Disabilities in Anime: A Writer's Guide
A panel by Aurora Rose (CountryHijabiCosplay)
About Me
Aurora Rose
- They/them
- Mutiply disabled & Deaf
- Mixed-race
- Islamic Leninist Quaker
- I love to consume media
Panel Overview
Tips for Improving Your Characters
Why write disabled characters?
Examples of representation
🚨Disclaimer 🚨
General Spoilers:
Trigger warnings:
- Mention of child abuse, hospitalization, bullying, ableism
- Reference to slurs: sc**zo, cr***le
- Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood
- A Silent Voice
- Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc/Danganronpa: Ultra Despair Girls
- Deadman Wonderland
- Brynhildr in the Darkness
- Code Geass
Part 1: Why are you including disability?
Less beneficial reasons to include disabled characters
02
checking a diversity box
An obstacle to overcome
Your character may feel superficial, tokenizing, and, worst-case scenario, offensive.
Your character may feel disheartening to real disabled people who cannot "overcome" their disabilities.
Less beneficial reasons to include disabled characters
02
Creating uniqueness
create a cute/romantic moment
Disability may not impact important aspects of your character that it would realistically impact.
Your character may feel fetishistic, and you run the risk of promoting unhealthy and unrealistic methods of "fixing" disability.
Better reasons to include disabled characters
02
real people are disabled
Disabled people read
If you have a cast of 5-10 characters, realistically, at least a few of them SHOULD be disabled in some way!
Just like you want to identify with some of the characters you read about, so do disabled people.
Better reasons to include disabled characters
02
26% of American adults (1 in 4) have a disability!
real people are disabled
Disabled people read
If you have a cast of 5-10 characters, realistically, at least a few of them SHOULD be disabled in some way!
Just like you want to identify with some of the characters you read about, so do disabled people.
Better reasons to include disabled characters
02
You have a connection
For some, disability is positive
If you have disabled loved ones, you probably have a connection to this community already and want to reflect them.
Not all disabled people see their disabilities as a bad thing. Many of them want to see disabilities portrayed as neutral.
Part 2: The good, the bad, and the "why in god's name did you do that"
some of the most beloved disabled characters in animanga
02
some of the most beloved disabled characters in animanga
02
edward elric
Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood
- Multiple amputee
- Struggles with phantom limb and limb pain
- Eventually "cured"
some of the most beloved disabled characters in animanga
02
edward elric
Toph Beifong
Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Avatar: The Last Airbender
- Blind
- Deals with mistreatment and pity from others
- Can "see" in some contexts by sensing vibrations
- Multiple amputee
- Struggles with phantom limb and limb pain
- Eventually "cured"
some of the most beloved disabled characters in animanga
02
Shouko Nishimiya
A Silent Voice/Koe no Katachi
- Deaf
- Bullied for her communication and voice
- Experiences self-esteem issues due to bullying
- Set in the real world
some of the most beloved disabled characters in animanga
02
Shouko Nishimiya
Josee/Kumiko Yamamura
A Silent Voice/Koe no Katachi
Josee, the Tiger, and the Fish
- Paraplegic and wheelchair user
- Often treated with pity
- Set in the real world
- Deaf
- Bullied for her communication and voice
- Experiences self-esteem issues due to bullying
- Set in the real world
what makes these characters so beloved?
02
1. They exist outside their disability
2. Their disability impacts many components of their lives
3. reactions to their disability, not the disability itself, are often the most disabling part of their experience
4. their experiences ring true to real disabled communities
some disabled characters i would maybe have thought a little harder about
02
some disabled characters i would maybe have thought a little harder about
02
Genocide Jack/Toko fukawa
Danganronpa
- Has DID
- Experienced severe trauma in childhood
- Only alter is a serial killer
- Eventual arc is about learning to come to terms with both individuals living in the body
some disabled characters i would maybe have thought a little harder about
02
Yukimura Seiichi
Genocide Jack/Toko fukawa
Prince of Tennis
Danganronpa
- Unknown neurological disorder (Guillain-Barré Syndrome)
- Spends significant time in the hospital
- Eventually cured through a risky surgery
- Has DID
- Experienced severe trauma in childhood
- Only alter is a serial killer
- Eventual arc is about learning to come to terms with both individuals living in the body
some disabled characters i would maybe have thought a little harder about
02
Shiro / wretched egg
Deadman Wonderland
- Has DID
- Experienced severe trauma in childhood
- Only alter is a protector attempting to kill her
- Wretched Egg eventually dies
some disabled characters i would maybe have thought a little harder about
02
Kana Tachibana
Shiro / wretched egg
Brynhildr in the Darkness
Deadman Wonderland
- Has DID
- Experienced severe trauma in childhood
- Only alter is a protector attempting to kill her
- Wretched Egg eventually dies
- Became paralyzed due to a procedure related to her magic
- Uses a voice synthesizer to speak
- Eventually exchanges her precognition to receive control of her body again
What are some of the prominent missteps of these characters?
02
1. They don't have a specific condition
2. they are eventually cured using a method that does not exist in real life
3. they exacerbate harmful stereotypes about real-life disabled people
4. their disability is seen as a tragedy holding them back from greater things
5. their disability doesn't work how the real-life version does
disabled characters that have actively set back our civil rights by 50 years
02
disabled characters that have actively set back our civil rights by 50 years
02
Nunnally Lamperouge
Code Geass
- Blind and paralyzed
- Blindness was caused by another character as a way to protect her
- Said to "be at the mercy of others"
- Blindness eventually cured through sheer willpower
disabled characters that have actively set back our civil rights by 50 years
02
Nunnally Lamperouge
Sword Maiden
Goblin Slayer
Code Geass
- Blind & has PTSD
- Is able to navigate the world as a sighted person
- Blind and paralyzed
- Blindness was caused by another character as a way to protect her
- Said she is "at the mercy of others"
- Blindness eventually cured through sheer willpower
02
any others?
what are some of the prominent missteps of these characters?
02
1. their disability is used for aesthetic
2. their disability is used to make them pitiful
3. their disability is a punishment or otherwise a reminder of a painful experience
4. their disability is seen as dangerous or a liability
Part 3: Writing better disabled characters
Questions to ask yourself before writing a disabled character
01
1. Am I willing to do a LOt of research?
2. Am i willing to invest in sensitivity readers?
3. am i doing this just to capitalize off a disabled group?
Questions to ask yourself before writing a disabled character
01
4. Am i willing to accept that not all abled readers will be happy with me?
5. am i willing to accept that not all disabled readers will be happy with me?
top tips for writing a disabled character (initial development)
01
1. research, research, research
2. talk to and read from disabled people with many different experiences surrounding that disability
3. consider having multiple disabled characters
4. if you do not have a specific disability, avoid common tropes relating to that disability
5. think about impacts beyond the disability itself (bullying, ostracization, lack of access, etc.)
top tips for writing a disabled character (the editing process)
01
1. look at your verbiage and what that says about your disabled character/s
2. check how you talk about your disabled character/s vs. your abled character/s
3. hire a sensitivity reader
4. hire another sensitivity reader
5. run your work by test audiences with connections to disability
the end!
questions, comments, concerns, etc.
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Transcript
Disabilities in Anime: A Writer's Guide
A panel by Aurora Rose (CountryHijabiCosplay)
About Me
Aurora Rose
Panel Overview
Tips for Improving Your Characters
Why write disabled characters?
Examples of representation
🚨Disclaimer 🚨
General Spoilers:
Trigger warnings:
Part 1: Why are you including disability?
Less beneficial reasons to include disabled characters
02
checking a diversity box
An obstacle to overcome
Your character may feel superficial, tokenizing, and, worst-case scenario, offensive.
Your character may feel disheartening to real disabled people who cannot "overcome" their disabilities.
Less beneficial reasons to include disabled characters
02
Creating uniqueness
create a cute/romantic moment
Disability may not impact important aspects of your character that it would realistically impact.
Your character may feel fetishistic, and you run the risk of promoting unhealthy and unrealistic methods of "fixing" disability.
Better reasons to include disabled characters
02
real people are disabled
Disabled people read
If you have a cast of 5-10 characters, realistically, at least a few of them SHOULD be disabled in some way!
Just like you want to identify with some of the characters you read about, so do disabled people.
Better reasons to include disabled characters
02
26% of American adults (1 in 4) have a disability!
real people are disabled
Disabled people read
If you have a cast of 5-10 characters, realistically, at least a few of them SHOULD be disabled in some way!
Just like you want to identify with some of the characters you read about, so do disabled people.
Better reasons to include disabled characters
02
You have a connection
For some, disability is positive
If you have disabled loved ones, you probably have a connection to this community already and want to reflect them.
Not all disabled people see their disabilities as a bad thing. Many of them want to see disabilities portrayed as neutral.
Part 2: The good, the bad, and the "why in god's name did you do that"
some of the most beloved disabled characters in animanga
02
some of the most beloved disabled characters in animanga
02
edward elric
Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood
some of the most beloved disabled characters in animanga
02
edward elric
Toph Beifong
Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Avatar: The Last Airbender
some of the most beloved disabled characters in animanga
02
Shouko Nishimiya
A Silent Voice/Koe no Katachi
some of the most beloved disabled characters in animanga
02
Shouko Nishimiya
Josee/Kumiko Yamamura
A Silent Voice/Koe no Katachi
Josee, the Tiger, and the Fish
what makes these characters so beloved?
02
1. They exist outside their disability
2. Their disability impacts many components of their lives
3. reactions to their disability, not the disability itself, are often the most disabling part of their experience
4. their experiences ring true to real disabled communities
some disabled characters i would maybe have thought a little harder about
02
some disabled characters i would maybe have thought a little harder about
02
Genocide Jack/Toko fukawa
Danganronpa
some disabled characters i would maybe have thought a little harder about
02
Yukimura Seiichi
Genocide Jack/Toko fukawa
Prince of Tennis
Danganronpa
some disabled characters i would maybe have thought a little harder about
02
Shiro / wretched egg
Deadman Wonderland
some disabled characters i would maybe have thought a little harder about
02
Kana Tachibana
Shiro / wretched egg
Brynhildr in the Darkness
Deadman Wonderland
What are some of the prominent missteps of these characters?
02
1. They don't have a specific condition
2. they are eventually cured using a method that does not exist in real life
3. they exacerbate harmful stereotypes about real-life disabled people
4. their disability is seen as a tragedy holding them back from greater things
5. their disability doesn't work how the real-life version does
disabled characters that have actively set back our civil rights by 50 years
02
disabled characters that have actively set back our civil rights by 50 years
02
Nunnally Lamperouge
Code Geass
disabled characters that have actively set back our civil rights by 50 years
02
Nunnally Lamperouge
Sword Maiden
Goblin Slayer
Code Geass
02
any others?
what are some of the prominent missteps of these characters?
02
1. their disability is used for aesthetic
2. their disability is used to make them pitiful
3. their disability is a punishment or otherwise a reminder of a painful experience
4. their disability is seen as dangerous or a liability
Part 3: Writing better disabled characters
Questions to ask yourself before writing a disabled character
01
1. Am I willing to do a LOt of research?
2. Am i willing to invest in sensitivity readers?
3. am i doing this just to capitalize off a disabled group?
Questions to ask yourself before writing a disabled character
01
4. Am i willing to accept that not all abled readers will be happy with me?
5. am i willing to accept that not all disabled readers will be happy with me?
top tips for writing a disabled character (initial development)
01
1. research, research, research
2. talk to and read from disabled people with many different experiences surrounding that disability
3. consider having multiple disabled characters
4. if you do not have a specific disability, avoid common tropes relating to that disability
5. think about impacts beyond the disability itself (bullying, ostracization, lack of access, etc.)
top tips for writing a disabled character (the editing process)
01
1. look at your verbiage and what that says about your disabled character/s
2. check how you talk about your disabled character/s vs. your abled character/s
3. hire a sensitivity reader
4. hire another sensitivity reader
5. run your work by test audiences with connections to disability
the end!
questions, comments, concerns, etc.