Announcing: Festibility! Please Signal Boost!

[sasha_feather]

Announcing access_fandom’s first Fanworks Festival, Festibility!

What: Hosted by access_fandom, Festibility is a fandom festival accepting all kinds of fanworks (fic, meta, art, icons, podfic, vids, recs, picspams, drabble sets etc) about disabled characters. Works can focus on canonically disabled characters or canonically able-bodied characters that you reimagine as disabled. Pieces can be as long or short as you like.

When: July 15 to September 15, 2010 (for those who work best under deadlines). Yes, this starts one week from today!

How: We’ll make a post soliciting prompts from you tomorrow! Prompts can be general or fandom-specific. Feel free to respond to prompts with commentfic, or use them for longer works posted during the festival posting period. You don’t have to claim particular prompts to post, and claiming a prompt does not mean you’ve committed to posting a fanwork filling it. You can also post fanworks without filling any prompt--basically, anything goes!

ETA: Here is the prompts post!

Who: For Festibility, your mods are kaz, lightgetsin, sasha_feather, and were_duck. Any and everyone is welcome to participate!

We will also host a beta pool of folks willing to check other folks’ fanworks for portrayals of disability. This is entirely volunteer and optional, though we ask that participants make a strong effort and do their research in order to create positive and affirming portrayals of characters with disabilities. Your mods will do our best to provide resources to help you reach this goal!

Please note that you can post links to fanworks or recs in this community at any time. The end date of this festival is when your mods will stop cheerleading; it does not mean that you have to stop posting. This is intended to be a low-pressure festival.

Please watch this community for more information. Leave comments here or contact one of the mods listed above with any questions or concerns.



Canonically Disabled Characters in Fandom-- A starter list

Felix Gaeta (Battlestar: Galactica)
Professor Xavier (X-Men)
Scott Summers (X-Men)
Logan and Max (Dark Angel
Sookie Stackhouse (True Blood)
John Locke (Lost)
Oracle
Daredevil
Artie (Glee)
Jake Sully (James Cameron’s Avatar)
Geordi LaForge (ST: TNG)
Capt. Christopher Pike (Star Trek: TOS/reboot)
Kerry Weaver (ER)
Greg House (House)
Monk (Monk)
Dr. Gabriel Fife (Private Practice)
Dr. Al Robbins (CSI)
Joe Dawson (Highlander)
Toph Bei Fong (A:TLA)
Johnny Smith (Dead Zone)
John Watson (Sherlock Holmes 2010)
Thakur Baldev Singh (Sholay)
Alex Krycek (X-Files)
Xander Harris (Buffy)
Augustus Hill (Oz)
Joey Lucas (West Wing; a prominent guest star)
President Bartlet (West Wing)
Pete Thornton (MacGyver)
Riddick (Pitch Black, Chronicles of Riddick)
Toothless (How To Train Your Dragon)

ETA from comments:
Kevin (Joan of Arcadia)
Miles Vorkosigan (Vorkosigan series)
Diana Reid (Criminal Minds)
Scott Macintyre (American Idol)
Cassandra Cain from Batman (DCU comics)
Aquaman
Lex Luthor lost a hand in some continuities
Slade Wilson (DCU comics)
Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist)
Gobber (How to Train Your Dragon)
River Tam (Firefly and Serenity)
Sarah Connor (Terminator 2 and Sarah Connor Chronicles)
Roland (Saved!)
Teo (Avatar: the last airbender)
Lireal (Garth Nix books)

Please see comments for more! Lots of great suggestions!

Comments

also you are totally the awesomest people

[jadelennox]

I can beta.

more people with disabilities who have fandoms:

Eugenides, Megan Whalen Turner's The thief has a physical disability.

Geoffrey from Slings and Arrows has mental illness.

Jeremy's off-screen, never-seen sister Louise in Sports night is Deaf.

Curtis in Twitch city has disabling agoraphobia.

Isabel "Izzy" Reubens in Love and Rockets has mental illness.

Also, Bujold books have a lot of disability, not just Miles'. Marc has personality disorder, older Simon has cognitive/memory disabilities, Cazaril has chronic mobility-limiting injury.

[futuransky]

*bounces with excitement*

[executrix]

Walter White Jr. ("Flynn") from Breaking Bad has cerebral palsy. I'm working on a Firefly crossover (yeah, I know) where he's a leading character but I'm not sure if the story counts for the fest.

[elekdragon]

Awesome idea. I hope I have enough energy to participate. :)

(There are a lot of clone troopers from the Star Wars universe with canon disabilities, from PTSD to lost limbs to brain injuries. A lot of the Republic/Imperial Commando books spent time dealing with Fi's brain injury, including physical therapy and learning to speak and walk again. Plus, there's the whole issue where they decide to kill and/or let the clones die if they aren't able to help the war effort anymore. I'd love to see more fic about the soldiers who fought the wars, rather than just the Jedi. Fi, Corr, the Nulls, Alpha... Plus all the "defective" clones who were killed because they didn't "meet standards".)

[inlovewithnight]

Jason Street, Friday Night Lights
James Wa, The Order (Marvel Comics)
Dennis Michael Murray, The Order (Marvel Comics)
Milo Fields, The Order (Marvel Comics)

Awesome fest, I can't wait.

[crossedwires]

Bobby Clark (Kate Shugak series) -- he lost both legs in the Vietnam War, uses a wheelchair

Frank Pembleton (Homicide: Life on the Street) -- he had a stroke

[glass_icarus]

AWESOME. :D

[ghost_lingering]

Oh definitely. And in the more recent anime I think it's safe to say that Armstrong has PTSD from the Ishbal massacre too. Anyway, here are the spoilery characters I was thinking from the manga/second anime (hope this code works):

skip) Warning text goes here.

[ghost_lingering]

Aaaaand wtf. Ok, let me try again:

(skip) Havoc & Lan Fan

[sage]

Tyrion Lannister from George RR Martin's Game of Thrones. Born with dwarfism & congenital defects of legs and spine causing constant chronic pain. I think it could be argued, also, that *everyone* in that 'verse has PTSD.

Graf Stephan von Namtzen, Gabaldon's Lord John Grey series. Lost an arm in the war.

In Wonder Woman: Eyes of the Gorgon, Diana blinds herself.

In the DCU, Rose Wilson (Ravager) blinds herself in one eye, thanks to drug-induced psychosis from her dad's super-power cocktail. /o\

[jalendavi_lady]

Sarah from Jane Lindskold's Brother To Dragons, Companion To Owls
Ageha from Basara
Tesa from Crispin's Starbridge series

[jadelennox]

I agree with this, completely. It's not just fandom; Marvel has a history of writing magical disability analogues (and, to give them credit, actual disability).

Personally I'd like to see primarily things which are disabilities in the real world, and for which the disability exists in canon, but not my fest. :D

(Also, I agree with you with respect to edge cases as well. Simon Illyan's cognitive disability and Mark Vorkosigan's psychiatric condition both have clear science fiction origins, but after their origin I think they have non-metaphorical existence as real disability.

As opposed to, say, some magical world where everyone except for the protagonist can read minds, in which an character portrayed as able-bodied to contemporary eyes is played as disabled in context.)

[bookshop]

Alan (the Demon's Lexicon series)
Reston & Zampano (House of Leaves)

(will add more later!)

[milleniumrex]

Oh, man, I would love to see an actual exploration of the period where Diana was blind. It was so glossed over in the comics.

[brownbetty]

Adding to the list, John Cooper from Southland.

[jadelennox]

oh! Darryl McAllister from the Diane Duane books Young Wizards series is autistic.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore.

G'Kar in Babylon 5 loses an eye. It's never really played as a disability but that's what fic is for. Although I suppose that by that logic, both father and son Skywalker are amputees.

I saw someone on an online list count Davros of Doctor Who because he's in a wheelchair, although I'm not convinced that that's a disability in context. You could play it that way if you wanted to.

[gloss]

Misty Knight, Marvel comics, lost an arm
Abed Nadir, Community, he's been socially diagnosed as autistic, and certainly exhibits stereotyped traits, but I'm not sure if this counts? At any rate, fic that explores his distinctive sense of being-in-the-world is sorely needed
Pierre Chang, LOST, lost an arm
Mikhail Bakunin, LOST, missing an eye
Hugo "Hurley" Reyes, LOST, institutionalized; struggles with chronic depression and other mental illnesses
Libby Smith, LOST, institutionalized with unspecified mental illness

[gloss]

Marvel has a history of writing magical disability analogues
Yes, and the whole "mutant" dimension adds yet more metaphorical static, I think?

after their origin I think they have non-metaphorical existence as real disability.
I think this is a fantastic guideline, by the way.

[gloss]

I really hope someone writes Thea fic! I love her so much.

[ciderpress]

Walter Bishop, Fringe -- does he count?
Bob Melnikov -- ReGenesis
Jason Street -- Friday Night Lights
Marissa Clark -- Early Edition
Joe Swanson -- Family Guy
Christopher Turk -- Scrubs -- he has diabetes and they talk about it quite a bit, does he count?
Daniel "Lifeguard" Burroughs -- Wiseguy
Eli Cartwright Goggins III -- Ed
Frida Kahlo - (movie) Frida but also RPF!

Oh, what a great challenge!

[mosca]

This is a wonderful idea. Thanks for running it!

Kerry Weaver's name is spelled like I just spelled it.

People have done a great job of naming almost everyone I could come up with, but:
Payson Keeler (Make It Or Break It)
Jenna Cavanaugh (Pretty Little Liars - books and TV show)

[theletterfour]

He's kind of a minor character, but I'm sure there are fans of him - Alberto Reyes from DC Comics (Blue Beetle's dad) walks with a cane.

[isis]

Motholeli (The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series)
Lt. Bush (Horatio Hornblower)

[sasha_feather]

Yes, absolutely!

[milleniumrex]

Fa Zhou, Mulan's father from the Disney version of Mulan, walks with a limp and cane from an old war injury.

Also, Jason Bard, a PI from DC Comics, has a limp and was temporarily blind at one point.