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

[asimaiyat]

Exciting! :D

I would like to add Lisbeth Salander from Steig Larsson's Millennium Trilogy to the list.

[wisdomeagle]

svollga reminds me:

RENT: Angel, Collins, Roger, Mimi and April are all HIV+

I am a big fan of older characters, and it occurs to me that things we call disabilities in the young seem natural in the old. Nonetheless:

Miss Marple (Agatha Christie novels, rheumatoid arthritis)
Mimi Kishi (Babysitters Club, post-stroke cognitive and physical impairments)

deleted and reposted repeatedly for dw newbie coding fail.

[softestbullet]

Elim Garak (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) (claustrophobia -- and he's played by an actor w/ claustrophobia!)

[atalantapendrag]

The Heretic from Kage Baker's Empress of Mars
Sato from Welcome to the NHK
Creb from Clan of the Cave Bear
Kyle Chutsky and Sgt. Doakes from the Dexter novels
Claudius from I, Claudius (also from real life, of course)

[trinity_clare]

If you go with some of the fanon for post-series Dark Angel, the entire X series has Max's tryptophan deficiency, so that might make an interesting fic.

[livrelibre]

Awesome!

Alternate Astrid Farnsworth from Fringe (Asperger’s)
Cougar from The Losers (PTSD in the comics)

[executrix]

USA has a series debuting on the 13th, "Covert Affairs," in which Christopher Gorham plays Auggie Anderson, a blind CIA analyst.

[duskpeterson]

Two questions:

Most of what I write is original fiction: slash, gen, and het. Does that qualify for the fest?

Most of my disabilityfic is set in fantasy and historical fantasy worlds where views on disability are unenlightened. Everybody, including the disabled folks, are using "ableist or other oppressive pejoratives such as 'lame'," because that's the accepted language in their culture, and they're living decades or centuries before pejorative language has become a societal concern. Am I understanding correctly from your rules about language that this is the wrong community for that type of fiction?

[katta]

Ooh, look at this! How awesome!

To start with some chars I've already written (and no, this isn't a lazy excuse to bring out old fic *g* rather a way to make others write them too), these could be added to the list:

Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, Angel AU episode "Birthday" (Yes, I know, one episode, but it's a whole universe to play in!)
Lee MacAvoy, Doctor Who (guest character)
Garrett, Quest for Camelot
Gus Pike, Road to Avonlea
J.J. Fredricks, SeaQuest - and Dagwood too, come to think of it.
Ross Tanner, Second Sight
Nick Andros, The Stand
Ike McSwain, The Young Riders
Artie Maddicks, X-men universe
Felipe (or in other versions, Bernardo), Zorro

*goes off to read prompts*

[lizzy_someone]

West Wing:
Leo McGarry (alcoholism and other addiction)
Hoynes (alcoholism)
CJ's father (Alzheimer's)

House:
Wilson (at least at one point he's on antidepressants)

Enderverse:
Bean (some kind of fictional genetic condition, if that counts)

Havemercy/Shadow Magic:
Caius Greylace (blind in one eye)

Wicked:
Elphaba (you might say she has aquaphobia?)
Nessarose (born without arms in the book; has arms but uses a wheelchair in the musical)

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
Marvin (depression)

Angels in America:
Prior Walter (HIV+)

United States of Tara:
Tara (Dissociative Identity Disorder)

[alara]

Magneto from the X-Men comic books specifically has been described as having a mental illness brought on by the overuse of his powers; from his behavior in the comics, it seems to be similar to bipolar disorder. He also clearly has PTSD from his experiences surviving the Holocaust, although it's never been specifically stated as such in canon. This doesn't necessarily apply to other versions of Magneto from canons like the cartoons or the movie.

Would the quaddies from the Vorkosiganverse count? In their own environment, they're not disabled at all, but under gravity, they require wheelchairs or other adaptations for mobility.

I'd also like to point out that any explicitly albino character from any "real-world" canon *should* have incredibly poor vision (Elric doesn't count, he obviously has fantasy albinism that results in physical weakness but perfect vision), so in theory characters like Silas from The Da Vinci Code or Billy from the Charlie Bone novels can be written as having the disability of low vision, even if their canon doesn't explicitly say so.

[true_statement]

Has anyone mentioned Billy Black (Twilight)?

[lauredhel]

Billy Chenowith from Six Feet Under
Tiny Tim from A Christmas Carol
Colin in The Secret Garden (perhaps without the 'cure'?)
The grandparents in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Danny's Dad (William Smith) in Danny the Champion of the World (while he has the broken leg - maybe it's worse than it looks?)
Beth in Little Women
Pollyanna
David in Four Weddings and a Funeral
Joan in Army Wives

[sidhebeingbrand]

I'm curious about Riddick's classification as disabled-- not arguing, just curious where the lines go-- does it refer to his altered eyesight?

[sidhebeingbrand]

Oops, PS: Disabled characters of the dresden files include Harry Dresden and his severely burned hand (currently healing, but he spent two books with very limited use in it) and Michael Carpenter, now blind in one eye and with an unspecified leg injury that has left him using a cane.

[sqbr]

Carl Fredricksen from "Up"

Given my icon you'd think I'd have thought of this sooner :)

[unflexible]

No one has mentioned Sue Sylvester's sister Jean, or cheerleader Becky from Glee -- both of whom have Down Syndrome. (I can't say I'm very surpised -- most characters with developmental disabilities seem to be invisible to fandom. Probably because the number of people with Down Syndrome who also actively participate in fandom is tiny, if not non-existent.)

I noticed someone mentioned Forrest Gump -- I would approach movie-Forrest with great care because that portrayal is full to the brim with "magical retarded guy" fail.

[milleniumrex]

This is a strange example, because I thought canon did a HORRIBLE job with him, but Sean, from Glee - Finn's friend who has quadriplegia. In the show, he was basically a prop, lying in bed and talking about his accident to illustrate that Rachel's situation (laryngitis) wasn't that bad.

Terrible episode, but if someone was to want to try to flesh out the character, it could make for excellent ficcage.

Question

[redfiona99.livejournal.com]

Would a chronic long-term condition like arthritis be considered a disability for this festival?

[justineith.livejournal.com]

Another "does this count" question: Are characters dealing with alcoholism/addiction/recovery included?

[wisdomeagle]

Grey's Anatomy: Chief Richard Webber; recovering alcoholic; Ellis Grey; Alzheimer's.

California Diaries by Ann M. Martin: Maggie Blume, anorexia, and Alex Snyder, severe depression.

Anne of Green Gables: Marilla Cuthbert, vision problems, chronic headaches.

[binz]

For The Dresden Files, as well as physical disabilities there are a bunch of characters with a range of unspecified and broadly hinted at (night terrors, phobias) mental illnesses post-magical conflict and attack, including:

Karrin Murphy, Daniel Carpenter, Elaine Mallory, Rosie Marcella and Nelson, Anastasia Luccio, theoretically the entire Senior Council and most of the wardens.

Justine is alluded to having an unspecified mental illness since childhood.

[thingswithwings]

I was thinking about Stephen King characters with disabilities - partially because he tends towards "magical disabilities" (or, sometimes, for a change, "creepy disabilities") in his fiction, and so a lot of them could use some fic to fix these problems! I thought of:

Nick Andros (The Stand)
Tom Cullen (The Stand)
Leo "Joe" Rockway (The Stand)
Donald Merwin Elbert, "The Trashcan Man" (The Stand)
Polly Chalmers (Needful Things)
Danforth "Buster" Keaton (Needful Things)
Nettie Cobb (Needful Things)
Slopey Dodd (Needful Things)
Dinah Bellman (The Langoliers)
John Coffey (The Green Mile)
Paul Sheldon (Misery)
Jack Torrance (The Shining)
Danny Torrance (The Shining)
Johnny Smith (The Dead Zone)
Seth Garin (The Regulators)

[simonejester]

Signal boosted here and at LJ. This should be fun!

I'd also like to add Manuel Garcia O'Kelly Davis (aka "Manny" or "Man") from Robert Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. He's missing part of his arm and has several prosthetics for various uses.

[gorgeousnerd]

I wrote a fic that doesn't fill a prompt, but I want to share. Should I post it in the main community, or link in the prompt post?