disability in fanfic

[were_duck]

Linked from metafandom:

katta writes a great post giving some clues on how not to write deaf characters in fanfic. Some great discussion in comments as well.

Also, katta kindly links to the Disability Fanfic site and the Disability in Fanfiction site, which allows canon disabilities but isn't updated as frequently as the other site. I am about to devote my morning to browsing these.

Thinking back on the disability-related fics I've read, some have had pretty good representations and some not-so-good, but I can't think of any fic in which a character is part of a disability community or is political about it (frex, an AU in which a character is part of the Deaf community, rather than woefully deafened for hurt/comfort purposes in the fic).

Anyone have recs to share for fic in any fandom that features a character with a disability who's written well?

I really enjoyed the Fair Trade series by esteefee, an SGA John/Rodney AU in which John, a war vet with mobility problems after an injury sustained in the war, opens up a fair trade coffeeshop. He meets and slowly falls for Rodney, a brilliant physicist who's hit to bottom rung--designing educational exhibits for schoolchildren. It's a lovely, warm, slow build story, and esteefee does an incredible job with John's chronic pain, portraying him in a way that seems totally realistic and true to the character while still demonstrating the fullness of his character and his life. Really lovely stories. Also, bonus Teyla and Ronon as John's therapist primary care physician and surgeon, respectively! I was worried at first that they'd show up as baristas in his cafe. I also highly recommend wihluta's podfic of the stories--you can download them individually or as a podbook from the audiofic archive!

Comments

[rydra_wong]

Thanks for the clarification -- I wasn't sure if recs that didn't meet the specific condition were invited too :).

If so, is it terribly predictable to rec synecdochic's Broken Wings series? (SG-1 AU, Cameron/clone!Jack, in which Cam didn't recover miraculously from his Antarctica crash and is dealing with mobility impairment and chronic pain)? IMHO, it does a marvellous job of depicting disability as part of everyday life without being the sort of "disabilityfic" where it's the entire point of the story.

[were_duck]

Ooo, awesome. I've actually never read that series (I haven't seen enough of later seasons of SG-1 to seek out fic for it). Thanks for the rec. I've certainly loved her other writing (of course).

[rydra_wong]

I haven't seen enough of later seasons of SG-1 to seek out fic for it

IMHO, it actually requires minimal knowledge of SG-1 past the start of season 7 -- as long as you know about clone!Jack and have a vague idea of who Cam is, you're probably fine to dive in.

[cesy]

Mezzanine is also good, and has more disability stuff.