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Q&A Writing a cancer survivor

The same way you write about anybody, from personal experience. That experience doesn't have to be your own, but you should go out into the world and meet people with disabilities. Online as a se...

posted 6y ago by Cyn‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-20T00:40:32Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/39784
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T10:04:06Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/39784
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T10:04:06Z (almost 5 years ago)
The same way you write about anybody, from personal experience. That experience doesn't have to be your own, but you should go out into the world and meet people with disabilities. Online as a second choice to in person.

There aren't a lot of people out there who are mute but hearing and without a neurological or intellectual disability (for example, a lot of autistic folks are mute, but that's very different from your character).

So I'm not saying go out and learn about mutism. But do go out and learn what it's like to be disabled. Especially a disability acquired as an adult. Trust me, no disabled person wants to be "tragic" and pretty much none want to be "inspirational" either (at least not in the sense where you no longer own your own self but are held up by non-disabled people as an "example." It's something that makes most disabled people want to barf.

Learn what it's like to live with a disability. How it changes your life and how it doesn't. How so many of your challenges are social.

That's how you will be able to write an authentic character.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-11-02T01:24:41Z (about 6 years ago)
Original score: 5