Specific questions about writing a blind character?(self.Blind)
submitted by Mrs_Wheelyke
Sorry for the wall of text. I don't really know how to condense this down since it seems like more context is in general better.
I'm work shopping a story right now where one of my protagonists would lose her vision part way through the story and had a couple questions about specific aspects. For a little background on the world and character, the story is set in a futuristic but dystopian setting where high tech stuff is available but only to the rich or city government basically, there's also a small population of superpowered characters. The character is basically a revolutionary/hacker that has a habit of upgrading herself and basically becoming a cyborg.
She's big on control and power. The type of person that makes you snap to attention when she walks in the room because she's so confident you're pretty sure you've done something wrong by breathing at her. She's smart, doesn't mince words, and can't help but make sure she has the upper hand in any situation. The cybernetic implants are kind of part of that, in the sense that she's claiming complete mastery over her own body. And in story dynamics with the second main character, she's the cutting-edge normal human running with the supers, and her slow burn love interest/second main is an extremely powerful superhuman.
How she loses her vision is basically a byproduct of being taken hostage by the antagonists and tortured to draw out the super character and kill them both at once. They escape, but because she had implants in her eyes, they're irreparably damaged. She doesn't treat this as her life being over so much as, while feeling extremely vulnerable at the time, immediately going into overdrive on how to retool her life to make the situation work for her as soon as she's physically capable. Basically redesigning all her tech as accessible, crash course in braille and doing things by touch, scheming ways to use the situation to her advantage (Like setting off strobes to disorient foes, or putting out coded stuff that's nonsense at first glance but has a touch-based cypher), anything really. Beyond that, ways to safeguard herself from similar attacks in the future.
Now that I have the stage setting out of the way I have two main questions. 1. Is it a cop out to give her some limited sonar ability? She would never regain her vision, but something I'm considering is an extremely limited sonar system. Like, can only tell the shape of objects in a certain range that are not obscured by another object, and would become essentially useless in rain or heavy snow due to the particles in the air. Or possibly lacking any "vision" element, just her learning to interpret a soundscape even? I know it's a trope, but it's the kind of setting where not being able to tell that someone is pointing a gun at you would be a significant problem. But I don't want to relegate her to operating remotely from her hideout when she has been physically involved earlier in the story. Or to basically have the super character constantly watch her and scoop her out of danger, because that would feel like infantilizing a character that's supposed to be capable, you know?
The second thing is that her eyes would basically be destroyed and removed, so she would probably end up with prostheses. But just the kind of character she is, she would view it as a point of customization, and end up with a few pairs that are unusual. Like made to look like deep space or some LEDs in them or something else cool. Would that be considered offensive in any way? Like, I can find people online that have custom eyes, but I didn't know if it would come across as her thinking she's too good for normal prostheses or something.
Anyone that made it through all this and has any advice, thank you in advance. I appreciate any help you could give.
AlexDalcourt2 points2y ago
Try to keep her disabled and not give her compensation you know? Let her have an emotional time with losing her vision, it can be traumatic for some. Make her a fancy sci fi cane or something that can turn into a sword or something idk. I like the touch being used more that's a great idea. But maybe try to give her the opportunity to struggle with the loss of her sight before she learns to cope. Let her feel the fact she cant see her love interest anymore. That she cant use her vision to build things. Let her get so frustrated she cries because it's so overwhelming to have to rewrite completely how you function. What's more badass than bit being affected is the ability to be affected but still come out on top!
Mrs_Wheelyke [OP]1 points2y ago
Thank you for the links, very interesting to go through. And I do appreciate the feedback. Something that I didn't explain very well in the original post but talked about in the comments is that what I meant by sonar system was essentially an implant/externally attached device that would take in the information and enable her to interpret it. Essentially I was trying to figure out if it would count as compensation, or if it would count as something similar to a fancy sci fi cane.
I also didn't explain super well her emotional reaction, mostly because I was trying to head off anyone thinking I was writing a trope of like, "tiny weak character A gets injured/traumatized and is now entirely unable to function without their big strong character B there to be overprotective". I see that crop up a lot in fanfiction and really dislike it, so I wanted to clarify that this wasn't that. I will do my best to write her dealing with both severe injury and the loss of a major sense with appropriate emotional weight. There will absolutely be an adjustment period, I just was trying to emphasize that she was still going to be a driven character with agency, and forgot to say that part very clearly.
As for how her eye is actually damaged. Kind of all of it. I don't want to go into in too much detail for the squick factor but essentially she has implants in her eyes/optic nerves that get dragged out, so there isn't much intact tissue to save. And then she either wouldn't have enough optic nerve tissue to connect full cybernetic eyes, or her surgeon just plain can't source something that specialized and expensive, so she puts together her sonar tool instead.
Congrats on getting a second prosthetic, btw.
AlexDalcourt1 points2y ago
Sounds great! And thank you:)
BooksDogsMaps2 points2y ago
I think it‘s great you‘re making all these considerations!
I think some limited sonar would be alright. They did that quite extensively in Daredevil, where it was caused by the same substance that took his vision, though. So, if you want to avoid the trope maybe she could get it some „fancy way“? What there actually is that quite some blind people use is echolocation, so that might interest you (but I don‘t think they get to recognise guns with that😅)
Personally, I don‘t have prostethics, so I can‘t judge too well. Knowing the blind and vi community, though, I don‘t think some fancy prostethics are something most people would mind in that context.
Mrs_Wheelyke [OP]1 points2y ago
Thank you for reading. I was planning to have it be basically an implant linked to an external sonar device (either clip on or directly integrated into her superhero costume). I was mostly worried, and I didn't articulate this well, because I know it's frowned upon to write a character with a disability and then "fix" it so they can do whatever they need to in the plot. So I was trying to think of something that functioned more as a sci fi mobility device, I guess? But couldn't tell if I had crossed the threshold with the limitations I put on it. Another thing is that she would probably depend on more real life methods for getting around in her normal life and save the sonar for dangerous circumstances so that she wouldn't feel like she was dependent on something that could be taken away.
ginsenshi1 points2y ago
No comment about the writing but it sounds like one I want to read when it’s finished
DrillInstructorJan1 points2y ago
I think it is a bit of a cop out. I should point out this isn't really something that gets to most people that much, it's not like I'm sobbing my heart out over it, it's not a big deal, but eh, you know? If you're going to do that she's not totally blind anymore, really.
Some of the best blind characters (Toph from Avatar and so on) get stuff like this and it's a bit meh. The thing is that in reality you do just have to live with it and there is no convenient way out. If that gives you a storytelling problem that you have to solve so your character can have a life, well, that's part of the story. If her super buddies need her on a mission for her specific super powers then they're going to have to figure out how to make that work, you know?
Mrs_Wheelyke [OP]1 points2y ago
Okay, thank you for the feedback and that is unfortunate, if not a big deal, apparently. Is there anything that would make it feel more like a sci fi mobility device that would lessen that aspect? Like having her be functional with real life methods in her civilian/alter ego life and only breaking the device out when she's expecting a fight and needs an edge?
DrillInstructorJan1 points2y ago
I say keep it realistic.
If I want to do something I can't do because I can't see, I get help. If you're going to have this character be in dangerous situations, well, she's going to need a buddy, probably, just like I would. And that gives you all kinds of stuff you can do. You can have her feel wretched about needing the help (I do.) You can have her and her buddy grow beyond that into an amazing coordinated combat team and everyone be really impressed with them (have them do some sort of amazing coordinated ninja stuff, I don't know but I do judo and that works). And then have something happen where the buddy is brought into danger, and your blind character can feel terrible about it and responsible for what happened, and worry, and hope the buddy will pull through.
Having them fall in love is optional!
But there's stuff you can do with it. Be cruel to your characters and make them live with the situation they're in. Don't give her an out. Make her live with it, and make her awesome anyway.
I would say skip the sonar trope just because it further supports misconceptions about blind people... if it is tech she builds specifically to enhance her hearing thwts fine but not a randomly acquired super hearing yknow?
I have a prosthetic iris (getting my second in October) Do your research on types of prostheses before writing it in. What part of her eye is damaged? What kind of repair needs to be done? Is it her retina? Cornea? Iris? Shaft itself? Learn how eyes work before modifying them for a character.
Love the disabled character tho ❤
Shyanneabriana0 points2y ago
Honestly, the sonar thing is a little unrealistic. Pretty much no blind people I have ever known in real life can develop the talent well enough to use to travel and navigate. You’re better off with having the blind character use a cane. You would just have to make her feel what’s in front of her using it. As somebody who has been blind all my life, I really struggled using my cane. I saw it is something that made me different from everybody else and that pissed me off for a long time but for my independence, I had to use it. As for crazy eyeballs, I have heard of prosthetics being used with all sorts of designs on them. People take pride in the prosthetics if they can get some weird design. At least, all the people I have met in my life. I don’t see any harm in having fun crazy prosthetics!
Mrs_Wheelyke [OP]1 points2y ago
Thank you for the feedback, just to clarify, I didn't meant for her to just have the power like a bat. But more like an implant with an external sonar device, since she's already into cyborg style body mods. My current idea is like a clip on over her ear that would connect to something in her head to help interpret what it detects. Or just integrate it into her super suit. She would use more typical aids like canes during her normal life, though.
AchooCashew1 points2y ago
Something like what you are describing (if I’m interpreting your creation correctly) does exist!
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