Some SFF authors really don’t want to hear anything about disability that disagrees with their own (inaccurate) views. They especially don’t want to be educated by disabled people about how to write about disabled people sensitively, or if they should even write about disability.

Own voices stories about disabled characters will always have a different flavour to them that those written by people who have no lived experiences. And believe me, we can always tell the difference.

Rather like when I see a “Deaf” character in movies who clearly has no idea how it feels to be Deaf. Or a T1 diabetic who can’t inject insulin properly (let’s not even talk about that awful hypoglycaemia scene in “Steel Magnolias”...)

And these problematic scenes could all be improved/avoided if writers who want to include disabled characters, simply use sensitivity readers who can give them honest, real, useful feedback. And they *listen* to that feedback.

Here’s a handy TL/DR checklist:
• don’t use disabilities like they are problems to be solved or illnesses to be cured
• don’t use disabilities to imply lack of intellect
• don’t use disabilities to invoke sympathy or sorrow (either in the disabled character or from others)

• don’t use suicide as a plot point in disabled characters — “rather be dead than disabled” is a gross, ableist idea. Stop that shit.
• disabled characters are so much more than their disability. Write their full stories. The person comes first.

And especially in SFF where *anything* is possible — tech is advanced, worlds are different/explored — disabled people should be included in these narratives, without perpetuating prejudiced or ableist ideologies.

As a final point, don’t talk about disabilities in the same language as you would a wound. A wound may incapacitate but eventually it heals. A disability does neither.

Likewise: curse, barrier, evil, punishment, test of faith, problem, bad luck, anomaly, ugly.