{"id":2902,"date":"2012-06-27T10:16:22","date_gmt":"2012-06-27T14:16:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/?p=2902"},"modified":"2012-06-27T10:17:33","modified_gmt":"2012-06-27T14:17:33","slug":"special-needs-in-strange-worlds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/2012\/06\/special-needs-in-strange-worlds\/","title":{"rendered":"Special Needs in Strange Worlds"},"content":{"rendered":"
Sarah Chorn is a Speculative Fiction blogger, reviewer, and founder of the website Bookworm Blues.<\/a>\u00a0Her series of articles “Special Needs in Strange Worlds” drew over 20 authors, critics, bloggers, and fans to write about how Speculative Fiction addresses the issue of disabilities, and what that means for the capabilities of the genre.\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n
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There is a line in Game of Thrones<\/em> by George R. R. Martin in which Tyrion Lannister says, \u201cI have a tender spot in my heart for cripples, bastards, and broken things.\u201d It is probably one of my favorite quotes from any book I\u2019ve ever read, because it resonates so strongly with me. And it\u2019s notable that of all the actors in the HBO series, Peter Dinklage, who of course plays Tyrion Lannister, is the most talked about and celebrated.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s something there, something about disabilities that pulls at the reader (or viewer, as the case may be), and helps them relate to a character and even make them or the plot more interesting. My husband has never read the books, so I was surprised when he heard that line and turned to me and said, \u201cWow, that\u2019s powerful.\u201d It\u2019s interesting how one line in a show or a book can resonate strongly with so many people.<\/p>\n

What is even more interesting is how disabilities in literature are almost never talked about. In fact, when I was organizing my Special Needs in Strange Worlds event, a large chunk of people backed out saying they were uncomfortable discussing this issue. It\u2019s a sensitive topic, and perhaps that\u2019s why, but disabilities in literature should be noted and celebrated. Disabilities add depth and a very human perspective to any plot, but they so often overlooked in literary discussions.<\/p>\n

My oldest brother is disabled. He was born without part of his brain, the corpus collosum, to be exact. For a long time my brother was labeled as high functioning autistic. The symptoms fit, but there is more to my brother\u2019s disability than meets the eye. He has a hard time distinguishing between what\u2019s real and what\u2019s not real. He also has seizures and some physical limitations. My brother has always felt like the odd man out, and in many ways he is. He lives in his own little world. In all honesty, I can\u2019t imagine how isolated he feels. He has as hard of a time connecting with the real world as the real world does with him. This makes it hard for him to work, to have friends, to connect with family. He really struggles, and as his sister, that\u2019s hard to watch.<\/p>\n

My brother is the person who got me into fantasy. I\u2019ve often wondered if the reason he likes the genre so much is because it\u2019s a genre where his mind can run wild. It doesn\u2019t have the rules and restrictions of most genres. I can see where that would be appealing to someone with his condition.<\/p>\n

A few years ago he had a fever of 109. He was in the hospital for days. Doctors thought he was going to die, but somehow he pulled out of it. However, this incident basically fried his short-term memory. My brother can\u2019t read books anymore. He can\u2019t follow complex plots or keep the characters straight. He was a true bibliophile. He lived in his books, and now he can\u2019t. However, his long-term memory is fine so we often discuss books he has read sometime in the past.<\/p>\n

It was during these discussions that my brother started talking extensively about how isolated he often felt while reading fantasy due to how ignored disability often is in literature. He told me numerous times (and left plenty of comments during my event) that disability brings reality and depth to books. It makes them more real, because disabilities are so humbling, so human and so prevalent in our own world. When I put the idea of Special Needs in Strange Worlds past my brother, his exact words were, \u201cFinally, someone is going to talk about how people like me can be important, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

My brother is the reason I did Special Needs in Strange Worlds. He walked me through the annals of speculative fiction through a disabled person\u2019s point of view, and showed me how incredibly isolating it must be to struggle so much in reality to connect with other people, and then have to struggle for that same connection in literature as well. My brother can\u2019t read and enjoy books anymore, but he\u2019s not the only disabled person on the planet. Disabilities are incredibly common, ranging from depression to far more serious conditions. Disabilities are all around us, and I wanted Special Needs in Strange Worlds to highlight the importance of disability in literature.<\/p>\n

What amazed me was how hungry the Internet seemed to be to read a series of posts featuring disabilities in literature. I didn\u2019t expect more than two weeks worth of posts, but instead I had enough to fill an entire month. In fact, I had so many people offering to write posts for the event, I had to turn several people down. Furthermore, this event received more visits than my blog has ever received in one month in its two years of life. Special Needs in Strange Worlds clocked in at 50,000 unique views. Not only was my brother hungry to hear about how disabled individuals can profoundly influence literature, but a massive amount of other people were, as well.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sarah Chorn is a Speculative Fiction blogger, reviewer, and founder of the website Bookworm Blues.\u00a0Her series of articles “Special Needs in Strange Worlds” drew over 20 authors, critics, bloggers, and fans to write about how Speculative Fiction addresses the issue of disabilities, and what that means for the capabilities of the genre.\u00a0 There is a line in Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin in which Tyrion Lannister says, \u201cI have a tender spot in my heart for cripples, bastards, and broken things.\u201d It is probably one of my favorite quotes from any book I\u2019ve ever read, because it resonates so strongly with me. And it\u2019s notable that of all the actors in the HBO series, Peter Dinklage, who of course plays Tyrion Lannister, is the most talked about and celebrated. There\u2019s something there, something about disabilities that pulls at the reader (or viewer, as the case may be), […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[92],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2902"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2902"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3786,"href":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2902\/revisions\/3786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}