He’s a paraplegic and dreams of having freedom of movement. In the 2009 movie Avatar, Jake Sully is driven by his desire to cure his disability. That doesn’t mean characters with disabilities can’t make jokes or others can’t make jokes about them, but those jokes shouldn’t be both at their expense and because of their disability. Give them emotional depth and an important character arc. Look for any place where you’re using slapstick humor and make sure that slapstick isn’t generated through a character’s disabilities or impairments. Then, make some of your protagonists heavy, and don’t make them funny. And even if that weren’t true, fat shaming still wouldn’t be okay. Never forget that physical activity isn’t possible for some disabled people, and high body fat can be caused by numerous diseases. We’ve created a cultural climate where people with short stature or obesity feel pressured to be funny. Even without direct shaming, using characters with similar bodies for comic relief over and over again spreads the message that they exist to entertain able-bodied people. Must I explain that mocking people because of their bodies is demeaning and disrespectful? This kind of mockery not only has a direct psychological effect on the people with those conditions but also encourages real-life harassment. For instance, after the hero and Toby hop on their bikes to ride away from danger, they naturally find an alley so narrow that Toby gets stuck trying to escape. His best friend Toby is heavy, and the writers constantly use Toby for fat shaming intended as humor. Similarly, popular stories still think it’s acceptable to mock people for being heavy. In the Netflix series Trollhunters, the main character is a slim high schooler. Viewers are intended to laugh at his awkward attempts to grab doorknobs, make phone calls, and handle a deck of cards. Unfortunately, part of the henchmen’s comedic routine is his disability. He’s an amusing character who lightens otherwise threatening scenes with humor. In the 2017 show A Series of Unfortunate Events, a henchman is introduced who has hooks for hands. Update: This post has been edited to use identity first language. You can start purging ableism from your work by looking for these widespread and damaging tropes. It’s up to all of us to review our work and make positive changes. Of course, you probably don’t mean to make their lives worse, but good intentions won’t erase the damage your story does. If you write ableist stories, you are contributing to the systemic oppression of people with disabilities or diseases.
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