#narcolepsy representation

[cripplecharacters]

i want to give one of my characters narcolepsy, she already has a job(she works at a combination flower shop/coffee shop) and i was wondering how it would affect her work? like work hours, amount/length of breaks, what type of work would best and if she would even be allowed to work cuz i know certain disabilities make it so you cant work. (i apologize if this is insensitive or ableist in any way)

Hello!

As a disclaimer: we don't have any mods with confirmed narcolepsy atm. I don't have narcolepsy but I do have a sleep disorder that presents similarly. If any of our followers have narcolepsy, please feel free to chime in!

She would still be able to work, though there will be jobs where she won't be permitted to work such as those involving heavy machinery.

The setting that you described (The flower/coffee shop) doesn't seem like it would be any problem and accommodations for her would be pretty simple to implement!

For me, I'm lucky enough that my job is already structured in a pretty accessible way for me. I usually work anywhere from 1-3 hours at a time, which means I can rest/nap before and after as needed. Because of the nature of my job (I'm a transcriber and switch on/off with my coworker every 1000 words), I'm also able to get up and stretch or take a quick walk if needed.

Something similar might be beneficial for your character! Maybe instead of having one hour long break, for example, they can have four fifteen minute breaks.

A flower shop is also a good setting to be able to walk around as needed. If they're starting to get tired and know that movement will help them, they can easily switch to another task that's more physically demanding such as sweeping up fallen leaves, potting plants, making flower arrangements, etc.

The coffee side of things might be a bit more difficult but the same idea applies there too!

Something else I really love about my job is that I'm able to pick my own hours/schedule. For me, I find that I have the most trouble staying awake at around noon so I do my best not to schedule myself during that time.

If your character has the ability to do something similar, that might help!

And as a final note: don't worry about seeming ableist or insensitive! This blog was created as a place for people to ask questions and improve their disabled characters. The fact that you're reaching out for advice and thinking about this stuff is great and your questions are completely reasonable.

Cheers,

~ Mod Icarus

[cosmic-whorror]

Kaku dealing with narcolepsy in the devildom. Lucifer... fails to understand.

I’d kind of like to explore writing a little about what it’s like to have narcolepsy/hypersomnia through a character in the devildom, and how they get along with Belphie since he’s the avatar of sloth. I don’t know anyone else who has a hypersomnia sleeping disorder or narcolepsy other than myself, and it would be nice to throw out a little representation.

Some things I’d like to throw out there for people to know up top about it:

-sleep attacks are real!! Personally I’m totally fine with them used as comic relief because it’s not offensive to me, but the reality is that sometimes they are super frustrating, disheartening, or even scary.

-some people have cataplexy, others do not. Both are valid! Cataplexy is basically ragdolling - falling down, legs giving out, eyelids drooping, shaking and sudden weakness. It super sucks and makes it even harder to get out of bed because your body might just give out out of nowhere.

-heightened states of arousal (excitement, anger, anxiety) can trigger cataplexy and/sleep attacks!! I personally get sleep attacks when I get too anxious or simply have a good conversation with a friend. It feels really rude, but it is ultimately uncontrollable. Cataplexy happens to me if I am suddenly hit with an intense feeling, typically my legs just kind of say “fuck it” and become hard to control.

-there are not many medications to treat either these. They are also super hard to diagnose. A single sleep study (you usually need several for a proper diagnosis) is over 5k out of pocket, and some people can’t get their proper medications unless they get a formal diagnosis!!

-narcolepsy is an autoimmune disease.

Anyway, off my soap box! I hope this was interesting or at least informative for some folks. I’d love to hear from other peoples experience with this kind of sleep disorder (diagnosed formally or not. It’s pretty easy to tell when something like this is super abnormal.)

[cripplecharacters]

hello again! I'm making an au of a show and I wanted to give most of the characters some disability/disorder/condition.

One character had hair loss (not much and it was magically healed) in the show and I wanted to give her actual hair loss, however she wears a hijab and I was wondering if it was like the mask trope for people with facial differences since she'd always go out with her head covered.

And the other character can see other people's dreams and I was thinking of giving him narcolepsy, but is it insensitive given his magic(?) when awake?

Hey!

I personally would never count religious garments as evoking this trope, I think it's perfectly fine. "Hijabi dealing with hair loss" is a description that fits a lot of people. I have no issue with this and think it's quite cool.

There's also the fact that people who wear a hijab still take it off at home, so presumably she will be described without it at some point. But you can mention her lack of hair when she's out as well - maybe her friend who also wears a hijab struggles with a strand of hair poking out, and she jokes about not having to deal with that anymore.

Of course it depends on what kind of relationship she has with her facial difference, but a lot of people who had theirs for a long time will reference it in a very casual way. Just a once-in-a-while reminder that "yeah it's still there".

If you want to be Extra Safe, you can consider a type of alopecia that affects the eyebrows and eyelashes as well (alopecia universalis), which would make it visible at all times. You can also have another character with alopecia who has it more visible, things like that.

I hope this helps,

mod Sasza

Hi!

Re: narcolepsy: It doesn't seem inherently offensive or insensitive to me. (For context, doctors suspected narcolepsy with me, now no one is sure, it's up in the air, but not official. My body is a mystery.)

For starters, I can name exactly 3 characters with narcolepsy, and 2 are from the same book series. Mysterious Benedict Society, first published 2008, has 2 characters with narcolepsy, which is portrayed sort of okay. And there's one character in The Boys, who was made narcoleptic because his actor often napped on set. My friend, who has narcolepsy, said the only rep he has seen is a one-off episode of Scrubs where the gag is that the narcoleptic has cataplexy when he sees tits, and no other time. As you can imagine, that's definitely not any sort of respectful representation. And he said maybe the Unconscious Argentinean from Moulin Rouge, but again, just sort of vague.

Essentially, there's very little to be found in terms of tropes in the first place, so it's not like you're following any harmful tropes.

As to the power, it seems like while it's connected to narcolepsy, it doesn't necessarily hinge entirely on it. And, more importantly, it doesn't erase the character's disability. That's really the main thing to avoid when it comes to giving disabled characters superpowers.

This is also a power that someone without narcolepsy have, but it's not jumping out as something insensitive.

As a side note, really vivid dreams can be a symptom of narcolepsy. If you want to give him this symptom, maybe this can play a part in the discovery of his powers, or in him not realizing immediately that they are powers.

Hope this helps,

– mod sparrow