Wheelchair and Mobility Aid Users, how can I write a character to represent you?

Princessmossy 2020-07-27 20:10:15 UTC #1

SO there is a character I wanted to write who is not in my current comic but is planned for a future comic which I would love to get published some day and is targeted at middle schoolers. It's about a team of kids who ride pet dragons, similar to How To Train Your Dragon. One of the characters uses a wheelchair when she is not riding a dragon.
I am concerned about her storyline and would like some advice because I want young readers to see a girl like them in a fantasy comic and I would like to do it right. As a child the girl falls off a dragon and thus loses the use of her legs. I'm thinking she might not be totally paralyzed but doesn't have enough control to walk far/at all without the use of her chair or other aids. Since then she has a fear of dragons and over the course of the story learns to get over her fear of dragons and eventually ends up riding one who is essential to defeating the antagonist.
Is this okay? Would it be better if it wasn't like this? How can I improve it? Also how can I depict her respectfully and what would you like to see from a character like this? The main focus of her story is learning to get over her fear. She doesn't blame the dragon who dropped her but she can't help but be afraid of falling off of one again.

If you do not use a wheelchair or other mobility aid PLEASE do not post or comment your opinions. I only want responses from people who use mobility aids, particularly wheelchairs.

DokiDokiTsuna 2020-07-27 20:16:01 UTC #3

You may or may not have already seen this, but here's a topic written by a wheelchair user that's really informative:

Princessmossy 2020-07-27 20:16:38 UTC #4

ooo thank you! I'll check this out for sure!

DiegoPalacios 2020-07-27 20:25:45 UTC #5

Just gonna say that you are limiting the ammount of helpful answers you can get out of this topic. Even if most of us are not in a wheelchair, some people may have met someone who do or know stories that handle this topic in a constructive way.

Wish you the best on figuring out the answers you seek!

Iris-Grimoire 2020-07-27 20:29:00 UTC #6

Another good resource that might be useful is reading experiences of people with horseback accidents - Write What You Know means approximating to something people can relate to in real life, after all. Is the person afraid of horses entirely or is just wary of riding, what steps they took to get back into it, maybe even look into their use for therapy and apply some of those features to the dragons! (which is even better if they're mostly sentient like in HTTYD)

Princessmossy 2020-07-27 20:31:34 UTC #7

Then why not ask your friend who uses a mobility device to come on your account or copy and paste the response they send you? I'd love to hear from them!

This is not meant as an attack on you or anyone else but just because you met someone who uses a mobility aid doesn't mean that you know what it's like to own and use one. I would not want someone who is not asexual to give advice on others how to write an asexual person even if they were my best friend or my brother. I won't be answering anymore posts relating to this part of my description.

Princessmossy 2020-07-27 20:32:12 UTC #8

This is an excellent idea! If anyone knows any stories like these please let me know! I will do my best to find some!

DiegoPalacios 2020-07-27 20:59:14 UTC #9

sure!, here is my Grandpa`s experience.

After my Grandpa had a severe thrombosis, the doctors had to cut one of his legs and now he needs a wheelchair to move.

For what i`ve talked with him, he misses having more independece. He loved to go out to take walks and often tries to do stuff on his own even if someone else can just pass the object he is trying to reach. He is not a big fan of talking about his struggles all the time, but ocasionally vents a bit about his situation. He still has his sense of humor, his cunningness and is kinda popular with old women.

I think it is important to have the character be interesting on his own even without needing a wheelchair.
Being handicapped is NOT a personality trait, so make sure you give her a solid characterization that stands out on its own and doesnt end up being a "token wheelchair girl".

Personally i havent seen too much media tackling these issues aside from the ocasional "very special episode" on some tv sitcoms.

But a couple examples i remember are Artie from "Glee", a member of the main cast, singer and guitarrist who has no mobility on his legs and these struggles are explored in some episodes. Also, in some DC comics, Barbara Gordon who was batgirl until she gets shot in the legs and ends up becomming paraplegiac. This arc was interesting because she finds an alternative way to fight crime by becoming a computer hacker and being in charge of mission control.

Hope this helps!.

Kiweevil 2020-07-27 21:31:09 UTC #10

I don't used a wheelchair, but I do have a pretty bad neurological condition and had a mobility service dog (she's retired now). A golden retriever cross with a handle on her vest that I could brace. You can ask me if you have any questions about mobility animals ^w^

Princessmossy 2020-07-27 21:35:13 UTC #11

Oooh I didn't think about that! What goes into the training of a mobility animal? What sort of things did they help you with? My characters dragon might be able to even partially act as a mobility animal at times!

Kiweevil 2020-07-27 21:43:46 UTC #12

Lots of training is involved, but it really depends on the specific type of mobility animal. For instance, my dog was able to brace me and help me walk. She also knew her left from her right, etc., and knew certain objects by name so she could bring them to me. She could bring me my medications in an emergency, but she also knew the names of her own supplies or routine places I wanted to go such as certain rooms.

Usually mobility animals are relatively large breeds like golden retrievers, labradors, standard poodles, or sometimes doberman pinschers or german shepherds. They usually are raised as puppies by volunteer families who socialize them and teach them basic commands. Then they go off to a training facility where they are taught more specific commands. Things like pushing buttons that open doors, or how to slip into a harness. But not always.

Depending on where you are at, dogs go through different training procedures. In the US, for example, handlers are able to train their own dogs if they know how. My dog was trained by a friend and professional for the first year and a half of her life, then came over to finish her training with me. It's uncommon to find a fully trained mobility dog under the age of two.

I hope that helps ^w^ if you have any specific questions you can ask me!

Cavechan 2020-07-28 00:40:31 UTC #13

I don't really understand this. Like I follow various people with disabilities and wouldn't mind pointing in their direction a bit to be like "Here are some people with disabilities so you can see what they have to say." But I'm not allowed to make that comment because I'm not disabled? I don't get it. Why would you exclude people from wanting to be helpful?

Princessmossy 2020-07-28 01:09:26 UTC #14

Then do that? I said from giving your opinion. As in on the character and whether she is written respectfully. Again this was never meant as an attack on you or anyone I just didn't want people who do not use mobility aids to try and tell me how to write an experience they don't experience themselves I only want to hear from folk about their own experiences with mobility aids and how I can improve my character. I never said you couldn't say anything at all. I said post or comment because I am not sure if it's referred to as a post or a comment on the tapas forums I never meant you couldn't post at all if that's where things went awry. I am sorry for any misunderstandings.

Cavechan 2020-07-28 01:41:13 UTC #15

Okay, thank you for clarifying because that wasn't the way I read what you wrote. It does literally say "do not post" and "I only want responses from people who use mobility aids, particularly wheelchairs.". I do think it's also important to get perspectives of people around those with disabilities since, obviously, they don't live in a vacuum.

I think that Youtubers are a good source to get different perspectives from different people. One person I follow on Facebook is here: https://www.facebook.com/MisaOnWheels She does a lot of positivity posts.

A Youtuber I like to follow is Molly Burke. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwf9TcLyS5KDoLRLjke41Hg She isn't a wheelchair user, but she is blind and uses a service dog and she opens up about the troubles that can come from it.

I don't follow any wheelchair users who vlog about their wheelchair experiences, but I am sure there are plenty out there.

I have plans to create a character who is blind so I have watched a bunch of different blind Youtubers to gain more understanding of their experiences and how different they can be from person to person. Obviously, not everyone is going to have the same opinion or be at the same comfort level with their disability.

violin 2020-07-28 07:02:48 UTC #16

I'm not a regular wheelchair/mobility aid user myself, but my father has been in a wheelchair for as long as I remember, so I'll comment a bit on living with a wheelchair user and/or details that might be useful when writing about a character with a wheelchair.

I always know when my father is coming and really, if he's up and moving about, exactly where he is in the house. You can hear the wheels, and there's no real way to mask the noise unlike how you can with footsteps. Obviously this might not apply as much if outdoors.
There are multiple types of wheelchairs. The manual wheelchair he can wheel himself around with his arms, but we also help push him using the two arms in the back of the wheelchair. We as children sometimes played around with his manual wheelchairs and did wheelchair tricks (e.g. pushing wheelchair up so that we're suspended on 2 wheels instead of the full 4, like a bike trick)
Whenever you go eat or go to movies (basically anywhere you get up and sit), you must find somewhere to park the wheelchair. Sometimes the attendants will help you, sometimes we will do it ourselves.
Don't forget to keep the crutches somewhere on the wheelchair, otherwise when you've wheeled to a location and need to get up and walk a short bit, you're screwed. Sometimes my father holds them and puts it on the footrest, but there's a space where we can velcro it on behind his wheelchair. If you don't velcro it on tightly, it can fall off.
The first time my father tried an electric wheelchair (the type where you use a little joystick to navigate the chair), he ran into things. A LOT. Like smacked into walls and chairs and things.
We need to keep the house pathways cleared and wide enough for a wheelchair at all times, otherwise we may render some part of the house/room inaccessible to him.
After we park somewhere, he's always looking for the curb. Oftentimes if we go out to eat we'll walk up to the restaurant but he has to wheel all the way around, due to the nature of the curb.
He has a handicap parking pass, which in the US allows him to park on blue spots, green spots (while ignoring the loading zone times), parking meters without paying, and residential parking without a permit. It's pretty sweet, parking-wise.
He also has proof of disability (I'm not sure if it's an ID card or what, I never asked). When we were small, we skipped ALL THE LINES at theme parks. We would go for 2 hours, hit up all the rides, have a great time, and leave. I was a bit shocked in high school when I went with my friends and realized that normal people have to wait for hours just to ride a ride once. ^ ^;;
Wheelchair travel! So we always had a van and in the back of the van was this sort of electric lift which the wheelchair was strapped to. When we parked he would use a little remote to maneuver the lift (the wheelchair was "hooked" onto the lift) and basically you lift the wheelchair up, turn the arm so the wheelchair swivels out of the car, and then lower the wheelchair to the ground and unhook it. This was an electric wheelchair. Manual wheelchairs mostly fold so they are easy to carry.
Wheelchair travel continued; in recent years my mother obtained a tiny little folding electric wheelchair, that folded slightly and had removable parts (like its battery) so that it can fit into a regular car trunk. Very useful little thing.
Foot pads. Don't forgot to open the footpads lest you want your handicapped person's foot to drag on the floor. Usually my father can do it himself, but thought it was worth mentioning
Electric wheels are usually more heavy duty than manual wheels and are better for gravel/harder surfaces etc.
Free bag carrying! Whenever we're out an about with my father, we hang all sorts of stuff on his wheelchair and in his wheelchair basket. Purses, bags of food, groceries, water bottles, etc etc. He's also particularly good at sneaking food into a movie theater, no one ever checks him lol.
He can run over things. He ran over my foot a couple times (my foot is fine) and the dog's tail multiple times. The dog is impatient and always tries to squeeze past him when he's in the hallway... not a good idea, but doggo never learns.
In tight corners that we normally think nothing of (e.g. between the kitchen table and kitchen counter), he sometimes has to do 3 point turns to maneuver into position
He's short (when sitting). Technically he can help himself up with a hand on the counter or something to reach higher objects (e.g. a cup from the kitchen cabinet), but it can be quite laborious, especially if he needs to do it repeatedly. We keep dishes in the dishwasher so he can access them easily.
My father is pretty buff... on the upper body. I don't think this is true for all wheelchair users, but he used a manual wheelchair for many years, wheeling it around with upper arm strength, and he swims. He has no use of his legs so when he swims, he swims entirely with his arms.

I can't comment on what is considered respectful or not, but hopefully these details are helpful to make your story more realistic! Note tho that my father has been in a wheelchair since youth (like very very young), so he's probably more acclimated to it than someone who had got in an accident.

Maxedrox 2020-07-28 07:49:59 UTC #17

Look, I'm not disabled or anything like that, but I think that you are looking for the wrong perspective or you don't understand what you are really looking for. Being in a wheelchair is not something like being gay, trans or some minority it is a TRAGEDY, so I think that what you are looking for is EMPATHY, and the most common thing that people will answer to you is that most people (maybe everyone) feels frustrated about their condition because they depend on others to do their stuff. So, don't try to see disabled people as minorities, a gay guy can be disabled, a trans girl too, being disabled its just a tragedy, and writing disabled characters are usually tragic stories with hopeful messages, because thats what those people want, HOPE.

Also, I understand if you want the perspective of those people for a more accurate representation, because you don't know how much limited can be their lives, but since when disabled people are used as joke? I have seen a few examples than I barely can remember but usually, they are the victim or they have an ego/pride and tries to do things by themself and they can't do anything and that's just for dark humor.

In conclusion, disabled people are not minorities, are tragic victims of accidents or illness.

Kaylim 2020-07-28 13:38:52 UTC #18

Hey there are a few YouTube channels I follow that give great insight into what it's like to live as a quad or amputee.

First up: Roll with Cole and Charisma
Charisma and Cole talk very frankly about their relationship as an interabled and interracial couple. Cole is a quad and his insight into regular wheelchair use would probably be very helpful to you. They are all about education and showing the day-to-day life they lead. They even video their full morning and night routines. They are also absolutely adorable and I binged all their videos in a couple weeks.

This channel might help with your dragon accident perspective. Jo, on her channel Footless Jo, talks about the horse-riding accident that severely damaged her leg. After over a decade of surgeries, she eventually decided to amputate that leg. She uses a bunch of different mobility aids and documents her journey about being fitted for different prostheses. She still loves horses, and like your main character, doesn't hold the horse that threw her any ill will.

violin 2020-07-28 16:03:34 UTC #19

Being in a wheelchair is not something like being gay, trans or some minority it is a TRAGEDY, so I think that what you are looking for is EMPATHY, and the most common thing that people will answer to you is that most people (maybe everyone) feels frustrated about their condition because they depend on others to do their stuff.

Wow, um, I actually do find this a bit offensive, you're basically taking a disabled person and forcing them into a tragic lens. What do you mean by empathy here? Because it sounds to me like pity, and if there's one thing I know my father hates, it's when people pity him and see him only as "the poor disabled guy" instead of another, normal human being.

Also, there are plenty of disabled people who live great lives? And not all disabled people depend on others "to do their stuff", many of them can live just fine on their own, there are just more hurdles to get around compared to you or me. Shall I tell a very very short person that it's a TRAGEDY that they were born so short and can't reach the top of the counters, or a person with weak constitution that it's a TRAGEDY that they are weaker than others and it's laborious to do anything more exerting?

In conclusion, disabled people are not minorities, are tragic victims of accidents or illness.

Um, the disabled are absolutely a minority? You know a minority just means that you constitute a small number of the population as opposed to a large number or the "norm," right, and disabled people absolutely fall into that category as there are less of them.

Let me just put it this way, as I once heard from an accomplished blind architect: if the majority of population were blind, then society would naturally become structured around the blind - signs wouldn't be visually based but audio or touch-based, transportation would be structured around the blind, etc etc. Then there would be no such thing as being "disabled" when blind, rather, you may end up "disabled" if you are strong in visuals but bad at hearing, or something of the like.

tl;dr there is no real such thing as "disabled". when we say "disabled," we really just mean "different from the norm," because humans are more than capable of building up entire societies around a different norm, if we so chose

Maxedrox 2020-07-28 16:59:22 UTC #20

So if I have one eye of different colors that makes me part of a minority? Being part of a minority for what I understand is being part of people that society doesn't want to recognize because they want to keep them hidden, if LGBT people were treated as normal they wouldn't be a minority, but they are persecuted, they are oppressed in several countries, that's why "most" people are straight, but nobody knows that some of them are just part of the LGBT community trying to fit in.
If you consider disabled people as a minority, then cancer people should be a minority too, and any kind of person that suffers any kind of illness that not everybody suffers.

Give them hope is not equal to pity, plus your father didn't born disabled so when he got disabled he did feel terrible for a moment right? But he overcomes that, he now sees his life in a positive way and that's why he doesn't accept that people feel pity for him because he knows that his life didn't end and he can keep going. Besides, not everybody takes that situation equally so what's wrong to give them hope? Because you find it offensive? So it's better don't show any hopes or empathy? What about those that are so depressed that preffer suicide? Your father may be strong but not everyone is your father.

eloquent 2020-07-28 17:13:28 UTC #21

You're right--but this applies to disabled people too. Depending on the country to live in, it can be really difficult to be properly accommodated if you are disabled. The Affordable Care Act is constantly being jeopardized when we fight over different aspects of medical law. Just like any minority, disabled people have to contend with people speaking over them; with not being able to find accessible parking or get into buildings because they are made for able-bodied people; and in awful cases, where it isn't just that they're being ignored but they're actively being discriminated against, there may be lack of legislation to guarantee their safety or autonomy. In the US, where I'm speaking from, you can apply for disability, but that means that the government can take it away the second that you try to earn extra income for yourself. It's no coincidence that disability and poverty often go hand in hand. And that is something that statistically follows being a minority--if you are a small portion of the population that is facing challenges, that compounds other difficulties such as financial status.

So if I have one eye of different colors that makes me part of a minority?
then cancer people should be a minority too

The reason why these do not match up is because there is not active stigma and/or disrespect happening against these groups on a large, systemic scale. People with cancer are, if we don't get into individual financial/familial situations, given treatment and supported. People with an eye that is a different color do not have an adverse effect on their life unless there is a disease attached to it, making them blind, and then they are disabled.

Minorities face discrimination, and people who are disabled are not exempt from that. Among many, many other examples I could pull up, they were sent to death camps/executed along with other minorities in the Holocaust.

Your father may be strong but not everyone is your father.

Not everyone is her father, but also, not every person who is disabled is like you describe. Not all of them are the result of chronic illness or connected to chronic illness. Some people are amputees because of injuries. Some are born without limbs or with deformed limbs. Some have invisible disabilities. You cannot group them all in the same frame of "being ill." Just like any minority, whether it be ethnic, LGBT, whatever, there are a broad range of experiences within their community/communities. People who identify as Deaf instead of just deaf, for instance, have a broad set of communities with different cultures.

We're not saying you shouldn't show them empathy, but saying that all disability is a tragedy is really patronizing. Yes it affects their life, but discrimination is as much part of their battle as their condition itself. They can find it really patronizing to treat them like charity cases when many have adapted (or want us to give them legal resources and laws that make it easier to adapt!) to their condition and just want you to listen to their voices instead of speaking over them, because there ARE ways for them to live well, though not as easily as abled people, if you just listen to their requests and show them the same respect you would show an able-bodied person.

My mother is disabled and two of my best friends are, all in different ways. My mother needs a cane in order to walk; Friend A just needs to compensate with a limp but is also almost completely blind; and Friend B requires a motorized scooter/canes as her mobility aids. I didn't previously comment on this post because of the OP's wishes, but I have a lot of experience with knowing people with different types of disabilities.