Re/Writing Dis/Ability

I have something to tell you.  

Its not easy, but it needs to be said and there's no easy way of saying it.

I'm sorry I didn't say it before, but I didn't want it to become A Thing and I really didn't want it to be something that you associated with when you started reading this blog by an aspiring writer.  However, not saying it also becomes an issue, so I thought that this needs to be addressed and resolved.

So what's this thing I haven't told you?  Are you sitting comfortably?

I'm.... disabled.  I have a disability. 


As for which one, I don't really think that it matters, at this stage in our relationship, because there are so many out there.

But I have one.

There, I've said it.

Gosh, I feel better.

I use a wheelchair to get about, about 50% of the time.  The rest of the time.... I use my car.  Boom! Boom!  (Basil Brush, anyone?)  Sorry couldn't help that one.

But the bit about the disability and the wheelchair is true.

Those who already know me and are reading the blog won't be surprised, but for everybody else, I guess it will.  Or not.

Does it change anything?  Well, I guess, as readers, only you can answer that.  If you saw me in person it would be something that you see straight off, because there is no hiding it.  Plus you would see that I am extremely good looking and the sun shines out of my... well, I can't write that.

An analyst might write that I have issues about declaring my disability.  I don't think that's true.  I was very conscious that I had almost avoided the subject.  I think that I was worried about being categorised as a disabled writer, instead of being a writer who has a disability.
 

Declaration of a disability is something that either unnerves people or they say shut up and get past it.  The reality is that I am disabled, have been since the year dot and will be for the rest of my life.  Its there.  No escaping it.

I haven't given a top-to-toe description of myself because really, I want my writing to speak for itself.  This blog is about my journey as an aspiring writer and as a person working at being an aspiring writer.

I feel that disabled people are sometimes seen as having an agenda and I don't.  I've never been a militant guy and I don't believe in chaining myself to buses (because it might drive away).  I do believe it not taking myself or my disability too seriously.

So why raise it now?

Any writer has to bring something fresh to the table.  A different perspective.  I could write another Star Wars, but then that would be Another Star Wars.  I don't believe that its easy to write Something New. 

Even Shakespeare got his ideas from Somewhere Else.

And why tell you now?

Well, I wanted to tell you last week, but the pesky riots go in the way.  Life has a way of changing the things that we do.  Harlan Coben's character Myron Bolitar has a favourite saying: Man Plans, God Laughs.

And recently, I've been thinking about the portrayal of disability in fiction and the movies and tv.  And there aren't all that many disabled hero/ines about.

Or, not very many lead characters with a disability.  But I've come across a few...

Geoffrey Spasmo: Coincidentally, this character was created by a able-bodied writer: Ben Elton, but I'll forgive him for that, because Gridlocked has to be one of my top 20 all time favourite books.

Miles Vorkosigon: This series was created by Lois McMaster Bujold and she sets her pint sized hero against the rest of the world and his own shortcomings with zeal and lots of humour. Highly Recommded.

DareDevil:  I'm not really one for comics.... ahem, graphic novels, but I was impressed with the idea of a blind superhero, except that his super-powers really negate his disability.

Neal Jiminez: Eric Stolz starred as a writer in a little known film in the 80s called The Waterdance, which also starred Wesley Snipes, William Forsyth and Helen Hunt.  If memory serves correct, he has a climbing accident, is left paralysed and has to adjust to life as a wheelchair user.

There are hundreds of other instances of disability in fiction. I may, in the future, just write a blog about them all.

Regarding the last example, I think that having a spinal injury, or becoming disabled is different to being disabled at birth because from birth a person is used to being set slightly apart from society (and that can be fun, too), whereas if a person becomes disabled, they know what the normal world is like, and that, I believe, is much more difficult.  That is a personal opinion.  Feel free to disagree.

So why have I brought it up?

Well, this blog is (primarily) about my journey as a writer and I think that one of my goals is to have a disabled hero/ine, who has to deal with the world and their disability at the same time.  My aim isn't to foreground disability, but to normalise it so that it is part of the everyday world.

The funny thing is I that I have written part of a story with a disabled writer as the main character.  The story begins to lay the groundwork for a much larger introduction to a new world.  Its funny because that part ends with the heroine going to the new world, and I have realised that I put the character in a really difficult position.  For one, she's stuck in a forest, and wheelchairs don't do forests....

Disabled people work best.... it should be acknowledged, when they are in control of their environment.  When they are not; they have to adapt and contend with the environment as well.

I'm sure that Ren and I will see see it as a challenge. I think that we'll all be interested to see how this plays out.

Hopefully see you all next week.  Please take care and have a great week.

Joe.