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

[sasha_feather]

There are very few requirements for this fest! You can write whatever you want, however you want. I would agree that River is pretty clearly disabled and it doesn't matter how (although, because I'm a pedant, I think Simon describes her as having schizophrenia in one episode). I would love to see fic about Sarah Connor in this fest! Sookie's disability is a magical one, as are several others on that list. Diagnosis is not so important in my particular worldview. I would like to see you write a character with OCD! If you want to.

[rhivolution]

Thanks, both you and were_duck!

I'd like to write, but I'm still trying to finish my Racebending fic, and I have My Big Fat Hetero Wedding coming up. Hopefully I'll find time for at least a ficlet!

[damned_colonial]

Any of the major characters from Being Human (but especially George and Annie) could be considered as having magical disabilities. But I wonder a bit about that... both George and Annie really seem to be portrayed in that sort of way, I think, but Mitchell's vampirism is shown kind of differently. And now I'm wondering whether vampirism/being a werewolf/etc are disabilities for the purpose of the challenge? Do you want to go there?

[jalendavi_lady]

That might depend on how society views them and/or what side-effects their condition has.

Even if the wizarding world in Harry Potter didn't have a strong anti-werewolf societal bias, I think I'd personally count Remus Lupin as disabled on the basis of just how much the full moon takes out of him (at least in movie canon) even when he takes the anti-transformation potion.

[rydra_wong]

And now I'm wondering whether vampirism/being a werewolf/etc are disabilities for the purpose of the challenge? Do you want to go there?

This reminds me of the "is Gaila a person of colour?" question that came up a while back.

There are definitely fictional characters whose magical conditions are treated very much as metaphorical disabilities. But fandom doesn't seem to have any hesitations writing about those; it's fic dealing with real-world disabilities that tends to be in short supply.

Inevitably there are going to be some blurry boundaries (you have some characters, like River, where a real-world disability -- mental illness -- has an sf/f cause), and there are going to be cases where people disagree.

But personally, I'd like it if the festival encouraged people not to go the "being a ghost is totally a disability!" route.

[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.)

[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.

[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.