Sarah, Please Keep Doing Special Needs in Strange Worlds

I don’t normally comment on controversial issues in SFF, but sometimes you can’t stay silent.

SF Signal posted a Special Needs in Strange Worlds entry titled, “We are all disabled” that has caused a lot of hurt. (The post has been removed from the site but @eilatan took this screenshot of the post and asked that it only be shared with a TRIGGER WARNING)  While I was not personally affected by it (I found it more confusing than anything, and didn’t agree with the premise), I understand that many in our community were.  

I have learned a lot from the Special Needs in Strange Worlds column.  I have also learned a lot from the responses I’ve read about this particular post - responses that explained why it was insensitive to post, offensive, how it fed into stereotypes associated with autism.  How it hurt to read on such a well respected site as SF Signal.

SF Signal messed up.  Sarah messed up.  

I was taught that three things are necessary when you make a mistake:

1. Apologize 

This has been done.   

2. Make restitution 

You have to somehow make up for what you’ve done.  First, they removed the post.  Good start.  Some other possibilities to help in this instance could be to post on SF Signal one or two responses to the original post, explaining why it was offensive and different ways negative stereotypes hurt.  Several posts by autistic people, showing different viewpoints, would be wonderful - to get more voices out there and counteract the inaccuracies of the offending piece.

3. Try to do better / Don’t make the same mistake again

I’m sure Sarah will be more careful going ahead - assuming she decides to go ahead with the column.  Maybe a panel would be more appropriate for screening responses for this column than one individual, and some people will volunteer to help her with it.  Maybe more people will send her their experiences to post in the column so it’s more representational.

Or maybe she’ll decide it’s not worth the fear of making another mistake and close the column down as she deals with the fall out of her mistake.

Criticism is good.  We need to be able to point it out when people do things wrong.  But if we go too far and push people out of the genre for making mistakes, we’ll soon be in a very small, very empty room.  Because we all make mistakes.  All of us.  We can all do better.

And education is one way of doing better.  Education that this column usually provides.

I NEED this column.  I want to learn more about others, about what makes us different, and similar.  I want to know more about people’s experiences with disabilities so I can better understand my fellow man.  But like most people, I’m lazy.  I’ve stumbled across the occasional other post on this topic, but I don’t go out of my way looking for them.  We need posts about representation, about difference, about disability on sites like SF Signal that get a lot of genre traffic.  Because I’m not the only one who needs to learn about these things who won’t go looking for them.  

They need to be front and centre in genre if we want change, they need to be on the sites that get traffic, views, discussion.  

Mistakes hurt.  Sometimes they hurt a lot.  But if we don’t pick ourselves up and try again, if we give up, then we learn nothing from the mistakes.  And the mistakes simply repeat themselves in different venues at different times, with different people.  

Sarah, you made a mistake.  But I respect you.  I respect your work on the Special Needs in Strange Worlds column.  I’ve learned so much from you and that column.  This genre needs you.  Please, please keep doing it.  Don’t let this mistake be the end of this wonderful work you’ve done.

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ETA: I've just read this enlightening post on Flat Out which explains more of what was offensive about the original SF Signal post.  It's worth checking out.

And here's a response by Foz Meadows, which dissects the post, again pointing out some of the problematic language.

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2nd ETA: Sarah has decided to close down the Special Needs in Strange Worlds column on SF Signal but she's teaming up with Shana DuBois to create a website, tentatively named Own Voice, which will expand the ideas of SN in SW to include more content, interviews, essays, etc. with a panel of people okaying content to avoid another mistake like the one that prompted the above post.  I think this is an excellent idea, and am excited to see how it expands.

Mindsets on Disability

I had some great comments on my Special Needs in Strange Worlds reading list post, with more books to add to the list.  I also had someone question why I added A Spell for Chameleon to the list, when the character isn't, in point of fact, differently abled.  The book is in a category called 'problems with magic' and there are two books (one of which is Spell) where the protagonist doesn't have magic in a world where having magic is the norm.  You eventually discover that Bink, from Spell, doesn't really fit the category, but that doesn't stop him from being treated differently because people perceive that he's without magic.

Which got me thinking.  To what extent does perception create disability.  Could it be considered a disability to be the one poor kid in a school of rich kids?  Disadvantaged is probably the correct word, since the kid would be able to do everything the other kids could - potentially.  But it's that potentiality that got me questioning.  What if the other kids went horseback riding as a sport (something that was offered - at an extra cost - at my highschool).  Would that lack 'dis' able you?  Could you be perceived as being less because you couldn't do it?

So much of disability is considered so because it calculates what someone can't do - when compared with someone who's "normal".

In discussing this with my husband he said (and then wrote and edited) the following:

When a society has a clearly defined norm then it’s easy for members of that society to perceive any difference from that norm as a reflection of an individual’s ability when, in actuality, the perceived difference may have no correlation with ability at all.

For example, when explorers from western Europe crossed the ocean and met with indigenous people in the americas, they perceived them as less intelligent, and hence less able, due to their different style of living and beliefs.  Yet these same people had learned to tame the land on which they lived, and created thriving societies with complex social structures that had stood the test of time.  Looking back now it is clear to us that peoples, such as the Mayans and the Aztecs, had no lack of ability.  There is plenty of evidence that they had a firm grasp of architecture and mathematics.  Instead they had simply followed a different path and developed a different way of life from the Europeans.

Just as we now know that people from around the world are equally capable of intellectual thought, despite dramatic differences in lifestyle, one should not be so quick to judge the abilities of another based upon a perceived disability.  One person may not be able to walk like others, yet that doesn’t mean they are incapable of getting around.  Humans have an incredible ability to adapt to the circumstances they find themselves in.  Don’t be so quick to discount someone simply because they’ve had to adapt given a different set of capabilities than you.  You may be surprised when you discover that they have other capabilities which exceed yours.

What he said reminded me of a series of videos on youtube by Tommy Edison, a man who's been blind from birth.  He answers questions about what it's like to be blind.  Here's one on some of the perks of blindness, one on colours and one on dreaming.

I've also seen several great Ted Talks on the topic, by some exceptional people who have, what some would call, disabilities.

I tried to embed the videos but it didn't work for some reason, so I'm adding the links instead.  The first video is by Maysoon Zayid.  Her talk is entitled I got 99 Problems... Palsy is just One.

I strongly urge you to watch the entire video, but if you can't here are two of my favourite quotes.

"Disability is as visual as race.  If a wheelchair user can’t play Beyonce, than Beyonce can’t play a wheelchair user.  People with disabilities are the larges minorities in the world and we are the most under represented in entertainment." (11:34 - 11:58)

"I hope that together we can create more positive images of disability in the media and in every day life.  Perhaps if there were more positive images, it would foster less hate on the internet." (12:08 - 12:21) 

The second video is by Sue Austin, on Deep Sea Diving... in a Wheelchair.

In talking about how people's reactions to her changed once she started using a wheelchair she says:

“They seemed to see me in terms of their assumptions of what it must be like to be in a wheelchair.  When I asked people about their associations with the wheelchair, they used words like: limitation, fear, pity and restriction.  I realized I’d internalized these responses and it changed who I was on a core level." (1:02 - 1:35)

She explains that for her, a wheelchair represented mobility and the ability to do things she was otherwise incapable of.  And she wondered why the perception of a wheelchair was the opposite of the reality, and so started using her chair to create artwork, to help people see things differently.

My final example is a talk by Aimee Mullins on My 12 Pairs of Legs.

"From my experience kids are naturally curious about what they don’t know or don’t understand, or is foreign to them.  They only learn to be frightened by those differences when an adult influences them to behave that way, and maybe censors that natural curiosity or reigns in the question asking for them, in the hopes of them being polite little kids." (0:26 - 0:46)

She gives an example of asking a group of kids what legs they would design for her to be able to jump over a building and one asked if she wouldn't like to fly as well, "And just like that I went from being a woman that these kids would have been trained to see as disabled to somebody who had potential that their bodies didn’t have yet." (2:05- 2:13)

Now, these three Ted examples are all exceptional, but I hope I made my point, that so called 'normal' people put restrictions on those considered 'disabled' with preconceived notions of what they can and cannot do.

I don't want to say that some people are incapable of things.  We all are.  I can't paint with my toes, like this remarkable woman - or rather, I could, perhaps.  I've never tried.  Because I don't need to.  People learn new ways of doing things if the 'normal' way doesn't work for them.

And, of course, there's a huge difference between the experiences of these people and what happens when someone is subject to crippling pain, like Cat Valente's current, unfortunate experience with carpal tunnel syndrome.  Her post about her experience is both heartbreaking and enlightening, if you've never experienced something similar.

(Dis)ability is varied and complex.  And it should be just as varied and complex in our entertainment, including our books.  It's why I think Sarah Chorn's Special Needs in Strange Worlds column, first on her own website, Bookworm Blues, and now on SF Signal, is so important.

Special Needs In Strange Worlds Reading List

Last month Bookworm Blues (Sarah Chorn) posted a series of guest blogs on a very important - and under discussed  - topic: disabilities in science fiction and fantasy.  I'd started a reading list on this topic months ago, but couldn't figure out a way of displaying it without seeming condescending.  So I put my incomplete list aside and went on to do other displays.

Then Elspeth Cooper did this post on disability in fantasy, and Bookworm Blues decided to do her amazing blog series.  And Dan Goodman suggested the amazing, and respectful, title: Special Needs in Strange Worlds.  If you haven't read her posts, they start here and end here.  She also did a half way point round up with links, here, if you don't want to scroll through all the posts.  With the suggestions offered in the posts and a wonderful title, my endcap/reading list was back in business.

A few notes on this list.  First, it's incomplete.  This is a topic that to a large extent requires having read the book in order to know if the book fits the topic.  And it's impossible to read everything.  I've tried to categorize the books I had listed into general categories and then subdivided issues that had several books each.  Even then some books fit several categories, and some categories are flexible.  I tried to leave off the 'magical cure' books, but left the books with blind characters who have second sight as a compensation for losing their physical sight.  I also recognize that some of the books deal with disability in more detail than others.

I wasn't looking for mystery books, which is why there are only two (+ one from the comments), and only mentioned general fiction books I - and those I spoke to (at work and at home) - knew.

If you have a suggestion, please leave the title of the book, author and which category it fits.  I'll try to add them to the list.  If I get too many suggestions I may just let people read the comments to find more.

I'd meant to post this list at the end of May to somewhat co-incide with the Bookworm Blues posts, but I wanted an endcap, and that takes a month (from ordering the books until it's up).  This is an important issue and I wanted to bring it to the attention of more people.

I wanted to credit those who helped bring this endcap to life, so I've mentioned them with shelf talkers on the display (at the World's Biggest Bookstore, Toronto).

SFX did a list, with several characters I missed and subsequently added, here.

Sarah Chorn (Bookworm Blues) did a post on SF Signal where she mentions several books on this topic.

Ada Hoffman has an excellent list of books containing autistic characters, many of which she has reviewed.  Do to the size of her list I've chosen not to add the titles here.

*List updated April 3, 2014.

For some 2014 books, SF Signal has a reading list for you.

Essays:

Disability in Science Fiction: Representations of Technology as Cure - Kathryn Allan, Ed.

Physical Issues:

The Blade Itself - Joe Abercrombie

Song of the Beast - Carol Berg
Rogue Moon - Algis Budrys (amputee)

Young Miles - Lois McMaster Bujold

Songs of the Earth - Elspeth Cooper
Mind Games - Carolyn Crane (hypochondriac)
Silent Dances - A. C. Crispin & Kathleen O'Malley

The Scar - Sergey & Marina Dyachenko
Talus and the Frozen King - Graham Edwards (damaged arm)
Earth Girl - Janet Edwards
Angel Fall - Susan Ee
Ether - Ben Ehrenreich

Miserere - Teresa Frohock
Handbook for Dragon Slayers - Merrie Haskell
Silver - Rhiannon Held (+ mental)
Spark - Brigid Kemmerer

Wolfsangel - M. D. Lachlan (mute)
Brood of Bones - A. E. Marling (sleeping sickness)

Game of Thrones - George R. R. Martin
The Ship Who Sang - Anne McCaffrey

Elric: Stealer of Souls - Michael Moorcock
Mister Monday - Garth Nix (asthma)

Galatea 2.2 - Richard Powers

Enclave - Kit Reed (epilepsy)

Scourge of the Betrayer - Jeff Salyards
15 Miles - Rob Scott
The Dream-Maker's Magic - Sharon Shinn
Hollow World - Michael J. Sullivan (idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis)
Sideshow - Sheri Tepper

Quarantine: The Loners - Lex Thomas (epilepsy) 

Among Others - Jo Walton
Blindsight - Peter Watts (epilepsy)

Beyond the Shadows - Brent Weeks

Shadowmarch - Tad Williams

Amped - Daniel Wilson (has technological implant that prevents seizures)

One-Armed Queen - Jane Yolen

Westlake Soul - Rio Youers (vegetative state)
Chronicles of Amber - Roger Zelazny

Wheelchair:

Memory of Earth - Orson Scott Card 

Immobility - Brian Evenson
Heaven's Shadow - David Goyer

Dune - Frank Herbert

The Rapture - Liz Jensen

The Drawing of the Three - Stephen King

Fenrir - M. D. Lachlan

Last Hero - Terry Pratchett
Apollo's Outcasts - Allen Steele

Blindness:

The Daemon Prism - Carol Berg 

Eyes to See - Joseph Nassise 

WWW.Wake - Robert J. Sawyer 

Sojourn - R. A. Salvatore
Persistence of Vision - John Varley
Mind Games - Kiersten White

The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham 

Mental Issues:

Debris - Jo Anderton

Xenocide - Orson Scott Card (OCD)
A Turn of Light - Julie Czerneda
Alien Shore - C. S. Friedman (also has an autistic character)
The Diamond in the Window - Jane Langton (children's book)

Dragonsinger - Anne McCaffrey
Swans & Klons - Nora Olsen
Bleeding Violet - Dia Reeves (bipolar)
Dying Inside - Robert Silverberg (ability to read minds destroys life)
Eight Million Gods - Wen Spencer (OCD)

Dracula - Bram Stoker (insanity)
More Than Human - Theodore Sturgis
Lost & Found - J. Sheehan (synesthesia)

Red Thunder - John Varley

Dyslexia:

Spellwrignt - Blake Charlton
God's War - Kameron Hurley 

Of Blood and Honey - Stina Leicht
The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan

Autistic:
[Ada Hoffman has an excellent list of books containing characters with autism here.]

World House - Guy Adams
Winds of Khalakovo - Bradley Beaulieu
A Wizard Alone - Diane Duane

Speed of Dark - Elizabeth Moon
Silence - Michelle Sagara
The Real Boy - Anne Ursu (middle grade SF)

Depression:

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - Philip K. Dick

Lord Foul's Bane - Stephen Donaldson
The Magicians - Lev Grossman

The Fionavar Tapestry - Guy Gavriel Kay

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien 

Problems With Magic: 

A Spell for Chameleon - Piers Anthony

Assassin's Apprentice - Robin Hobb

Forging the Darksword - Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman

Graphic Novels:

Birds of Prey / Batman (Oracle - wheelchair)

Daredevil (blindness)
Hawkeye (hard of hearing)

Iron Man (heart problems)

With the Light: Raising an Autistic Child - Keiko Tobe (autism)

X-Men (Professor X - wheelchair, Destiny - blindness)

Movies/TV:

Alphas (autism)
Avatar (paraplegic)

Bionic Woman (bionic parts)

Cube (mental)

Dark Angel (paraplegic)

Defendor (mental)

Dr. Who (Davros - quadriplegic)
Guild (Venom is paraplegic)
How to Train a Dragon (Toothless's damaged wing)
Human Race (amputee, deafness - Note: this is a horror movie with lots of gore)

Lawnmower Man (mental issues)

Mantis (paralysis)

Memento (memory loss)

6 Million Dollar Man (bionic parts after accident)

Star Trek (Commander Pike - quadriplegic)

Star Trek: The Next Generation (Geordi La Forge - blindness)

Star Wars (breathing apparatus, dismemberment)
Twin Peaks (chief Gordon Cole was deaf, mental issues)

Unbreakable (brittle bone syndrome)

Wizard of Oz (fear, no heart, etc.)

General Fiction: 

Peter Pan - J. M. Barrie

A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

The Sound and the Fury - William Faulkner

Curious Incident of a Dog in the Nighttime - Mark Haddon (autism)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Victor Hugo (partial blindness and deafness)

Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes (mental)

Last Snow - Eric Van Lustbader (dyslexia)

Moby Dick - Herman Melville
Blindness - Jose Saramago

Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck (mental)

Johnny Got His Gun - Dalton Trumbo 

Before I Go To Sleep - S. J. Watson (memory loss)

Mystery:

Mr. Monk Goes to the Firehouse - Lee Goldberg (OCD)

Divine Sacrifice - Tony Hays
You Die Today! - Baynard Kendrick

Bookwork Blues: Special Needs in Strange Worlds Month

This month Bookworm Blues is hosting a themed month on disabilities as portrayed in science fiction and fantasy.  It's a fantastic topic, one that's avoided because, as she mentions in her introductory post, "...how many people are either afraid to talk about it because it’s a sensitive issue, or can’t think of anything to say because no one has brought attention to it before".

I had the idea a year or more ago to do an endcap with books containing protagonists (or important secondary characters) with disabilities.  I eventually discarded the idea because I couldn't think of a way to display the books without sounding... less than polite about it.  Both in terms of titling the display, but also by having one in the first place.  It's the kind of thing that gets pushed aside for pc reasons, but also because as a society we try not to talk about things that make us uncomfortable.

Now I wonder why I was so afraid to bring attention to books that showcase - or at least bring attention to - those with disabilities.  Thankfully I didn't toss my list.  In fact, I've added to it.  I'm hoping to expand it some more and post it some time this month.

Thank you Sarah for creating a theme month that addresses this sensitive topic.