access_fandom | Entries tagged with meta

When I started working on WisCon access in 2007, some kind soul (name lost) gave me a black teeshirt printed in tactile gold--with both Latin letters and braille. It sang the praises of ELECTRICAL EGGS, who advocated for handicap accessibility in the 1970s and 1980s. I loved the shirt but didn't know their history.

So I was thrilled when the September 2025 Canadian Journal of Disability Studies, volume 14 number 2, starts off with Eric Vero's article:

Oral History of The Electrical Eggs: Science Fiction, Disability Activism, and Fan Conventions

https://cjds.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/cjds/article/view/1262

The journal offers PDF, HTML, and "simplified HTML" versions of each article; all are open access, peer-reviewed, and Creative Commons licensed CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

ABSTRACT

Before the Americans with Disabilities Act was enacted in 1990, American science fiction fans in southern states organized, collaborated, and practiced accessibility at conventions. This grassroots movement began with the work of Samanda B. Jeude and a coalition of other science fiction fans who fought for visibility and access to convention spaces. In this oral history of their organization, “The Electrical Eggs,” I interview two key members decades after their participation in making conventions accessible. I complement these oral sources with brief histories of the role of eugenics and ableism in science fiction and the rise of disability activism in America. Although, the science fiction fandom still faces historical forces like ableism that have been present since its beginnings, the work of the Eggs is a testament to the power of collective action to provide accessibility in fan communities.

sasha_feather

https://www.slashfilm.com/820789/the-problem-with-disfigured-villains-in-pop-culture/

By Kayleigh Donaldson. April 4, 2022

"For decades, we've been trained as viewers to see certain people and traits as evil, disgusting, and pitiable — and that's a problem."

jesse_the_k

Disability and/in/through Fanfiction is the theme of the current issue Canadian Journal of Disability Studies, Vol 8 No 2 (2019). It’s available free online PDF/HTML

http://cjds.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/cjds/issue/view/26

Topics of possible interest to community members include

fic as a gateway to disabled lives
hurt/comfort bingo
non-disabled fans creating disability-theme fic
keywords and search discovery: when you’re looking for disability and all you find is impairment

Articles I appreciated with sample paragraphs

( writing varies from vernacular to academic )

jesse_the_k

Elsa Sjunneson-Henry questions the dearth of disability community in a context where it would naturally thrive: The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina series on Netflix. In the first of snarkbat's Tor.com essays Constructing Blindness she asks why her family seems clueless, since Sabrina’s witchy powers are accompanied by hereditary blindness.

What Sabrina Needs to Do to Depict Blindness Realistically

It’s important to acknowledge that it is scary to lose vision when you don’t know how to cope. Of course it would be frightening to Roz—but what bothers me is that her family treats it like it should be frightening, rather than giving her the adaptive tools to lead a life she’d be happy with. In a family that knows what blindness is like, a holistic approach that would give Roz safety and security seems like something I would expect—and something I’d love to see depicted on screen. A family that copes through knowledge and adaptability; a family (like the one in A Quiet Place) that understands and utilizes interdependence to create access.

katiemariie

Content notice: the linked blog post contains discussion of forced cures, medical and parental abuse, violence, character death, and ableist slurs. Also contains spoilers through "Dana."

The Two-Headed Quarterback: Disabled Identity in Night Vale

katiemariie

Content notice: the linked blog post contains discussion of eugenics, genocide, euthanasia, institutionalization, and major character death. Also, major spoilers for the film.

Star Trek Into Darkness: Able-Bodied Angst and Abrams’ Anti-Intellectualism

sasha_feather

cantarina: (no subject) My discomfort with h/c as a genre can be summed up as...

terajk

For

month_of_meta I'm doing a series on disability in Atasushi Ohkubo's manga and Soul Eater. It has that lovely "problem" where there are a bunch of characters with disabilities in the cast, so...meta series!

There's two posts so far. Warning for both: This REALLY HUGE SPOILER (seriously, it's huge) became essential to my argument(s.) This spoiler is only in the manga, and at chapter 70-something, at that. See individual headings for other warnings.

Title: Disability in Soul Eater pt. 1: Asura and Crona
Characters: Asura, Crona
Content notes: discussion of child abuse, body horror, mind and body control, mental illness
Summary: A discussion of the series's disabled antagonists.

On DW

Title: Disability in Soul Eater, pt. 2: OCD Goth Cowboy Jesus for Great Justice
Characters: Death the Kid
Content notes: discussion of obsessive-compulsive disorder and suicidal ideation. Also, lots of pictures.
Summary: An analysis of Death the Kid, because he is fabulous.

On DW

Current Mood: bouncy

terajk

Title: You are Here: Why Ryoga Hibiki is Awesome
Fandom: Ranma 1/2
Characters Ryoga, a guest appearance by Mousse
Rating: PG-13 (my language...oops)
Word count: around 2000 words
Warnings: Discussion of stalking and violence. Spoilers abound.

Summary: Ryoga is allowed to be just Like That, even without remotely passing as a non-disabled person. In a general sense, the same is true for anyone else in the cast: the horribly abusive fathers, lethal chefs, and all the people who spend half their time in the form of animals or other people won't be mistaken as typical by anyone; yet they all live together in a tense but tolerant way. What this means for Ryoga is that Takahashi doesn't medicalize his lostness at all.

At my journal.

terajk

I've been chewing on eruthros's great Festibility prompt of greatness for months. (Months, I tell you, because it is so great). Sadly, the story I want is WAY too awesome for my writing ability at this point, though I promise you it will happen.

( Spoilery ATLA ponderings )

This ficlet isn't a fill for eruthros's prompt (she deserves something much meatier).

Title: Gaps
Characters: Zuko, Azula
Word count: 390
Warnings: Language, ableism
Post series, spoilers. Word of God is boring.
For a prompt for

fic_promptly: "Zuko, Red Dragon (Thomas Harris)"

AO3

Current Mood: accomplished

sqbr

These all have brief descriptions on the site which should make sense if you're familiar with canon, plus there's more info under the cut.

How to Train your Dragon: Repairs
(This picture is a bit spoilery)

"How to Train your Dragon" is a lovely, entertaining kids film which, while not perfect, has a pretty good portrayal of disability in my opinion.

Homestuck: Terezi as Toph

Homestuck: Tavros as Teo

The webcomic Homestuck is funny, clever and has a terrible depiction of disability.

Tavros is a sweet, nice boy who is a little slow on the uptake and ends up being the butt of many jokes. He was introduced offscreen and people drew him in a wheelchair which inspired the author to make him a paraplegic in canon too.

The inspiration for the Tavros picture was seeing fanart of him dressed as a mermaid for Halloween looking sad and wanting to draw him looking happy and awesome.
( Meta about the repeated motifs which spoils How to Train Your Dragon )

aris_tgd

(As I love this community and would like to see more traffic here, I thought I'd crosspost a more general-discussion-friendly post I made on the third episode of Dancing on Wheels. This draws a lot from what I've learned about disability portrayal in media from this community and from FWD/Forward, but I'd like to emphasize that while I'm interested in ally work I don't myself ID as a PWD. Or British, for that matter.

This is adapted slightly from when it was originally posted at my DW account and contains spoilers for Episode 3 of the series.)

So the drama in Episode 3 of Dancing on Wheels is interesting because it's the first time on the show they've really talked about the representation of people with disabilities on and because of the show. And given the subject, I'd like to talk about the edit that the producers gave Simone and Harry this week.

Firstly, I want to say that this post isn't about either Simone or Harry as people. But I think we all know that producers and editors manipulate footage to tell a story, and it's the story that I'm critiquing, not the people involved.

( Spoilers under the cut )

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!

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30

Access Fandom

improving disability access in fandom

We're part of a movement: The Electrical Eggs

Oral History of The Electrical Eggs: Science Fiction, Disability Activism, and Fan Conventions

ABSTRACT

Article: The Problem With Disfigured Villains In Pop Culture

Special Issue of CJDS on Disability and/in/through Fanfiction

Blindness and Sabrina the Teenage Witch

What Sabrina Needs to Do to Depict Blindness Realistically

Disability and Metaphor in Welcome to Night Vale

Disability in Star Trek Into Darkness

1 link 6 May 2013

Soul Eater disability meta

Ranma 1/2 disability meta

ATLA ficlet: Gaps

Fanart: Homestuck and "How to Train Your Dragon"

Dancing on Wheels ep 3: Simone, Harry, and the reality TV narrative.

disability in fanfic

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