#visible disorders

[artist-refs]

Is It 'bad' to make a character have albinism just because it looks nice? I don't see it as much different than giving the blue hair or green eyes, but I might be wrong :/

No; there is no inherent “bad”.

Research any disorder before deciding a character actually has it. If possible, talk to people with it, and ask about their experiences.

If its just for looks, they don’t necessarily have to have albinism; light hair and skin exist outside of it too, and not everyone with the disorder has those features. Because albinism is not just a lack of melanin; it’s diagnosed by an optometrist looking into the eyes, generally because the person has terrible vision, which cannot be corrected with glasses.

Just… know what you’re dealing with before jumping in.

But also know that in the end, you can write whatever you want. You do not have to be all perfect and correct about everything, you are not under any obligations here. It helps your storytelling to understand how things work, and can even give you more ideas, but its up to you to figure out what you wanna do with it all.

Disclaimer: I’m not in any way an expert nor do I have albinism, so please take what I say with a grain of salt.

[artist-refs]

When I was in primary school, my classmates explained that I was evil because ‘all albinos are evil, look at albinos on TV and in the movies.’ I’ve been looking ever since.

[artist-refs]

how do i write mute characters communicating in asl?

I’ve never tried, and I’m going to look for references from more experienced writers, but here are a couple of ideas for now…

If you don’t know any ASL: “What’s your name?” she signed.

If you understand the grammar structure of ASL: She made the signs YOU, NAME. “What’s your name?”

If you actually know ASL: She squinted, gestured toward me, then tapped two fingers against her fist. “What’s your name?”

Of course, for variety, you can mix it up. Also, some signs are probably very difficult to describe, I imagine.

(I don’t actually know ASL, I just googled and  found a [site] with some videos.)

mitaukano said:

Name is two fingers on both hands being tapped together. You would point at the person, for you, and what is an open handed sign. So one finger, four fingers, the whole hand gesture. It’s hard to draw but doable. There are name signs too.