#disabled fantasy

[cowsabungus]

Oldish fantasy illustration:)

ID in Alt

[chronicallydragons]

I saw someone make a post on a different platform marketing their YA fantasy series with all the "overused" YA tropes they DON'T use. Like their main character isn't an orphan, etc. And ??? they said their dragon isn't "somehow disabled" (except they used a euphemism I hate), and 1) WHERE are they finding disabled dragons in YA in such high quantities that they think it's an overused trope 2) disability in fantasy is never a bad thing and 3) DISABILITY IS NOT A TROPE!! It's been like 3 days and I'm still so frustrated with this! Especially as a disabled author who has tried very, very hard to uplift, support, write, and bring awareness to as many fantasy books with disability rep as I can! I was in Artifice & Access, a disability in fantasy anthology, and my debut has disabled dragons! It's not been easy to find disability rep in books, especially not in fantasy, and especially not in major dragon characters! It just feels like a slap in the face, honestly anyway, if they're going to market their book by proudly declaring their able bodied dragons, I'm going to market my book by proudly declaring my disabled dragons!! Hello! I wrote a YA fantasy that comes out in March called Child of the Dragon about a rag-tag team of cursed shape-shifting dragons in high school trying to break their curse, take down an evil dragon government, and still pass calculus and features a POV character who's a chronically ill ex-assassin AND a dragon-shifter! There's also a side character dragon-shifter who's a wing amputee! Plus another one has anxiety, another has depression, and another has PTSD, so I've got a whole slew of disabled dragons! Did I mention it's also gay??? 1 POV character is demiromantic asexual, another is allo(??)ace, another is gay. A major side character is bisexual, and another minor side character is nonbinary. Also two minor side character are also super gay, but they're not out yet, it's just subtext (for now...) So, anyway. If you like disability rep and dragons, consider adding Child of the Dragon to your TBR! You can also preorder it (currently only from my publisher's website, but rolling out soon to major retailers!) I mean, look at this cover!

[blorbos-of-the-7th-dawn]

You know what I think it would be really cool of square enix to add in ffxiv?

Prosthetic cosmetics.

Like they could be like the emperor's new [thing] set except for the helmet and robes, you could have one set for just one hand being prosthetic, or the other, or both, and same with the boots! You could even have versions that cover the whole arm or the whole leg!

They could probably get really creative with how the prosthetics look, and I think we could have fun dyeing them too!

[positive-mothman]

i am not yet good at drawing wheelchairs. But 1 lad. One Prince. 

[helz-belz]

I can't seem to find a Downs Syndrome Community like the Actually Autistic Community, so I'm asking this to the ether.

I'm writing a fantasy story, mainly for fun, with an extended "universe" where multiple stories overlap and happen. It's my story, and it's a fantasy world, so ableism, homophobia and racism as we know them don't exist. Prejudices do, but in a world where orcs, centaurs, giant bats etc exist, people just aren't concerned about human babies being born differently.

Which brings me to my question

One of my characters has Downs Syndrome. She's an innkeeper, mid to late forties, and had an adopted Satyr son.

How do I describe her so that she's obvious representation, so that someone can go "oh! She's like me"

I don't want to fall into othering stereotyped language, especially not cos it wouldn't fit the world. It's a fantasy setting, so unfortunately I can't just say Downs Syndrome. I don't want to pull a JKR and have the representation be so subtle (non existent) that she doesn't count.

If anyone has Downs Syndrome, knows someone, knows where I could find a community of people with DS, could help me answer this question, that would be appreciated

[ellatholmes]

SUBMISSIONS for the Disability in Fantasy short story anthology are OPEN! 💖

We want your fantasy fiction🫵

Anthology Theme: Traditional Fantasy. Think fairy tale, folk tale, myth, legend, or fable. Imagine what kind of story might be passed down from generation to generation, whose origins have been lost to time.

Word limit: 4000 words.

Click here to see submissions guidelines, info on the theme, eligibility, payment, donations, and more.

Please share to spread the word!

[disabledfantasy]

i saw that you posted this post and idk how long ago it was but i wrote a little thing for it. it doesnt entirely stick to the OP and i changed some stuff and i dunno if i did a good job on it but i figured i’d send it anyway. (please tell me if i misrepresent anything because if i did i’m sorry and i’ll change it)

http://themermaddie-fanfiction.tumblr.com/post/114227818023/based-off-of-disabledfantasys-prompt

- maddie

[inksplotter]

Finally got this one written up as a tutorial over at my blog. The tutorial is all about the painting process, but I also made a lot of little character detail choices that I want to talk about:

-The artificial arm and eye, on the same side. Given that this woman is a mechanic, it's reasonable to assume that at some point something blew up in her face and she barely survived.

- She has good trigger discipline, but doesn't keep the barrel pointed away from people. She doesn't want to shoot you, but also doesn't give a shit about your rules.

- She is looking up, over and behind the viewer. She is assessing whatever mechanical problem she was brought in to fix, not engaging with you.

- The cat is wearing a bell. Because it's freaking hard to find a cat in a boiler room if it doesn't want to be found.