{"id":2373645,"date":"2021-08-16T14:09:50","date_gmt":"2021-08-16T19:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clearwaterpress.com\/oneyearnovel\/?p=2373645"},"modified":"2021-08-16T17:17:46","modified_gmt":"2021-08-16T22:17:46","slug":"so-you-want-to-write-a-character-with-a-disability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clearwaterpress.com\/oneyearnovel\/blog\/so-you-want-to-write-a-character-with-a-disability\/","title":{"rendered":"So You Want to Write a Character with a Disability"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Rachel Petri, Student Contributor<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/clearwaterpress.com\/oneyearnovel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/08\/Rachel-Petri-So-You-Want-to-Write-a-Character-with-a-Disability-IG-border.png\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2373646 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/clearwaterpress.com\/oneyearnovel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/08\/Rachel-Petri-So-You-Want-to-Write-a-Character-with-a-Disability-IG-border-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/clearwaterpress.com\/oneyearnovel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/08\/Rachel-Petri-So-You-Want-to-Write-a-Character-with-a-Disability-IG-border-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/clearwaterpress.com\/oneyearnovel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/08\/Rachel-Petri-So-You-Want-to-Write-a-Character-with-a-Disability-IG-border-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/clearwaterpress.com\/oneyearnovel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/08\/Rachel-Petri-So-You-Want-to-Write-a-Character-with-a-Disability-IG-border-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/clearwaterpress.com\/oneyearnovel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/08\/Rachel-Petri-So-You-Want-to-Write-a-Character-with-a-Disability-IG-border-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/clearwaterpress.com\/oneyearnovel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/08\/Rachel-Petri-So-You-Want-to-Write-a-Character-with-a-Disability-IG-border-125x125.png 125w, https:\/\/clearwaterpress.com\/oneyearnovel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/08\/Rachel-Petri-So-You-Want-to-Write-a-Character-with-a-Disability-IG-border.png 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>As a visually impaired student, I know that stories about disabled characters always resonate very deeply with me. I love to see another person face struggles that reflect mine and watch a character fight the same way I do. Many stories about disabilities have impacted me greatly, but there is a right and a wrong way to write about this topic. <strong>Every story says something bigger than the actual events and characters.<\/strong> They each have a message. Recognizing and evaluating this is vital to understanding how to write about any raw topic, not just disabilities. Two well-known novels illustrate this vividly.<\/p>\n<p>Without a doubt, one of the worst disability books I\u2019ve read is<em> Me Before You<\/em>. I was excited when I first discovered it\u2014it\u2019s an interesting twist on the trope of \u201cboy with this disability falls for girl with that disability\u201d (which, by the way, is infuriating and boring most of the time\u2014John Green pulled it off, but we can\u2019t all be John Green). Louisa is hired on as a caretaker for Will, who became a quadriplegic after a terrible accident. Throughout the story we see that Will does not have the desire to keep living, and his parents hired Louisa hoping that she would be able to revitalize him. The plot centers on Lousia\u2019s efforts to convince the bitter Will that he should keep living. It was a very real and raw book.<\/p>\n<p>But the ending ruined the entire book for me and left a very discouraging taste in my mouth. Louisa does not convince Will. The theme that the author meant to convey, I believe, is that Will has taken control of his life and made his own choice. But that\u2019s not what the story says. The most blatant message of the story is that life with a disability is not worth living. The author conveyed well how difficult it can be to live with a disability but did not characterize Will very much beyond this limitation and bitterness. A novel like this may be an accurate portrayal of some people\u2019s stories, but the message it leaves is much bigger than one person\u2019s perspective or experience. The purpose of a story\u2014any story\u2014should be to encourage and give hope, or to challenge thinking in some productive way. This book did exactly the opposite for me. It seemed to box millions of people into one choice and to distill life with a disability down to only its struggles. <strong>This is never the goal of good storytelling.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>An extremely well-received book, <em>Wonder<\/em>, has a message of its own. (If you haven\u2019t read this book, I demand that you close this blog post, find the nearest copy, and don\u2019t return until you\u2019ve finished it. I\u2019ll wait.) One of the biggest reasons I love this story, and the reason it resonated with me so much as a kid, is that the author doesn\u2019t shy away from the hard parts of being different. Since you\u2019ve read it now, you don\u2019t need a detailed summary, but the main character has severe craniofacial abnormalities. While this isn\u2019t a disability, Auggie has had several surgeries and grown up facing many of the same struggles that disabled people do. We see little kids run away from Auggie\u2019s face because it\u2019s scary; we see Auggie\u2019s best friend say very hurtful things to him; we see other students bully Auggie over his appearance.<\/p>\n<p>But like any good story, it doesn\u2019t stop there. I love that <em>Wonder<\/em> goes back and forth between the beautiful parts of his struggle and the messy parts\u2014Auggie makes close friends (good), but hears one of them say something awful (bad). He is bullied by strangers (bad), but his classmates band together to defend him (good). It\u2019s always \u201cboth, and,&#8221; instead of presuming that having friends will fix his hardship.<\/p>\n<p>One of the major themes of the book is kindness. Auggie\u2019s lunch table, originally mostly full of outcasts, becomes a home for a wide range of characters. Miles and Henry, originally some of the most outspoken students bullying Auggie, stand up for him in the most emotional scene of the novel. Auggie\u2019s sister wrestles through living in what feels like his shadow and chooses to love him anyway. Strikingly different than the end of <em>Me Before You<\/em>, in the conclusion of <em>Wonder<\/em>, Auggie and his friends graduate fifth grade. The class is entirely different thanks to Auggie\u2019s humor and kindness, and only a few people still think anything of his appearance. The story doesn\u2019t suggest that having this support means that being different will suddenly be easy; instead, it encourages both Auggie and thousands of readers that your deeds matter more than your looks, that kindness is more valuable than being right, and that being different can be absolutely amazing. <strong><em>This<\/em> is the goal of good storytelling.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I hope that the difference between these two stories is obvious to you. As a person with a disability, they both impacted me profoundly, but in very different ways. Stories are meant for more than entertainment. They should strive to be both real and hopeful, honest and encouraging. Both books handled the physical topic of disability well. Only one gave enough compassionate consideration to the message that would be left behind.<\/p>\n<p>The events that happen to these characters, and to yours as you write, aren\u2019t only happening to the characters. They\u2019re happening to your readers, in a way that\u2019s nonphysical but very true. And in another sense, they\u2019re also happening to every real person who is like your character. These two novels showcase the importance of this very well.<\/p>\n<p>I encourage you to think about this difference as you read other stories or craft your own. The difference is especially vivid in stories about disabilities, because the hardship is so raw and the hope is so vital. But it\u2019s true of every single story, no matter the subject matter. Your story has a message that will be taken away and internalized by one, or a dozen, or a hundred readers. You can choose to leave them with hope and encouragement, or show the real struggle and stop there. <strong>Your story is saying something. Make sure it\u2019s saying what you mean.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><a href=\"https:\/\/clearwaterpress.com\/oneyearnovel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/08\/Rachel-Petri-Headshot-scaled.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2373648 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/clearwaterpress.com\/oneyearnovel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/08\/Rachel-Petri-Headshot-200x300.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/clearwaterpress.com\/oneyearnovel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/08\/Rachel-Petri-Headshot-200x300.jpeg 200w, https:\/\/clearwaterpress.com\/oneyearnovel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/08\/Rachel-Petri-Headshot-683x1024.jpeg 683w, https:\/\/clearwaterpress.com\/oneyearnovel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/08\/Rachel-Petri-Headshot-768x1152.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/clearwaterpress.com\/oneyearnovel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/08\/Rachel-Petri-Headshot-1024x1536.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/clearwaterpress.com\/oneyearnovel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/08\/Rachel-Petri-Headshot-1365x2048.jpeg 1365w, https:\/\/clearwaterpress.com\/oneyearnovel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/08\/Rachel-Petri-Headshot-scaled.jpeg 1707w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a>Rachel Petri is an award-winning author focusing on disabilities. She is a senior in college, pursuing a career in counseling or child life to help kids with medical needs. Rachel loves to use her writing to both encourage people with disabilities and help other people understand her world. She joined OYAN in her senior year of high school in 2019 and has enjoyed the community of the OYAN forum. The Florida Christian Writers\u2019 Conference and OYAN Winter Workshop in 2020 both helped shape her writing goals. She loves psychology, any form of chocolate, and can usually be found buried in a book. So far, she has published short stories and articles, but no books. Someday soon, Rachel hopes to publish a YA novel or personal stories about disabilities. Find her on Facebook at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/rachel.petri.teenswithdisabilities?hc_ref=ARQ6I36C1eWxHtn21KGP04IB_1-F-cXw_stVtYImnF5MibTEf7-CeMFs2R2TzRL27Ok&amp;ref=nf_target\">Rachel.Petri.Teenswithdisabilities<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>* Please note that links on\u00a0<em>The One Year Adventure Novel<\/em>\u00a0Blog to other websites and blogs do not constitute an official endorsement. We are not intimately familiar with all the writing and opinions contained in outside links.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Rachel Petri, Student Contributor As a visually impaired student, I know that stories about disabled characters always resonate very deeply with me. I love to see another person face struggles that reflect mine and watch a character fight the same way I do. Many stories about disabilities have impacted me greatly, but there is&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11882,"featured_media":2373646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[15919,57,18,40],"tags":[99,16130,69,16148,20],"post_series":[],"class_list":["post-2373645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guest-posts","category-help-with-characters","category-news-reviews-and-perspective-on-books","category-writing-tips-and-tools","tag-characters","tag-creating-characters","tag-creative-writing","tag-diversity","tag-recommended-books","entry","has-media"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.9 (Yoast SEO v27.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>So You Want to Write a Character with a Disability -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Rachel Petri, Student Contributer As a visually impaired student, I know that stories about disabled characters always resonate very deeply with me. 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