but this will help me make him a balanced character and keep me from wandering into "SuperCrip"-Land.
Yays! ^__^
Another really good example for how to brilliantly avoid the SuperCrip trope is, well, Death the Kid. He's a character with literal superpowers, but he's not a SuperCrip because his natural talents, abilities, and powers have nothing to do with his disability. Or rather, they don't come from/aren't a result of his disability. Instead, his disability is something that he has to cope with and that sometimes hinders his ability to express his talents and skills. Which is exactly the way that it works in real life for people with disabilities. We all have talents and skills. Sometimes disabilities hinder our capacity to express those talents and skills. But in real life disabilities are not always magically "balanced" by resulting in super-special Awesome Talent side-effects. (Think of Adrian Monk as being the classic textbook SuperCrip: His catchphrase is "It's both a blessing and a curse," and the entire premise of his character is that his disability gives him an incredible mental gift which is so many layers of argh!!) Which is why the SuperCrip trope is so infuriating, because sometimes it seems like the only way that it's acceptable for Hollywood to portray a character with a disability is if the disability also gives that character some sort of Super-Special Awesome Talent as well. (This is especially true for almost any fictional portrayal of mental illness ever.)
no subject
"Uses a wheelchair" is perfectly fine.
but this will help me make him a balanced character and keep me from wandering into "SuperCrip"-Land.
Yays! ^__^
Another really good example for how to brilliantly avoid the SuperCrip trope is, well, Death the Kid. He's a character with literal superpowers, but he's not a SuperCrip because his natural talents, abilities, and powers have nothing to do with his disability. Or rather, they don't come from/aren't a result of his disability. Instead, his disability is something that he has to cope with and that sometimes hinders his ability to express his talents and skills. Which is exactly the way that it works in real life for people with disabilities. We all have talents and skills. Sometimes disabilities hinder our capacity to express those talents and skills. But in real life disabilities are not always magically "balanced" by resulting in super-special Awesome Talent side-effects. (Think of Adrian Monk as being the classic textbook SuperCrip: His catchphrase is "It's both a blessing and a curse," and the entire premise of his character is that his disability gives him an incredible mental gift which is so many layers of argh!!) Which is why the SuperCrip trope is so infuriating, because sometimes it seems like the only way that it's acceptable for Hollywood to portray a character with a disability is if the disability also gives that character some sort of Super-Special Awesome Talent as well. (This is especially true for almost any fictional portrayal of mental illness ever.)