Accessibility in Fantasy: Exploring the disability rep in How Not to Charm Your Human Colleague

Aug 16

I've been aching to write this blog post for some time, considering how important and valuable I think it is right now with *gestures to everything*. But particularly the very prevalent ableism from the bookish space to our everyday.

This blog post is not a wide study on ableism, disability rep in books over the years, or the issue with fetishization of disability in fiction. It is a case study of my own experience and research when writing Charm, which will also niche down on PHYSICAL disability.

I think it's important to mention here, when I talk about accessibility in fantasy and disability rep, I am both speaking from my own voice, but also portraying characters with disabilities that I do not have. I will touch more on this below, but it is very important to clarify that I am an author who experiences chronic pain, limitations, injuries, and other challenges that I often present in my books.

How Not to Charm Your Human Colleague is not my first nor my last book that will feature a main character with a disability. As of writing this post, I've been an author for six years, and while that is a tiny fraction of time in the grand scheme of authorship and the bookish space, it has come with many more years of reading, researching, and speaking with the community (and avid bookish community) about disability in fiction.

Representation in my other books

As I mentioned, Charm does not feature my first disabled character in fantasy.

Kiya, from Star Collapsed and the Star Trilogy (currently a shelved project), was my first time writing a disabled character into my stories. She suffers a broken back, followed by a mental block and "unidentified" nerve damage that flares and affects her ability to walk on occasion. This leads to crutch and wheelchair use.

While I never suffered a broken back, Kiya was the embodiment of my own struggles with "unidentified" pain that affected my ability to do something. I'm very protective of all my characters, but hers is really close to home.

Aspen, from Guard & Guise, is another character with chronic pain and walks with a cane. I wrote in some of my own nerve damage as an 'inspiration' for her challenges. She also deals with a lot more obvious ableism, which I touch on quite often in the book, and use my MMC and another side character (Oz, wheelchair user) to explain some things rather plainly about accessibility challenges, taking up space, and invisible illnesses.

Oz, who is not a main character (yet) is a wheelchair user. His representation will look a little different than what I've written so far, and I'm excited to explore his story in Trick & Tangle.

Corinne first appears in The Wings of Shattered Fire. She's blind, and while I gave her a unique ability to "see", it's very similar to Toph in Avatar: The Last Airbender. Her magic is not a "fix", which is another important topic when writing disability, but rather a different perspective into how fantasy can provide multiple avenues of exploration. Particularly in a fantasy world where there is healing magic, but there are limitations.

Another character that is not a main character (yet) is Emisa, first introduced in The Bones of Crystal Sand. She is hard of hearing and also suffers similar chronic pain and injury to Kiya. I am particularly invested in her story for someone who came into disability later in life and is just learning what her new "normal" is.

Again, these are a roundup of the physical disabled characters in my series, mostly as a baseline to talk about my history writing disabled characters in a fantasy setting.

Aofe's disability and story

The reason I set Aofe's aside in this is mostly because her book just came out, but I think with the popularity that has come from the release, it's also the first time a lot of readers have read a book with a disabled main character.

In fantasy worlds, the terminology isn't the same, so I included a note at the beginning of the book which explains Aofe's disability.

She has Cerebral Palsy (CP), which then results in issues such as: chronic pain, nerve damage, muscular atrophy, balance, dislocation, and more. While not all of these are present in CP, and there are often more challenges than what Aofe experiences, it's important to note that everyone's experience with pain is different and valid.

Aofe's unique experience with CP requires her to use crutches, and she can't be on her feet for long. Her balance and coordination also takes effort, which you see through her eyes and the MMC's in certain fine motor skills like grinding herbs, supporting elbows and fingers, and tying her shoes.

So let's talk about how that comes into play in the Falling for Demons (FFD) world, but also fantasy as a whole.

Showing disability in a fantasy world

I will stick with our case study: Charm.

Aofe's disability, and her inability to be on her feet long, means she's not going on an epic journey across kingdoms. Her story takes place within an apothecary shop, almost exclusively.

Which is excellent for a cozy fantasy, our FFD genre.

But if she's not leaving the shop, how can we have a fantasy world? Where is the fantasy worldbuilding?

It's right there.

With the Falling for Demons series being a cozier monster romance, we are able to watch her thrive in a small setting, minimal travel required, which makes our sweet crutch using FMC very happy.

That doesn't mean there isn't world building.

World building does not mean epic travel, quests, grand lore that expands into several kingdoms and islands and planets.

Those are all elements of genre. World building is exactly what it says: building a world. If you're in a fantasy world -- creatures, magic, races, kingdoms, etc -- then that is fantasy, and you are free to experience that world however your character can manage. You might not see all of it, and that doesn't mean world building doesn't exist.

If you want more world, more experiences and interactions with the world, that's a different genre you're looking for. But to say a cozy fantasy featuring a disabled character who cannot leave her setting didn't allow you to see more of the world is ableist, and a misunderstanding of both disability and genre.

What I love about writing disability in a cozy setting for this series is that I'm really able to focus on the character. Again, that's a very genre specific thing -- cozy lends to more character focus (internal stakes) and less on external stakes (world, other characters, etc). It's about their acceptance, adjustment, and other characters learning and adapting. Seeing a different perspective that they never considered before. Understanding how invisible ableism is, and how much they overlooked.

All this to say, writing disability in fantasy is no different than writing it in contemporary. No matter your sub genre, your character interacts with the world, and that is what it is to write disability in fantasy.

However, when writing disability, especially one that is not your own (respecting that all experiences are different and valid), there is a very important step.

Sensitivity readers and writing with accountability

As you can see, most of my characters have a little bit of my own pain, but there are aspects that are not similar to my experience with disability.

Writing disability in fantasy, no matter the sub genre, comes with a lot of special care. Even when you are writing your own experience, I strongly encourage finding a sensitivity reader.

A sensitivity reader is someone with that experience who will read your book (or parts of your book) with a specific focus on looking for problematic or concerning content about that topic. It can be disability, queer experiences, NICU experiences, living with a sick elder, anything really.

Now, this is not giving permission to hire a sensitivity reader to check off a box. This is a learning experience, and one that I take seriously. Every response I get is a chance for me to unlearn my own biases, my own internalized ableism, and make a more inclusive and accepting world.

Particularly with Aofe, I did extensive research on CP, chronic pain, walking aids, and hip dislocation (despite that being one of my issues written into her character). I made sure the language I used was acceptable and inoffensive. And when I made a mistake about her service animal (Attie) and mislabeled her walking aids (sometimes you're just going to have to use the word 'crutch' more than once in a paragraph), I corrected.

Which is called writing with accountability. Harmful disability rep is out there, and it's heartbreaking - poor rep, fetishization of disabled characters, love cures a disability, a disabled person can only be happy once they are cured, and more. I write challenging topics when it comes to disability and accessibility in fantasy. Internal and external ableism are topics that are frequently touched in my books, with an emphasis on learning. But with each topic, I take care to represent as accurately as possible and with respect.

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I hope that some of this was enlightening. I know it's not often talked about, but I really do wish there were more fantasy books with disabled main characters. It doesn't detract from story, and we deserve to see ourselves in fiction.