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

[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.

[ingo]

Marcus Flavius Aquila!!! He was wounded in a Celtic uprising, and the wound wasn't searched properly so he had to have it redone later on. It didn't so much affect his day to day life but it did flare up during his Great Adventure and slowed him down at times, if I remember rightly?

More people should write fic about Marcus Flavius Aquila, omg.

[true_statement]

Has anyone mentioned Billy Black (Twilight)?

[lady_ganesh]

That sounds awesome.

[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

[ariaflame]

Sorry, bad wording. Yes, she did have cancer. And yes there was that story arc, I think I meant by that, that it did not have a fatal conclusion to the story.

[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?

[sasha_feather]

To me Quaddies are the perfect example of the social model of disability: their disability is contextual depending on the environment. So yes they are disabled when they are in an unsuitable environment, and non-disabled in zero-g. This reminds me also of the "Melora" episode of ST: Deep Space Nine, which features a character from a low-gravity environment who is trying to live in higher-gravity places and is therefore disabled. Really fascinating to think about.

[sasha_feather]

Yes, I put him on the list for the reason of his eyesight and his dependence on his welder's glasses to protect his eyes from bright lights. Riddick's name came up as a disabled character of color at a panel I was on recently.

[sidhebeingbrand]

It's an interesting take. I assume he's slightly colorblind due to the color bending, as well.

[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]

Good point, I'm going to have to echo lightgetsin and say "welcome to your own fandom, self" :)

[sqbr]

Carl Fredricksen from "Up"

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

[milleniumrex]

Ooh, interesting. I've actually wanted to write a fic about Jessie taking some damage during the time between Toy Story 2 and 3, and having a near-breakdown because of her fears that she would be abandoned again. I hadn't thought of it as PTSD until now. Thanks!

[bironic]

(Just a note that Thirteen has Huntington's and not Parkinson's)

[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?

Re: Question

[were_duck]

Sure! We take a very inclusive view of 'disability', and that definitely would count, IMO.

Re: Question

[redfiona99.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Right, now to get plotting.

[justineith.livejournal.com]

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

[sasha_feather]

Absolutely! Everyone counts. Here at access_fandom our definition of "disability" tends to be inclusive, so yes, that counts.

[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.

[dirty_diana]

I thought I was the only person still watching Grey's Anatomy! There's also Owen Hunt (PTSD).