Teine has a rant: I want more stories where limitations remain limitations.
Brought to you from an argument I had at work.
There's a lot of assumptions in fiction that irritate me... but I would like to have a small rant about this one:
Determination can temporarily override limitations.
The character has a broken leg, but there's a child to save.
The character has PTSD, but it's the final battle.
The character has depression, but their friends need them.
The character is exhausted, injured, traumatised, sleep deprived, grieving, ill, whatever...
...and somehow the plot-critical moment arrives and the condition politely steps aside.
Then afterwards it comes back.
it's a very common storytelling move.
But biology doesn't generally negotiate with narrative importance.
Psychosis doesn't check whether there's an exam tomorrow. A seizure disorder doesn't care about a deadline. A connective tissue disorder doesn't look at the calendar and decide today would be inconvenient. Neither does bipolar disorder. Neither does a concussion. Neither does a migraine. Neither does a panic attack.
Bodies are often astonishingly indifferent to human plans.
Which is fine. It's just fiction right?
But fiction doesn't just reflect expectations. It helps build them.
And I fear that when people consume thousands of stories with the same underlying assumption, that assumption starts feeling intuitive. And then that starts to bleed into every day life.
I have schizoaffective disorder and hEDS. I am also recovered from an eating disorder and have a history of PTSD.
And I cannot count the number of times people have just assumed that I can delay an episode until after a deadline, or stubborn myself out of psychosis, focus out of mania, that love or care for something can snap me out of depression, that if I want the thing enough I can just ignore the way my joints dislocate themselves at random.
but newsflash: I can't.
I see it constantly.
Friends with OCD who people assume can just not do their compulsions because there's a time-dependent thing happening.
Autistic friends who are accepted when they're just being "quirky", but then berated when their actual struggles affect plans, conversations, work, noise tolerance, food, travel, or anything else inconvenient.
Friends who will never "recover" being treated as though that means they are weak, lazy, not trying hard enough, or secretly choosing not to get better.
Now, obviously, I'm not saying fiction is entirely to blame.
And I understand that wish fulfilment is a thing.
Sometimes people want stories where the hero pushes through and wins despite everything. I get that. That’s valid.
But I do think this trope has more of an effect than people realise.
TLDR:
Representation is great. I want representation. We need representation. But... I have concerns when representation avoids the messy, darker, complicated, uncomfortable parts.
I want more stories where limitations remain limitations.
Where the panic attack doesn't wait until after the important conversation.
Where the psychosis doesn't pause for the exam.
Where the seizure happens at the worst possible time.
Where the injury does not vanish for the action sequence.
Where determination matters, but biology still gets a vote.
Because for a lot of people, the most important moments of our lives are precisely when our bodies and brains do not cooperate.
And no amount of caring enough magically changes that.