Folktale critiquing / analysis, via my blog (and a request for advice & help):

[capri0mni]

In order: Some general thoughts (a.k.a. questions circling around and around in my head), Seeking advice, and then, help:

1. Regarding The Girl Without Hands: Why did she ask that her arms be bound behind her, before she went into the world? Wasn't that taking an already impairing condition and wilfully impairing herself further (arms can do a lot, even without hands at their ends)?
   
   Was it to hide the stigma of visible disability, so that people who met her on the road would see her first, instead of her raw stumps (which would scare them off)? Was it to hide the violence her father had done to her (either/or/and hiding it from others / herself)? What does this this say about the Social Model of Disability (and, perhaps, its shortcomings)? What does this say about the intersectionality of disability and domestic violence, particularly done to women?



2. When I was first thinking of starting this blog (before I came up with a name, even), I mentioned the idea to Audrey who said it sounded fascinating, and would even make a great book... So, I admit, the idea of converting this to a P.O.D. print version (or etext, for electronic reading devices) has been bubbling around in my head.
   
   My two primary goals for the blog are: to help make my point that the "issue of Disability" has been around throughout many different cultures and perods of history, and: to have enough content to last at least a year. So, as it stands now, the blog is all over the place. And, as a book, it would lack all coherence of either tone or theme. Also: The only source material I'm really comfortable with is the Grimms' tales (as in: give me a title of any story from their final volume [210], and I could probably tell you at least one thing that happened in that story, without doublechecking). So those are really the only ones I feel confident that I could retell and comment on without plagiarizing.
   
   So, here's my advice question: Would a (very) slim volume of specific Grimms' tales, and commentary on how the themes of disability show up in each (plus, say, an Introduction) be enough for a book? What do you think would be the minimum quorum? Four tales? Five? Six? Three? I can think of four stories that are almost a perfect fit together, for my theme of Monsters and Disability (almost like four quadrants of a box): Thumbling, Hans my Hedgehog, Girl Without Hands, Six who made their way in the world. And then, there are about another three or four in the second tier, where impairment plays a major role, but the stories don't "pair up" with the others quite as well... and yet another three or four where impairment shows up briefly, but is almost as quickly resolved, and/or the impairment occurs outside the point of view narrative, so it's more part of the background landscape than shown as a lived experience (including the long version of Rapunzel, which is hardly ever in the little kids' picture book version because Rapunzel and the Prince did more together than just have some friendly chats and handholding, and it was the consequences of that that ruined their secret).



3. And now, my request for help: So far, I've focused on stories with physical & visible disabilities as a motif, because that's what I live with, and the tensions that come up are what I recognize when I read. However, two stories from Grimms that I'd like to tackle eventually appear to deal with autism and PTSD. But because neither of those things are part of my own experience, I'm wary of editorializing on them without a little feedback.
   
   So, I know there are some people on my f'list/access circle who are living with autism and/or PTSD... Would you mind reading either of these stories, and sharing your thoughts?
   
   The story of the boy who left home to learn fear (Autism / Asperger's?)
   
   Bearskin (PTSD in a war veteran?)
   
   Thanks so much!