Torn World Characters with Disabilities

[ysabetwordsmith]

I got to talking about Torn World with trouble who suggested that I copy here the list of TW characters with disabilities.  Torn World is a shared world project, science fantasy with an emphasis on time-bending technology, in which a bunch of writers and artists and worldbuilders collaborate to create a large and intricate web of creative goodies.  For one reason and another, we've built up a significant number of characters living with handicaps.  Come and meet some of them...

Alko is a Southerner, a retired soldier who walks with a limp.  This character is one I created and own.  He figures into Rai's story arc.

Kalitelm is a Northerner, a healer who has a crippling form of dwarfism.  She is adoptable and appears in a bunch of stories, linked on the character page.  Here's one of mine:
"The Song of the Wind, the Sigh of the Willows" (publically visible)

Marai is a Northerner, a childcare worker who is deaf.  I did most of the construction on this character, and she is adoptable.  She appears in several stories; here are a couple of samples:
"A Day of Silence" (publically visible)
"These Teeth, Like Stars" (publically visible)

Rai is a Southerner, a shopkeeper who is legally blind.  I created and own this character.  I've written a couple of stories featuring Rai but they haven't been posted yet.  He does appear briefly in a story about his twin brother, Bai:
"Paper Butterflies: Paper Trail" (publically visible)

Ularki is a Northerner, a pest hunter who is mentally handicapped.  I created this character, and she's adoptable.  She appears in two stories of mine, plus a poem by someone else.
"Odds and Ends" (publically visible)
"The Rats!" (supporters only)

Also worth mentioning is the story "Pretending" (supporters only) in which "The life of a cripple in the Empire isn't exactly what you might think..."

For sake of completion, there is a different form of dwarfism in the Southern Empire, a population with a substantial number of intersexed individuals, and provisions for citizens to change their legal gender identity.  In context these characters aren't generally considered disabled, but some people consider those things to be handicaps; if you count them, you can dig around in the Torn World archives for more information.

Feedback on the accuracy (or possible lack thereof) in these renditions is welcome.  Some of the contributors and canon board members did considerable research to make sure these characters and their conditions were presented in a responsible and plausible manner.  (Bear in mind, though, that neither the Southern nor the Northern culture is a really close match for the world we live in; they handle some things differently than we do, which can work out better or worse.)  We found some good tips and articles about portraying characters with disabilities, but links to more such are always helpful.

Do you want to see more portrayals of characters with disabilities?  Support and encourage the people who create what you like!  If you register as a Torn World member (which is free) then you can leave comments on art or stories, send karma points to favorite contributors, and/or participate in the discussion forums.  If you become a supporter (at various price levels) then part of your fee turns into credits which you can direct to favorite contributors; you can also adopt a character for free.  If you get really hooked and want to contribute, there are options for creating new characters or adopting current ones.  (The cool thing about a shared world project is that it allows interested fans to get involved in creating canon material.  No standing on the sidelines while other folks get to have all the fun.)  Finally, you can watch the Torn World community over on LiveJournal for our Muse Fusion days when we call for prompts -- that's your chance to ask our artists and writers for whatever suits your interests.  Some of the items that come out of a Muse Fusion are posted free, while others first appear as "supporters only" but are available for sponsorship; that gives you another option, sponsoring your favorite stories or illustrations so that everyone can see them.

Vote with your attention and your money.  Those are the most effective ways to get more of the things you consider important.

Comments

[axelrod]

but some people consider those things to be handicaps

I can't speak to dwarfism at all, but I'm angrily curious as to who considers intersexed and transgendered* people to be disabled. That's at best problematic and at worst insulting.

Some trans people describe themselves having been born with a physical defect. However, I'm not sure that many of them would describe themselves as "disabled" on that account, I don't know that this is a majority view, and in any event it doesn't describe all of us by any means. (I'm both trans and disabled and in my experience the two are totally different - burdens, but in totally different ways.)

Personally, I think trans and intersexed people are simply examples of genetic diversity**. We suffer primarily from misgendering, transphobia, and ciscentrism. (Body dysphoria is probably an issue which would be vastly decreased if we were acknowledged as the correct gender from an early age, and if access to an individual's preferred treatment were accessible and socially unproblematic.)

I understand you just want to highlight the variety of characters available, and perhaps there are members of this comm who for one reason or another would in fact be interested in trans or intersexed characters or a fictional world which welcomes the creation of such. However, I think it's a misstep to tack them on to a post about disabled characters. I find the fact that you're willing to acknowledge as legitimate a perspective which labels trans and intersexed people as "disabled" extremely off-putting.


*The two categories are overlapping in some cases but certainly not identical and I understand intersexed people are trying to not be elided with the overall trans population, and for that reason I use both terms.

**There are states/conditions/what-have-you which often are considered disabilities but arguably should not be, but those are separate issues and less straight-forward than I think this one is.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>I can't speak to dwarfism at all, but I'm angrily curious as to who considers intersexed and transgendered* people to be disabled. That's at best problematic and at worst insulting.<<

It's not an opinion I happen to
share, but I've seen it in
multiple places. Gender
dysphoria or transgender has
been listed as a mental illness.
Intersexed infants are often
subjected to reconstructive
surgery to make them look like
one or the other ordinary sex,
usually female, on the premise
that growing up with unusual
genitalia would somehow mar them
for life.

I don't see anything wrong with
diverse gender expression or
diverse bodily configurations.
But not everyone shares that
perspective. What is true
is that being visibly different
tends to limit one's opportunities
due to social pressures -- to
the point of fatality in some
cases -- and in that regard it
can function as a handicap in
practical ways, just because of
how other people react. That's
another angle whereby people
sometimes count these as
handicaps.

I prefer to let people set their
own definitions, and to keep an
eye on what ones are in use.
Whether or not I argue a point
depends on context. In this
case, I listed the characters
that I personally would
consider to have a handicap, and
simply noted that there are
others that might fit someone
else's differing parameters.

YMMV.

Re: Thoughts

[axelrod]

transgender

That's not a noun.

It's not an opinion I happen to
share, but I've seen it in
multiple places.

Oh, those places.

You're citing the psychiatric and medical models, rather than some trend among trans or intersexed people.

The psychiatric is, imo, at best problematic. Trans people have a lot to say on that - it's a complicated issue, but I feel safe predicting that eventually gender identity disorder will be removed from the DSM, just like homosexuality was, and there will a more streamlined way for people to get the treatment they deem necessary.

Surgery on intersexed infants is considered a travesty, a mutilation by the majority of intersexed adults to whom this was done. Though you know enough *facts* that you're probably aware of that too. It's just, you're not interpreting these facts the way I do *or soemthing*: evidence of ciscentrism, of transphobia. Those medical models imply that there is something wrong with us, rather than with people's attitudes toward us.

I prefer to let people set their
own definitions, and to keep an
eye on what ones are in use.

You're paying attention and giving credence to what the medical community is doing and saying, and not how actual intersexed and trans people are describing themselves?

You're eliding "disability" and "intersexed and transgendered" in a way I find troubling and disagree strongly with. ("Handicap" and "disability" aren't appreciably different words, imo. Calling, for example, blindness a disability and the state of being transgendered a handicap doesn't create a meaningful distinction.) Let me put it this way: I want my disability to go away and if I could take a pill that would make it go away I would; I don't want to not be queer but the world as it is makes it difficult. Or let me put it this way: being a lesbian, a PoC, poor, not being fluent in the primary local language are all "handicaps" according to the definition you use (including "to the point of fatalities"): are they disabilities, too?

In your position, I wouldn't list trans and intersexed characters in a context like this because some people (most of them not trans and many of them transphobic) might think of us that way. I think you're erring on the side of too tolerant.