Bad Disability Tropes in Children's Fiction: Please Don't.

[rj_anderson]

I was reading a MG fantasy novel last weekend which I quite enjoyed. It had nice solid worldbuilding, a dynamic and resourceful MC, an interesting cast of supporting characters, and the stakes and dangers were high enough to keep the tension going. I was quite impressed with it overall, and became even more so when a new character appeared on the

Comments

[imaginarycircus]

Because Medusa's blood was both healing and poisonous in Greek myth I'm using that in my novel. But the healing comes at a terrible price and effectively ruins that person's life.

[rj_anderson]

That sounds interesting. And I'm not saying that magical healings should never take place in fiction, ever. But I think that the author needs to be aware of what they're doing and why, and also be prepared to address the negative implications of that choice as well as the positive ones. Because so often it does seem to be done simply to "reward" the MC and make non-disabled readers feel more happy and comfortable with that character. And neither of those are good enough reasons.

[imaginarycircus]

Right. I agree. I am mildly disabled by chronic illness, but I can get around on my own 2 feet more or less so I don't know what it is like to be permanently dependent on a wheel chair to get around. That kind of story you are critiquing is flaunting a kind of privilege that I think most people don't even recognize.

[rj_anderson]

*nods* It's a bit like the stories where the female MC starts off plain and/or above-average weight, and then at the end of the book becomes beautiful and thin. Because that is, of course, the only way that such an unfortunate young woman could ever have a happy ending.

Sure, it satisfies a lot of readers, including some readers who are plain and/or above-average weight themselves; wish-fulfillment always does have a certain satisfaction about it. But the underlying message is more toxic than anything else.

[mary_j_59]

Good post. There are two books I'd like to recommend, one fantasy, and one not. The first is The Treasure of Green Knowe, by one of my all-time favorite writers, L.M. Boston. The second is Allison McGhee's Falling Boy. I asked my friend Dave (who is wheelchair-bound) to read Falling Boy, because I wanted the pov of a disabled youth on the book, and he liked it - I think, nearly as much as I do. His review is on the library blog.

I'll be very interested to read other comments on your post, and I can certainly see why you were disappointed with that book!

[dichroic]

Another interesting one is Harding's Luck, by E. Nesbit. It's true that Dickie, who is lame, chooses in the end not to be crippled - but it's a *difficult* choice, and that's not the major factor in the decision at all. It's some consolation to him that the life he chooses is a beautiful one in a sound body, but he's leaving people he loves and giving up a lot out of pure nobility. (Sorry for the spoiler, but the book is a hundred years old, after all.)

Also, I'm not convinced that your Maud is quite hte same thing. As you say, her blindness was deliberately caused by magic, so it's reasonable to cure it the same way. And I don't think she gets much in the end that she wouldn't have gotten anyway.

[rj_anderson]

Sounds like an interesting book -- I love Nesbit, but hadn't heard of that one. I'll have to check it out.

[dichroic]

It's wonderful, if as rife with Socialism as her work tends to be - and The House of Arden, previously my favorite of hers, is a retelling of just a part of it from another POV. I've never seen anything quite like the way those two fit together.

[shoebox2]

Excellent essay... albeit I'm not quite getting the rage against Dean Priest, who is psychically twisted because he's physically so, not the other way around (as per, say Shakespeare's Richard III

[rj_anderson]

I'm not quite getting the rage against Dean Priest, who is psychically twisted because he's physically so

But how is that any less offensive, to say that someone is psychologically twisted because of their physical disability? And in any case, it seems like a chicken-egg scenario. Which came first in Montgomery's mind, Dean's physical disability or his flawed psyche? We don't know.

In any case, my rage isn't against Dean, it's on his behalf. If Montgomery had written him as a less compelling character, I wouldn't have come to care as much about him as I did. A near-miss can be more infuriating than a complete fail -- and it certainly was in this case, because as soon as he appeared on the scene I thought fatalistically, "Well, I like this guy a lot, but it's no good hoping he and Emily will get together. Not only because he's so much older, but because he has a physical disability and we all know that characters with disabilities never get to be the love interest, especially in older novels." And then his friendship with Emily

[lady_schrapnell]

YES. To all this! Dean's disintegration into unforgiveable behaviour, Teddy's 'rightness' of body and soul... Gah! The last of the Emily books squicked me out so severely I could never reread.

Rosemary Sutcliff's Eagle of the Ninth? I think Marcus's grieving and acceptance of being crippled is perfectly handled, and of course has nothing to do with his romantic life. Doubt it's a coincidence that Sutcliff herself was -- well, maybe I should urge you to read her autobiography, if you haven't already. It's very powerful.

Hilary McKay's Casson family books has a girl who becomes a very close friend of the family's (later romantic interest for someone too!) in a wheelchair. Love that series. (Oops - just scrolled down a bit more and see they've been recced already. Another never hurts though - they are realy fantastic.)

Oh, and it isn't quite what you're asking for, but I was very taken with Linda Urban's A Crooked Kind of Perfect, and my daughter Becca read it and loved it too. The dad has mental health disabilities, and it's

[rj_anderson]

Thanks for those recommendations! I had to read EAGLE OF THE NINTH in school, but it's been so long I'd forgotten it included an experience of disability. I really must try Sutcliff again one of these days.

And glad to know I'm not the only one who feels strongly about the EMILY books! So much to love there, but... ouch.

[alawston]

Even as a kid, I was struck (and 'struck' is the right word, I really can't remember whether I thought it was a good thing or not, but it stayed with me after the end of the novel) by the end of Roald Dahl's The Witches, where the closing chapters of the book revolve around making the hero's house [wheelchair] mouse-friendly and the hero coming to terms with the fact that he and his grandmother will be dead within the next eight years.

[rj_anderson]

Wait, am I getting this right -- the mouse is in a wheelchair? And there are mouse-wheelchair accessibility issues to be overcome? Because if so, I am more in awe of Roald Dahl's imagination than ever.

[alawston]

Alas, um, no. The mouse is not in a wheelchair, but the subtext is fairly transparent, what with the necessity of installing lifts all over the house for him.

[rj_anderson]

LOL. Okay, I get it now.

(Fellow authors, if you're thinking about writing mice in wheelchairs, looks like the field is still wide open! And I, for one, would totally read it.)

spoilers for MWT's Thief series

[elvenjaneite]

Excellent thoughts. I may come back when I'm less sleepy, but I think that both magically healing characters and treating physical and spiritual disability as the same thing does a huge disservice to author, story, and reader.

I feel like I always use these books as an example, but I know you'll know what I'm talking about, and it fits so fine, here we go. One of the things that I loved about QoA is the fact that Gen doesn't get his hand back. He has to come to terms with the fact that what's done is done, even for the gods. And he does. And he's still an awesome character. And (interestingly, given what you said about Matthew Maddox) I find it hard to envision a scenario in which Attolia and Gen would have married without the chopping.

Re: spoilers for MWT's Thief series

[rj_anderson]

Gen is a brilliant example, yes. He goes through the very understandable process of mourning (or "whining" as Moira would have it) over the loss of his hand -- made all the more understandable by the fact that he's a Thief and his hands are the vital tools of his life's chosen trade. But while everybody thinks he's just moping and waiting to die, he's actually trying to re-train himself and make himself useful in a new capacity -- and then he comes back more awesome and brilliant than ever. Still having to work around his disability, still limited and frustrated by it in some respects, but at the same time capable of accomplishing more with one hand than most people could manage with two

Re: spoilers for MWT's Thief series

[elvenjaneite]

Which could have been dodgy if handled differently, because it might seem to imply that people with disabilities have no excuse for not being as awesome as Gen is

Yes, I agree the books don't give that message. I was trying to think of something to back up that gut feeling and Relius came to mind. Gen and Attolia obviously hope he'll stay around in some capacity, but they're perfectly willing to let him go have his farm with the goats and the fountain (which, to be honest, sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me). They understand, I think, that he's older and frailer and they give him the choice.

I think the 3rd person narration also has a lot to do with the larger-than-life feeling after Thief. But you're right, his anguish over the loss of his hand and subsequent events do keep him close to us as readers.

Re: spoilers for MWT's Thief series

[miraba]

And now I have something else to read. Thank you.