#visible difference

[wheelie-sick]

IDC if you personally like being called "deformed." the vast majority of the visibly different community has shifted away from that word in favor of "visible/limb/facial difference" and you don't get to speak for all of us about our comfort with that word. speak for yourself. don't declare "deformed" to be the appropriate word for everyone with a visible difference and definitely don't accuse "visible difference" of being a euphemism akin to "differently abled"

[vibragarlic]

can we. can we Please Stop using strabismus as a funny haha joke/as something to be grossed out about. Pretty please everyone

[ID: various screenshots from the wonderfully weird world of gumball. the first has characters with phones in their hands and zombie-like expressions, all with exotropia. the second image shows gumball and darwin dazed from cologne fumes. gumball's left eye notably is exotropic. third image is richard with wall eyed and bloodshot eyes. end ID.]

i've been really excited to watch the new season of gumball but i'm just constantly thrown off by how the artists constantly make fun of strabismus, mostly exotropia (eyes point outward)

i don't get why visible disabilities (or disability in general TBH) are still an acceptable target for jokes in media. real people look like this. why are we making fun of that???

having strabismus doesn't make you silly, disgusting, loopy, or "stupid". it's a real disability and i'm sick of seeing artists using it as a quick and easy visual shorthand :(

strabismus isn't even the only target! someone who has crooked/yellow teeth is untrustworthy. someone who drools is "dumb" and childlike. someone with trouble balancing is drunk/confused/has brain damage. someone who god forbid has facial scars is a villain and wants to kill everyone!!!

all visible differences deserve actual, proper representation. not used to frame us as unintelligent, or make us look scary, or as the ten millionth joke making fun of the way we look. we deserve to be seen as real people. get new material.

[mountaincripple]

i know it’s the internet and i know it’s stupid to get annoyed over this type of thing, but it’s really fucking frustrating that people on here have the need to redirect every post i make about VISIBLE PHYSICAL DISABILITY to be about their invisible disabilities and/or mental health issues.

me: here is something i experience because i am visibly physically disabled, solidarity to other visibly disabled people who relate.

notes: could this also be about autism? or adhd? or an invisible chronic illness? have you considered that i want to be included?? CAN THIS PLEASE BE ABOUT ME?????

why can’t you sympathize with someone without making it all about yourself? are you able to listen to others without immediately discussing yourself? these are important skills to have when engaging with other people or with activism. not everything is about you. like, most things are not.

and in the meantime, we NEVER get to talk about our experiences without people breaking their minds trying to shoehorn themselves in and rationalize a reason that their voices should be elevated above ours.

it’s ableism. plain and simple.

[ayronaught]

Visibly different* people can still be really hot or attractive or good looking. Not "in spite of" our visible difference either. We can just be really hot and people can find us attractive and want to date us. And not despite our visible difference.

Visible difference refers to when your body itself looks different, e.g. a facial difference or limb difference

[cripplecharacters]

Hi, writer here!

I don't have any disabilities myself, but a character I'm working with does (a man with erbs palsy), and he's the antagonist. I didn't realize that giving villains disabilities was a trope, but he's always had this disability since he came in my head, and I think it would be wrong to remove it. The main character also has a disability (PTSD), and I was wondering if this... cancels out? I want to make sure I'm not furthering the weird prementioned trope.

Thanks a ton!

Hello!

There's a lot to consider here.

For one thing, it can't exactly "cancel out" because it doesn't really work like that. Disabilities aren't one size fits all. They're different and when it comes to representation, each one comes with its own history of stereotyping, ableist tropes, and social context that needs to be considered.

With this in mind, there are some MAJOR differences between a character with PTSD and a character that has a physical, visible disability -- especially something like Erb's palsy that causes visible differences in their body.

Characters with visible disabilities (and especially those whose disabilities cause visible differences in their body) are almost always portrayed as the villains in their stories. Think of characters like Freddy Krueger (Nightmare on Elm Street), Dr. Poison (Wonder Woman), and most Bond villains.

I don't think I've ever seen a character like this in any role but the villain.

Meanwhile, there are plenty of characters with PTSD who have other roles. Tony Stark (Iron Man) is a hero, Judd Ryder (911 Lonestar) is one of the main protagonists, several characters from the Hunger Games. While I'm sure that are villains with PTSD as well, they're far fewer.

There's also the issue of how villains with PTSD are portrayed versus those with visible disabilities. Many 'villains' with PTSD (Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, Jason Todd/Red Hood, etc.) are portrayed as characters that have been through a lot and need healing/love. They usually get a redemption arc.

On the other side of this, visibly disabled villains don't get that. They're portrayed as simply needing to be stopped.

I have... a lot more to say on this subject but the point here is that no, it doesn't "cancel out". If your disabled character is problematic or ableist in some way (which I can't say based on what info is included here), that isn't something that can just be magically fixed by throwing in a character with PTSD.

There are a few things you can do to make some improvements to your concept, though.

First, I'd suggest checking out some of our posts on writing disabled villains. You can find most of them in the pinned post or by looking through the #villains with disabilities tag.

They have a lot of good advice that you might find beneficial.

If you'd like to send another ask with more specific information on your character after you've done that, then we can help with workshopping them.

Cheers,

~ Mod Icarus

[zhenya-grey]

In general, people need to be more normal about visible/body differences.

Missing limbs, body parts that are in different shapes or amounts, major scars, etc.

We shouldn't have to cater to your comfort by hiding.

[differentlylimbed]

god imagine what it would've been like to grow up surrounded by people who looked like me and moved like me and being taught to play wheelchair sports from a young age and being shown how to use my limb difference to my advantage and seeing people who looked like me live normal lives. but no i spent most of my life being yelled at for tripping over and taught to wear baggy pants and sat on the sidelines for PE because teachers were worried i'd get bullied so anyway everyone with a congenital limb difference deserves a million pounds and a gun

[facial-difference-culture-is]

facial difference culture is seeing your own face used as a joke or storytelling tool instead of just, you know, a face.