mimzy-writing-online

[mimzy-writing-online]

You know what is ableist? Spell check keeps telling me ableist is spelled wrong or isn't a word. Ableism is apparently a real word, but ableist gets the evil red underline of judgement.

[mimzy-writing-online]

what are mean things that people said about helen keller

A few years ago-

On TikTok a handful of people claimed she must have been faking being blind and deaf for the fame. Or that she wasn't real, she was just a myth that schools perpetuate because it's inspirational.

Granted, a lot of the media they show in schools about Helen Keller is very sensationalist and exaggerated to make it extra inspirational. But when I say that, I'm talking about the movie "The Miracle Worker." The Miracle Worker is what they called Keller's teacher, Anne Sullivan. She began teaching Keller when she was seven years old, starting with finger spelling the alphabet and then moving on to spelling basic words. In her autobiographies Keller wrote about an afternoon at the water pump where she learned that spelling W-A-T-E-R with her fingers would get her water. That moment became sensationalized into "the water pump scene." It's the big emotional climax in the movie and in her childhood home (an old plantation called Ivy Green in Alabama) there is a museum dedicated to her life. Every summer they host reenactments of the water pump scene from the movie.

While she was alive-

When she was alive, especially when she was a child, some people believed she was being controlled by her translator/teacher Anne Sullivan. That Sullivan had trained Keller like a monkey to sit and make hand signs and Sullivan would just make up what Keller had told her.

When Helen Keller began publishing essays on socialism and workers rights, people claimed she was being taken advantage of by the movements, that leaders were manipulating her to say those things. That she couldn't possibly form those opinions on her own after hearing about the experiences of others and exercising some empathy and critical thinking.

She fell in love once and her family believed he had manipulated her and coerced her into the relationship. Her mother whisked her off from the East Coast to Keller's childhood home in Alabama. Her brother in law threatened her fiance with a shotgun.

It's speculated that her family didn't want her to marry because they didn't want to lose access to her fame or any money she made. Granted women at the time did not have financial independence legally speaking, regardless of if they were disabled or not. But regardless of whether that is true reflects an ableist mindset that she was going to be helpless under a man's will, unable to make her own decisions. It reflects the belief that she was always going to be under some family member's control.

[mimzy-writing-online]

Hi! I read all your posts about writing a blind character. If I have a blind character that became blind through an accident and figured out how to live with their blindness, but then I give everyone powers (in my book) can I give my blind character powers that don’t negate their blindness? They also have to be able to fight against monsters. Not saying that they can’t not fight but it’s like the apocalypse. Overall, do you have any suggests for powers?

May I recommend making them a long range spell caster? Wouldn't it be hilarious if they could temporarily blind their opponents? Or manipulate their senses so they're overwhelmed by awful sounds or vertigo or bad smells? Especially if the character uses personal experience to decide what other character hallucinate?

Maybe force fields with a radius similar to what a long cane would give them?

I really want to see a blind character with whiskers growing out of their face and shoulders and back. I have a mild ability to sense how close nearby obstacles are without touching by paying attention to changes in air flow and temperature. I used it a lot when I was commuting to school on foot every day.

[mimzy-writing-online]

Hi, I’m writing a blind character for the first time, and I’ve read your guide on how to write them, and there was a part that mentioned how the “curing blindness” trope isn’t actually the best, but the character I’m writing has the ability to see sometimes (think of it like flipping a switch) he’s fully blind but sometimes he’s able to see, but not perfectly, it’s kind of muddled, and another character could help him see, not “cure” him but could make it easier to see when he flips the switch; would it be offensive or not the best idea to write that? It wouldn’t be curing him completely, it’d just be an aid, like a guide dog or cane.

Night blindness is a fairly common symptom in the blind community. It to is like a switch, sometimes literally. You could choose to go with night blindness instead, or keep with the magical switch option.

Fluctuating vision is sometime I experience daily. I go from 20/100 (on my absolute healthiest days in ideal lighting with my glasses) to almost totally blind.

It did slow me down or prevent me from learning some orientation and mobility skills because I don't need them 100% of the time. I can't read braille, but if I did I could read wherever I want (lounging in the shade on a sunny day on the grass, soft breeze in the air) regardless of if I had a migraine or if my nystagmus was back due to eye fatigue. I never bothered to learn to use screen reader programs because I could usually wait until my vision was better to look at a screen.

My loved ones also regularly forget I have almost zero vision in some settings, so unless I tell them what percentage of my usual vision I have, they don't know to help me.

Apparently my best friend forgets I can see a little at night. Mostly lights and shadows moving. We like to take night drives when we hang out and just talk. I recently asked if a motorcyclist really just stopped in the middle of an intersection at a red light and stayed there and he was like 'I didn't think you could see that'

I mean, in our most recent drive I asked him if he switched to contacts like he said he might or if he was still wearing glasses because I can't see his face and I don't like making eye contact anyway.

Anyway, fluctuating vision is an experience in the blind community. I couldn't give you a number on how much of the community experiences it or how much other people's vision fluctuates. But those are my personal experiences with it.

[mimzy-writing-online]

hello! i just found your blog bc i am researching on how to write for my visually impaired character :) my character was blinded about a year before the story takes place and is still trying to adjust and cope with this change in his life. i wanted to ask, if someone was blinded (in his case, through injury), how long would it typically take for one to adjust to the change and learn how to navigate life with a visual impairment? would he realistically have adjusted in a year?

It's an ongoing journey. You'll always be learning new skills throughout your life, disabled or not. He could be fairly independent by this point but new challenges will pop up here and there for the rest of his life. Let him struggle and eventually succeed, even if it's with help. Thank you for asking.

[mimzy-writing-online]

Hi, I've been developing a blind character, but he does gain a power I worry may be crossing the line so I'd appreciate your thoughts. The concept is that he gets a magic tracking device (I was thinking maybe compass) that points towards what's being tracked, it doesn't show where walls or hazards are, just a straight line to the thing, so it wouldn't negate his blindness fully. I've tried fit it with your guide while keeping it's essence however I'm wondering if I should rethink it entirely

The magical equivalent to GPS or "find my iphone" is a welcome detail. I love seeing modern day accessibility re-imagined in new settings. Thank you for asking.

[mimzy-writing-online]

@blueblurbbaskets left this in the tags but I am loving every contribution to this discussion <3

[Image Description: screenshot of the response in the tags. blue blurb baskets says, It's worth mentioning that in the original cultural context of the Greeks, blinding someone and leaving them alive would have been considered worse than killing them because the Greeks believed it was better to die in battle than live disabled. Yeah, it's ableist as hell. And Odysseus claiming that leaving a man alive and blind was merciful would have been directly in contrast with Greek values. It would have been seen as more cruel to leave him alive and blind than just killing him. Not that that context is relevant to Epic (which mostly ignores the cultural context and values of the Odyssey, lol). Or that the Greeks were any less ableist for thinking that. But in the original story he was defying cultural ethics in a completely different way than he is in Epic. Which is a very interesting adaptational choice. Ableism mention. End Image Description]

Coming out of my cave to talk about Epic: The Musical and Poseidon's revenge against Odysseus for blinding Polyphemus...

I too am running circles in the rabbit hole that is Epic: The Musical, playing the musical from start to finish almost every day, sometimes repeatedly.

Anyway, I'm legally blind. The whole blog is about writing blind characters. Of course I have thoughts about Polyphemus, but my thoughts are specifically about Poseidon's line: "You could have avoided this had you just killed my son." (Ruthlessness, The Ocean Saga)

This is not a rant, this is a meditation on the text and Poseidon as a complicated character.

It's a whole thing for able bodied people to tell disabled people they couldn't imagine living their lives disabled. That their lives would metaphorically end because everything they love about life would be gone. So yeah, the first reaction to "I wouldn't get revenge if you had killed him instead" is gonna be "oh, that's ableist as shit."

Except it's not about Odysseus blinding Poseidon's son, it's about a mortal defeating a god's son in combat and bragging that Polyphemus is only alive because of that mortal's whim to show mercy.

"I am neither man nor mythical. I am your darkest moment. I am the infamous... Odysseus" (Remember Them, the Cyclops Saga)

It's about a mortal thinking he's above the will of the gods. It's about Odysseus's pride,

It was the will of the gods that Odysseus kill the infant at Troy. Odysseus tried to negotiate to spare the helpless infant's life but eventually complied. That guilt followed him so when he was next given the opportunity to kill someone "helpless" he decided mercy was the better option. He went against the goddess Athena's advice, his mentor and patron, the daughter of the King of the Gods who commanded him to kill the infant.

(*Polyphemus is not helpless, he's a giant cyclops with a club who can kill a man with one blow. Trip over the scattered human bones in the cave and move a little to slow and he'll get you.)

A mortal questioning and defying the will of the gods threatens their power.

"A Greek who reeks of false righteousness, that's what I hate 'Cause you fight to save lives, but won't kill and don't get the job done." (Poseidon in Ruthlessness, The Ocean Saga)

"When a god comes down and makes a fleet drown is he scared he's doing wrong? Or does he keep us in check so we must respect him and now no one dares to piss him off?" (Odysseus's self reflection in Monster, the Underworld Saga)

It's not about blinding a god's son. It's about the gods creating mankind and constructing a society of rules and behaviors only for a puny human to decide his idea of mortality is superior to the gods'. The gods gift humans mercy by letting them exist and a human things he has the right to bestow mercy on a god's son?

Anyway, that's my mini essay.

[mimzy-writing-online]

Coming out of my cave to talk about Epic: The Musical and Poseidon's revenge against Odysseus for blinding Polyphemus...

I too am running circles in the rabbit hole that is Epic: The Musical, playing the musical from start to finish almost every day, sometimes repeatedly.

Anyway, I'm legally blind. The whole blog is about writing blind characters. Of course I have thoughts about Polyphemus, but my thoughts are specifically about Poseidon's line: "You could have avoided this had you just killed my son." (Ruthlessness, The Ocean Saga)

This is not a rant, this is a meditation on the text and Poseidon as a complicated character.

It's a whole thing for able bodied people to tell disabled people they couldn't imagine living their lives disabled. That their lives would metaphorically end because everything they love about life would be gone. So yeah, the first reaction to "I wouldn't get revenge if you had killed him instead" is gonna be "oh, that's ableist as shit."

Except it's not about Odysseus blinding Poseidon's son, it's about a mortal defeating a god's son in combat and bragging that Polyphemus is only alive because of that mortal's whim to show mercy.

"I am neither man nor mythical. I am your darkest moment. I am the infamous... Odysseus" (Remember Them, the Cyclops Saga)

It's about a mortal thinking he's above the will of the gods. It's about Odysseus's pride,

It was the will of the gods that Odysseus kill the infant at Troy. Odysseus tried to negotiate to spare the helpless infant's life but eventually complied. That guilt followed him so when he was next given the opportunity to kill someone "helpless" he decided mercy was the better option. He went against the goddess Athena's advice, his mentor and patron, the daughter of the King of the Gods who commanded him to kill the infant.

(*Polyphemus is not helpless, he's a giant cyclops with a club who can kill a man with one blow. Trip over the scattered human bones in the cave and move a little to slow and he'll get you.)

A mortal questioning and defying the will of the gods threatens their power.

"A Greek who reeks of false righteousness, that's what I hate 'Cause you fight to save lives, but won't kill and don't get the job done." (Poseidon in Ruthlessness, The Ocean Saga)

"When a god comes down and makes a fleet drown is he scared he's doing wrong? Or does he keep us in check so we must respect him and now no one dares to piss him off?" (Odysseus's self reflection in Monster, the Underworld Saga)

It's not about blinding a god's son. It's about the gods creating mankind and constructing a society of rules and behaviors only for a puny human to decide his idea of mortality is superior to the gods'. The gods gift humans mercy by letting them exist and a human things he has the right to bestow mercy on a god's son?

Anyway, that's my mini essay.

[mimzy-writing-online]

Ooh, I like this. Thank you <3

Coming out of my cave to talk about Epic: The Musical and Poseidon's revenge against Odysseus for blinding Polyphemus...

I too am running circles in the rabbit hole that is Epic: The Musical, playing the musical from start to finish almost every day, sometimes repeatedly.

Anyway, I'm legally blind. The whole blog is about writing blind characters. Of course I have thoughts about Polyphemus, but my thoughts are specifically about Poseidon's line: "You could have avoided this had you just killed my son." (Ruthlessness, The Ocean Saga)

This is not a rant, this is a meditation on the text and Poseidon as a complicated character.

It's a whole thing for able bodied people to tell disabled people they couldn't imagine living their lives disabled. That their lives would metaphorically end because everything they love about life would be gone. So yeah, the first reaction to "I wouldn't get revenge if you had killed him instead" is gonna be "oh, that's ableist as shit."

Except it's not about Odysseus blinding Poseidon's son, it's about a mortal defeating a god's son in combat and bragging that Polyphemus is only alive because of that mortal's whim to show mercy.

"I am neither man nor mythical. I am your darkest moment. I am the infamous... Odysseus" (Remember Them, the Cyclops Saga)

It's about a mortal thinking he's above the will of the gods. It's about Odysseus's pride,

It was the will of the gods that Odysseus kill the infant at Troy. Odysseus tried to negotiate to spare the helpless infant's life but eventually complied. That guilt followed him so when he was next given the opportunity to kill someone "helpless" he decided mercy was the better option. He went against the goddess Athena's advice, his mentor and patron, the daughter of the King of the Gods who commanded him to kill the infant.

(*Polyphemus is not helpless, he's a giant cyclops with a club who can kill a man with one blow. Trip over the scattered human bones in the cave and move a little to slow and he'll get you.)

A mortal questioning and defying the will of the gods threatens their power.

"A Greek who reeks of false righteousness, that's what I hate 'Cause you fight to save lives, but won't kill and don't get the job done." (Poseidon in Ruthlessness, The Ocean Saga)

"When a god comes down and makes a fleet drown is he scared he's doing wrong? Or does he keep us in check so we must respect him and now no one dares to piss him off?" (Odysseus's self reflection in Monster, the Underworld Saga)

It's not about blinding a god's son. It's about the gods creating mankind and constructing a society of rules and behaviors only for a puny human to decide his idea of mortality is superior to the gods'. The gods gift humans mercy by letting them exist and a human things he has the right to bestow mercy on a god's son?

Anyway, that's my mini essay.

[mimzy-writing-online]

brb, gonna go frolic in a rose garden with my sister in the late spring sunshine with my rainbow parasol

[mimzy-writing-online]

Coming out of my cave to talk about Epic: The Musical and Poseidon's revenge against Odysseus for blinding Polyphemus...

I too am running circles in the rabbit hole that is Epic: The Musical, playing the musical from start to finish almost every day, sometimes repeatedly.

Anyway, I'm legally blind. The whole blog is about writing blind characters. Of course I have thoughts about Polyphemus, but my thoughts are specifically about Poseidon's line: "You could have avoided this had you just killed my son." (Ruthlessness, The Ocean Saga)

This is not a rant, this is a meditation on the text and Poseidon as a complicated character.

It's a whole thing for able bodied people to tell disabled people they couldn't imagine living their lives disabled. That their lives would metaphorically end because everything they love about life would be gone. So yeah, the first reaction to "I wouldn't get revenge if you had killed him instead" is gonna be "oh, that's ableist as shit."

Except it's not about Odysseus blinding Poseidon's son, it's about a mortal defeating a god's son in combat and bragging that Polyphemus is only alive because of that mortal's whim to show mercy.

"I am neither man nor mythical. I am your darkest moment. I am the infamous... Odysseus" (Remember Them, the Cyclops Saga)

It's about a mortal thinking he's above the will of the gods. It's about Odysseus's pride,

It was the will of the gods that Odysseus kill the infant at Troy. Odysseus tried to negotiate to spare the helpless infant's life but eventually complied. That guilt followed him so when he was next given the opportunity to kill someone "helpless" he decided mercy was the better option. He went against the goddess Athena's advice, his mentor and patron, the daughter of the King of the Gods who commanded him to kill the infant.

(*Polyphemus is not helpless, he's a giant cyclops with a club who can kill a man with one blow. Trip over the scattered human bones in the cave and move a little to slow and he'll get you.)

A mortal questioning and defying the will of the gods threatens their power.

"A Greek who reeks of false righteousness, that's what I hate 'Cause you fight to save lives, but won't kill and don't get the job done." (Poseidon in Ruthlessness, The Ocean Saga)

"When a god comes down and makes a fleet drown is he scared he's doing wrong? Or does he keep us in check so we must respect him and now no one dares to piss him off?" (Odysseus's self reflection in Monster, the Underworld Saga)

It's not about blinding a god's son. It's about the gods creating mankind and constructing a society of rules and behaviors only for a puny human to decide his idea of mortality is superior to the gods'. The gods gift humans mercy by letting them exist and a human things he has the right to bestow mercy on a god's son?

Anyway, that's my mini essay.

[mimzy-writing-online]

The Mask Trope, and Disfiguremisia in Media

[large text: The Mask Trope, and Disfiguremisia in Media]

If you followed this blog for more than like a week, you're probably familiar with “the mask trope” or at least with me complaining about it over and over in perpetuity. But why is it bad and why can't this dude shut up about it?

Let's start with who this trope applies to: characters with facial differences. There is some overlap with blind characters as well; think of the blindfold that is forced on a blind character for no reason. Here is a great explanation of it in this context by blindbeta. It's an excellent post in general, even if your character isn't blind or low vision you should read at least the last few paragraphs.

Here's a good ol’ tired link to what a facial difference is, but to put it simply:

If you have a character, who is a burn survivor or has scars, who wears a mask, this is exactly this trope.

The concept applies to other facial differences as well, but scars and burns are 99% of the representation and “representation” we get, so I'll be using these somewhat interchangeably here.

The mask can be exactly what you think, but it refers to any facial covering that doesn't have a medical purpose. So for example, a CPAP mask doesn't count for this trope, but a Magic Porcelain Mask absolutely does. Bandages do as well. If it covers the part of the face that is “different”, it can be a mask in the context used here.

Eye patches are on thin ice because while they do serve a medical purpose in real life, in 99.9% of media they are used for the same purpose as a mask. It's purely aesthetic.

With that out of the way, let's get into why this trope sucks and find its roots. Because every trope is just a symptom of something, really.

Roughly in order of the least to most important reasons...

Why It Sucks 

[large text: Why It Sucks]

It's overdone. As in — boring. You made your character visibly different, and now they're no longer that. What is the point? Just don't give them the damn scar if you're going to hide it. 

Zero connection with reality. No one does this. I don't even know how to elaborate on this. This doesn't represent anyone because no one does this.

Disability erasure. For the majority of characters with facial differences, their scars or burns somehow don't disable them physically, so the only thing left is the visible part… aaand the mask takes care of it too. Again, what's the point? If you want to make your disabled character abled, then just have them be abled. What is the point of "curing" them other than to make it completely pointless?

Making your readers with facial differences feel straight up bad. I'm gonna be honest! This hurts to see when it's all you get, over and over. Imagine there's this thing that everyone bullied you about, everyone still stares at, that is with you 24/7. Imagine you wanted to see something where people like you aren't treated like a freakshow. Somewhat unrealistic, but imagine that. That kind of world would only exist in fiction, right? So let's look into fiction- oh, none of the positive (or at least not "child-murderer evil") characters look like me. I mean they do, but they don't. They're forced to hide the one thing that connects us. I don't want to hide myself. I don't want to be told over and over that this is what people like me should do. That this is what other people expect so much that it's basically the default way a person with a facial difference can exist. I don't want this.

Perpetuating disfiguremisia. 

"Quick" Disfiguremisia Talk

[large text: "Quick" Disfiguremisia Talk]

It's quick when compared to my average facial difference discussion post, bear with me please.

Disfiguremisia; portmanteau of disfigure from “disfigurement” and -misia, Greek for hatred. 

Also known as discrimination of those mythical horrifically deformed people.

It shows up in fiction all the time; in-universe and in-narrative. Mask trope is one of the most common* representations of it, and it's also a trope that is gaining traction more and more, both in visual art and writing. This is a trope I particularly hate, because it's a blatant symptom of disfiguremisia. It's not hidden and it doesn't try to be. It's a painful remainder that I do not want nor need.

*most common is easily “evil disfigured villain”, just look at any horror media. But that's for another post, if ever.

When you put your character in a mask, it sends a clear message: in your story, facial differences aren't welcome. The world is hostile. Other characters are hostile. The author is, quite possibly, hostile. Maybe consciously, but almost always not, they just don't think that disfiguremisia means anything because it's the default setting. No one wants to see you because your face makes you gross and unsightly. If you have a burn; good luck, but we think you're too ugly to have a face. Have a scar? Too bad, now you don't. Get hidden.

Everything here is a decision that was made by the author. You are the one who makes the world. You are the person who decides if being disabled is acceptable or not there. The story doesn't have a mind of its own, you chose to make it disfiguremisic. 

It doesn't have to be.

Questions to Ask Yourself

[large text: Questions to Ask Yourself]

Since I started talking about facial differences on this blog, I have noticed a very specific trend in how facial differences are treated when compared to other disabilities. A lot of writers and artists are interested in worldbuilding where accessibility is considered, where disabled people are accepted, where neurodivergence is seen as an important part of the human experience, not something “other”. This is amazing, genuinely.

Yet, absolutely no one seems to be interested in a world that is anything but cruel to facial differences. There's no escapist fantasies for us.

You see this over and over, at some point it feels like the same story with different names attached.

The only way a character with a facial difference can exist is to hide it. Otherwise, they are shamed by society. Seen as something gross. I noticed that it really doesn't matter who the character is, facial difference is this great equalizer. Both ancient deities and talking forest cats get treated as the same brand of disgusting thing as long as they're scarred, as long as they had something explode in their face, as long as they've been cursed. They can be accomplished, they can be a badass, they can be the leader of the world, they can kill a dragon, but they cannot, under any circumstances, be allowed to peacefully exist with a facial difference. They have to hide it in the literal sense, or be made to feel that they should. Constantly ashamed, embarrassed that they dare to have a face.

Question one to ask yourself: why is disfiguremisia a part of your story?

I'm part of a few minority groups. I'm an immigrant, I'm disabled, I'm queer. I get enough shit in real life for this so I like to take a break once in a while. I love stories where transphobia isn't a thing. Where xenophobia doesn't come up. But my whole life, I can't seem to find stories that don't spew out disfiguremisia in one way or the other at the first possible opportunity.

Why is disfiguremisia a default part of your worldbuilding? Why can't it be left out? Why in societies with scarred saviors and warriors is there such intense disgust for them? Why can't anyone even just question why this is the state of the world?

Why is disfiguremisia normal in your story?

Question two: do you know enough about disfiguremisia to write about it?

Ask yourself, really. Do you? Writers sometimes ask if or how to portray ableism when they themselves aren't disabled, but no one bothers to wonder if maybe they aren't knowledgeable enough to make half their story about their POV character experiencing disfiguremisia. How much do you know, and from where? Have you read Mikaela Moody or any other advocates’ work around disfiguremisia? Do you understand the way it intersects; with being a trans woman, with being Black? What is your education on this topic?

And for USAmericans... do you know what "Ugly Laws" are, and when they ended?

Question three: what does your story associate with facial difference — and why?

If I had to guess; “shame”, “embarrassment”, “violence”, "disgust", “intimidation”, “trauma”, “guilt”, “evil”, “curse”, “discomfort”, “fear”, or similar would show up. 

Why doesn't it associate it with positive concepts? Why not “hope” or “love” or “pride” or “community”? Why not “soft” or “delicate”? Dare I say, “beauty” or “innocence”? Why not “blessing”? “Acceptance”?

Why not “normal”?

Question four: why did you make the character the way they are? 

Have you considered that there are other things than “horrifically burned for some moral failing” or “most traumatic scenario put to paper”? Why is it always “a tough character with a history of violence” and never “a Disfigured princess”? Why not “a loving parent” or “a fashionable girl”, instead of “the most unkind person you ever met” and “total badass who doesn’t care about anything - other than how scary their facial difference is to these poor ableds”? Don’t endlessly associate us with brutality and suffering. We aren’t violent or manipulative or physically strong or brash or bloodthirsty by default. We can be soft, and frail and gentle and kind - and we can still be proud and unashamed.

Question five: why is your character just… fine with all this?

Can’t they make a community with other people with facial differences and do something about this? Demand the right to exist as disabled and not have to hide their literal face? Why are they cool with being dehumanized and treated with such hatred? Especially if they fall into the "not so soft and kind" category that I just talked about, it seems obvious to me that they would be incredibly and loudly pissed off about being discriminated against over and over... Why can't your character, who is a subject of disfiguremisia, realize that maybe it's disfiguremisia that's the problem, and try to fix it?

Question six: why is your character wearing a mask? 

Usually, there's no reason. Most of the time the author hasn't considered that there even should be one, the character just wears a mask because that's what people with facial differences do in their mind. Most writers aren't interested in this kind of research or even considering it as a thing they should do. The community is unimportant to them, it's not like we are real people who read books. They think they understand, because to them it's not complex, it's not nuanced. It's ugly = bad. Why would you need a reason?

For cases where the reason is stated, I promise, I have heard of every single one. To quote, "to spare others from looking at them". I have read, "content warning: he has burn scars under the mask, he absolutely hates taking it off!", emphasis not mine. Because "he hates the way his skin looks", because "they care for their appearance a lot" (facial differences make you ugly, remember?). My favorite: "only has scars and the mask when he's a villain, not as a hero", just to subtly drive the point home. This isn't the extreme end of the spectrum. Now, imagine being a reader with a facial difference. This is your representation, sitting next to Freddy Krueger and Voldemort.

How do you feel?

F.A.Q. [frequently asked questions]

[large text: F.A.Q. [frequently asked questions]]

As in, answers and “answers” to common arguments or concerns. 

“Actually they want to hide their facial difference” - your character doesn’t have free will. You want them to hide it. Again; why.

“They are hiding it to be more inconspicuous!” - I get that there are elves in their world, but there’s no universe where wearing a mask with eye cutouts on the street is less noticeable than having a scar. Facial differences aren’t open wounds sprinkling with blood, in case that's not clear.

“It’s for other people's comfort” - why are other characters disfiguremisic to this extent? Are they forcing all minorities to stay hidden and out of sight too? That’s a horrible society to exist in.

“They are wearing it for Actual Practical Reason” - cool! I hope that this means you have other characters with facial differences that don’t wear it for any reason.

"It's the character's artistic expression" - I sure hope that there are abled characters with the same kind of expression then.

“They’re ashamed of their face” - and they never have any character development that would make that go away? That's just bad writing. Why are they ashamed in the first place? Why is shame the default stance to have about your own face in your story? I get that you think we should be ashamed and do these ridiculous things, but in real life we just live with it. 

"Now that you say that it is kinda messed up but I'm too far into the story please help" - here you go.

“[some variation of My Character is evil so it's fine/a killer so it fits/just too disgusting to show their disability” - this is the one of the only cases where I’m fine with disability erasure, actually. Please don’t make them have a facial difference. This is the type of harm that real life activists spend years and decades undoing. Disfiguremisia from horror movies released in the 70s is still relevant. It still affects people today.

"But [in-universe explanation why disfiguremisia is cool and fine actually]" - this changes nothing.

Closing Remarks

[large text: Closing Remarks]

I hope that this post explains my thoughts on facial difference representation better. It's a complicated topic, I get it. I'm also aware that this post might come off as harsh (?) but disfiguremisia shouldn't be treated lightly, it shouldn't be a prop. It's real world discrimination with a big chunk of its origins coming out of popular media.

With the asks that have been sent regarding facial differences, I realized that I probably haven't explained what the actual problems are well enough. It's not about some technical definition, or about weird in-universe explanations. It's about categorizing us as some apparently fundamentally different entity that can't possibly be kind and happy, about disfiguremisia so ingrained into our culture that it's apparently impossible to make a world without it; discrimination so deep that it can't be excised, only worked around. But you can get rid of it. You can just not have it there in the first place. Disfiguremisia isn't a fundamental part of how the world works; getting rid of it won't cause it to collapse. Don't portray discrimination as an integral, unquestionable part of the world that has to stay no matter what; whether it's ableism, transphobia, or Islamophobia or anything else. A world without discrimination can exist. If you can't imagine a world without disfiguremisia in fiction... that's bad. Sad, mostly. To me, at least.

Remember, that your readers aren't going to look at Character with a Scar #14673 and think "now I'm going to research how real life people with facial differences live." They won't, there's no inclination for them to do so. If you don't give them a reason, they won't magically start thinking critically about facial differences and disfiguremisia. People like their biases and they like to think that they understand.

And, even if you're explaining it over and over ;-) (winky face) there will still be people who are going to be actively resistant to giving a shit. To try and get the ones who are capable of caring about us, you, as the author, need to first understand disfiguremisia, study Face Equality, think of me as a human being with human emotions who doesn't want to see people like me treated like garbage in every piece of media I look at. There's a place and time for that media, and if you don't actually understand disfiguremisia, you will only perpetuate it; not "subvert" it, not "comment" on it.

I hope this helps :-) (smile emoji. for good measure)

Mod Sasza

[mimzy-writing-online]

I got to experience one of my favorite tropes in real life.

To set the scene, I am in the kitchen with the good knives and my parents are in the next room over.

Me: can you bring me some paper towels?

Dad: how many do you need?

Me: just a few, there's not that much blood... *realizes what I just said* DON'T WORRY! IT'S NOT MY BLOOD!

Me: wait, how much blood is too much blood???

[mimzy-writing-online]

This is officially the coolest addition I’ve ever gotten to a post. I’ve wanted to know about Chinese braille for years!!! Thank you sooooo much ❤️❤️❤️ The speculation about her seismic sense is amazing and so well thought out ❤️❤️❤️

Writing Toph Beifong, Advice from a Blind Writer

I’m Mimzy, an actual visually impaired writer and blogger who talks a lot about writing blind characters accurately and sensitively. A while back someone sent me an anon asking how to write Toph more accurately and sensitively.

Anonymous asked: Hi there! Your blog has been super-helpful already - I thought I knew a bit about writing with blind characters, but it turns out there was a lot to learn - but this is more specific. I’m writing a The Last Airbender fanfiction, and one of the characters is Toph. I think the fandom has done a fairly good job of respecting her blindness, but what are some things you’d like to see when people write her? I want to represent the character as best as possible; thanks in advance!

It’s taken a while for me to answer because I have a lot of thoughts about it as both a blind writer and someone who has read a lot of atla fanfiction. So here we go:

Keep reading

[mimzy-writing-online]

what do you think of people avoiding to using the word "see/seeing" around blind people because thinking it would offend them?

It's going to cause miscommunication. It's awkward.

If the aim is to prevent blind people from feeling left out or being unnecessarily reminded that they're blind, then editing out 'see/seeing/watch/watched' out of your conversations is going to do the opposite of what you want. We can hear the real-time self-editing and it is making this conversation more awkward and more clunky.

We're suddenly very aware of how our blindness makes you so uncomfortable that you need to police yourself to avoid offending us.

Best thing is to talk to us the same way you talk to sighted people. If we have questions, we'll ask. If you need to give us directions to complete a task, then please be specific and replace words like 'over there' and 'right here' with 'to your left' or 'directly in front of you' or 'the second doorway on your right'.

Thank you for asking <3

[mimzy-writing-online]

the post about fanfic writers updating despite wild life circumstances is funny and great, but to all the slow writers, the writers who can’t focus when life is happening a lot, or who simply like taking time off from writing: you’re doing amazing, fandom is not an obligation, and there are many people who prefer short fics, or who read slowly and are in no rush for updates.

[mimzy-writing-online]

Would you consider a character who has visual agnosia (the inability to recognize or process what they are seeing) as a visual impairment? And would it be okay for that character to identify with the blind/visually impaired community?

I wouldn't use visually impaired as a label for a character I was creating. I think neurological disorder and sensory disability would better explain the condition to people who don't have it.

However I don't have it either, and if someone told me "I have visual agnosia, I am visually impaired, that's my experience" I would not question or argue with them because they are the ultimate authority of what their life experience is.

I would welcome a real person with visual agnosia into my community. I think labels should be used to explain experiences and identities. I don't think people should be categorized and separated by labels to create smaller and more isolated communities and exclude others.

I do share some experiences with visual agnosia though. Visual snow is also a neurological condition. A big part of my vision impairment is that my brain cannot process light accurately so I am experiencing disruptions in how I understand my vision. However I still have a few things wrong with the structure of my eyes that contributes to my vision and disability.