How to Write a Disabled Character/Character with a Disability

Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today I'm going to be going over my tips to writing a disabled character/character with a disability. 

I have read and seen a lot of disabled characters in media. Some are good, some are bad. These are tips for writing disabled characters from an actual disabled person.

Without further ado, let's get into the post! 

These tips can apply to pretty much any disability, however I will mostly be explaining using terminology and medical conditions I am intimately familiar with. 

1. Don't Gloss Over Their Disability

If you want to write a disabled character, make sure that their disability isn't glossed over, especially if they are a super important character to the plot. If they are a main character or a main side character or a family member of a main character, don't just gloss over it. 

This doesn't mean that you should focus on it, on the contrary, don't do that either. It should generally be clear what the character's disability is and how it affects them, however it shouldn't take up the majority of your story if that isn't what it's about. 

2. Don't 'Cure' Their Disability

There are numerous types of media out there that cure characters who have disabilities. This is considered a big mistake in the disabled community. It may seem completely innocent. 

However, this is generally a bad thing. Especially don't have the character be cured and then have them talk about how they are 'whole' now. This is offensive and dehumanizing. 

A disabled person is a person. They are a whole person despite their disability. Most disabled people don't wish to be cured. And the vast majority of disabilities aren't cured.

For this one, let's use cancer as an example. While doctors will say that someone's cancer has been 'cured,' there technically is no cure for cancer. Cancers are treatable with medications and other measures, and remission can even be reached, which is a period where either cancer cells are not detectable or where very few are detectable. 

However, cancer can only ever reach remission. Even if someone is 'cured' of their cancer, there's still a chance it could 'come back,' even after the initial 5 years where doctors say it's more likely to come back. 

But there is no cure for cancer. Disabilities are not ever completely cured. 

Now, this is a somewhat split topic. The majority of the disabled community hates media where a disabled character is cured, however this varies sometimes depending on how new someone's disability is. Meaning, people with newly acquired disabilities sometimes wish that they could be cured, whilst people who have lived with a disability for most, if not all, of their lives, they would actually dread being cured. 

You'll never 100% please every member of a group, but there are things you can do to make it less harmful. A lot of newly disabled people, and sometimes even people who have been disabled for a while, struggle with internalized ableism. This means that they have some issues coming to terms with accepting their disability. They may believe what society says about disabled people.

They may believe that their disability makes them inferior to others. So before you decide which route you want to take with your character, decide this: how new is your character's disability? If they have lived with their disability their whole life, don't have them think about a cure. 

If your character's disability is new, they may think about a cure, and might even wish for one (this still doesn't excuse curing a character of their disability). Someone who has lived with their disability for a long time will find ways to do the things they can't do. They'll find ways to live their lives. If you have a character who was born without a right hand, don't have them struggle to do certain day-to-day tasks when they are a teenager. 

If your character has lived with their disability for most of their life, and you want to explain how they do certain things, this will require some out of the box thinking. Most disabled people are pretty creative.

3. Don't Rely on Disability Stereotypes

What I mean by this is, don't rely on stereotypes for your disabled character(s). These are what I call 'stock' disabled characters. These are characters that have a certain disability, but are just as stereotypical as any other character with the same disability.

This includes things like the autistic character that loves trains, the disabled evil villain who is evil because they're disabled, the disabled character with powers that they have because of their disability, the character who is pitied or viewed as helpless because of their disability, and the disabled character who is the butt of the joke, to name a few.

Now, there's no problem having a villain who is disabled. However, it's always best to have a character with a disability who is also good.

4. Don't Use Disability as a Plot Device

So, I think I need to clarify something with this. This doesn't mean that disability can't be part of your plot. It absolutely can. However, when using disability as a predominant plot, tread carefully and lightly.

Make sure that your character's disability isn't their entire personality. It can affect the decisions they make and aspects of their personality, but don't have their disability be their sole trait.

Disability is a part of my identity, and it has shaped aspects of my personality. But I have other interests and other personality traits besides my disability.

5. Research

Research is key to creating realistic and accurate representation of people with disabilities. Research the disability your character is going to have. Watch YouTube videos about that disability. Find blogs written by people with that disability.

You may think it's hard to find people who have disabilities, but they're actually really easy to find if you look in the right places.