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I've had a "Bechdel Style" Test in my head for Disability Rep. in my head for a whle, now.
The question is: can I write a story that passes this test?
I did a journal search just a few minutes ago, and it looks like the last time I wrote about this was 2014, and the test has had minor tweaks since then. So here's a refresher:
1) There’s Disabled Character
2) Who’s an active participant in resolving their own conflict*
3) That conflict does not center on their disability.
4) They’re still alive and disabled at the end.
Now, back in 2005, I had a brief run at writing original Literary wonder tales (fairy tales) for people, on commission. And one of my first gigs was to write a story for a young man, for his 21st birthday; he too, had CP (cerebral palsy), and during my visit with him, to learn what sort of story he wanted, he told me that he did not want any characters in the story to have CP, and that "C.P. Doesn't belong in fairy tales."
And at the time, I agreed with him -- wholeheartedly. I mean, I've seen that kind of representation shoehorned into stories, and it never turns out well -- it oversimplifies the disability, and
But as the years have passed, I began to question that. After all, there are all sorts of people represented in fairy tales: butchers, bakers, candlestick makers, kings, and beggars, and shepherds and thieves, soldiers, sailors, old women, young girls, etc. Why should we exile ourselves from the genre?
So, for last year's NaNoWriMo, I set out to write a wonder tale with a protagonist with C.P. -- not naming it as such, but accurately describing C.P. (that she can't walk, that "her tongue is slow in her mouth," etc.). And, as usual, I got to the 50K mark, but did not end up with a finished story.
So Camp NaNoWriMo is starting in a couple of days, and I woke up this morning and just decided to try and write this story as a shorter 10K novella.
The thing is: the goal she wants (even if she can't articulate it to herself at the beginning) is to get her family (which by the end of the story. is just her sister and herself -- because their parents were elderly when they were born) out from under the oppression of the neighbors' ableism and superstition.
Part of me thinks that does pass point 3 of this test. But my Inner Critic thinks maybe it doesn't...
I'll keep you posted.
*[E.T.A.: Forgot the footnote to point 2: unlike, say: Tiny Tim, who's only there to inspire Scrooge to be better, or Stevie, from Malcolm in the Middle, who's only there to illustrate that Malcolm is cooler than the other kids, because he deigns to be Stevie's friend, etc.]
I did a journal search just a few minutes ago, and it looks like the last time I wrote about this was 2014, and the test has had minor tweaks since then. So here's a refresher:
1) There’s Disabled Character
2) Who’s an active participant in resolving their own conflict*
3) That conflict does not center on their disability.
4) They’re still alive and disabled at the end.
Now, back in 2005, I had a brief run at writing original Literary wonder tales (fairy tales) for people, on commission. And one of my first gigs was to write a story for a young man, for his 21st birthday; he too, had CP (cerebral palsy), and during my visit with him, to learn what sort of story he wanted, he told me that he did not want any characters in the story to have CP, and that "C.P. Doesn't belong in fairy tales."
And at the time, I agreed with him -- wholeheartedly. I mean, I've seen that kind of representation shoehorned into stories, and it never turns out well -- it oversimplifies the disability, and
But as the years have passed, I began to question that. After all, there are all sorts of people represented in fairy tales: butchers, bakers, candlestick makers, kings, and beggars, and shepherds and thieves, soldiers, sailors, old women, young girls, etc. Why should we exile ourselves from the genre?
So, for last year's NaNoWriMo, I set out to write a wonder tale with a protagonist with C.P. -- not naming it as such, but accurately describing C.P. (that she can't walk, that "her tongue is slow in her mouth," etc.). And, as usual, I got to the 50K mark, but did not end up with a finished story.
So Camp NaNoWriMo is starting in a couple of days, and I woke up this morning and just decided to try and write this story as a shorter 10K novella.
The thing is: the goal she wants (even if she can't articulate it to herself at the beginning) is to get her family (which by the end of the story. is just her sister and herself -- because their parents were elderly when they were born) out from under the oppression of the neighbors' ableism and superstition.
Part of me thinks that does pass point 3 of this test. But my Inner Critic thinks maybe it doesn't...
I'll keep you posted.
*[E.T.A.: Forgot the footnote to point 2: unlike, say: Tiny Tim, who's only there to inspire Scrooge to be better, or Stevie, from Malcolm in the Middle, who's only there to illustrate that Malcolm is cooler than the other kids, because he deigns to be Stevie's friend, etc.]