Hi-tech artifical limbs- unfortunate implications?

Devika 2016-08-31 11:14:18 UTC #1

Hello everyone, and welcome to my first thread on tapastic. I'm in the process scripting my own comic and trying very hard to make it actually happen. Now I've come across a possible topic in it that might be a minefield, and my google searches don't help me very much, so I turn to you. Maybe you can point me in the right direction.

In short, my story will be set in a futuristic setting, I'm thinking an alternate (not-so-)possible future of Europe, because that's what I'm familiar with. So, as you might expect from a futuristic setting, medicine will have succeeded in creating fully functional artificial limbs, as in freely controllable joints and optionally a "realistic" look, if the patient wishes for it. What I've been worrying about is unfortunate implications for disabled people.

I've been looking into "how to write disabled/amputated" people, and especially the former has me absolutely terrified to be honest. My approach is of course to write characters first, and not to think "oh I need some token black/disabled/female" and stick them in. That some of them might lose or have had lost a limb or two by the start of the series (job-related, I have a bunch of cops and criminals in the story) is integrated into the story and has a reason or purpose, but does not in any way dominate the character. It's just that with a dangerous, action-filled job you might actually get seriously and permanently injured, and I'm often irritated when characters get away with minor injures from supposedly dangerous situations.

That was my thought anyway. But with all the blogs by disabled people I have looked at, my way of thinking does not seem to be enough. Because of subtle implications I can miss and my sheer ignorance. And here is where I need your help. (I found one blog entry on the issues of the black cyborg character "Cyborg" from Teen Titans - and hoo boy did that make me realize how little I know of American race issues. I imagine it's the same with disability topics.)

But anyway, on to the questions:

Is it a bad implication to:
- offer "natural"-looking prostheses? Does it give off the vibe that only natural-looking and fully functional limbs are acceptable, as opposed to mechanical, plastic or even missing ones?
- have a character choose to get such an artificial limb? Does it imply that all amputees should get one, otherwise they're just a burden? My character(s) would do so in order to keep pursuing their goals. Of course the medical process won't be easy, and the financial aspect will be accounted for, as well as the mental struggle of coping with having lost part of your own body.

And have I missed something else?

Greg_Dickson 2016-08-31 12:04:58 UTC #2

I don't consider it a minefield. In my story, my main character has a mechanical arm, because her right arm was lost in an accident. I've got a story behind it, and how the replacement arm is made and grafted to her. Since she's a scientist, she even modifies it later. Having a bit of realism is okay, but in my case, it is what it is. Oh, she misses her arm, that's for sure, but my character is adaptable. I think if you worry too much about offending people for every tiny thing in your story, you won't make progress.

Take death for example. If you show someone getting shot and killed in your comic, aren't you risking offending all of the people in the world who have had loved ones shot and killed? It's such a general scope that you can't overthink it too much (now if you were making fun of amputees in your comic, that's the only way it could be viewed as offensive [and even I have a lighthearted take on amputees with a superhero in a badass mechanized wheelchair. He's totally empowered and hand-capable!). Really, go for any type of limb you want. Plastic, mechanical, synthetic, rubber, WOOD. Just make sure it fits the context of your story well.

punkarsenic 2016-08-31 12:38:24 UTC #3

im not an amputee, so feel free to dismiss me entirely

the choice thing sounds important. especially if you include characters who choose not to have these replacements. it puts the power in the persons hand - and allows you to discuss and pick apart the opposing social pressures and stigma

gateofselidor 2016-08-31 12:57:27 UTC #4

I'm not disabled, but given that artificial limbs and other prosthetics already exist, I don't think it's a problem to show a more advanced version, as long as you approach it from the perspective of them being tools to improve disabled people's lives, and not "there are no more disabled people because we fixed them all with technology".

It might be best to avoid calling them "perfect" within the narrative. Realistically, nothing is perfect, and the experience of having even a very advanced artificial limb is going to be more nuanced than simply attaching it and being identical to an able-bodied person. It will probably require regular maintenance to keep it in good working order, and occasional repairs. The user might take it off to sleep and/or shower.

If you look at current artificial limbs, there are ones styled after human limbs, but there are also more inventive designs, that are clearly intended as a fashion statement rather than simply being a natural result of our technology not being good enough to create realistic limbs. So even with more advanced technology, some might want to take advantage of the opportunity for something more exciting, or they might have one custom-made to suit the needs of their job. Maybe someone owns a range of different prosthetics in various styles and colours, and they pick them based on their mood and outfit. Consider glasses. Most people could have laser eye surgery or contacts that would make them visually indistinguishable from those without sight problems, but many choose to wear glasses instead, for a variety of reasons

shazzbaa 2016-08-31 14:39:47 UTC #5

I really gotta commend you for trying to listen to the people most affected by this! I know it's tough to sift through and differentiate between "this is actually hurtful to people who are like me" versus "I'm tired of this trope and want to see something different," but I think you are doing the right thing in trying!

I am also not disabled, but the thing I try to keep in mind about disability in general is that it's frustrating to have a character that's supposedly "disabled" and then give them something that magically makes them basically not disabled anymore. That's part of what's at work here -- especially if you have time to be able to relate to someone who, say, does not have working legs, because you also don't have working legs.... it then sucks when that guy gets robot legs so perfect that he might as well not be disabled at all.
It sucks when you're reading a story and a character's moment of triumph is "yay! I don't have to be like you anymore!"

Relevant comment from Carlisle Robinson on twitter, who talks a lot about disabled representation, when they were talking about how unrealistic "perfect" prosthetics are:

"Question: Would you suggest still maintaining this level of realism when writing sci-fi based stories?"

"yeah- depends on level of technology on your society, economy (=price of prosthetics), society's attitude, etc. ....Like with Shiro from Voltron, I'm ok b/c his prosthetic is created by advanced alien force years in future haha."

I think this is in large part how you handle it. Does your world have amputees that don't get a "perfect" limb, and aren't a burden? Does your story imply that your character would be unable to achieve their goals without a "perfect" limb?

indagold 2016-08-31 14:41:06 UTC #6

You're probably looking way too much into this. I don't think it's a bad implication at all? Most people get artificial limbs anyway and just because they are more modern in design doesn't mean that suddenly it's bad? I mean sure a vocal minority will always get offended, but i'm sure most disabled people would not care?

Also I would probably not go on blogs, especially tumblr...it's like a mess. I'd say go to forums where it's a community of multiple people from different walks of life instead. Some don't even mind it if you tell them you're writing a story about this and need advice. Or read a few autobiographies or something. I feel blogs, especially on tumblr tend to be very... biased?

ConradComics 2016-08-31 19:53:14 UTC #7

Though that can be a scary but interesting direction to take a story, especially if someone refuses the prosthetic. "Hey you! Why don't you want to be perfect like everyone else?"

Kura 2016-08-31 21:12:58 UTC #8

I am disabled, and use a wheelchair, but I still have my limbs.

One of the most frustrating things is the desire to fix instead of accommodate to people with disabilities. People passing off the idea of "one day medical advances will be so good that you'll be able to walk and run all you want" don't do shit when I still can't get through the front door of the ****ing building I want to enter because the door either doesn't have a button to open it or it has steps leading to it that my wheelchair can't go over.

It's always fix, fixing, will fix in the long run, imagine a world where everything is fixed, but not actually dealing with or living with people that have these issues. "one day society will make you normal like us" instead of accepting we're a part of society and need to be more normally integrated into society now.

I know authors do not mean to come off this way, and I certainly know it's not their intent. But a character with a 'perfect artificial limb'. Is not a disabled character. They're still able to do everything that an able body person is able to do, and with a 'realistic look' they're even able to 'look' normal. (That means no awkward quick turn aways, looks of pitty or random people asking you if they can pray for you or if you have heard of their church). This is not offensive mind you, nor is it a horrible idea or poor writing, it's just NOT representative of a disabled person and what the 'disabled' label they are stuck with imply.

Mind you, you can still do things like that and actually have it work and represent disabled people, Full Metal Alchemist did it well in concerns to automail, if you have not watched or read that I recommend giving it a look and paying attention to how the author handles these issues. Though these automail are arguably useful, sometimes even more useful than natural limbs as some would customize or weaponize them, there are still draw backs to them. They are painful to have attached as they connect to nerve ends, and like anyone going through physiotherapy they require recovery time as well as they need to learn how to move and even use them. Then even after that is all and said and done these things had to be constantly maintained and taken care of. Also, like normal wearers of prosthetics, they would get the aches and pains associated with having an actual prosthetic.

If you do that THEN you will be representing disabled people. The disabled title doesn't mean 'someone that lost a leg' it's give to people that cannot easily or at all, physically do the things that people with able bodies can. Ignore that important implication and you're not making a disabled character, it's just a guy with a robot limb.

Devika 2016-09-01 10:01:39 UTC #9

Wow, thank you everyone for your replies, especially @kurapikasuki!

I feel that I should emphasize that I put "perfect" in quotation marks for a reason. The notion of there being some imaginary impeccable version of a human being that you should conform to at any cost deeply disgusts me, and I'd never advocate making such surgery the societal standard. If someone told me I should get my dysmelic hand "fixed" because it's not "perfect" I'd punch them to the moon and back. (You might be thinking "why did she star this thread in the first place then?" now. That's because it's such a minor issue compared what many others live with on a daily basis!)

And I do apologize if I'm spouting a load of bull here, I'd just rather do it here and now than in the comic, and instead feel more confident about the story.

(Oh look I figured out the quoting system)

This hit me especially hard, I'm sorry if I poured salt into an open wound. I'm very happy you're telling me this, because this is precisely the perspective that I'm lacking!

I have no intention of writing some dystopian story where advances in tech and bio have strengthened ableist discriminatory thinking. It's not even a big focus of the story, it's a crime/mystery one, it's just something I want to get right in the same way that Hollywood should learn writing female characters in movies completely unrelated to feminism, so that as many as possible can read it comfortably without feeling irritated by it being another failed representation.

So keeping that in mind, do I understand you correctly in that - if I do decide to integrate advanced prosthesis tech into the story - I should not present it as the "ultimate solution" (that sounds so much like Nazi thinking shudder) but as one option among many, with wheelchairs, crutches, mobility chairs etc. being among them, and that they are as much a valid option and actually are useful in everyday life in terms of accessibility? And in addition, going off your FMA comment (I love that series to bits) that I show the disadvantages and struggles of prosthesises as well? Arakawa put so much thought into automail, including even frostbite (Briggs) and burns (the desert), the dangers of not letting it heal properly, maintenance... It's part of why I love the series, but for me it's just because I love a well thought through story and so I was afraid to use it as reference.

Good thing you brought this up. As you maybe can tell, I didn't think this through very far, ahah. Thanks for the wakeup slap. As it was a thought that popped into my head literally the evening before I wrote this post, I never got to the point of thinking about the distinction between a cyborg and an amputee with a prosthesis. This also kind of answers my question about how a cyborg character comes across, which seems to be as an able-bodied person with robotics. I feel that it will make a huge difference in how I should present it depending on which road I choose to go: prosthesis, cybernetics, wheelchair... or everyone always gets off scot-free or with "just a flesh wound" (which really isn't an option, since this trope annoys me to no end). Basically, do I go FMA, Cyborg 009... or Bleach?

That being said, even the cyborgs in C009 need regular maintenance and have malfunctions, and their sense of self and identity is a central part of the story. Even there it's not a magical solution, it's even something that was imposed on them.

@shazzbaa You have some great points as well! Thank you for your post!

Yeah, this is a worry I have. I think they'd be introduced in the order character -> oh look they have mech -> background story where among other things the reason for it is explained, so I hope that would at least mean avoiding the "oh wow yes they're like me now! .... oh and they're not..." kind of disappointment. But as kura pointed out, showing the disadvantages makes a difference. If I show the struggles of the prosthesis, require them to have it taken off (and show it!), maintained etc., essentially not play it off as a perfect solution and remind the audience that this person isn't magically un-disabled, would I avoid that trope then?

It wouldn't be any problem at all to include amputees choosing not to have any surgery beyond the amputation itself. As for the second question, it made me think quite a bit, for which I thank you, and here's my answer: It doesn't have to look like a limb, it just needs to work like one, much like Edward Elric in FMA kind of does need two arms and legs or he'd be a sitting duck. I should note that the emotional aspect tied to losing a limb will be one part of the character arc.

Amen.

For real though, that's why I came here. I know that the people in this forum for the most part are level-headed and sensible. Dedicated forums sounds like a great idea too.

Edit: Edited the title.

Cielle 2016-09-13 17:53:57 UTC #10

There is already so much great discussion here, and it sounds like you're on a great path, but I wanted to add a slightly different perspective re:cyborgs being able-bodied. I have not lost any limbs, but I do have type 1 diabetes. In essence, I "pass" as an able-bodied person when you look at me, but I am, in fact, disabled. I cannot do everything an able-bodied person can, and what I can do is only because of my insulin pump (a machine that looks like a pager and acts as a mechanical pancreas basically). I am grateful to have it because it keeps me alive (yay), but there is a negative psychological effect as a result of depending on a machine to do manually what able-bodied people do automatically. In a lot of ways, I feel like a cyborg, or less than human. Maybe that sounds silly, but when I have all my various gear to manage my condition attached to my body (insulin pump, continuous glucose monitor, etc), I see a body covered in machinery. In fiction, a body covered in machines is portrayed as cool. Let me tell you: It is not cool.

I don't say all this for pity, but because often in fiction I see cyborgs are treated as "super-humans", which practically might be true but in reality, being a human who depends on machines to live isn't so super at all. I might not get looks of pity from people on the street because my illness is not readily apparent, but when I do decide to tell people I'm diabetic, the reactions I get vary from "what is that?" to "oh, isn't that when you're allergic to sugar?" (NO IT'S NOT). Many non-diabetics believe diabetes is "not that bad" because "I can do pretty much everything a 'normal' person can do, right?" cringe. I can't, and admitting that sucks. But I digress.

I know you were asking about artificial limbs and not cyborgs specifically, but there are all kinds of disabilities in life, and the "invisible" ones are just as valid as the visible, even if they are different. If you do decide to go ahead with your story and having artificial limbs that look like real limbs, you might want to consider the implications of what it's like to "pass" as abled while being disabled (assuming there are drawbacks to these artificial-but-realistic limbs). I think it's a sign of misinformed writing if a cyborg comes across as 'able-bodied person with robotics.' It's a kind of magical science where there are no drawbacks and "science(cough:magic) fixes everything!". In short, I guess what I'm trying to say is that even if robotics/machinery allow a disabled person to "function" as abled, this doesn't address the fact that at some point something happened to them that made it necessary for them to depend on machinery to live. After all, people do distinguish between "human" and "cyborg", which means on some level, they do not see cyborgs as fully human anymore, regardless of how a cyborg might view themselves.

Devika 2016-09-13 20:44:59 UTC #11

Thank you for your reply! Always happy to hear more opinions, especially from people with different perspectives! Don't worry about going off on a tangent, knowledge is never something I'd turn down (; And who knows, I might write something with cyborgs in it in the future.

You make great points about the glorification of fictional cyborgs versus your feeling of having to depend on machines, and about people's general ignorance about (hidden) disabilities. I will definitely keep those in mind, it's definitely applicable to the scenarios I'm thinking of, and hopefully I can write believable characters instead of abstract emotionless concepts of "chrome coolness for the sake of coolness".

I'm still not quite done with figuring this out story-wise, but I know a few things for sure, thanks to this thread (if I decide to go this route).
First, I will show the practical struggles (bathing? repairing? reattaching?). Second, I will show the emotional struggles (loss of limb, feeling like a cyborg as you put it, emotional disconnection etc.). Third, I will not imply that you should hide or "fix" your disability to fit in. Four, how other characters react and behave is important. Basically, I won't make them "the perfect solution", and they will have drawbacks. (Does this sound good?)

Again, thank you for your reply!