Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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I'm writing a legally blind character and I need help (self.Blind)
submitted by Starwberry-soul
So I'm making a story about characters living in a different world from ours (spirits/ fantastical creatures) and one of them has lost most of his sight. Since he wasn't aways legally blind I want to know some of the struggles those people face and how they find a way to cope, are they frustrated or angry, what annoys and hurts them?
I'm trying to include real emotions and obstacles people face, but since I don't know people who are legally blind I'm not sure if my way of writing him can be offensive. All of my characters have struggles to which people can relate to, so please help me to write a character that will make you feel noticed and understood, someone to relate to. It's the only character and character arc I haven't planned fully. It will mean everything if you help me and give me some advice.
And I want to know what not to do while writing my character.
Thank you in advance! It means a lot!
I'm trying to include real emotions and obstacles people face, but since I don't know people who are legally blind I'm not sure if my way of writing him can be offensive. All of my characters have struggles to which people can relate to, so please help me to write a character that will make you feel noticed and understood, someone to relate to. It's the only character and character arc I haven't planned fully. It will mean everything if you help me and give me some advice.
And I want to know what not to do while writing my character.
Thank you in advance! It means a lot!
Nighthawk321 3 points 2y ago
It is not our job to educate you about what it's like to be blind or VI. There are vast amounts of information and articles at your fingertips. Imagine if you had to write a paper for a class about blind or VI people, you wouldn't just ask a few people online, you would need to research the disability in depth like any other topic. This may come across as harsh, but we frequently encounter people who say they want to learn about us, but expect us to provide all of the information. It's not the responsibility of the disabled person to educate you, rather we would prefer to fill in whatever questions you may have after at least doing a little reading. What happens if an author doesn't do their research and makes a blind character anyway? Well, you end up with a plethora of stereo types that the disabled people are tasked with quenching. Hope this helps.
Crafty_Dragon_roll 3 points 2y ago
Have you done any research into this or did you just come here? Watched any videos, read through research papers, articles, books, any of that? Have you looked into a cause for why your character has gone blind? Glaucoma, what kind? From lack of access to diabetes medicine? Inherited?
What is the reason for having a blind character? Is he here just for inclusions sake?
What is the reason for having a blind character? Is he here just for inclusions sake?
Starwberry-soul [OP] 0 points 2y ago
I aways do research. I have read articles and listened to videos made by legally blind people in order to know better. But I aways feel like my research is not enough without talking with people and understand if I do something that can be hurtful to them.
I want to study psychology very much and one of the reasons why I picked up writing was seeing how people around me (from friends to family and people on the street) want someone to understand them and I still remember listening to my friend's rant about how kids with one parent aren't presented right from the things she has seen and how she wants a character that is written right to her and doesn't use people with similar experiences to hers just in order to get attention. So I listened and gifted her one character. And thanks to her and how happy she was when she received her little story, I decided to write characters with the hope of making people feel like they aren't alone.
If I want to work with psychology that was a little way of knowing humanity better.
Of course my characters aren't here to be just their situation, mental state, disability, sexuality or looks, they are here because I want to write humans with emotions and different personalities. He is here because I want to built a human, relationships and a story.
I know that people don't share all of their experiences and I can't write something that can be the same for everyone, it's enough to me to have something that can make a story and atleast one person feel better. And I have a lot of other characters in that story, I can't make something for everyone separately anymore, so now I use psychology, mythology and beliefs to build worlds. If I want to write something I'll do research for every little bit of it.
I still haven't decided how he got legally blind and I'm still trying to build the reason for it. I take advice from people about it but I'm not sure if I can listen to them because they don't have experience with losing their vision either.
And I'm sorry for making it so long I can't express my reasoning better.
I want to study psychology very much and one of the reasons why I picked up writing was seeing how people around me (from friends to family and people on the street) want someone to understand them and I still remember listening to my friend's rant about how kids with one parent aren't presented right from the things she has seen and how she wants a character that is written right to her and doesn't use people with similar experiences to hers just in order to get attention. So I listened and gifted her one character. And thanks to her and how happy she was when she received her little story, I decided to write characters with the hope of making people feel like they aren't alone.
If I want to work with psychology that was a little way of knowing humanity better.
Of course my characters aren't here to be just their situation, mental state, disability, sexuality or looks, they are here because I want to write humans with emotions and different personalities. He is here because I want to built a human, relationships and a story.
I know that people don't share all of their experiences and I can't write something that can be the same for everyone, it's enough to me to have something that can make a story and atleast one person feel better. And I have a lot of other characters in that story, I can't make something for everyone separately anymore, so now I use psychology, mythology and beliefs to build worlds. If I want to write something I'll do research for every little bit of it.
I still haven't decided how he got legally blind and I'm still trying to build the reason for it. I take advice from people about it but I'm not sure if I can listen to them because they don't have experience with losing their vision either.
And I'm sorry for making it so long I can't express my reasoning better.
Crafty_Dragon_roll 2 points 2y ago
Then come back then when you have something to offer. Work on your character and get them built up. Those questions I asked, do that. Then you can narrow down what you need to be asking to flesh out your character. We don't want to do that work for you, we want you to do it yourself.
Yea I'll be more than willing to help a fellow writer out, but you have to do the work first. We get so many of these same questions, hell I answered one last week asking the same thing.
Yea I'll be more than willing to help a fellow writer out, but you have to do the work first. We get so many of these same questions, hell I answered one last week asking the same thing.
K-R-Rose 1 points 2y ago
I think it’s very important to do your outside research but also ask individuals *specific* questions. I can write you a memoir of what you should put in your story that will probably end up longer than the story itself. Go read some stuff and come back with more specific questions that will help your character develop more. But since your question is general, I will supply you with general things. Do not stray away from the sad and dark stuff. When all my friends go “oh look at that hawk up there!” part of me always gets sad because I can’t see it. I don’t like going shopping or going to restaurants because I get lost in them because I can’t see the directional signs that tell you where everything is. As you go through your day, imagine what it’s like to be your character. Notice what you do and what they will struggle with. It always helps me. Also, don’t go around the disability, don’t give him a magic potion that lets him see for an hour. I feel like that’s obvious but even I have been guilty of doing that with my disabled characters and I am disabled lol. But once you get your story all finished, if you want to publish it or bring it somewhere bigger than just your friend group, have someone who has similar vision to your character read your story and listen to their criticism and advice.
ukifrit 1 points 2y ago
this is called sensitive reading. Pm me if you're interested.
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