Why I Write Disabled Characters
Short answer: Because I’m disabled and there’s not enough representation in media for those experiences. And I know I’m not alone in feeling that way.
But there’s more to it than that…
As someone with a range of personal experiences, including EDS, POTS, anxiety, autism, depression, and PTSD, it's crucial for me to include authentic representation in my work. Disability is a part of my daily life, both past and present. It’s also personal (my own disability experiences) and relational (family and friends who share their experiences with me). I used to subscribe to the toxic mindset that we can overcome our disabilities, but no longer. I’ve accepted it as a part of who I am and what my experience is here on this planet during this lifetime. As such, I’m intentional about including disabled characters in all of my stories.
So, why is it important?
Authentic Representation
Writing characters with disabilities allows me to authentically represent the diversity of my own human experience, and the experiences of others like me. I obviously wouldn’t claim my experience is representative of all disabled folks, or even representative of all people who share my diagnoses. But they’re authentic to my disability experience.
Just as the world is rich with different cultures, backgrounds, and identities, it also encompasses a spectrum of abilities and challenges. Including characters with disabilities is a way to mirror this reality and create stories that resonate with a wide range of readers. For readers who have disabilities, seeing characters who share similar experiences can be empowering and affirming. It provides a sense of visibility and validates our existence. By offering representation, I hope people can find characters who resonate with their own journeys.
Breaking Stigmas and Stereotypes
Society often perpetuates stereotypes and stigmas surrounding individuals with disabilities. By featuring characters with EDS, POTS, anxiety, autism, depression, PTSD, and other conditions I want to challenge these stereotypes. Each character becomes an opportunity to showcase the multifaceted nature of individuals with disabilities, hopefully without falling into any of the misguided notions that lead to infantalizing, fetishizing, or dismissing disabled people and our lives.
Promoting Empathy and Understanding
Going off that last point, I can’t deny that characters with disabilities often serve as windows into different lived experiences. Writing about our challenges, triumphs, and everyday moments fosters empathy and understanding among readers. It allows those who may not share these experiences to gain insight they may not otherwise. Beyond that, I want disabled people to be able to see ourselves in the stories I write so that maybe we can all start extending more compassion and grace to ourselves as well.
Reflecting Personal Experiences
As someone with EDS, POTS, WPW, probable autism, and autoimmune conditions… and having struggled with anxiety, depression, and PTSD in the past… my own experiences naturally influence my writing. Including characters with similar conditions is a way of drawing from my own journey and offering authentic insights into the nuances, struggles, and victories that individuals with these conditions may face. I really do my best to reflect my own lived experience through my disabled characters.
Dismantling Ableism
Ableism, the discrimination or prejudice against individuals with disabilities, is deeply ingrained in our societal structures. Writing characters with disabilities is a form of activism. I don’t often go into it with that goal in mind (I’m primarily focused on disabled people feeling seen and heard, not what non-disabled people think about us), but I cannot deny that inclusive work challenges the notion that certain abilities define a person's worth. It showcases the strength, resilience, and beauty found in diversity, and I do think it’s important to confront the narrative that we must push through or overcome our disabilities. I do this by showing disabled people being accommodated rather than forced to be some kind of inspiration for abled folks in my stories. Their disabilities are stated as facts, and we see how their lives are influenced by these things, but I hope my work helps disabled people feel more comfortable in their own bodies and minds as they read about these characters living their lives.
Disabilities intersect with various aspects of identity such as race, gender, and sexuality. Writing characters with disabilities allows for exploration of intersectionality, because we all navigate multiple layers of identity simultaneously. This intersectional approach adds to my characters and their stories, even when I’m not explicitly drawing attention to it. My choice to write characters with disabilities is a personal statement in many ways, that our voices matter. But it is also quite simple: I believe all kinds of people, with all kinds of stories, should be able to see themselves in literature and other media. As writing is what I’ve been called to do, it’s only natural that my work includes disabled people. It wouldn’t be true to who I am if it didn’t.
Happy reading!
