Hi there! I've looked through your blog and I don't think this is a topic you've discussed, but if it is feel free to ignore this. I'm writing a story with a number of characters of colour, but my POV character is blind, so she wouldn't be able to describe their skin colour, or any other physical characteristics. I'm giving them names from their countries, but I feel like there is more that I should do?
Coding BiPoC from blind characters perspective
We’d like to open this question up to blind followers.
We do want to note that coding isn't just about physical appearance. For example, you could have cultural diversity, such as what you’re doing with the names.
-WWC
Commentary
@blindbeta said: I was tagged in this, so I would like to offer suggestions. As WWC mentioned, cultural diversity is about many things and blind people pick up on these things.
For example, names, as you mentioned.
Culture also comes out in accents, dialect, and language, as in certain words or phrases used. Maybe your characters mention holidays or religious ceremonies or their favorite things to eat for breakfast at certain times, which can be cultural or holiday-specific. Or maybe foods they miss eating that their parents used to make when they were sick. Perhaps a character talks about relatives or traditions from their home/ancestral country, recipes they want to try, clothes they want to buy and any special meaning these may have. Maybe the characters discuss jewelry, hair, or other fashion topics and something culture-specific comes up.
There are many cultural cues blind people pick up on and they don’t have to focus on skin color, or hair texture/style, which may be impossible or difficult for a blind person with residual vision to discern. In fact, you can take this as an opportunity to show the cultures of your characters in a unique way. It can be freeing rather than limiting, especially if your character has more than one culture or a different skin tone than other characters coded for the same culture. This is also a chance to show that even totally blind people are aware of culture and cultural differences without relying on visual cues.
@kys-chai-and-books said: Podcasts are also a great place to look for inspiration on how to get race and ethnicity across without any visual cues! In the magnus archives, there are clearly characters of color– Basira is the first that comes to mind– based on names and speech patterns as well as references to particular cultural touchstones. Welcome to night vale also has characters of color but rarely if ever mentions skin color or hairstyles.
