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

[fizzyblogic]

In Dark Angel, there is also Annie!

Jason, from Friday Night Lights, is the only other one I can thing of right now. Oh! Anthony from Dollhouse has PTSD. Um, and there's a character in Glee with OCD, but I don't watch it so I'm not sure of her name. I think it's Emma?

[dirty_diana]

I would love more disability fic for Cam Mitchell! Even in the main SG-1 U, I'd totally buy a story positing that Cam has leftover pain/mobility issues, even just some of the time or kick-started by a secondary injury.

[trialia]

Indeed. I mean, Jack's bad knee from Iraq gets referenced a lot, I don't see why Cam's injuries barely have any time in canon.

[alexseanchai]

Are we counting characters who are canonically disabled for only part of the character's arc? I don't know enough of these fandoms to know. Because if so, Bobby Singer from Supernatural. (Unless he doesn't count because near the end of the season his paraplegia is magically cured.)

[zvi]

An oldie but goodie: Lifeguard from Wiseguy.

Also, Boavista from CSI: Miami appears to have suffered permanent hearing loss.

[rachelmanija]

In terms of PTSD in that series, I would add Derek Reese and Jesse Flores.

[laeria]

Holy wow, Dykes to Watch Out For looks awesome. Thanks for the (unintentional) rec!

[thesecondbatgirl]

Honor Harrington

[sasha_feather]

Yep, that counts! It would be interesting to see stories about such a character who reacts to a magical cure in a negative or conflicted way, who perhaps struggles with the change of identity from disabled to non-disabled. That would really be a cool story.

[sasha_feather]

Everyone counts! :D

[sasha_feather]

After pondering, I would consider a vampire disabled only if ze is disabled compared to other vampires. So, Bill Compton has social anxiety and therefore has trouble going out in the world to feed etc. Eric breaks his teeth and they don't grow back. In True Blood, I would consider Jessica to (metaphorically? but canonically) have some kind of sexual dysfunction that she is dealing with. Same goes for other magical creatures.

[botherd]

Effy Stonem, JJ Jones, and Cassie Ainsworth, all from Skins.

[lo_rez]

Oh! And Charles Audley from An Infamous Army.

[laeria]

Two major characters with acquired disabilities in Song of Ice and Fire - perhaps it's best not to list them here, since it's a fandom that's about to fill with newbies who mightn't appreciate the spoilers. (What with the upcoming televisation.) I hope there'll be lots of (spoiler-marked) prompts about them though.

[bethbethbeth]

Another character I haven't seen on the list...

Alastor Moody (Harry Potter, missing an eye and a leg)

[laeria]

How about some mythology/fairy tales?

Hephaestus (Greek)
Samson (Bible)
The Wild Swans (Hans Christian Andersen)
The Red Shoes (Hans Christian Andersen)

Help! What else.

[alexseanchai]

Yeah, it would be. Unfortunately this particular character isn't suited to such a story. (Suicidal tendencies all through season five, for reasons including that until midway through the season five premiere he was not disabled. Spent at least one night in the penultimate episode of season five going up and down stairs out of sheer joy at being able to. Yeah, that went over about as well with the disabled and aware-of-abled-privilege sections of fandom as you'd expect.)

[jalendavi_lady]

Tiresias (Greek)

[pocketmouse]

Oh, I really want some Doctor Who ones -- there's Davros, obviously, and technically the guy who invented the Cybermen in New Who -- I totally forget his name. Was he disabled or was he primarily just aging? I haven't watched that episode since it aired. And I really want to suggest the Doctor, because that would be interesting to see -- and the communications earpiece he had in The Lodger this season reminded me of a hearing aid, and I think that could be played with. Or should that hold off for prompts?

[sasha_feather]

I loved Roland! Great idea.

The idea of the fest is to encourage new fan works, but I don't have any problem with posting previously written material so that we can all see it/find it. So, yes, it's okay.

[laeria]

The Moirae, technically?

[jalendavi_lady]

Echo (echolalia)

[lo_rez]

Hm. Jaime Sommers? If so, then also Sarah Corvus.

Dexter?

[jadelennox]

I don't remember honor Harrington having any disability. What is it?

[wisdomeagle]

Matt Braddock (Babysitters Club, Deaf)