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#it's trickier with neurological disabilities for sure but 'magic crown that translates your surroundings to recognizable thoughts for you'
powdermelonkeg · 1 year
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Cheat code for writing disabled characters in sci-fi/fantasy without eliminating their disability:
Don't change humanity, change what's available to humanity.
i.e.: If your magic removes/fixes a defect or your sci-fi lets you select for traits at birth, that's changing humanity. That's altering a fundamental aspect that real humans live with, and distancing your fictional version of humanity from the real deal by cutting out a portion of it that your setting deems "undesirable."
If your magic/sci-fi aids a defect (like magic netting that acts as a brace, or a wheelchair with wheels that transform to fit the environment), then you're taking humanity as we know it and saying "wouldn't it be cool if we had these tools?"
Don't change what makes us human, change what humans can create.
Cheat Code 2: What kinds of aid to use to accommodate disability
Cheat Code 3: How to make your setting itself disability-friendly
Cheat Code 4: How to personalize your character's disability aid
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