#PAY ATTENTION TO ABLEISM IN SCIFI!!!!

[kybernecklace]

Just came here to say, I really dislike the way Star Wars treats disability as well.

I mean... Fine, having Maul, a character so purely darkside-incarnate at this point in his life, "fixed by technology" is sh*t, but at least I can always interpret that as Maul just surpressing any sort of chronic pain and other issues by sheer will alone, even though it drains him and he heavily needs to draw on the darkside. I mean sure. (Even though I personally prefer Maul having to deal with his disability in a genuine way rather than having it essentially erased...)

But what about Savage? Why have him lose his arm at all? Like what's the point, if you're just gonna replace it instantenously with a robotic replacement - again without any lasting issues.

Sometimes it feels like the level of disability directly relates to the level of villainy of a character in SW (with Luke being the only "good" character I can think of rn) and idk just makes me feel sick.

And like, I understand, that likely this is the result of an unconcious bias but wow has SW never managed to move on from that at all.

Not even gonna touch on the whole "in an advanced society everyone is essentially able-bodied or made to be" narrative as if disabilities were just some hurdles to be overcome

yeah yeah and then you have the theme of technology = loss of humanity like with vader and grievous and others... its a theme SOOOO common in pretty much everything "cyberpunk" as well. instead of aids theyre seen as a loss of self. which is why you get stuff like maul having two different types of ~Monstrous~ mechanical legs, because youre supposed to see his disability as a loss of who he once was that turned him into a literal monster. same with how vader becomes Scary Big Intimidating with his aids.

its fucked up! its fucked up that the "least offensive" portrayal of disability in star wars is when the disability is completely erased. otherwise it symbolizes being monstrous and evil or ~crazy~ or inhuman. like how they kept treating echo like a machine instead of a person? jesus christ. come on.

scifi provides such a cool interesting setting for disabilities where people like me could live a more easily accessible life due to fictional tech but we NEVER get to see in-depth perspectives like that! which is why im like.. always telling people to make disabled ocs. a well-meaning but kinda sloppy portrayal by someone open to feedback is better than nothing at all in my opinion.