#chronic illness representation

[a-totally-reasonable-username]

I wish there was more representation of disabilities and chronic illness in fantasy, science fiction and action genres.

Not just a side character with 30 seconds of screentime. An important character that doesn't just exist to further the storylines of other characters. I want a character that doesn't get "cured" or healed. A character that stays disabled and/or chronically ill. A character that isn't afraid to ask for help. One that doesn't think they're a burden and doesn't try to hide their disability/ chronic illness.

I want to see how it affects them, not just know they're disabled/chronically ill and it jist never gets mentioned again. I don't mean it should be their entire personality but being disabled and or chronically ill can affect many parts of life.

I just wish there was more representation of disabilities and chronic illness that shows every part of it. Especially in fantasy and science fiction it's lacking.

[cripplecharacters]

do you think it would be okay to have a character with a chronic illness who wants to be a knight, does training for awhile, then realizes it's too hard on their body and they can't keep going? they would be sad about it but would find something else to do and find joy in that as well. However they aren't the main character and I don't know if there will be time for them to have enough of an arc to fully explore this. Should I do something else and maybe come back to this character later?

Hello, thanks for your question!

I think this is a perfectly fine character arc to write! It feels realistic for a character to end up respecting their body's boundaries when something is too hard on them. I like that they're able to find joy and fulfillment in something else rather than giving up or becoming bitter.

Even if they aren't the main character, I think just depicting disabled people living happy lives despite the bumps along the way is always worthwhile. I don't personally believe that this arc as you've described it is risky enough that it would need main character levels of attention, if that makes sense. Just seeing a gradual shift in this character's lifestyle and mindset through the perspective of your main cast should be enough to get the arc across to your readers.

-Mod Faelan

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Sisterhood of the Stab Stab

Both teenage asthmatic me and 20-year-old newly diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis me desperately needed this book, and I am so, so grateful that 30-year-old me had the chance to read it so I can point kids and peers who might need this book as badly as I did toward it. This book has just stunningly well-done chronic illness (specifically POTs) representation, and some really excellent LGBTQ+ representation. It's also rare I get in on preorder goodies, but when I saw how beautiful these character cards were, I couldn't resist! Let's talk One for All.

The tagline for this book is a gender-bent retelling of The Three Musketeers, but honestly the chronic illness representation is what made this book so impactful for me. I'm not a POTsie, but I knew exactly how the crushing fatigue, the constant fight against your own body, and the cruel responses of people around you feel when you have hard physical limits.

Tania is a lovely character to follow and share a headspace with throughout the book. Her complex relationships with her parents, her peers, her musketeer mentor, and her fellow lady musketeers are nuanced and always interesting. As a former dancer (the RA didn't actually kill that activity for me, that was the pandemic), I also strongly identified with Tania's insistence on honing her skills in her chosen sport--fencing--to the fullest extent of her abilities, and accommodating the very real physical limitations her body has rather than pushing to try to be like fencers without POTs. The space that Tania and the other musketeers make to accommodate the POTs rather than trying to magically fix it, ignore it, or insist that Tania could somehow "overcome" it is absolutely incredible. I would love for that accommodation to be the norm rather than the vanishingly rare exception.

Tania is not the only kickass character, however. Our other three lady musketeers are full, round characters who grow with Tania even as they prove that they will never ever let her fall. Each of our girls has a clear character all her own, and they mesh with and bup up against each other's personalities in ways that were never not a treat to see.

Simply put, I adore this book and cannot say enough good things about it. I'm hopeful that we get more stories with Tania and the rest of the sisterhood of the stab stab.

[pipperoni32-blog]

Fourth Wing

By Rebecca Yarros / 5 stars

Man. I don't know where to start with this one. There's so much I want to say. I absolutely love the dragons, and the relationship the riders share with them. The way that they can talk to each other. The world they are in is often cruel, but I felt like it wasn't dwelt on overly so. On top of the world being so realized and fleshed out, you can picture everything. The writing is so good, and the pacing is spot on.

Then there's the personal aspect. From the very beginning, I sent excited texts out to my friends who were also reading - "Violet has janky joints like me!" Even before I finished the book and had it confirmed that Rebecca Yarros also has EDS, I'd connected to Violet on a deeper level. Is Violet a character study on EDS? Does she live my reality and show the severity of my symptoms? No. But she lives in an unstable body. She lives in pain. For once, I got to look at a character through one of their biggest flaws, their biggest liabilities and say "she's like me! And she's awesome!"

Plus, can I just say that the way Tairn (and Andarna) accept her weaknesses and help her realize her strengths? That they know her limitations, and work with them so she can be the best she can be. Even if that support comes in Tairn's grumpy way. Not her dragons alone, Xaden also does, but he's a whole 'nother thing. If I hadn't thought it before, it's confirmed. Guys, I want a dragon!

And then, oh yeah. There's Xaden. He's a category all to himself. My words cannot do Xaden Riorson justice.

I'm still in the book coma that came from finishing this book. Maybe some day I'd be able to do a review that encapsulates the gratitude, the representation, and just the general enjoyment I felt reading this book. I didn't want it to end. I'm so ready for the second one. I'm ready to start listening to the audiobook so I can rest and still get to be in this world.

[unabridged-adventures]

This novel means so much to me as a disabled/chronically ill woman with POTS. I have never seen my experience represented like this in any other book except for maybe Get a Life, Chloe Brown. I will forever be thankful for Lillie Lainoff and her bravery in sharing her own experiences so openly.

[chronicsymptomsyndrome]

Gentle reminder that your disability and/or chronic illness struggles are valid, even if others have it worse. It’s not like there’s one definitive Most Disabled Person In The World and they’re the only one entitled to accommodations or reactive emotions. That’s not how it works <3

[disabled-dragoon]

The Disability Library

I love books, I love literature, and I love this blog, but it's only been recently that I've really been given the option to explore disabled literature, and I hate that. When I was a kid, all I wanted was to be able to read about characters like me, and now as an adult, all I want is to be able to read a book that takes us seriously.

And so, friends, Romans, countrymen, I present, a special disability and chronic illness booklist, compiled by myself and through the contributions of wonderful members from this site!

As always, if there are any at all that you want me to add, please just say. I'm always looking for more!

Edit 20/10/2023: You can now suggest books using the google form at the bottom!

Updated: 31/08/2023

Articles and Chapters

The Drifting Language of Architectural Accessibility in Victor Hugo's Notre-Dame de Paris, Essaka Joshua, 2012

Early Modern Literature and Disability Studies, Allison P. Hobgood, David Houston Wood, 2017

How Do You Develop Whole Object Relations as an Adult?, Elinor Greenburg, 2019

Making Do with What You Don't Have: Disabled Black Motherhood in Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents, Anna Hinton, 2018

Necropolitics, Achille Mbeme, 2003 OR Necropolitics, Achille Mbeme, 2019

Wasted Lives: Modernity and Its Outcasts, Zygmunt Bauman, 2004

Witchcraft and deformity in early modern English Literature, Scott Eaton, 2020

Books

Fiction:

Misc:

10 Things I Can See From Here, Carrie Mac

A-F:

A Curse So Dark and Lonely, (Series), Brigid Kemmerer

Akata Witch, (Series), Nnedi Okorafor

A Mango-Shaped Space, Wendy Mass

Ancillary Justice, (Series), Ann Leckie

An Unkindness of Ghosts, Rivers Solomon

An Unseen Attraction, (Series), K. J. Charles

A Shot in the Dark, Victoria Lee

A Snicker of Magic, Natalie Lloyd

A Song of Ice and Fire, (series), George R. R. Martin

A Spindle Splintered, (Series), Alix E. Harrow

A Time to Dance, Padma Venkatraman

Bath Haus, P. J. Vernon

Beasts of Prey, (Series), Ayana Gray

The Bedlam Stacks, (Series), Natasha Pulley

Black Bird, Blue Road, Sofiya Pasternack

Black Sun, (Series), Rebecca Roanhorse

Blood Price, (Series), Tanya Huff

Borderline, (Series), Mishell Baker

Breath, Donna Jo Napoli

The Broken Kingdoms, (Series), N.K. Jemisin

Brute, Kim Fielding

Cafe con Lychee, Emery Lee

Carry the Ocean, (Series), Heidi Cullinan

Challenger Deep, Neal Shusterman

Cinder, (Series), Marissa Meyer

Clean, Amy Reed

Connection Error, (Series), Annabeth Albert

Cosima Unfortunate Steals A Star, Laura Noakes

Crazy, Benjamin Lebert

Crooked Kingdom, (Series), Leigh Bardugo

Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots, (Series), Cat Sebastian

Daniel, Deconstructed, James Ramos

Dead in the Garden, (Series), Dahlia Donovan

Dear Fang, With Love, Rufi Thorpe

Deathless Divide, (Series), Justina Ireland

The Degenerates, J. Albert Mann

The Doctor's Discretion, E.E. Ottoman

Earth Girl, (Series), Janet Edwards

Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead, Emily R. Austin

The Extraordinaries, (Series), T. J. Klune

The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict, (Series), Trenton Lee Stewart

Fight + Flight, Jules Machias

The Final Girl Support Group, Grady Hendrix

Finding My Voice, (Series), Aoife Dooley

The First Thing About You, Chaz Hayden

Follow My Leader, James B. Garfield

Forever Is Now, Mariama J. Lockington

Fortune Favours the Dead, (Series), Stephen Spotswood

Fresh, Margot Wood

H-0:

Harmony, London Price

Harrow the Ninth, (series), Tamsyn Muir

Hench, (Series), Natalia Zina Walschots

Highly Illogical Behaviour, John Corey Whaley

Honey Girl, Morgan Rogers

How to Become a Planet, Nicole Melleby

How to Bite Your Neighbor and Win a Wager, (Series), D. N. Bryn

How to Sell Your Blood & Fall in Love, (Series), D. N. Bryn

Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites, Joy Demorra

I Am Not Alone, Francisco X. Stork

The Immeasurable Depth of You, Maria Ingrande Mora

In the Ring, Sierra Isley

Into The Drowning Deep, (Series), Mira Grant

Iron Widow, (Series), Xiran Jay Zhao

Izzy at the End of the World, K. A. Reynolds

Jodie's Journey, Colin Thiele

Just by Looking at Him, Ryan O'Connell

Kissing Doorknobs, Terry Spencer Hesser

Lakelore, Anna-Marie McLemore

Learning Curves, (Series), Ceillie Simkiss

Let's Call It a Doomsday, Katie Henry

The Library of the Dead, (Series), TL Huchu

The Lion Hunter, (Series), Elizabeth Wein

Lirael, (Series), Garth Nix

Long Macchiatos and Monsters, Alison Evans

Love from A to Z, (Series), S.K. Ali

Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses, Kristen O'Neal

Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro

The Never Tilting World, (Series), Rin Chupeco

The No-Girlfriend Rule, Christen Randall

Nona the Ninth, (series), Tamsyn Muir

Noor, Nnedi Okorafor

Odder Still, (Series), D. N. Bryn

Once Stolen, (Series), D. N. Bryn

One For All, Lillie Lainoff

On the Edge of Gone, Corinne Duyvis

Origami Striptease, Peggy Munson

Our Bloody Pearl, (Series), D. N. Bryn

Out of My Mind, Sharon M. Draper

P-T:

Parable of the Sower, (Series), Octavia E. Butler

Parable of the Talents, (Series), Octavia E. Butler

Percy Jackson & the Olympians, (series), Rick Riordan

Pomegranate, Helen Elaine Lee

The Prey of Gods, Nicky Drayden

The Pursuit Of..., (Series), Courtney Milan

The Queen's Thief, (Series), Megan Whalen Turner

The Quiet and the Loud, Helena Fox

The Raging Quiet, Sheryl Jordan

The Reanimator's Heart, (Series), Kara Jorgensen

The Remaking of Corbin Wale, Joan Parrish

Roll with It, (Series), Jamie Sumner

Russian Doll, (Series), Cristelle Comby

The Second Mango, (Series), Shira Glassman

Scar of the Bamboo Leaf, Sieni A.M

Shaman, (Series), Noah Gordon

Sick Kids in Love, Hannah Moskowitz

The Silent Boy, Lois Lowry

Six of Crows, (Series) Leigh Bardugo

Sizzle Reel, Carlyn Greenwald

The Spare Man, Mary Robinette Kowal

The Stagsblood Prince, (Series), Gideon E. Wood

Stake Sauce, Arc 1: The Secret Ingredient is Love. No, Really, (Series), RoAnna Sylver

Stars in Your Eyes, Kacen Callender [Expected release: Oct 2023]

The Storm Runner, (Series), J. C. Cervantes

Stronger Still, (Series), D. N. Bryn

Sweetblood, Pete Hautman

Tarnished Are the Stars, Rosiee Thor

The Theft of Sunlight, (Series), Intisar Khanani

Throwaway Girls, Andrea Contos

Top Ten, Katie Cotugno

Torch, Lyn Miller-Lachmann

Treasure, Rebekah Weatherspoon

Turtles All the Way Down, John Green

U-Z:

Unlicensed Delivery, Will Soulsby-McCreath Expected release October 2023

Verona Comics, Jennifer Dugan

Vorkosigan Saga, (Series), Lois McMaster Bujold

We Are the Ants, (Series), Shaun David Hutchinson

The Weight of Our Sky, Hanna Alkaf

Whip, Stir and Serve, Caitlyn Frost and Henry Drake

The Whispering Dark, Kelly Andrew

Wicked Sweet, Chelsea M. Cameron

Wonder, (Series), R. J. Palacio

Wrong to Need You, (Series), Alisha Rai

Ziggy, Stardust and Me, James Brandon

Graphic Novels:

A Quick & Easy Guide to Sex & Disability, (Non-Fiction), A. Andrews

Constellations, Kate Glasheen

Dancing After TEN: a graphic memoir, (memoir) (Non-Fiction), Vivian Chong, Georgia Webber

Everything Is an Emergency: An OCD Story in Words Pictures, (memoir) (Non-Fiction), Jason Adam Katzenstein

Frankie's World: A Graphic Novel, (Series), Aoife Dooley

The Golden Hour, Niki Smith

Nimona, N. D. Stevenson

The Third Person, (memoir) (Non-Fiction), Emma Grove

Magazines and Anthologies:

Artificial Divide, (Anthology), Robert Kingett, Randy Lacey

Beneath Ceaseless Skies #175: Grandmother-nai-Leylit's Cloth of Winds, (Article), R. B. Lemburg

Defying Doomsday, (Anthology), edited by Tsana Dolichva and Holly Kench

Josee, the Tiger and the Fish, (short story) (anthology), Seiko Tanabe

Nothing Without Us, edited by Cait Gordon and Talia C. Johnson

Nothing Without Us Too, edited by Cait Gordon and Talia C. Johnson

Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens, (Anthology), edited by Marieke Nijkamp

Uncanny #24: Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction, (Anthology), edited by: Elsa Sjunneson-Henry, Dominik Parisien et al.

Uncanny #30: Disabled People Destroy Fantasy, (Anthology), edited by: Nicolette Barischoff, Lisa M. Bradley, Katharine Duckett

We Shall Be Monsters, edited by Derek Newman-Stille

Manga:

Perfect World, (Series), Rie Aruga

The Sky is Blue with a Single Cloud, (Short Stories), Kuniko Tsurita

Non-Fiction:

Academic Ableism: Disability and Higher Education, Jay Timothy Dolmage

A Disability History of the United States, Kim E, Nielsen

The Architecture of Disability: Buildings, Cities, and Landscapes beyond Access, David Gissen

Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman's Fight to End Ableism, Elsa Sjunneson

Black Disability Politics, Sami Schalk

Borderline, Narcissistic, and Schizoid Adaptations: The Pursuit of Love, Admiration, and Safety, Dr. Elinor Greenburg

Brilliant Imperfection: Grappling with Cure, Eli Clare

The Cambridge Companion to Literature and Disability, Barker, Clare and Stuart Murray, editors.

The Capacity Contract: Intellectual Disability and the Question of Citizenship, Stacy Clifford Simplican

Capitalism and Disability, Martha Russel

Care work: Dreaming Disability Justice, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Catatonia, Shutdown and Breakdown in Autism: A Psycho-Ecological Approach, Dr Amitta Shah

The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays, Esme Weijun Wang

Crip Kinship, Shayda Kafai

Crip Up the Kitchen: Tools, Tips and Recipes for the Disabled Cook, Jules Sherred

Culture – Theory – Disability: Encounters between Disability Studies and Cultural Studies, Anne Waldschmidt, Hanjo Berressem, Moritz Ingwersen

Decarcerating Disability: Deinstitutionalization and Prison Abolition, Liat Ben-Moshe

Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally, Emily Ladau

Dirty River: A Queer Femme of Color Dreaming Her Way Home, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Disability Pride: Dispatches from a Post-ADA World, Ben Mattlin

Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories From the Twenty-First Century, Alice Wong

Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability and Making Space, Amanda Leduc

Every Cripple a Superhero, Christoph Keller

Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness and Liberation, Eli Clare

Feminist Queer Crip, Alison Kafer

The Future Is Disabled: Prophecies, Love Notes, and Mourning Songs, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Growing Up Disabled in Australia, Carly Findlay

It's Just Nerves: Notes on a Disability, Kelly Davio

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot

Language Deprivation & Deaf Mental Health, Neil S. Glickman, Wyatte C. Hall

The Minority Body: A Theory of Disability, Elizabeth Barnes

My Body and Other Crumbling Empires: Lessons for Healing in a World That Is Sick, Lyndsey Medford

No Right to Be Idle: The Invention of Disability, 1840s-1930s, Sarah F. Rose

Nothing About Us Without Us: Disability Oppression and Empowerment, James I. Charlton

The Pedagogy of Pathologization Dis/abled Girls of Color in the School-prison Nexus, Subini Ancy Annamma

Physical Disability in British Romantic Literature, Essaka Joshua

QDA: A Queer Disability Anthology, Raymond Luczak, Editor.

The Right to Maim: Debility, Capacity, Disability, Jasbir K. Puar

Sitting Pretty, (memoir), Rebecca Taussig

Sounds Like Home: Growing Up Black & Deaf in the South, Mary Herring Wright

Surviving and Thriving with an Invisible Chronic Illness: How to Stay Sane and Live One Step Ahead of Your Symptoms, Ilana Jacqueline

The Things We Don't Say: An Anthology of Chronic Illness Truths, Julie Morgenlender

Uncanny Bodies: Superhero Comics and Disability, Scott T. Smith, José Alaniz 

Uncomfortable Labels: My Life as a Gay Autistic Trans Woman, (memoir), Laura Kate Dale

Unmasking Autism, Devon Price

The War on Disabled People: Capitalism, Welfare and the Making of a Human Catastrophe, Ellen Clifford

We've Got This: Essays by Disabled Parents, Eliza Hull

Year of the Tiger: An Activist's Life, (memoir) (essays) Alice Wong

Picture Books:

A Day With No Words, Tiffany Hammond, Kate Cosgrove-

A Friend for Henry, Jenn Bailey, Mika Song

Ali and the Sea Stars, Ali Stroker, Gillian Reid

All Are Welcome, Alexandra Penfold, Suzanne Kaufman

All the Way to the Top, Annette Bay Pimentel, Jennifer Keelan-Chaffins, Nabi Ali

Can Bears Ski?, Raymond Antrobus, Polly Dunbar

Different -- A Great Thing to Be!, Heather Alvis, Sarah Mensinga

Everyone Belongs, Heather Alvis, Sarah Mensinga

I Talk Like a River, Jordan Scott, Sydney Smith

Jubilee: The First Therapy Horse and an Olympic Dream, K. T. Johnson, Anabella Ortiz

Just Ask!, Sonia Sotomayor, Rafael López

Kami and the Yaks, Andrea Stenn Stryer, Bert Dodson

My Three Best Friends and Me, Zulay, Cari Best, Vanessa Brantley-Newton

Rescue & Jessica: A Life-Changing Friendship, Jessica Kensky, Patrick Downes, Scott Magoon

Sam's Super Seats, Keah Brown, Sharee Miller

Small Knight and the Anxiety Monster, Manka Kasha

We Move Together, Kelly Fritsch, Anne McGuire, Eduardo Trejos

We're Different, We're the Same, and We're All Wonderful!, Bobbi Jane Kates, Joe Mathieu

What Happened to You?, James Catchpole, Karen George

The World Needs More Purple People, Kristen Bell, Benjamin Hart, Daniel Wiseman

You Are Enough: A Book About Inclusion, Margaret O'Hair, Sofia Sanchez, Sofia Cardoso

You Are Loved: A Book About Families, Margaret O'Hair, Sofia Sanchez, Sofia Cardoso

The You Kind of Kind, Nina West, Hayden Evans

Zoom!, Robert Munsch, Michael Martchenko

Plays:

Peeling, Kate O'Reilly

---

With an extra special thank you to @parafoxicalk @craftybookworms @lunod @galaxyaroace @shub-s @trans-axolotl @suspicious-whumping-egg @ya-world-challenge @fictionalgirlsworld @rubyjewelqueen @some-weird-queer-writer @jacensolodjo @cherry-sys @dralthon @thebibliosphere @brynwrites @aj-grimoire @shade-and-sun @ceanothusspinosus @edhelwen1 @waltzofthewifi @spiderleggedhorse @sleepneverheardofher @highladyluck @oftheides @thecouragetobekind @nopoodles @lupadracolis @elusivemellifluence @creativiteaa @moonflowero1 @the-bi-library @chronically-chaotic-cryptid for your absolutely fantastic contributions!

---

Submit a Book:

[4spooniesupport]

[not-scared-of-microwaves]

i want more fantasy stories where the main character has a disability (mental or physical) and it is a major challenge.

i want a story where the protagonist goes on a quest into the Fae Courts and also has to keep taking her meds, counting the days til she’s out with increasing dread.

i want a story where the protagonist struggles with learning a magical power not because it’s the “wrong one” but because they have ADHD and can’t focus on it.

i want a story where the protagonist is constantly gauging what actions will and won’t be worth the physical toll and recovery time.

i want a story where the protagonist has a flare up and can’t do something because of it and it matters in the long run

i want a story where the characters disability is actually disabling and they still win.

(other people please add. these examples were based on my experience

[a-totally-reasonable-username]

Does anyone else want to see characters that are okay with and maybe even embrace being "the freak"?

Because I would love to see characters that don't 'just want to fit in' and doesn't want to be "normal"

[cripplecharacters]

(Hi, to preface this I'm disabled with severe chronic fatigue and pain myself, but not to the point where I've had to use a wheelchair) I've got a fantasy character in a video game that is chronically ill, and depending on how severe their flair ups on a day is, they sometimes need to use a wheelchair to get around. But as this is an adventure/fantasy game where the party would travel into the wilderness and into dungeons often for story important moments, I'm struggling to figure out how to-

-incorporate them, as forests and dungeons wouldn't be very wheelchair accessible(especially during a fight), and wanted to ask for advice for incorporating partially wheelchair-bound characters into a fantasy story without limiting what they're "allowed" to do because they're disabled. Ideas I've had so far is just making it so that plot episodes where they go exploring happen only when they have a good day and handwaving them only having bad days where they need a wheelchair in story scenes/when they're in settled areas, or having them get "perscriptions" of sorts from an apothecary character that reduce their pain and give them enough energy to go out in the field but they can only take so many in a timeframe without suffering sideeffects, so they need to ration them out, with them still having bad days that sometimes require them to use a wheelchair in settled areas during downtime. What are your thoughts and advice on this?

Hi, and thank you for asking! I think that you might be surprised by what the right kind of wheelchair can enable a person to do. It's not something to be bound to; it's a tool that makes navigation much easier. Your wheelchair-user character wouldn't be able to follow the rest of the party all of the way into the forest or down into the dungeon, but with the right kind of tires (think mountain bike, but if rubber doesn't make sense in your fantasy setting then you can adapt the material) I can imagine them following the group to a certain point until the path becomes too difficult to traverse, and then playing a lookout role or keeping watch over camp.

I like your prescriptions idea a lot, especially with the inclusion of realistic limitations and side effects. It shows how your world integrates magic/fantasy with disability, which gives a lot of interesting space for worldbuilding. I think that showing the side effects of the prescriptions, and having the character discuss their decisionmaking process on whether to take it now or save it for later, is an excellent way to not erase their disability while still enabling them to be involved in the plot-crucial fights.

Mod Frog

[dont-let-me-live]

I'm gonna say it

Firefly/Sam is not a trans allegory. She is DISABLED and TERMINALLY ILL. She is no allegory, she is a very explicit representation of PHYSICALLY DISABLED people. I don't want that to be erased or overriden by headcanons.

SAM is Firefly's MOBILITY AID.

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Damn Right the Perfect Queen Uses a Cane

Fairbanks is somehow simultaneously too small and too large a town. Apparently one of my very best friend's partner has been friend with Elva Birch since they were both teenagers, so that's a degree of Kevin Bacon I was super not expecting but shouldn't have been surprised by, because I KNOW how small a town Fairbanks is. None of which is strictly relevant to why we're talking about the second book in the Dragon Prince of Alaska series, but it is a fun little Fairbanks Fact. Which is even wilder because this book starts in Florida. So let's talk The Dragon Prince's Librarian.

This is, as is typical on this blog for sequels and mid-series books, a SPOILERIFIC REVIEW. Be warned.

Ok guys, I swear we aren't going to do all six books of this series here, and I know I am way overdue for the next Dresden Files book, but where I take just...every single possible issue with how the Dresden Files handles disability, this book handles it SO FREAKING WELL. Tania is realistically tired, realistically has good and bad days, realistically uses mobility aids, and realistically has that all-too-familiar feeling of "No, no, you don't even get to DREAM of being rescued from this situation because a) it will be too painful when it doesn't happen and b) you getting rescued doesn't fix the hideous inequities of the US healthcare system and frankly, that shit NEEDS fixing."

Additionally, I appreciate that Tania doesn't hate her cane. She recognizes that it lets her move and stand independently and it can up her quality of life, if only in small ways. What she hates is that the cane is UGLY. And that is entirely fair, because there is nothing worse than a boring, utilitarian mobility aid that stands out from you and your aesthetic rather than integrating with you. And Rian, absolute PRINCE that he is (pun fully intended), doesn't try to fix or cure Tania, he gets her a beautiful cane that integrates with her personality and aesthetic. That level of support literally made me cry. And then I cried MORE because while Rian couldn't fix the American healthcare system, what he COULD do was donate a ton of equally beautiful canes in Tania's name in such a way that the people who need them most can access them, the process for getting them is as simple and barrier-free as possible, and Rian took care of ALL of this so Tania did not have to expend spoons on it. The care and attention included in how thoughtful and well-executed this was was absolutely breathtaking. Literally, our reality is not this good, and I love that this book took such care and respect with how disability/chronic illness and mobility aids are handled. At no point did any of it feel patronizing, infantilizing, catastrophizing, or an attempt to "fix" something that was "broken" or "lesser." Just A+ no notes, and I don't say that often about representations of disability in books.

The other thing that I just felt in my bones about this book is how the end of Tania's academic career played out. She literally got gatekept and gaslighted because the Small Kingdoms erased every single trace of her master's thesis, her primary sources, and even her ADVISOR (who was paid to disappear, not killed). This very handily gets Tania kicked out of school, and as her health worsens, she also loses her job and health insurance, so by the time Rian shows up at her front door in Florida, Tania's life has literally fallen apart and it is 90% Rian's fault. Which makes the whole fated mates thing SUPER awkward, because she's rightfully pissed with him for torpedoing her degree and academic career, and also he then gaslit the hell out of her about that until he realized they were fated mates, came clean, apologized, and...proposed. It was awkward as hell, you guys.

And let me say, as someone who went to grad school, had someone gone from admitting they torpedoed my life and gaslit me about it to proposing marriage, they would have been super mega deadsies. Like, no questions asked, they just would have been annihilated by the sheer force of my rage.

But fated mates and romance novel, so Tania just mostly spends the whole book going "remember how you torpedoed my thesis?" in varying tones. Rian is literally never living that down, and he shouldn't, because frankly he was lucky to SURVIVE admitting that.

Overall though, I was so happy with the representation of disability and a healthy, positive relationship that includes a disabled person, as well as Tania and Rian as characters, I was willing to overlook insufficient consequences for fucking with a grad student's thesis. Because this book was a delight to read, and it is UNQUESTIONABLY my favorite book in the series.

[exhaustedalien]

I struggle to put this into words but the way Arthur deals with his illness is so upsettingly relatable as someone who deals with chronic illness/disability.

How he's not honest with the people around him about his illness. Going along with what people ask of him because the alternative is admitting to them (and maybe himself) just how sick he is and his physical limits.

The frustration that those physical limits make easy, simple, everyday tasks, things he has always been able to do, things he thinks he should still be able to do, embarrassingly complicated and difficult.

Struggling to pace himself even after he knows he's sick, even after he discovers his new limits, because things still need to get done, he just needs to push through it. Just this one more thing, even though every last thing he pushes through will just make him sicker and make the next "last thing" even harder.

Losing his status/position within his community as a direct result of losing his strength and ability. Losing all the parts of his identity that were tied up in that position and ability. Reckoning with who he is after all that is taken away.

[love-me-love-my-weirdness]

It’s been said before and I’ll say it again: the amount of disabled rep in the media is pathetic

[drarrydisabilityfest]

Drarry Disability Fest 2024 Claiming is Now Open!!!

We are now open for prompt claiming! Claiming will remain open until June 15, 2024 and Submissions Deadline is June 16 2024. Extensions available upon request, but more about submitting later!

You can find the full list of prompts here.

You can claim your prompt here.

Claiming Guidelines:

Prompt claiming is first come, first served

Please include your top three prompts so we can still give you a prompt even if your first choice has been claimed

Only one prompt per person at a time.

Extra prompts can be claimed only when your fic for your first prompt has been submitted to the fest and acknowledgement received by the mods.

Collaborations are allowed in any shape, form, or medium aside from videos or gifs. Please sign up together once. We will ask for one main person of contact for the team, as well as emails and AO3 for all members of the group.

This is a non-anonymous fest - please discuss your prompt and ideas to your heart's content

Self-prompts are allowed, however will be screened by mods to ensure they align with the fest aims and guidelines

If claiming a prompt/self-prompting for a podfic, please ensure permission from the author is obtained.

We have a Discord server!

Anyone is welcome to join the Drarry Disability Fest server, whether you are a creator for the fest or simply want to come and hang and encourage our creators. You can join here. AO3 Collection for submitting is here.