enjoyment of some teen -targeted media from friends and family. However, now I'm learned to love this media for the beautiful storytelling, diverse casts of characters, and tough themes that are tackled. It does indeed make me happy and provides comfort when times may get difficult.
I was looking forward to this being a video essay but now I found out its just a podcast style discussion. While I'm sure most of your subs like that I much prefer the video essay style. I'll probably give it a watch later, just not now.
Sadly, I needed to buy a little more time for a MUCH bigger project I'm working on. But I don't want a week to go by without an upload.
Fantasy pulls heavily from mythology and there's several depictions of disability in myth. Hephaestus is depicted as "lame" ie he walks with a limp.
Tyr a god of war and combat is one handed.
Nuada Airgetlam had a silver arm prosthetic.
Hodr was blind.
There's a lot more but my point is that disability has always existed and our tales and myths reflect this. Saying a fundamental part of the human experience shouldn't appear in modern storytelling is just bigotry.
That twitter post is just someone trying to rationalize their ableism. I hope they grow as a person because the person that wrote that lacks compassion.
I like the idea of disabilities in fantasy where spells were worked on to “fix” them but failed. Like it’s a time period where the art of the arcane has only scratched the surface.
@@matt0044 or what about a world where the spells are like disability aids or meds? They work, but you have to reapply them regularly. I was born with extreme pigeon toe (and neither foot never did quite lay flat). The orthotics have to be continually reshaped to fit changing conditions in the foot and joints. I could see spells working like that, not like an addict needing a greater fix, but constantly needing to change the transfiguration or illusion just a bit here, taking a bit off there every few months.
Actually one of my favorite works has something similar with Insulin. It's explicitly mentioned in Canon that at some point they worked on creating a potion which essentially worked as Insulin but magic, however there were some major negative side effects they couldn't fix, so they abandoned it and continued to use regular non-magic insulin.
This does come up later when one of our protagonists Grant -himself a Type 1 diabetic- loses access to healthcare and therefore Insulin, and needs to find a way to rework that potion so that it actually functions properly in order to not die.
See- I like that cause it feels like my life in an eggshell: Oh hey, let's go have surgery to fix this, wake up from surgery only to find nothing really got fixed, cuss out doctor cause he promised you'd be fixed, then rinse and repeat for, like, 16 times. >.
It's interesting to consider how there also usually in fantasy stories is a lot of dangerous stuff going on. There is no shortage of disabilities, illnesses or conditions that fly into that ballpark that can stem from for example combat. Anything from easier to imagine things like limb loss to more difficult things such as chronic pains and chronic fatigue syndrome style woes. Which can lead to very interesting spins on events as far as stories go and make things far more interesting. Because people with disabilities often need to really be creative and get clever about figuring out how to handle things, a fantasy setting allows that to bloom into an amazingly creative barrage of different scenarios and ideas. Clever skill and power usage is always grand to see!
in my opinion, the best example of disability in fantasy is with eda in the disney show the owl house, because it shows how it can never be cured, it just has ways of keeping it in check, and specially, how that curse has affected her life and her relationships (I don't wanna go into the specifics because of spoilers, but trust me is an amazing show)
I’m gonna preface my statement with the fact that I am pro the fantasy wheelchair and similar elements.
I do think we need to keep some of this in context, especially regarding the magic system talk. D&D is dominating large parts of this discussion and it comes with its own magic system - not one built by the players or DM. I’m not saying I agree with this conclusions, far from it, but he is more pointing to issues in if you can regrow perfectly functioning Limbs, remake an entire body from ash or nothing, why would you be unable to “cure” common disabilities with magic in the context of D&D. The idea that magic is prohibitively expensive for commoners is also part of D&D, leading to some of his odd conclusions.
The problem lies in D&D adding these elements in the first place - likely due to players or DMs not wanting to deal with disabilities and their effects from a narrative or gameplay level back in the day, maybe even in an intentionally regressive way.
I think D&D in an effort to let DMs have as many options at their disposal as possible for play preference, made it unclear how to tackle these issues in a tactful way.
I think ultimately you should do everything in your power to represent disabled individuals in your world and think about how their struggles fit into D&D’s Magic system but I see why he’s having this issue and how it keeps being debated in the play space of D&D specifically.
Even in DnD, healing spells are generally a lot "weaker" than damaging spells.
You can do a lot more damage by casting a single Fireball than you can heal with a spell of a similar level.
Now to my knowledge, DnD generally doesnt really deal with limbs being lost.
Like a lot of games, so long as your health doesnt hit 0 your injuries are basically fully recoverable, but that could entirely depend on your DM.
I highly recommend witch hat altier as a representative of disability in fantasy as well!
Olivia from Funger is soo good. Her disability is tied into the narrative, gameplay, character and theming. Not to mention how shes both a lovely character and one of the best in the game :)
So many ways of doing this are so fun, I do this at my TTRPG table and I have something to say about this, I intentionally avoid humanizing disabilities and use a different angle. Humans are evil, be something else.
Replace your arms with paws/claws, get spider legs, or become sighted through psychic means. It's so much more fun! psychic sight disables you from seeing race but they can see emotions. The player who has this can tell if they are in a room full of depressed or rapturously happy people.
I love Geralt of Rivia for the fact he deals with chronic pain in his arm and leg after a bad fall.
His chronic pain is overshadowed for me by the fact that he just feels like a Gary Stu in everything else; like how he's supposed to have memory loss but he somehow just knows how to fight and such. I get it's a game based on the books, but as someone who never read them, when I tried to get into the game play I just couldn't like his character cause he just felt too perfect to me. And I am saying this as someone who has chronic pain and has gone through several surgeries to get fixed (only for it to get worse) and loves all sorts of RPGs but I just can't get into Witcher.
@@NoOneReallySpecial His combat skills are reflexive. He doesn't remember the name of his stances, or skills, just when and how to react. He's over a hundred years old, and a hundred of those years are as a Witcher. He is definitely not perfect, and definitely not all-powerful. He's very good at fighting, and as far as most of the people around him are concerned, that's the only important thing about him. That's why he presents as someone with no emotions, he is a man who cares deeply and worries deeply for those close to him, but he knows those things will give the people who want something from him power over him. As physically capable as he is, he is very weak when it comes to his relationships to others. That's what makes him compelling to me. He's a stubborn ass with a heart of gold.
They're also assuming that all disabled people want to be cured. That's not the case with all disabled people.
Neurodivergence and especially autism is another facet of this conversation that I wish I saw more representation of in fantasy. At least in the fantasy media I've consumed, the representation of neurodivergence/autism isn't very common, and if ND characters exist at all, their neurodivergence is usually only implied or allegorical. Such as robots being an allegory for autistic people because "ha ha, autistic people are bad at socializing and have low empathy!" The stupid thing is, there are some aspects of autism/neurodivergence in real life that I think could easily be reinterpreted as a particular set of powers or magic. The main two that come to mind for me are autistic people often having special emotional connections to animals and being hypersensitive to stimuli like sound or taste. The second item could also be a great way to show that the symptoms of autism/neurodivergence aren't all bad and can be useful under some situations. The main example I can think of off the top of my mind that does this well is Percy Jackson, where all the demigods are dyslexic and have ADHD. Their conditions often cause them to struggle in the modern society, but they give them a natural advantage in battle and other contexts. Percy Jackson was especially inspiring to me as someone who has ADHD and is autistic myself, and it's influenced a lot of my fantasy writing. :)
Oh god how I hate that - that all autistic people have low empathy. Far from the truth. Some of us got the scale the other way instead - we have too much of it. Or normal amounts too. But hey, stereotypes.
But yeah, some more representation where they actually admit that a character is autistic instead of dancing around it (Hey there, Bones...) would certainly be nice.
This video actually got me thinking about how I'd go about writing an autistic character. I've been wary about doing that, because I'm a late diagnosed autistic and I tend to put a lot of myself into my characters, and if I have a specific character be autistic, I worry people will assume the others are definitely neurotypical, when I'm sure a lot of them could easily be read as autistic, because I am. But I was thinking, maybe I could do something with changelings, since that was an initial explanation of neurodivergence. And I can easily make the main cast all changelings, so they'd all have fantasy autism.
While not a direct example, as an autistic person I could easily relate to Naruto Uzumaki’s struggles with social ostracization and a determination to prove oneself as the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox!
I relate to Nadine Ross from Uncharted, particularly when we see more of her in Lost Legacy. She constantly talks about wildlife to a degree that her companion, before getting used to her, is like "wtf are you even talking about." She is very blunt, sometimes she doesn't understand what people are trying to say to her especially if they're indirect or use metaphors/euphemisms. She tries to make jokes but they fall flat, she speaks candidly and people laugh. I definitely headcanon her as autistic
As someone with ADD and is disabled and is Asexual, I related with him as well because I was on the outside looking in a lot for "being weird".
ASOIAF is a melting pot of disabled characters, from the reverse fantasy of Jaime Lannister and Bran Stark to the more subtle characters like Davos who can't read and of course the various women who have to navigate a system ruled by men. The Nights Watch teaches Jon about his privileged upbringing in contrast to his poorer brothers.
Been working on a werewolf novel for a few years now. This discussion got me interested in playing with how disabilities might interact with lycanthropy. Glad this discussion got the gears turning.
Oh gosh, with my hEDS and arthritis and joint deformities and knee subluxation and FND, I can only imagine how horrible lycanthropy would be on top of all that. I mean, the American Werewolf in London/Paris transformations already made it look painful... >.
Might be in the video, (haven't started it yet to be honest lmao,) but I always gotta mention it and comment engagement is good. One Piece has some great disabled characters like Shanks and as of recently Kiku (who is also trans!) Their struggles with having physical disabilities are rarely touched on but it's nice to see so many important characters (10 off the top of my head) who do have a missing arm or leg or eye etc. Shanks doesn't have a power that can replace his arm or a prosthetic one like some characters either, his missing arm is just something he has to live with and he's still one of the toughest pirates on the sea.
I did see a bit of discourse last year, when Russell T. Davies’ return to “Doctor Who” involved using the established time travel to justify the villain Davros no longer being disfigured and in a mobility aid… It was a short aired for “Children in Need” - Davies specifically felt that depicting a disabled villain for a charity that’s about aiding disabled children, would be in poor taste. And I agree with him there, but it’s also his choice to show said character there… and to say that his disability no longer happens in the timeline.
Thing with Davros is that he was always an evil man; DW Extended Universe material pre-disfigurement (and immobility) showed he wasn’t made bad by it but already horrible. Whether his appearance is iconic enough they shouldn’t undo it, it’s a mixed bag to even use Time Travel to have later versions of him be a case where whatever disabled him didn’t take place anymore… At least he’s still no less evil.
This discussion about disabilities in fantasy reminds me of one of my all-time favorite characters. Gifford from Legends of the First Empire by Michael J Sullivan.
Gifford the character is born disfigured, he has trouble walking without support and has issues pronouncing the letter R. These issues would have seen him left to die if his community didn't come together to help him survive and thrive, he becomes a great potter and a hero for his entire race. There's a character who routinely helps him improve his movement by being there to support him and make braces to help with leg pain. In a later book he saves his people from near certain destruction as the person who rides out to get reinforcements during a siege. In another book he and the other main characters descend into the underworld to save their people during a war. While in the undetworld, he is just as capable as anyone else in his party because while his body is crippled, his mind and spirit isn't, which is more important than the body when dead.
He doesn’t make the entire journey through the underworld because he won't leave someone he cares about behind in soul crushing despair. When he gets back to his body he's back to being crippled and had to readjust to it again. In the end he never cures his disability he just continues to live with it and work around it. He finds value in it in a way that no one else could without living his life.
In the Violet Evergarden anime, you can see Violet biting things to test their hardness and texture since she cant feelthing through her prosthetic arms, a disability she has to learn how to navigate (although just mentioned in dialogue and in flashbacks). I love the scene where she's trying to cook a meal and she mashed eggs through the rim of a bowl because she doesnt kno how much force to apply
i kinda get why barbera isnt crippled anymore like at this point we have to understand that batman recovered from a similar spinal injury ON SCREEN, like the common viewer just genuinely thinks dc characters can heal from it and its not because of barbera. like at one point I was explaining it and someone brought up nightfall and we had to like pretend to not know how spines work
just because it makes sense in universe
doesn't mean its not infuriating from a Representation standpoint
also now shes boring
@@linkeragon7885 personally i wouldve just given her jim gordons power armor
but in general people kinda had to admit that like
anyone can be the guy in the chair
and oracle didn't attract much attention to the comics
@@linkeragon7885 in the last version I saw Barbara can walk because she had basically a prosthetic spine, which can malfunction. The problem is just like death income is that these things become so common after point that like feels almost disingenuous to keep the disabled. Do like Barbara gets shocked by the Joker and is firmly paralyzed for the rest of her life and need mobility aids. Bruce has a his back strapped in half bybane. And is fine. Also death has no meaning as everyone has been back.
It’s why in my universe each character have a life/arc and others come in becase they are inspired by past ones. Death and permanent Injery are a thing
Disabled myself, legally blind, and this was very neat!
But also, something I have noticed in terms of blindness representation in particular is that it is perhaps a bit odd how almost always it's just a character that is, like, 100% all blind. Like a lot of people have this idea that blindness is like an on-off switch like it's all or nothing. Even though people like me, who have residual vision where we do see something and that little does help but also... we are still functionally blind in most situations.
Like I see.. ok-ish for like maybe 2 inches in front of me but from there the further anythig gets the more blurry and unclear it gets so the world is just blurry shapes and colours for me.
But since my situation is as good at it is, I can manage most things in life on my own and despite going around with a white cane I have come across people who question whether or no I am "really blind" because I manage to move about as easily as I do. (well, it might also be a factor that pretty much the only other blind person in this small town is an elderly 100% all blind man who always has an assistant leading them by the arm around so in comparison me going around by myself with certainty and confidence.. yeah)
Also, yes, I like Toph. She's great. And from my experience a lot of disabled people do have a big sense of humour about their own disability. I sure as heck do.
Personally something I've done is limit healing so that it only works for a specific timeframe, for one this allows people to not just be born with disabilities but also receive them through life, I also like it because it allows thing like physical scars from a traumatic backstory to continue existing as well as adding some more stakes to fights as whatever injuries are recieved may not all be able to be healed
thank you so much for the AI disclaimer
This is incredibly helpful. I've been working on a fantasy novel and one of the things thats got me frozen is that one of my characters becomes disabled. I need to be ethical in this and I often worry I'm being ablest as I am not physically disabled. Id love to hire Charlie for help.
In my second fantasy series a early rule I set up is potions leave scars magic don’t so you have lower level adventures with various scars. Heck one character has no eyes becase they were magically removed. Theirs just skin where the eyes should be
Disability is so ubiquitous in Chinese fantasy dramas, I’ve almost stopped noticing. The sheer variety of visible and invisible disabilities would challenge anyone doubting the place of disability in fantasy.
What’s cool to me is how often it’s not even a plot device. It just is. And it’s mostly good rep.
That sounds cool!
What are some of your favorites and what are some of the invisible disabilities portrayed?
I'm not into dramas but I'd love to see some clips
@@inuendo6365 wheelchairs, chronic and terminal illness, blindness, mental illness, amputees, gigantism and dwarfism. Also, plenty of neurodiverse characters.
Also, in Chinese fantasy (xianxia and wuxia) there are always characters getting sick, poisoned, or losing their martial arts. Which in those worlds are serious disabilities.
Nirvana in Fire has a main character who’s lost his martial arts and has a debilitating chronic illness. He’s awesome.
Wei Wuxian in The Untamed or The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation… well, that’d be massive spoilers. One could argue there’s a running allegory about disability in it. Also, the two male leads are considered to be ADHD and ASD.
If you want a visible disability, the classic Return of the Condor Heroes has a blind antagonist who kicks butt and a marvelous blind villain as well. Some consider the mc as ND.
A main character in Joy of Life has a wheelchair. And the main character had terminal MG in his previous life. Oh, and there’s a “blind” guardian. The fl has tuberculosis. Gee, JOL has plenty!
@@duckraft wow, you weren't kidding it's nearly ubiquitous, that a lot! Thanks for the recs
The reason I asked about invisible disabilities specifically was because I have seen a number of visible or well known ones portrayed in Western media, like the shows mentioned in this video, French movies and various Euro made games.
Heck even Anime has had some good deaf, blind and amputee leads, or at least primary cast members, over the past few years and Japan is... weird... about disabilities speaking from experience.
But it's rare to see the invisible disabilities like chronic illness and neurodivergence done well Western media and even then it's usually only through a tertiary or one-off character.
The best lead I can think of is Karlach from Baldur's Gate 3 with a terminal illness?
So it's really cool to see how China has brought such characters in. I'm off to check out some clips now, thanks again for the names!
Well this was a very interesting highlight reel! ❤
This is a fantastic video! I would love to see a follow up that is more focused around mental disabilities. As an autistic person myself, I would love to see that kind of discussion; furthermore, there are a lot of picks to choose from, as shown in the comments; unfortunately, there are also plenty of bad examples as well.
The term "differently abled" I think sums it up a lot better and actually opens up a lot of potential for some interesting conflict in a fantasy/sci fi setting. For the most part, disabled people aren't incapable but limited because the world isn't made with them in mind for the most part. That is a fantastic premise for genre fiction. Beyond the fact that it's just lazy and uncreative to believe that the existence of magic/super high tech would eliminate the existence of disabilities (and/or disabled people...), it would honestly create even more disabled people. And on the other hand, you've got something like Rick Riordan's world that reinterprets a lot of disabilities as attributes that are compatible in the world of the mythology but not modern day which is a really great, child friendly way of interpreting that.
this might be a strange one, but as someone with a chronic illness (POTS) I've always related to Deku's struggle with OFA/being quirkless. In the context of MHA, being quirkless essentially constitutes having a disability, and when he's given a quirk, he isn't "cured". In fact, using said power hurts him and is much harder for him to use than his peers. They use the expression of a quirk not fitting someone's body, and them having to work harder to achieve normal things that able-bodied (or people born with quirks) can do no problem. Also, I absolutely love that he goes BACK to being quirkless at the end of the series, and is eventually able to fulfill his dream with support items (technology being developed to help the quirkless fight crime). sorry if this doesn't make much sense, but to me, there is some great disability rep and disability allegory in MHA that often goes overlooked. Thats my perspective anyway
One show you didn't mention that I think does a great job with is Dot from Transformers Earthspark. She's a former soldier who lost her leg in the war between the Autobots and Decepticons and now needs a prosthetic. One particular episode had one of the Transformers (who's considered her child for reasons that are too complicated to explain) tries to add some new functions to her leg like a laser cannon, and Dot has to explain that doing something like that without permission is a violation of her privacy. Overall, it gives a lot of respect to her disability.
This video makes me think of Wild Magic Sorcerers
I am surprised you're basically the only one outside of me to even mention this idea.
@@NoOneReallySpecial I blame WotC
There are some elements of some of the GitS stories that deal with disability issues from neurodivergence to body dismorphia. Mostly from a corporatist and miltarist exploitation angle.
I kinda want to mention the game rogue legacy, it uses disabilities kinda as modifiers for your characters, and I dunno, I think it's kinda cool cause it's juste, sometimes you have to roll with what life gives you and make the most of it. And some of those are brutal while other are mild inconveniences, some of those can be beneficial in niche ways, some can be inconsequential most of the time but screw you over when you expect it least, and some are more or less impactful depending on the class of your character, which is also very true that disability can affect you differently depending on your goals and ressources.
It's not really that deep in term of storytelling but it's an interesting way to portray diversity in abilities and make you experience it
Regarding Ghost in the Shell, I am partial to Pandora in the Crimson Shell, which I think might be possible canon prequel, with a different tone. It being pretty connected to disability with tge first full body cyborg, after her body had a severe illness, while most who have something are just a prosthetic.
This is a very thought out video
I think an adventurer in a wheelchair might be a lil unwieldy in a dungeon that probably wasn't built to be ADA compliant, I say lean in to the fantasy aspect and give me cool mounts or ridable floating tables or something, give me a Lothric and Lorian esc large knight and spell caster.
Olivia in Fear and Hunger 2 is so much fun because while going up stairs is difficult, zooming down stairs and slopes far faster than anything in the game can move is just so good. Every disadvantage that comes of her disability comes with some advantages in the right context ;p
Also I ship her with Marina and wish there was an extra ending dedicated just to these two rolling off and living a long, happy life together ;p.
Olivia is great, but the unrealistic wheelchair physics break immersion for me. Having realistic wheelchair physics wouldn't make for a very fun game though. (You'd have to leave the wheelchair behind whenever you need to crawl, rolling down stairs would have a 99% chance of causing severe injuries)
@@EpicEverz Honestly the wheelchair just going into your video game inventory doesn't even mess with my immersion anymore lol the hammerspace is just that naturalised I don't even think about it.
I would love to hear your thoughts on Clara Sesemann from Heidi (1974), I feel like that show has so much more depth than one would expect given the genre (e.g. I had not picked it up when I watched it as a kid, but on a recent rewatch I realised that, during her staying in Frankfurt, Heidi is suffering from a form of severe depression and it takes a doctor to assess the gravity of the situation).
Some examples of people with disabilities came to my mind while watching this, but I feel many don't delve much into the subject.
Spoiler alert.
I thought about Violet Evergarden, which uses prosthetic arms and this is important in leading the character to work as a writer and making the action scenes in the end more dramatic, but thorough the story it is used more as a hint of her background for other people and is shadowed in importance to the very own character in comparison with her "emotional scars", so to say.
Also Hayate Yagami from Lyrical Nanoha A's, which begins in the series in a wheelchair due to a magical book draining her forces, but at the end is able to walk after kinda of turning into the book's master. I think the show was capable of demonstrating in most episodes how she was still able to be happy and make friends without caring about her condition, and that the final scene of her walking by herself served as a increment to a emotional conclusion. But I also understand if the end may not be much relatable to some people watching (maybe to those who have some curable disease, but not to those paralyzed).
An interesting case maybe is Doned, from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. He is in a wheelchair in the beginning of the game due to an unnamed disease, but is teleported with the other kids to Ivalice where he can walk, and due to this he does not want to return to the real world, confronting his older brother because of that. This makes most people actually dislike the main character for wanting to drag everyone back, while he is at first the only one who wants that.
GoT maybe does a good work of portraiting people with disabilities (and nanism as well), in the sense that they have difficulties that are never really "fixed" but still have active roles (thinking about Bran, Aemon and Jaime especially).
The Ranking of Kings also is interresting, in intentionally discussing the way people with disabilities dealing with them may be a sign of their inner strenght, but the message is somewhat lost after the main character gets to do fine in unrealistic ways and too early on (getting a friend that magically can translate everything he wants to say, and learning a fighting style that makes him super strong). It kinda of turns away the premisse of the story, and ends up telling that physical prowerss really matters at the end. Still, it shows that doing things your way is the way to go.
I'd be interested to see you do a follow up to this discussion focusing on non-physical disabilities if you're up for that, particularly for authentically representing disabilities that don't make sense to yet have a name in your world - for example if it's historical fiction and you've got an autistic character. But it's a good discussion for sure.
Wow, super surprised you didn't talk about Brandon Sanderson...he does excellent representation with disability. Tress of the Emerald Sea has a deaf character. Stormlight Archives has a wheelchair user, amputee, ASD and mental illness. I know he uses sensitivity readers(I hope that's the right title but basically someone who is that disability helping them get it right). Also while some get healed but others keep their disability because they view of themselves.
The thing i wish I'd see is more diversity within the disability. Just because your disabled doesn't mean everyone is disabled like you. Blindness is a spectrum, some are completely blind some have vision left. I'm legally blind, but it's mainly my visual field is down to 10%. I like to say I've got enough vision to be dangerous.
*wears glasses*
"I'm not physically disabled."
I dont mean to be mean. I know there's different severity of disability but I think 'partial' blindness or something similar is still a disability. You do use a glasses to see after all.
"I am not disabled myself"
Do glasses not count as a disability aid?
Honestly, that is kind of weird, how glasses have become so mainstream that we don't even think of bad eyesight as a disability anymore. Even though a lot of us would barely be able to function in the world without them.
@@EpicEverz It's because a) near-sightedness has become an epidemic, so it's really normalized and b) easily corrected with an aid and one can live a very normal life.
It's a good argument for the social model of disability, which states that disability isn't inherent but something that's created by society and the barriers that keep disabled people from fully partaking in society. I don't fully agree with that, but the way we view myopia shows that there is more to disability than just a biological impairment.
A world without disabled people is, quite frankly, a boring one. Like a world without people of color or LGBT+ people. Who wants a word where everyone is the same? I don't!
I'm pretty sure there's more to people than their body, mental capacity, skin color, gender identity, or who or what they want to fuck, and you thinking non character defining and shallow traits are all that matters is worrying.
Some of the best overtly coded autistic representation that I’ve personally encountered includes Entrapta from Netflix’s SHE-RA and Futaba Sakura from PERSONA 5 ROYAL!
I think Entrapta is a very fun bit of representation, but idk if I'd call her good representation.
Because the show infantilizes her a LOT.
From implying that she basically doesnt understand moral issues to literally putting her on a leash so she doesnt run off...
She is probably my favourite character of the show, but she has a lot of issues.
Melehan from our show lost his good arm before the story even begins.
You dont understand how important yhis video is to me
I also think it’s important since if they aren’t, disabled people are only “allowed to exist.” in contemporary settings which is super boring. Give me more ADHD time travelers, more OCD Wizards struggling with their past, more autistic protagonists who don’t need a map to get around a fantasy world.
...some of us with ASD don't actually have no sense of location. Or it is kind of broken. Without Google Maps, I wouldn't be able to find the stores in my tiny town. Or my way home. But I guess that if a character in a story was like me, that would probably be pretty annoying after a while. :)
I envy those autistic people who are in the other end of the scale with their sense of location.
@@Elora445 This, here. I use landmarks in some cases to help if I know the places well (my hometown) but otherwise I am screwed without google or someone to navigate.
Vader to me is so. i dont know how to put it. he's probably the character with the most disabeling aspects ive interacted with, with the multiple prosthetics with limited mobility, assisted breathing and speech, need of a feeding tub and of spending a lot of time healing in a bacta tank (for all of those 20 years he wore the suit), even the suit itself is not great, it's incredibly heavy, has an outside shutdown system to further disable him at will, and is hackable, not to mention the pain (initially forced by sidious, who you could claim is likely ableist, but then accepted as pratice by vader himself, the pain is not only limited to the wearing of the suit itself but the various procedures and surgeries involved, performed without anesthesia and with a conscious patient), and even his connection with the force is affected by all of this, which for someone brought up as a jedi could be argued to be a disabilty as well. and yet none of this is really mainstream knowledge of the character, it's buried in novels comics and sourcebooks, which most fans will never read. i dont really know what my point with this ramble is, but i think it's a shame that vader's disability is so often ignored by people. sorry for the long ass comment no one asked for and im sure someone else in the comments has addressed this already. love the video and channel
People like the first poster feel like they'd say something like
"Pokémon trainer who needs a wheelchair because she's got paraplegia?
Why doesn't she just use a Paralyze Heal?"
15:35 total monster, we're cancelled Anthony!
I don’t have a physics disability (besides glasses) but I am neurodivergent. I wish more fiction showed positives and negatives instead of either showing it giving characters super powers or making them incompetent. ADHD fricken SUCKS sometimes- including its “superpowers.” Yes, I may be able to hyper focus for hours, but it is almost never on what I NEED to be focusing on and it is often physically taxing as I forget to eat or sleep. Yes, I may be able to come up with creative ideas, but it’s hard to focus on then long enough to bring the to fruition. For me at least these ideas can also be nearly physically painful to not immediately get it on paper , to not immediately start working on them. Yes,I may be able to make connections, but this can make conversations difficult as I jump from one topic to another. Yes, I can be super energetic sometimes but it can be at inopportune times (before going to bed, in a place your expected to sit still, etc.). Yes, I am quite empathetic, but it makes it so second-hand embarrassment or other strong emotions physically painful to watch/read. Yes, I can come up with many different ways to solve a problem, but this can keep me from actually DOING anything as I’m overwhelmed by choices.
The problem with showing neurodivergence as “super powers” is two-fold. The first is that it dismisses the valid frustrations that come along with them (as I explained above). “Look on the bright side- these characteristics make you special!” The world- and its systems- were designed to work best for “normal” (neurotypical) people. This makes my life harder as I need to work around the parts of me that doesn’t fit- the “special” part of me. Showing only the good side makes it seem like one is simply being negative when they become justifiably frustrated at having the disorder and needing to put so much more effort to simply exist.
This goes into the second point- it paints those don’t succeed/struggle to be useful to society as being “lazy” or “not trying hard enough.” This is more seen with autism/autism-coded characters but the idea is similar. If I’m not using these “super powers” to be useful to society- if I’m not reality’s equivalent to super genius hacker- I am a failure. If I struggle to BECOME someone “useful” I am simply being lazy. After all, I should be able to wield these abilities as one might a sword, and find a place in the system where they will flourish. This (character/real life person) did.
On the other hand, I and other neurodivergent people aren’t incompetent. We don’t have nor need a pass to be jerks just because we struggle with social interaction and relationships. We may need help sometimes understanding what we missed/didn’t understand , but it’s not something we aren’t able to figure out. Many of us have- life had taught us in one way or another. We also aren’t automatically stupid because we struggle with a “normal” task or with focusing. The ADHD character (coded and explicitly diagnosed) are often shown as airheads- ones unable to focus long enough or simply too stupid to learn anything. This isn’t true- while focus is a problem, we still have the intelligence and ability to learn. It just might need to be taught in a slightly different way.
The reason many characters end up dropping into this black-and-white characterization is because of WHAT their character arches are focused on and what role they are often used in the story. The character’s specific conflict is almost always a struggle with relationships/socializing. They show the character’s horrible understanding of social cues, their annoying hyperactivity or the effect their lack of focus/ not listening affects those around them and not much else. To seem balance, writers often overcompensate, making their “super powers” both effortless and always positive. This is also often used to make up for how “mean” or “unfocused/silly” the character is otherwise- to help explain why this character is with this person or group. These characters are often used as comic relief as well- the social awkwardness or lack of focus being the joke.
My advice for anyone trying to avoid falling into these tropes is to switch what the primary conflict of these characters to something other than JUST interpersonal relationships. Make it so the character struggle is to learn a skill they find boring. Have their hyper focus affecting their abilities. You can (and probably should) have the character still struggle with socializing, but don’t make it their ONLY struggle. Be careful if you decide to involve them in comic relief. Make sure it goes beyond just “ha,ha, person said/did something wrong/mean or “ha,ha, the neurodivergent character didn’t get it.” Ask if this joke would make sense/be funny if the character was neurotypical. If the joke/set up doesn’t or it would make the character look like a jerk, then it probably should be cut or changed.
I have a cleft lip and cleft palete I wish there more characters in fiction with my condition. It doesn't even need to be the main character or have to be a vocal point in the story
15:35 To quote Sonic: "Big Oof!"
I think the first example was more of an example like in a world where you can waive your hand in the repair bones. The likely that there is some sort of magic system that could help with muscular problems or or neurological issues I think would be pretty high if they have that level of magic System. Just to play devils advocate for this guy but I think that’s what his point was. Harry Potter is a great example of that like it seems very obvious like that they can cure basically anything with magic unless it’s like curses or mental illnesses. They literally have a drug that makes you regrow your bones, which is crazy to think about like that’s such a common issue.
8:42 His point wasn’t that he has a problem with a wheelchair being in the thing is a problem with a modern looking wheelchair. He literally said that like this whole thing just comes across as bad faith even if the guy was coming across his bad faith too it doesn’t make you guys look good if you’re just skimming over the point.
19:55 it is not eugenics or at least an unethical eugenics to say you know this shitty gene that basically causes my life misery or my case one day my immune system will start killing me could be tomorrow. Could be in 30 years yeah that doesn’t keep me up at all night at all. if I could get rid of that gene entirely out of the human race, I would do it in a heartbeat and I think the world would be a better place. And I’m positive a bunch of people who have horrible muscular or neurological illnesses, or mutations would say the same.
I love disabilities in fantasy. It’s fascinating to wonder how the people would have aids and such. Though I’d like to see more mental disabilities in fantasy, such as autism. Imagine how powerful an autistic wizard would be? I do know autism isn’t just "know everything" as I have it myself, having the fallbacks of ASD in the character would be amazing too
I'm grinning ear to ear. Knowing I've got an autistic Fox Frost Sorcerer starring in my comic.
Ehh, as someone with autism, I don't actually like that idea. It just contributes more to the destructive idea of the "genius savant" stereotype that is associated with the disability. Modern perception of ASD is that you're either a genius savant or a drooling idiot and I'd honestly like to see more characters like Laios from Delicious in Dungeon. He's a average person who simply has ASD and that's far more relatable than yet another autistic savant.
@@kaijuultimax9407 If you completely read my comment you would see that I would like an ASD character with the fallbacks of being autistic along with advantages. It would be nice to not just have a wizard but also a paladin or knight
@@Darkloid21 Maybe some people want representation in media? Maybe some people want just ONE character where they autistic character isn’t sheldon cooper or the good doctor
A bit different, but i created a mostly non-verbal autistic elf rogue in DND. Her name is Lilith. Shoemaking is her special interest. She's very good at being sneaky, and she's a decent fighter, but she is easily overstimulated by loud noises and I actually worked out a mechanic with my DM to see if she can avoid a meltdown when they happen, similar to how Caleb's PTSD is handled in Campaign 2 of Critical Role. Lilith is honestly one of my favorite dnd characters i've ever made, i had so much fun with her. DND can actually be a cool place to explore disability, as long as your DM is willing to work with you on it. Also I am actually autistic, by the way.
It's weird that sci fi leans into disabilities a lot for characters while fantasy doesn't as much. I really think something like FMA is a gold standard for it though.
I thought it was very cool when Orochimaru couldnt use his arms in Naruto and had to fight with his legs, but that didnt last too long.
I love the idea that characters in a medieval fantasy wouldn’t be able to figure out wheelchairs. It’s a chair. With wheels. This is not an unintuitive concept. Even the “make the wheels big so the person in it can use there arms to move it on their own” part isn’t hard to figure out if the fantasy society is the type to not immediately dismiss and neglect people who become unable to use their legs. Yes, dress it up to fit the setting. But it’s a wheelchair. It’s not some super high tech fancy thing that we need to rationalize the concept of with the greatest minds of the fantasy setting.
While I personally don’t have a horse in this race, I had an older sibling who was born disabled, so I wanna say _something_, you know.
Personally I think it’s a fine idea, it makes sense that there would be disability rep in fiction, being disabled is nothing new even as a species.
But I feel like you still need to add in some kind of spice to it depending on the context.
General stuff like how the physically can travel around by the changes in a location, stuff like ramps and the like. Or the more fantastical, like how a simple wheelchair can be something more fitting of a setting. Plus there’s factoring in how an able bodied person who ends up with a disability and how that affects them, or even someone who’s born with a disability.
I never get why people are now up in arms with disabilities in fantasy, the Blind badass troupe has been popular for years, Augus is my all time favorite but Daredevil, Toph and Hyakkimaru are also awesome. And even without Full Metal Alchemist as an example, character prosthetics and even movement aids have been popular for years, Naruto, Bleach, JJK, all have disabled characters who are popular.
Fantasy prosethics that dont exist or represent actual prosthesis methods or the difficulty of adapting to a prosthesic doesnt represent disabled people
It's probably dudebros who want everything to be a white cishet macho power fantasy for them. TV tropes has a trope page called "handicapped badass" and that was a page that was around for a while. It's an established trope so the reason they are suddenly freaking out about disabled badasses in fantasy is pretty clearly because they believe it undermines their isekai harem fantasy.
@@RozenGermain Honestly that would explain a lot, I can't imagine any true fan of fantasy causing a ruckus but someone trying to live out some personal Fantasy nonsense makes sense.
@@sternritternovad Fun Fact: I looked for the trope page I mentioned and it was made in 2008. It's definitely been an established trope for even longer too. These people are absolutely the types who care about their own wet dreams more than they do good writing.
@@RozenGermain Here's another fun fact Zatoichi was made in 1962, and influenced a lot of blind swordsman fiction said influence is still felt to this day.
Says hes not disabled but wears glasses lol
Nah but real talk vision impairment is a disability because for alot of people the only reason they can see clearly is because of glasses! So dont discount them!!
Yeah, before I went through eye surgery, I was so near-sighted that I could only see clearly about ten centimeters/one decimeter from my eyes. Completely useless without my glasses. What I had was definitely a disability. If someone took my glasses, then I could barely see anything, period. The world was a blur.
I recently was thinking about any disabled characters I've made.
This does seem in kind for what I am currently trying map out a bit before writing. I was inspired by queerness and experience with neuro diversity for a setting that a minority of people turn into monsters, all the classics that still have human aspects. And I want to involve difficulties of a different body, to discrimination.
My current thoughts would be people have the change appear at puberty, so one would suddenly turn into something like a centaur, mermaid or dulahan. Although the demons don't often show physical changes until adulthood, but might not ever know except for having difficulties with the magic that typical humans are all good at. I want it baked in the society uses a typical society, with those who don't could have a disability with their body, mind and magic. But in turn have different magic that can do things.
My sticking point at the moment is trying to figure out the late 20th century like setting. Where the not "monster" population can pretty easilly use a light magic has some level of social communication and use other magic items like constructs. But on paper is meant to be becoming inclusive and changing from a more openly discriminatory past with more modern inventions.
As an example, I want vampires to be a stand in for immune deficiencies, without being offensive. For starters in not instinctively a danger, and being more at risk to light magic. And the undeath being a extra step, that is the opposite of a prolonged lifespan, outside of misconceptions.
"The idea of Vader's armor is that it's uncomfortable to him on purpose" that's cannon? Oh no.
I was gonna...I was gonna do a character that was basically a Darth Vader who's suit hurts them because they're in a belief system that tells them suffering improves things and they're out here causing suffering and thinking "yeah we really helped those guys by hurting them and taking they're stuff, now they'll struggle and that struggling...will make them strong."
It was a parody of Conservativism, you see.
Now you tell me this is actually happening in Star Wars by itself.I can't when did this happen, somebody stop it.
Happened in the original legends. Vader even makes a better suit but never switched becase that means putting trust in paplpatined surgeons. So he has thus clunky suit full of pins that are designed to keep him irritated and thus hooped up in dark side force power
Another disabled fantasy character is raistlin majere from dragon lance chronicles
Toph is rep done right, shes blind and earthbending doesnt give her that sight back, it gives her a new perspective she otherwise wouldnt have without being blind. They also never give another character Tophs groundsense, because its not a magic power; its literally her just using the same magic powers everyone else has in a way that specifically helps her.
Actually, Aang and Tophs daughters were shown to be able to use groundsense, naturally all of them learned it from Toph.
@@Bionickpunk I dont think that brings down how unique groundsense is, its not just a natural thing all earthbenders can learn, Toph specifically has to teach it to people because they otherwise wouldnt come up with it on their own, because they arent blind. Im okay with her children having it because it was taught, not a passed off power. Its not really a power, its understanding Toph yanked from her own life experiences.
@@BionickpunkToph's daughters actually don't know their fathers. Aang? WTF are you talking about?
@@SpaceBoyDigitalYes, Toph just teach others how to use metalbending and groundsense. At old age, her groundsense became even more powerful.
The fundamental issue is that when you include disabilities for "representation" or get upset if they are portrayed as negative, which many disabilities ARE (they are not a badge; people who have them would rather not and are severely hindered by having it), you're romanticizing them, basically not representing them at all since you're refusing to portray the reality of living with them honestly.
7:30 this I just find extremely dishonest, typical internet guy "found a random image and acting like an expert" (and telling people to "do research" when they have done none, lol). That is a picture of Confucius (NOT disabled) in a WHEELED CART (basically a pushed rickshaw) by a 17th century artist (which they grabbed directly from Wikipedia's Rickshaw article so they KNOW they are lying). This person acts like this is the same as self propelled wheelchairs being invented in 6(!!) century BC. They downright refuse to engage with what challenges with accessibility would be like for a disabled person in that era.
I always kinda figured that with Avatar (blue people), Cameron intended to paint the narrative as a "oh hey, we treat our troops like shit, huh?" but I think that intent could have been kept without infantilizing Sully or removing his disability. God does that movie have a paper thin plot
Avatar is a setting with eugenics, thats how you get the Avatar program, engineered life with mixed DNA of human hosts and the Navi. It a setting where physical disabilities and disfigurments can be cured or healed, life expectancy prolonged, mapped the entire human brain to an extent that they can copy memories on a hard disk, but most of it is inaccessibly to commoners of the overcrowded and polluted Earth. And I disagree that it has a paper thin plot, that type of conclusions usually come from people that disregard the movies cause "humpf, super successful alien smurf movie made by this director I hate".
So if a healing spell only speeds up the body's natural systems, could you use it to work out by making recovery take minutes? Could you speed up pregnancies? Does the spell give the body superspeed, or is it time magic?