PSA to all you fantasy writers because I have just had a truly frustrating twenty minutes talking to someone about this: it’s okay to put mobility aids in your novel and have them just be ordinary.
Like. Super okay.
I don’t give a shit if it’s high fantasy, low fantasy or somewhere between the lovechild of Tolkein meets My Immortal. It’s okay to use mobility devices in your narrative. It’s okay to use the word “wheelchair”. You don’t have to remake the fucking wheel. It’s already been done for you.
And no, it doesn’t detract from the “realism” of your fictional universe in which you get to set the standard for realism. Please don’t try to use that as a reason for not using these things.
There is no reason to lock the disabled people in your narrative into towers because “that’s the way it was”, least of all in your novel about dragons and mermaids and other made up creatures. There is no historical realism here. You are in charge. You get to decide what that means.
Also:
“Depiction of Chinese philosopher Confucius in a wheelchair, dating to ca. 1680. The artist may have been thinking of methods of transport common in his own day.”
“The earliest records of wheeled furniture are an inscription found on a stone slate in China and a child’s bed depicted in a frieze on a Greek vase, both dating between the 6th and 5th century BCE.[2][3][4][5]The first records of wheeled seats being used for transporting disabled people date to three centuries later in China; the Chinese used early wheelbarrows to move people as well as heavy objects. A distinction between the two functions was not made for another several hundred years, around 525 CE, when images of wheeled chairs made specifically to carry people begin to occur in Chinese art.[5]”
“In 1655,Stephan Farffler, a 22 year old paraplegic watchmaker, built the world’s first self-propelling chair on a three-wheel chassis using a system of cranks and cogwheels.[6][3] However, the device had an appearance of a hand bike more than a wheelchair since the design included hand cranks mounted at the front wheel.[2]
The invalid carriage or Bath chair brought the technology into more common use from around 1760.[7]
In 1887, wheelchairs (“rolling chairs”) were introduced to Atlantic City so invalid tourists could rent them to enjoy the Boardwalk. Soon, many healthy tourists also rented the decorated “rolling chairs” and servants to push them as a show of decadence and treatment they could never experience at home.[8]
In 1933 Harry C. Jennings, Sr. and his disabled friend Herbert Everest, both mechanical engineers, invented the first lightweight, steel, folding, portable wheelchair.[9] Everest had previously broken his back in a mining accident. Everest and Jennings saw the business potential of the invention and went on to become the first mass-market manufacturers of wheelchairs. Their “X-brace” design is still in common use, albeit with updated materials and other improvements. The X-brace idea came to Harry from the men’s folding “camp chairs / stools”, rotated 90 degrees, that Harry and Herbert used in the outdoors and at the mines.[citation needed]
“But Joy, how do I describe this contraption in a fantasy setting that wont make it seem out of place?”
“It was a chair on wheels, which Prince FancyPants McElferson propelled forwards using his arms to direct the motion of the chair.”
“It was a chair on wheels, which Prince EvenFancierPants McElferson used to get about, pushed along by one of his companions or one of his many attending servants.”
“But it’s a high realm magical fantas—”
“It was a floating chair, the hum of magical energy keeping it off the ground casting a faint glow against the cobblestones as {CHARACTER} guided it round with expert ease, gliding back and forth.”
“But it’s a stempunk nov—”
“Unlike other wheelchairs he’d seen before, this one appeared to be self propelling, powered by the gasket of steam at the back, and directed by the use of a rudder like toggle in the front.”
Give. Disabled. Characters. In. Fantasy. Novels. Mobility. Aids.
If you can spend 60 pages telling me the history of your world in innate detail down to the formation of how magical rocks were formed, you can god damn write three lines in passing about a wheelchair.
Signed, your editor who doesn’t have time for this ableist fantasy realm shit.
If your fantasy setting is having trouble with things like “What other cultures exist in this universe and how do they get on?” or “How do diabled people live?” or “How’s gender work here?” without sounding like Your Conservative Aunt Edna That You Really Wish You Didn’t Have To Be Nice To At Thanksgiving, it’s a good sign that you need to go back, not to the drawing board, but to yourself and your real world, and think real hard about how you’re handling those things in real life.
It’ll do you and your writing a literal world of good.
Okay but like
Do we have to limit ourselves to wheelchairs?
Or could we have like, different kinds of mobility aids? Like we don’t have to remake the fucking wheel, but what if we want to? Like a world with cool magic should have tons of magical ways to help people get around. Same thing with technology. Like sure wheelchairs are cool but so is a guy with like, a fully controllable robot leg suit, or a paraplegic wizard who just flies around sitting on a magic cloud they’ve made solid with their spells.
Absolutely not! I used the example of wheelchairs because the person I was talking to decided to tell me that mobility aids were historically inaccurate and therefore had no place in their historical fantasy novel setting. So I went the entire hell out of my way to drag them behind historically accurate wheelchairs. I actually have another post circulating at the moment that talks about the use of other aids and how magic and other things could work as a mobility aid. I just switched to mobile so I can’t link, but if you scroll my blog you’ll find it.
This is all I’ve been talking about today because it’s all anyone will let me talk about lol.
Do you think it’s ok to say “rolling chair” or “wheeled chair” to sound slightly more old-timey and avoid the tiffany problem
Yep. Another old timey accurate term was “bath chair”. If that helps.
I mean, even fricking Star Wars has Yoda using a hover-chair sometimes. Presumably being 870-some years old means that joints hurt.
honestly if you want to take proper care of your goths you shouldn’t take them outside in hot weather at all, just winter and MAYBE late autumn/early spring if you live in a cool climate
people really should do this kind of research before getting goths at all but as long as they’re willing to learn and adapt i guess
there are breeds of goth suitable for warmer climes but you have to be very careful when looking for one and you cannot assume that your goth is one of them if you don’t know for sure what they are
even the warm-climate breeds still usually do better in their native locale’s winter temperatures though, and shouldn’t be left outside in the summer unattended or, at the bare minimum, they should be given plentiful shade, cold water, and appropriate music to keep them calm
Honestly, if you want something less fragile than a goth, you should be considering something like a punk anyway. There’s no need to expose goths to the heat, IMHO. Admittedly there’s differences you need to do research on, but punks are very rewarding. And for God’s sake, if anyone tells you ANY emo can handle the heat, run. They don’t know what the fuck they’re talking about.
goths aren’t fragile though? they’re not heat-tolerant but they’re extremely hardy in dark and stormy weather, metal concerts, and dramatic emotional episodes. just because they aren’t well-suited to one weather pattern doesn’t mean they can’t be extremely hardy and rewarding to keep under conditions they’re better suited to.
Forget the climate thing, there’s a more important husbandry issue here:
WHO THE FUCK PUT THEM OUT IN THE DAYTIME?
Direct sunlight is extremely harmful to goths! THey should never be outdoors before twilight!
Do your damn research, people.
you’re missing a key point though
goths need the opportunity to complain about sunlight, it’s vital to their wellbeing; as long as their time in it is carefully controlled and they’re given sufficient sunscreen and shade, it can be amazing and 100% necessary enrichment
Look at that picture. Look at it. Please tell me where the shade is, because I don’t see any. I see two goths wilting in direct sunlight. Just look at how flat their hair is! This is not even remotely acceptable care.
i never said the picture was a good example of goth husbandry, i think it’s sort of taken as a given that it’s not – nobody in this threat is endorsing it, op included
i’m just saying that it isn’t a black and white issue
Fair enough. I’ll concede that a properly-shaded porch or sunroom-type area can help them get the outdoor enrichment and complaining opportunities they need, without putting them at risk of direct sunlight or actually touching anything outdoors. But be careful not to overexpose them.
Aren’t there some varieties of goth that are built for sunlight, or is that me mistaking a similar species for goths?
You’re thinking of either New Romantics – unfortunately presumed extinct, you could tell them apart by their lack of Victorian plumage and occasional colouration – or Emos, which are the product of a crossbreeding with Shoegazers.
if you’ve seen the breaking news that trump just signed an executive order today to end the family separation policy here’s some quick info to keep things in perspective
this doesn’t end the “zero tolerance” policy of prosecuting anyone who crosses the border “illegally”
the only thing this changes is that going forward, entire families will be detained together while awaiting prosecution
this offers no solution for freeing the thousands of children currently held in ICE child prisons or any path to reuniting them with their families
children will still be detained and treated as criminals
this will likely lead to thousands of families being held in ICE facilities and tent cities that will face the exact same issues of overcrowding, abuse, and inhumane conditions that exist in the child prisons
this is not a victory or a solution. This is the administration trying to cover their asses and avoid any more public outrage. They want people to see this as the end of the news story and go back to their lives. They want people to forget the thousands of children they are still keeping in cages in ICE facilities across the nation. This issue is not over and we cannot stop being outraged until we are given proof that the thousands of kidnapped children are returned to their families, and that the policy of arresting and prosecuting people who cross the border is ended.
no abras la puerta. Estate calmado. Usted tiene derechos.
Si piden entrar, pregunten si tienen una orden firmada por un juez.
Si dicen que lo tienen, piden verlo.
Una orden de administración de ICE (formulario 1-200, 1-205) no les permite entrar a su hogar sin su consentimiento.
Si no tienen una orden firmada por un juez, usted puede negarse a dejarlos entrar
Si se fuerzan, no resistan. Dile a todos en la residencia que permanezcan en silencio.
Si usted es arrestado, permanezca en silencio y no firme nada hasta que hable con un abogado.
Yes, but as a note:
You must DECLARE AFFIRMATIVELY that you are invoking your right to remain silent!! If you just stay silent, you haven’t actually invoked the right. It’s an annoying legal thing, but you have to speak in order to stay silent. All you have to do is say “I am exercising my right to remain silent” (and then DO remain silent after that!).
That last bit is due to a somewhat recent Supreme Court decision.
Translación del segundo parte:
Hay que DECLARAR AFIRMATIVEMENTE que tú estás invocando el derecho a permanecer en silencio! Si sólo permanezcas en silencio, no actualmente invocarás el derecho. Es una cosa estupida del ley, pero hay que hablar para permanecer en silencio. Solo hay que decir “Estoy invocando mi derecho a permanecer en silencio” (y después, permanezca en silencio.)
I mean, it doesn’t pain me at all. They need to do it.
so, after 9/11 U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins (in)famously said it was like the U.S. losing its virginity. (hella problematic on a zillion levels, but- ) 9/11 was this traumatic violation of a national sense of safety and identity and what was and wasn’t possible and that these things didn’t happen to us.
in some ways, Trumpism is the same kind of American trauma. it strikes at the heart of the stories we told ourselves about being a beacon of freedom and justice. that’s why it pains Dr. Gu to admit that we are human rights violators at scale.
now, were those stories always lies? absolutely. but they were nice lies that made us feel good and were things that “we” aspired to be true. but now we’ve discovered just how shaky and incomplete that “we” always was. and for people who weren’t always failed by those lies, it’s painful.
So today I tripped. Fell flat on my face, it was awful but ultimately harmless. My service dog, however, is trained to go get an adult if I have a seizure, and he assumed this was a seizure (were training him to do more to care for me, but we didn’t learn I had epilepsy until a year after we got him)
I went after him after I had dusten off my jeans and my ego, and I found him trying to get the attention of a very annoyed woman. She was swatting him away and telling him to go away. So I feel like I need to make this heads up
If a service dog without a person approaches you, it means the person is down and in need of help
Don’t get scared, don’t get annoyed, follow the dog! If it had been an emergency situation, I could have vomited and choked, I could have hit my head, I could have had so many things happen to me. We’re going to update his training so if the first person doesn’t cooperate, he moves on, but seriously guys. If what’s-his-face could understand that lassie wanted him to go to the well, you can figure out that a dog in a vest proclaiming it a service dog wants you to follow him
Several things wrong with this analysis, though I can’t fault the skepticism
I’m 20. Please. Why does everyone who gets upset at this post call me a teenager?
Yes, he was originally supposed to be a family dog. I had concerns because he was supposed to be a family dog, however that was well over a year ago. Professional obedience training happened a little after. He preformed exceptionally, and the trainer were working with now is helping with the more specific training. It probably wasn’t the best process to get a service dog, but I got lucky. I wouldn’t reccomend anyone else to obtain a SD this way, but like I said, it turned out well.
I’m… Not sure where you got the 2 blocks measurement? It was a quiet grocery store, and he went like, 3 aisles down.
We didn’t train him to stand by me and bark because of my sensory issues. Loud noises are painful for me, especially when I’m already in distress. It was decided that him going to get someone was a better idea than him sending me into sensory overload after I get out of my seizure.
I don’t go alone anywhere. Theres not really a chance for me to be far away from people where Raider would run free and wild and come back to find me gone. If I was in the habit of going out on strolls alone around the neighborhood, this would be a problem, but i don’t. I was only at the store because it’s 5 minutes away, and I really wanted coffee creamer, lmao
He doesn’t paw or jump or bark or anything else everyone has been imagining. He goes up, and noses the person. Then he walks off to my direction, checks if the person is following, and either repeats the nosing or leads them to me. The lady was swatting at him because he was interupting her shopping. She wasn’t scared for her life, she wasn’t canine-phobic, she was annoyed and swatting his nose away
Service dogs aren’t a set in stone thing. They can be trained for personal… Benefit? (not the right word, but close). My needs as an autistic and epileptic individual are different than yours as a wheelchair user. I can get the apprehension, but I don’t see how this post will affect people going up to your dog that’s with you. It’s already gonna happen, I know that much, but they’re not going to start going up to an SD next to a wheelchair user and be like “Show me the way!!!”
… Okay, they might, but that’s more because people are dumb af when they see fur. It’s not going to be because of this.
Ah, a few more things because I’m on mobile and can’t go back and forth between the tweets without risking losing all I type, lmao
He’s on a leash. He’s always on a leash. I never said he was without a leash. The amazing thing about falling is that I /let go of the leash/. In a seizure, my hands completely splay out, meaning I wouldn’t hold onto the leash. A lot of your complaints are you assuming things, and it’s irksome. If someone could point his attention to this reply, I’d appreciate, since I don’t have a Twitter myself.
I appreciate everyone spreading info about antiRomani racism in Europe and everywhere else, but you NEED to stop saying it’s “xenophobia” or just anti-immigrant sentiment because it is VERY SPECIFICALLY antiRomani racism. Romani people have been vilified and oppressed since we left India in 1200 CE or so. This has always been the case and even nations that view themselves as progressive or non-racist still hate Romani people with a passion. They don’t even view it as racism because they quite literally don’t see us as human.
Please call this what it is. It is antiRomani racism.
Additionally, Roma/Romani people aren’t ~from~ Eastern Europe. We aren’t hated because we’re “Eastern Europeans”. As previously mentioned, Romani people are a South Asian diaspora. I understand that our name is similar enough to Romanian that people get confused, but we are NOT the same. Romania is a country that enslaved Romani people for about 500 years. There are Romani people in Romania, but we are not inherently connected to that country. While Western Europe can be quite xenophobic against Eastern Europe, antiRomani racism has nothing to do with that and is its own seperate thing.
Urocyon's Jaunts 2.0 
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