Do you have any characters with disabilities? How do you portray them?

My MC Bobbie is deaf and his best friend R.J. is hard of hearing. They're just a couple of goofy dudes.

I portray them as I would any other character, they just happen to be deaf/HOH. Of course this comes up in the comic in different ways, and they normally communicate in ASL.

Check it out here if you like slice of life! https://m.tapas.io/series/signs-point-to-bobbie/info

I have a story where every character is disabled in some way, its still very much in progress though ;w;

I have a MC with ocular albinism, so he can't legally drive without some special eye hardware, his depth perception is atrocious, he's near sighted with text and he's super sensitive to light. He mentions it once, but it's never mentioned as a disability, I just show his issues visually and assume readers can pick it up.

I'm not sure if this is considered a disability (Recently found out chronic migraines are a disability, soooo "The More You Know~*".), but my other MC lives with PTSD and psychosis. This isn't brought up since they themselves don't know what's going on, never being properly diagnosed, so it's all shown through visual ques and how they talk sometimes. They also have back issues and arthritis.

(Btw don't look for my comic unless you're 17 or older, and you're fine with heavy themes.)

Technically, the titular character was born with several birth defects that caused him to become an amputee and he is technically blind and paralyzed as his organic eyes, spinal column, arms AND legs, and even some of his digestive tract are all gone. He copes with all of his disabilities in one simple way: he's a cyborg. Whatever is missing or doesn't work, gets replaced with cybernetic parts which he himself updates all the time to better.

It's weird calling it a disability because I feel deafness is more of difference in culture, but my main character Penny from Monkey Bunny (and supporting lead in Valor) is deaf. It impacts her socially in Monkey Bunny (as she's constantly talking through her interpreter/girlfriend Artemis) but that gets slothed off once we're several years in the future for Valor (and the main crew is bilingual in ASL and English).

It affects Penny socially as she tends to be more stoic and observant in larger groups (who don't speak her language) but once she's with Artemis/a fellow ASL fluent character, her charismatic self comes out much, much more.

Illustration-wise, I very rarely show full sentences in ASL, but I often choose one word/major theme and illustrate someone signing that in ASL for the panel. It can be a real challenge at times drawing long conversations (and keeping it fresh with camera angles/etc), but it's such a beautiful language that ASL has only ever been a benefit to the art (and I can't wait for the next 2 months of Valor as it is a VERY ASL-heavy scene).

Check out Unstoppable Monkey Bunny on Tapas

Check out Valor: Family Tree on Tapas

Thanks for offering a space to talk about this aspects of our stories!

Also, sorry if that felt a smidge like soapboxing, but I legit saw the thread, passed it by, and felt weird for not having more inclusive stories (featuring characters with disabilities) ... and then realized I did 🤣.

My series features chickens, mainly. One hen is blind and paralyzed (a real condition that affects chicks in the brood, called Marek's disease), and ironically, named her Marek.

But though she's lived as an outcast from the other hens, she's done well for herself despite her limitations. She's basically a soothsayer in my story.

Can't see it well here, but she uses toothpicks tied to her legs to help her walk...

Forgot the link...

My secondary protagonist, Zack, is missing an arm and still struggles with the psychological trauma of the event that caused the loss of it.

I portray him as shy, withdrawn and with a lowered selfesteem. But along the journey he'll start to discover all the things he's capable off and find faith in himself again.

Well I guess I have a few.
For starters, Raliath, the treasure/bounty hunter, who after an adventure with my MC lost her left hand, but by using necromance she was able to recover her hand and continue adventuring.

Then in the same category of losing an arm + losing an eye we have my (still up to redesign), Autumn Rubout. who, again thanks to Henry, she got an arm, that has a working eye, which allows her to cover her blind spot, plus, with some modifications she had made without Henry's consent or knowledge, she adapted her arm to allow her to do magic in easier ways.

For last, there's the vixen who still has to make her canon appareance, Spring Rubout and her best friend, Purple (name and design up to change in the future). Spring has ADHD while Purple is autistic. with purple I personally going to vent with some of my personal quirks.

Enjoy Purple while you can btw, I'm planning on killing him/her/them at some point, don't know when or where tho.

Yeah, my new series "parasocial" has an autistic protagonist, Alys. I'm a bit nervous about it, because I was diagnosed with autism recently and I'm only starting to look back and understand really embarassing things that happened because I didn't know how to care for my sensory needs, and address a lot of the shame that went with that. So while I am not Alys, writing her story is an act of kindness to my past, very confused self.

Alys kind of has it all together in general. She knows she's autistic and she lives a full life by caring for her own needs. But, life doesn't always go to plan and sometimes things still do get spicy.

It's a WIP, with two more ready-to-go scheduled episodes, and much more to come after that. There will be at least two more characters with (similar) disabilities, but spoilers

My story is heavy on mental health stuff, so I'd say I have at least one mc with some desabillities.

Nate is depressed, if I dont go into details. If I do, he has depression and borderline personality disorder. I didnt know he had it untill I was diagnosed and read my script and went like "oh shit, right, there you are", because Nate is all my experience with mental disorders thrugh my teens/young adulthood. I'm still thinking if this diagnosis will ever go canon or if I'll let people expeculate. And I try to portray him as naturally as I can, I always try to make him have fun even though he has this, because I know that when you have these things, you dont live in full sadness and misery 24/7. And when you have bpd, your emotions oscillates so much that you can be trully happy for a while before getting sad again, in the same day xD But in my comic I'm not subtle, I put heavy stuff on your face all the time, because having those things is not cute and quirky, it's dark and take a lot on the people around you.

And maybe Matt has some kind of ptsd, but I never gave it much thought and it'll never be "diagnosed" on the comic, even though Nate tells him that there's something wrong with him. He usually gets nightmares of his traumas or fears, some are literal memories, others are typical nightmares (like a monster atacking someone he cares about or someone he loves going away from him). When he has a fight at home, his personality changes and he becomes like a little kid all scared. Other than that, he usually is the one who cares for everyone and takes the burden. He usually ignores that he has those things going on and pretend everything is fine and dandy. While Nate accepts he's sick and respects his feelings, Matt just ignores it all and spend his time helping Nate to function.

This thread made me realise that I'm always on my safe zone with desabilities. Even Matt's nightmares are based on a moment in my life I'd get them all the time. I think I'm scared of making someone let's say blind and not making it good enough and not making a good representation =( maybe someday I'll change that. And I like the more mental desabilities, I just wish I could put some of them on paper but I dont feel like I know enough to do that, even though I spend a lot of time with others like me since I'm on a mental hospital for a while now.

ANYWAYS xD here's my link if anyone's interested.

Berula Medela, the Royal Arcanist and Paeoniis (Basically physician) lost a couple of fingers and is blind in one eye. She uses prosthesis for the fingers and is trying to develop a magical replacement for her eye. She considers what she lost a bargain compared to the knowledge she gained, as every wound was accidentally self-inflicted during experiments.

Further down the line in the story there is a blind character and a couple of mute twins, but they are a while off.

I have a minor character in the first book of my series, The Space bum. She is a young woman who is deaf, and signs. She is pretty, and impresses one of the young men, who asks, "Does she sign in Spanish?"

Two of the three main characters in my comic are coded.

Ragna is ADHD coded. Portrayed by her zoning out while people are telling her something she has no interest in, having emotional outbursts when over-stimulated, has difficulty sitting still for more than a couple minutes, etc.

Randy is autism coded. Portrayed by her difficulty understanding people/social ques. Her enthusiasm/hyperfixations towards things that she loves but may seem random to others. She also made a big fuzzy binder that helps her understand people better.

I have a one Mookie is blind as a bat wares coke bottle specs, and has mild Autism Spectrum Disorder, but very smart on anything tech, video, video games, anime, streaming tech. She also has a very strong speech impediment, and very strong Australian, British, Scottish cockney accent nobody can understand when she talks.

Everyone in my novel suffers from some kind of mental disability at the minimum. Basically my motto for the series is "healing gone wrong" lmaooo

Sherry (main) - Suffers with depression, severe ptsd, Bipolar disorder, and panic attacks (but she's been doing a lot better with those...until I decided to destroy that. I'm a mean author.)

Zane (ML) - Ptsd, severe depression (I used my own experiences for this one), and insomnia.

Sepyr - my poor baby what doesn't he have.

Marco- Nothing huge yet

Fortunato- Gender Dysphoria, anxiety

Flare-

I have both a webcomic (new) and novel series (1/5 done) but the novel dwelves into it more since it's easier to describe.

My MC August probably has ADHD, but you won’t see it effecting him negatively in the story much. He also has a lot of allergies, which include, but are not limited to: Cinnamon, squash, various types of metal, and grass. I also now realize he probably gets sunburned easily too, but idk if that counts.
Oh yeah, also his pupils absorb a lot of light so he can’t see very well outside ️

If you had the chance to have a single wish granted, what would it be?
And what are you willing to do for this chance?

Vlad, my MC, is one-eyed, aside from limp due to an accident from his past. I try my best to portray him as close as possible to the person that inspired the character in every single aspect. His disabilities are a part of him, not a limitation or only defining factor. They just add to the incredible lovable person he is.