#magic disabled character

[cripplecharacters]

First, thank you all so much for your work, you helped deal with my internalized ableism. A character of mine uses a cane since he has a lot of pain in his left knee and cannot put weight on it for an extended period of time, but he has wings and I was thinking: is there a way to have him use the wings without it sounding like I'm trying to erase his disability? I was thinking about him using the cane most of the time and using the wings when he needs both hands, but can't seat. Still, I wanted to know your opinion to avoid any stereotypes or harmful tropes. P.s: sorry for any mistakes, English is not my first language.

Hello,

So, the thing about most types of wings (excluding maybe delicate fairy wings) is that they aren't going to help with most mobility. Wings large enough to carry and propel a human are going to be massive and extremely strong. The average adult human male would need a wingspan of around seven meters in order to fly, based on the wingspan of an extinct bird that was roughly human-sized. And considering how heavy humans are and the fact that our bones are not hollow, the wings would need to be strong, probably to the level where accidentally getting hit by one could break bones or knock someone out. Wings are rarely going to be useful for your character when it comes to getting around. Sure, they can take off into the air, but they can't just fly down the street while talking to a friend or fly through most buildings. Wings aren't automatically a magic fix and they also aren't really a mobility aid. Trying to manoeuvre massive wings to get around safely inside of a building is going to be way, way more inconvenient than walking using a cane, maybe even impossible. Due to the strength and span of his wings, they're only going to be useful outside when he's going to be going at least seven feet above people (considering how large the wings would need to be, this is the minimum distance to keep him from concussing people or knocking people over with the air displacement.)

So yeah, have him use his cane most of the time and then just fly whenever he deems it necessary and possible. Similar to a car.

Mod Aaron

[cripplecharacters]

Hello! I have a question regarding wether or not something in my setting would be considered a fantasy disability:

In my story, magic energy manifests itself in the shape of the four elements, and energy can change from one element to the other in a cycle: From fire to air, from air to water, from water to earth, from earth to water and all over again.

Magic users then, all have a "starting point" in the cycle. If their starting point is water, in order to cast fire magic for example, they have to shift their magic first through all the other elements to do it.

My character in question doesn't have a starting point, because his cycle doesn't rest in a place and keeps shifting elements, so he has much more trouble having his magic energy stay still for enough time to cast a spell of a given element. He can cast magic with some magic artefacts for example, but normally it's very hard.

Would this magic situation be considered a "fantasy disability"?

Hello, thank you for your ask! My answer for this would be: it depends! Reading this I didn’t think of it as a fantasy disability, but depending on your story it could become one. Disability is a spectrum that includes impaired bodily function, accessibility issues and how society sees a person, among other things.

Some questions you should think about are: Does their magic make them look or move differently from other people? Does it not let them do things other people can do? Does it prevent them from entering certain places [like being unable to open a magic door]? Do they need help doing tasks other people can do easily, and if so how do other people react? What do people think of them?

If your answer to the first four (4) questions is no and the last two (2) is "they get a little bullied but most people don't think much of it," you just have a fantasy story on your hands! Do whatever. If the answer to any of the first four (4) is yes then tread carefully because you have a disability metaphor on your hands! And while ableism isn't necessary for a disability metaphor, if the answer to the last two is "a mix of people being cruel, condescending, dismissive, ignoring their personal space/autonomy, asking them invasive questions about it and/or ignoring them because of their magic," it's probably a disability metaphor as these attitudes [unfortunately] tend to follow disabled people, and you need to be extra careful since ableism is such a sensitive subject.

Have a nice day!

Mod Rot

[cripplecharacters]

Does a magic user generating themself a magic arm replacement, indistinguishable from a real arm to non magic users, fall under the robot arm ruling in?

Some two handed tasks could actually be easier just to do with magic, since this character is very skilled in magic, including fine motor skill style manipulation of objects, including but not limited to things like typing on a physical keyboard.

Full arm gone, lower and upper. The conjured arm is a constant drain in the mana/energy of the caster. Obvs the mana cost per minute and negative effect of it would differ per person, but the character in question is not bothered by it unless using large amounts of magic for other things. If they are under serious strain they would drop the spell and the arm would disappear immediately. The character generates this arm bc they want to, not bc of anyone else.

Hello,

Yes, that is a robot arm fix. Also, you might want to consider exactly how much control something as complicated as an arm would take. The character would need to consciously control every tiny micro adjustment of their shoulder, upper arm, elbow, forearm, wrist, the palm, the knuckles, and every single finger and every single joint. The amount of nerves and muscles and bones in the human arm that are required to make it work, perfectly replicating the function, especially for tiny actions like typing on a keyboard, would be nigh impossible if you had to manually activate your muscles and nerves to move your fingers and wrists just so. That doesn't just take power, it takes immense control and extreme amounts of concentration. Would it even be possible to do something that complicated, creating an entire arm to type on a computer, while also thinking about what you're typing?

Sure, it could be possible, but it would be a monumental amount of work and there is literally no reason for it when they could easier do things like summoning spells or telekinesis spells to do what they want to do. Those wouldn't take the amount of concentration the creation and perfect use of a magical arm would.

If your character is powerful enough to somehow perfectly replicate something as complicated as an arm, they're powerful enough to use magic to create accessibility and accessibility is going to be easier for them and for you as the writer. Plus, magic accessibility isn't a magic fix. Why not try for magic accessibility instead?

Mod Aaron

[cripplecharacters]

Hi! My character uses a wheelchair or a brace due to chronic pain from specifically her lower body, though she expresses occasional discomfort from her upper body. But since this is in a fantasy setting, she has water-based magic. Meaning while she's in water, she can (theoretically) move without pain and not need accommodations while she's underwater. Many apologies if this ask is vague: would this be a harmful representation for a disabled character in contemporary fantasy?

Hello,

So, for people with chronic pain in real life, sometimes (depending on the condition) it helps our exercise tolerance if we're in the water, because the water partially supports our weight. It doesn't make everything go away, but it helps.

Rather than have water completely get rid of her pain and disability, why not modify that? Maybe the water dulls her pain for magic reasons but doesn't erase it completely, like a magical ibuprofen. Maybe, instead of her being ablebodied and able to move without restriction underwater, the water helps her a bit. Moving in water puts less strain on her body. And yes, that can probably help with mobility, but it shouldn't be a perfect cure. Why not give her a kind of aquakinesis? She can control water and aid in her mobility without her body suddenly being completely abled. Use the water to propel her.

Instead of a temporary magical cure, why not go for magical adaptability? Instead of her magic making her abled in some situations, how about making her magic become an accessibility aid in some situations? Just a few ideas because this is kind of a magic fix for disability, which should be avoided.

Mod Aaron

[cripplecharacters]

ok so i have this character and i was wondering what people thought about having him with a prosthetic controlled by magic? because ive seen people say things against magic curing disabilities and i didn't really know where this stood in that area. the universe he is in is a mix between sci-fi and fantasy so it would probably be a metal arm that he could control.

thank you for your time :)

Hello,

Yes, that's very much a magic fix and should be reworked because really, he basically has an arm but metal, like Bucky Barnes. Consider instead maybe having him use magic to do telekinesis and pull stuff to the hand he does have, and also consider that, instead of going this complex route of learning magic to recreate something with complicated function like an arm, he might be better off spend that energy getting used to having one arm, if he hasn't already. He can adapt pretty well to it, even if his arm was amputated above the shoulder.

I would also advise you look at;

Our limb differences tag

This post about things to consider when writing a character with an upper-limb limb difference

And this post on the same topic

This post saying that prosthetic arms aren't the fix everyone thinks they are

And our disability erasure tag

Happy writing!

Mod Aaron