#chronically ill rep

[le-fruit-de-la-passion]

Perhaps a Hot Take: I don't have anything against JayVik as a ship, but the amount of people in the fandom who use it as an opportunity to be openly racist and misogynistic towards Mel and Sky, and to feminize/infantilize Viktor as a disabled man make it REALLY hard to enjoy

[stars-and-branches]

One of my biggest pet peeves in fiction is super ornate cane handles. That shit has gotta be so rough on the hands

[raekiez]

why did it take make so long to realize the reason they made snakes nipples always hard in mgs4 was because he's wearing a compression shirt for chronic pain

[marrowthefairy]

i really need yall to understand that we, the sonic fandom, have made up most of Maria's NIDS symptoms. in SA2 it pretty much doesn't fucking exist. it's not explored at all. it's just an answer to the question "what the hell is a little girl doing in a space station." it's a contrived plot device on a female character conceived to be fridged for a male one.

not to say you can't see yourself in her- lord knows i do- but what you feel connected to is characterization the *fandom* gave her, not the games. the hospital gowns, medication, medical equipment- none of that shit is ever shown in canon. we gave her those characteristics because we actually care about her.

shadow generations tries to rectify it- that was the FIRST TIME she was ACTUALLY SHOWN IN A HOSPITAL BED (and wheelchair) and i definitely appreciate the attempt, but it's definitely not enough to fix what had already been written for her.

[chronicallydragons]

ABSOLUTELY LOSING MY MIND AT THESE ORANGE BANNERS ON AMAZON FOR ARTIFICE & ACCESS I MIGHT CRY 😭 this whole anthology started because there were a bunch of people saying disabled people don’t belong in fantasy and this anthology immediately makes it into TWO top spots on Amazon because people are so excited about this anthology centered on disabled people in fantasy! 😭 I’m a little emotional, I need a sec

Um, preorders now open! definitely on amazon (paperback and ebook got listed separately for some reason) and B&N, trying to get it into some indie bookstores, and it sounds like booktopia in austrailia has it!

[sophiathefallen]

Tokki: "I'm guessing you're having way more flare-ups than you did here."

Jentry: "'Cause in Seoul, I had you, Rupert, and Min Jae"

IS THIS AN ALLEGORY FOR CHRONIC ILLNESS??? IT CAN'T NOT BE, RIGHT?! IT'S SO IN YOUR FACE, THEY LITERALLY SAY "FLARE-UP!"

[skys-archive]

If Max isn't in a wheelchair or some form of mobility aid in st 5 I might commit a violent crime.

We need the representation. We need to see flashbacks of her struggling to learn how to move around again and we need the present of her continuing to struggle but knowing what she's doing now.

We need disabled Max Mayfield

[ohgreat-moretapes]

Tim I noticed a lot of indigenous patches on your jacket, are you Native?

Idk what my dad was 'cause I never knew him, but yeah my mom is (or... Was.. I guess..) Muscogee, the tribe native to the part of Alabama I'm in.

If I remember correctly she came to Alabama from Oklahoma (where a lot of Natives were displaced to in the 1800s) to "get back to her roots."

But yknow, I was separated from her in childhood (which tbh is upsettingly common for Native families) and I was raised in a very white very Catholic asylum so I'm not as connected to the culture as I'd like to be.

-Tim

[bookshelvesandtealeaves]

5 star reads of 2024 ↳ get a life, chloe brown by talia hibbert

[qbdatabase]

Hiii, do you know of any books with chronically physically disabled main characters? And books with housebound disabled characters?

For the previous ask, I would prefer if the disabled characters were also bi but it's fine if there aren't any books like that. I'm fine with queer in general too

--

I'm not sure what you personally would consider *chronically* disabled (arthritis? amputee? deaf? HIV+?) but the QBDatabase actually has 411 books with disabled Main Characters or Love Interests! To try to narrow it down, I filtered for either chronic pain or chronic illness + bisexual (or pan / queer)

Full Disclosure by Garrett, Camryn: HIV+ black bisexual female

Sick Kids in Love by Moskowitz, Hannah: female MC with arthritis x bisexual male LI with Gaucher disease

Architects of Memory by Osborne, Karen: terminally ill bisexual female MC

Two Rogues Make a Right by Sebasian Cat: chronically ill demisexual male x bisexual male

Sorrowland by Solomon, Rivers: black albino bisexual intersex MC who is partially blind and has chronic pain

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Sebastian, Cat: mga disabled male with chronic pain who uses a cane x gay male

City of Shattered Light by Winn, Claire: chronically ill bisexual female MC

Tripping Arcadia by Mayquist, Kit: chronically ill bisexual male prominent SC

Fight + Flight by Machias, Jules: pansexual female MC with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome

The Unbroken by Clark, C. L.: bisexual female MC who uses a cane and has chronic pain in her legs

Cruel Seduction by Robert, Katee: polyamorous bisexual male MC with chronic pain from a knee injury (FFMM bi4bi poly-pairing)

Eight Kinky Nights by West, Xan: FF pairing, pansexual x greysexual, one has arthritis but I don't know which one

The Friendship Study by Barrett, Ruby: bisexual male MC with chronic pain who uses a cane

If there's any other type of disability you're looking for, you can filter by 20 physical disabilities while also filtering for mga (bi, pan, omni, etc) identities!

[dragoncoven]

The one thing from Sonic 3 that irks me is the erasure of Maria's disability as it's a big part of her story in the games. It could have been a good talking point with kids and their parents irl about illnesses, like how her death (she still gets violently mirked by GUN, just in a slightly different way) could be. I haven't even played the games, the movies being my main introduction to the franchise, but I did find out about Maria as well as Shadow's backstory in general through fandom exposure since the first two movies.

Sure, the writer's excuse could be "it isn't relevant to the plot" or "it's not supposed to be exactly like Sonic Adventure 2". But it still wierds me out that they included Maria but not her illness (that appears to be debilitating and would lead to death), which good or bad is a whole thing in her very short involvement in the game's story. It feels like taking away Tails' extra tail or Sonic's personality. Not to mention ableist.

So screw it Sonic 3 AU where pretty much everything is the same except Maria has her illness/disability.

Let's say there's a flashback where Shadow and Maria are playing as usual when she suddenly coughs and/or faints. Shadow tries to shake her awake (could be another foil later on when Sonic tries to wake Tom up after Shadow hurts him) when Gerald and the other scientists reach them.

Next shot or flashback for Shadow is him standing outside Maria's hospital room in the bases' infirmary (do military research bases have these? Idk. Let's say so for this AU) seeing her passed out in bed hooked up to machines and ivs. Gerald comes up to him and explains Maria's illness and that he brought her to the base because he thinks that the research they're doing with Shadow could stabilize or even cure her. Shadow agrees to do whatever testing is needed to help his friend/sister.

And the research actually helps ease Maria's symptoms and improve her quality of life where her and Shadow can play more often. But there are whispers between Gerald and some GUN agents that this is at the cost of the initial weapons research on the edgehog-to-be (please let me know if this wasn't what they were collecting his power for) and it turns into a verbal argument that both children can hear. Gerald notices and storms off to shoo them away or tuck them into bed or something.

Maybe on that infamous night Gerald was planning to leave the base for good, taking Maria, Shadow, and all the research related to him, with him all because GUN was shutting down the research that would benefit Maria to focus more on the initial goal of Project Shadow. Maybe they were shutting it all down due to a lack of results for the project's initial goal and not giving a crap about the side project for Maria.

Or maybe that night Gerald knew that GUN wanted more projects from him (cough cough, the giant nuclear space lazer station in the final act, cough cough) and he refused to give it to them for whatever reason (maybe hubris, I like to think that he had a lot of that in the movie before Maria's death and that this was a fatal flaw that indirectly resulted in it). So he tried to leave, taking just Shadow and Maria with him.

Maybe Maria's side project is why some of the GUN agents were willing to shoot her. Or maybe they were just heartless assholes, idk.

Maybe in the events after the movie in this AU, Stone meets up with Shadow and helps him continue "Project Maria" to help other children with the same illness in her memory.

Please let me know if I got anything wrong, I only saw the movie once so far and don't want to get anything wrong about the initial game's plot, as well as the movie's plot, or come off as ableist myself.

[brandileigh2003]

Who is surprised I ended up writing a mini essay on remus lupin on reddit lol.

Thought I would share it here bc I never get tired of thinking about him.

It was asking to describe personal perfect characterization of Remus (it was respectful and kind and not trying to start fanon war or whatever and responses were more than taller etc. it was very nice.)

Anyways-- what I said:

I agree with a lot of what's here and I'll add.

My perfect Remus --- **disability or chronic illness rep is so so important** If it's magical universe, have lycanthropy affect more than one night a month.

It shaped a lot about him in canon and I think that it carries over to a lot of responses in au/modern. It does not have to be the focus of the fic, but it's important to me that it's there.

That said, I still love things without rep and would never try to dictate. But if we're talking preference.

I think that he tries his hardest to be kind, he has a lot of patience but he also has a breaking point. I think that he's a great listener

I think he has low self esteem, he build up walls that it's hard to breech bc he's been forced into secrecy.

I think that he's a great teacher and that is in part bc of how hard he's had to work academically and that he wanted good grades for validation and to prove he belongs and grasping on to that possibly helping after school is over. I think that he's smart, but it's not the level of James and Sirius. I think that he gets the swot and bookworm title bc he misses class and is sick so he has to study. I think that he probably is jealous of the way it seems effortless.

I think that he would do anything to keep his friends once he lets them in. But he also self sabotages and pushes them away. Fear of hurting them, or being seen, or bc he's scared, or unworthy. He thinks that people would ultimately be better off without him due to stigma or danger or needing caretaking and sacrifice. (Animagus, etc)

I think that he's a little weird, he got the loony lupin from somewhere. I think that while he's funny and nice to be around, I don't think that he's the same kind of draw and charisma as Sirius and James. But that doesn't make him less, just make him different.

Anyways. I have more to say but I'm tired lol.

I've done more posts I might edit if I find them.

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[faethons]

Been thinking a lot about Zenless lore (no surprises there) and about the “condition” Billy talks about that both the Proxy siblings have which makes them unfit to go in the Hollows.

I don’t think it’s low Ether aptitude, or at least, I don’t think it’s just that. I think that if they go into the Hollows, after a while (shorter than most), they start to exhibit the normal symptoms of Ether exposure (exhaustion, fatigue, aches and pains) but also their vision starts to go / they could even start to go blind permanently.

That’s why Wise is so hell-bent (to an extreme degree we’ve never seen since) on getting Belle out of the Hollow and so worried about her afterward (if you play Belle, you aren’t allowed to do much of anything for a good few in-game days).

That’s also why anything eye-related is such a big deal to both of them; Wise emphasizes time and again to Belle how important it is to tell him if her vision starts to go again or even if her eyes feel strange.

[kitsunabi]

Based on the art alone, I honestly don't even want Kaveh to wield a claymore, like he can keep it on his back. I would just love the idea of him whacking his enemies over the head with that suitcase of his.

[chronicallydragons]

I am THRILLED to announce my short story, Hope, Be it Never so Faint, a genderbent, sapphic Robin Hood retelling with a chronically ill Maid Marian is included in a disability in fantasy anthology titled Artifice & Access stay tuned for cover reveal over the next few days!! and check out this link to learn more! https://ellatholmes.com/introducing-artifice-access/ Coming January 25!

[flameraven]

I feel like I should start a collection for these failed-representation books I'm reading. :/

My current read promised a "chronically ill" main character, which was one of the things that attracted me to it. Further, it's a main character who's forced into a physically grueling military type school. I was really curious to see how such a character would navigate that physically demanding environment. I have chronic illness issues myself and I have really struggled with physical exercise and increasing mobility issues, leading to a lot of frustration as I have to cut back on activities I used to enjoy.

Unfortunately, as far as the book is concerned, the character is basically unaffected by her disability. I'm only 30% of the way into this book, but despite being told that she is fragile and easily breaks bones, or has joints slip out of place, this has barely hindered the character.

She has only two incidents of injury even mentioned-- she slips and bangs her knee during initiation, and then has to wrap it as it immediately swells up. That one seemed fine as an initial problem. Then another student dislocates her shoulder and breaks her arm during their first round of combat practice. However, she gets rushed to the magical healer and basically insta-fixed, so she just has her arm in a sling and is "sore" for a few days but otherwise fine. She continues to do combat practice and sparring and while she mostly avoids serious fights by poisoning her opponents, even that much activity should strain someone with the kind of illness that was described for her.

It's really frustrating. I don't feel like the author talked to anyone who actually suffers from chronic pain or illness at all. It sounds vaguely like she was aiming for something like Ehlers-Danos syndrome or another connective tissue problem, and I just don't see any of the struggles that myself or other spoonies talk about. There's no mention of the grinding fatigue or constant pain that often comes with this kind of illness, and while she's hurt sometimes, she just "compartmentalizes" the pain and pushes through it (with no consequences or problems from it later.) The plot has her doing basically a full Ninja Warrior course to graduate, and all she gets is some skinned palms.

I am going to try to finish the book, but I don't have high hopes for it. UPDATE: because people keep telling me the author is disabled and aren't reading the comments: I know that now. You can read my followup comments here.