Research and writing about characters with disabilities

Kai_63

One of my main characters has a disability (he doesn't have use of his left arm and hand). I want to stress that he's not being used as a plot device, the character just arrived 'in my head' this way. However, I do want to ensure I write sensitively about the character and would like to find out more about these types of disabilities and the challenges people may face.

Any ideas? I'll certainly seek people in real life to talk to about it but first I want to do some background research online.

Thanks!

Phots Moll

I suggest you start with deciding the cause of the disability. Was he born that way, does he have a progessive condition, is it the result of an accident? That will narrow your search and help you keep the details accurate.

Liz

So glad to hear this, Kai.

Hmmm.. there is a children's group to awareness of the representation of children in books with disabilities, to make sure they are there but incidental to the plot not the cause of the storyline, but I don't know about adult literature.

However I can tell you, having just had a hand operation, there are lots of things it is very tricky to achieve with only one hand!

And don't make the mistake that someone I know has, who has written a brilliant book with a character with a health condition I have in - they have it, it is incidental, she gets on with her life - but to way too great a degree, because you are NOT the 'the same as everyone else', it has a huge impact on what you can do.

Carol

Depending on the cause will also impact of how the hand/arm displays and what they can do.

Keith

To get an idea of the physical limitations you could put your own left arm in a sling for a day or two, so you get first hand (!) experience of only using one arm. Psychologically I think how/when he became disabled is significant, whether he's in pain and what the prognosis is for the future.

Kai_63

Thank you, there's some great advice here!

I'm not sure of the cause e.g. whether it's from birth or through an accident but it is a life long disability rather than temporary. I wonder if I need to speak to someone in the medical profession about this.

One other things I meant to mention is that the book is set in the early 1970s. I want him to have some kind of working life (he's in his early twenties) but again, I'm not sure what he'd be able to do particularly given the attitudes of the day. He's interested in travel and culture though so perhaps he could be a writer of some kind!

Liz

I know someone whose dominant hand was affected by thalidomide. That would be about the right timing.

She became an accountant and has brought up three children and manages very well - but still has use of her dominant hand, although she can't do things like carry stuff or twist bottles or anything that requires strength because the bones dd not form properly.

It would be easier if he could do a bit.

PaigeElizabethTurner

Hi Kai.

You're right about the 70s -- attitudes were dead against employing any type of 'disability'. You might be aware that many were 'sent' to sheltered workshops as they were called, which were no more than a venue for sleezing 40 hours work from a person for only pennies per hour.
Don't forget the public attitudes also: the glares in the street, the patronising comments as if the affected person can't do a thing, or even think for themself, and then the embarrassment of not being able to obtain even the smallest amount of finance for fear that the debt will become delinquent.

Liz

I don't think that is necessarily true of every case, PET. Many thalidomide victims went on to work. Now they are getting problems with the limbs use instead of arms and having other problems but I do know that many were employed. Physical disability is very different to mental disability.

Kai_63

Thank you all for the help and advice. My character wasn't born in the UK but has arrived there in the early 1970s (sorry I should have mentioned that before) however it's all very useful background information.

I'm thinking of making him a photographer (which might at least be an independent means of income) but I need to look into how complex the camera operation of the day would have been.

Liz

Manual focus, that would be tricky, using a light meter to determine the aperture and that sort of thing - probably quite heavy. I know what the cameras were like in late 70s when Pentax and Nikon And Cannon were all becoming automatic as I went to photography and film school then. I would have thought it would be tricky if he's a photographer journalist but easier if a studio photographer.

Phots Moll

Changing films would be difficult too.

He would need either a tripod or something else to hold the camera still as he took the shots. I don't believe it would be possible to hand hold a 70s professional camera and press the shutter with one hand and have the pictures come out in focus.

There's a local one armed photographer who seems to cope quite well with a digital camera and an apparatus which allows him to hold it steady as he presses the shutter. He's too young to have been doing it (or born) in the 70s or I'd ask him.

Claudia

You're giving yourself a lot of challenges, Kai - just make sure your research is watertight because there will always be someone out there who will know if you've got it wrong.

Phots Moll

Cameras from that period would be very cheap to buy now, or maybe someone has one you can borrow. Trying it, with one hand in your pocket, would be excellent research.

PaigeElizabethTurner

And Kai, when your character is developing (sorry) and interest in photography, he might start with one of the 'throwaways' often featured at supermarket checkouts. Fuji made a 24 exposure, as did Kodak and others. Doesn't address the holding problem, but is offered for realism.

kado

Hello, Kai, I was diagnosed with MS sixteen years ago. Amongst other problems, the condition has caused the left side of my body to be very weak. To make matters worse I am left-handed. A medical professional once said to me, ‘Why don’t you use your other hand?’ I was speechless. Maybe your character could be suffering with this chronic illness.