Hey! Your Secret Santa here again!🎅🏻 firstly I would like to apologise for sending you two asks over the weekend, I did not know that responses to anonymous asks did not show up on your notifications as I don’t do it often, I’m so embarrassed🤦♀️ I have a couple of ideas for what I am going to make for you.You mentioned about how you would like it known that Ben was partially deaf and wasn’t completely able to hear. How did you want this mentioned without me sounding thick?😬
Np anon!! This app can be weird so im not surprised you didn't know
And yeah, Ben is a Deaf character and I really want to read fics that recognize that fact. Writing a Dead character isnt too difficult but its not something you can just mention once at get over it--its PART of a character.
If you're going historical, like im really really hoping you are, there obvs arent any cochlear implants or hearing aids as effective as today, so you gotta mention how Ben actually struggling to hear people at times. In any case, he needs to be seeing people when they talk, being nearby, filling in the gaps a lot of the time, and he probably has a internalized ableism where he thinks that he needs to prove himself and "make up" for his deafness. Or at least hes sensitive abt it.
Like stuff that I do is making sure to sit close to people when theyre talking so i can see them, kinda putting in a lot of filler words when I can't understand the conversation, and just not talking a lot in a really crowded and hard to hear area. Since Ben is probably more Deaf than me, you can make him struggle in these areas and more, or perhaps hes gotten really good at covering up his disability and doesn't try to have himself accommodated because of the social pressure.
While Ben may not like being Deaf because of internalizes ableism if you go down that path, the overall message in the text should be that there is nothing wrong with Ben. He is NOT weaker or weird or stupid or overall terrible BECAUSE he's Deaf. If Ben believes this abt himself, have Callum contradict him or be doubtful. Have ppl who call him such be obviously wrong. This is grade level stuff, but do NOT put ableist shit in your writing.
Here are some resources for writing Deaf people that i could find:
A master post on writing a Dead or Blind characters
General Overview on Deafness
Another Overview On Deafness
Overview on Deaf Speech
I highly recommend reading these resources to gain a better understand of what its like to be Deaf and what Deaf people do in every day to accommodate themselves. Good luck anon!! 🌲⛄
