#there's a reason i consider various forms of disability in the early stages of worldbuilding. and that reason is that i find these sorts of

[frecklenog]

nobody:

me, disabled, and with special interests in both worldbuilding and disability accommodations, history, and advocacy: i wonder what kind of disabilities existed on gallifrey. would regeneration reset an autoimmune disorder, or would it follow through to their next form? can they regenerate into a body with an autoimmune disorder? is it there to stay once it hits?

what about limb differences? if gallifreyans can regenerate limbs (at the very least within the first 15 hours of regeneration, as seen in the christmas invasion), would that mean the majority of limb differences on gallifrey would be congenital? would a gallifreyan be encouraged to regenerate regardless of threat to their life after an amputation, or has gallifrey moved past that sort of ableism? (probably not, since fifteen's tardis being wheelchair accessible (or, the entrance, since the ramps within seem pretty steep) is considered remarkable by wheelchair user and unit agent shirley anne bingham. plus, from a doylist perspective, dw is very much a product of its various times, being a universe that started development in the early 60s.) would regeneration ""fix"" (heavy airquotes on that) such limb differences? is it possible to regenerate into a body with a limb difference? what sort of adaptive devices are/were there on gallifrey for those who either can't regenerate because they're very close to or at their regeneration limit, or simply choose not to do so?

a lot of these questions also apply to neurological disorders and injuries, too, if you change the wording a bit. tremors, chronic pain, weakness, paralysis, mobility issues, those sorts of things.

and are their blind gallifreyans? (if so, the doctor clearly didn't spend enough time around them.) deaf/hoh gallifreyans? similar questions there, too! (written gallifreyan language already makes my head spin, personally, but i'm intrigued by the idea of how they might go about designing an equivalent of braille! and i'd bet money that gallifreyan sign would include words and phrases that humans wouldn't think to consider, just like any other language. but then, why doesn't the tardis's translation matrix recognize and automatically translate british sign language, as we see with cass's signing confusing clara in before the flood?)

further, what about potential disabilities with no human analogue that relate to the regeneration process itself-?

my parents: hang on. slow down. what the fuck are you talking about