I left this original thread generic but if you wanna get into specifics I was talking about Shiro and I want to talk about it with a more specific focus on fanfiction, where we’re borrowing characters who already have established traits, and where fandoms often revolve around - https://twitter.com/kacyinthecosmos/status/1267546405788418048

how we interact with these traits.

What we know about Shiro is that he’s:
Gay
Disabled
Japanese

(I want to mention that I consider his illness a disability as much as his amputation, but for the sake of context I’m mostly speaking about his arm in this post, bc today I’m-

griping about how often I specifically see his amputation erased both in fic and in fanart. The nature of his illness being invisible makes it harder to catch when it’s erased but please be aware of that, too.) -

I considered also making points about fanart as well, but the thread is already way too fucking long and I'm more personally invested in fic, so be mindful of that and if anyone wants to jump in with thoughts about art, feel free! -

Fanfic is a transformative space and part of the fun is molding the characters into different situations, often projecting ourselves into the parts we relate to. But there’s a certain aspect of punching up, isn’t there? -

Like what’s the percentage of fan content where we make canon straight characters gay? But we do that for the lack of representation, and somehow we all know it’s kinda shitty when we do the reverse, bc we’re taking that rep away from an already very small pool. -

I don’t want this to turn into fandom wank and dogpiling bc I don’t think anyone does this to be cruel. It’s just a lack of awareness and I think it’s something we need to start talking about more often. If any of you have made these missteps I don’t want you to feel ashamed -

or feel like I’m attacking you. I wanna say that first so that you don’t read any hostility into my tone here. -

The thing is, I know everyone understands this concept, bc I’ve seen the outrage when Shiro’s been whitewashed or made straight. You guys get that concept but then don’t apply it to his disability and that’s something fandom needs to talk about. -

If you’d be upset about a whitewashed Shiro, why aren’t you upset about an able-bodied Shiro? It seems like our awareness for marginalized groups ends at his disabilities. -

I read a piece recently about how important race is to every character, even when the story doesn’t make a big deal about it, bc it automatically presents a primer for how this character interacts with the world. Shiro and his disabilities are no different. -

VLD even made this super easy for us by giving him that fancy robot arm that functions just as well as a regular arm!!! And it’s always popping up in incongruous AU settings and that’s fine! But he’s still an amputee. -

Even if your Shiro is doing great, coping well, cured of his illness, not suffering from trauma or body horror 25/7, establishing that he is in fact an amputee automatically gives us a glimpse at a backstory to let us know he’s been through something and he’s a survivor. -

Even with a fancy robot arm that allows him all the freedom and ability as his original arm, he’s still an amputee, and when you, as the creator, make the decision to take that away from him, you have to ask yourself why you’re doing it. -

Is it like the reasons I mentioned in the original thread, that you don’t think an amputee is capable of having a fulfilling life? Is it bc you don’t feel confident to navigate it in your writing? It’s important to get to the bottom of this and think about it. -

When we write fanfics and transform characters, it’s valuable to ask why we’re making these changes, what it says about the character, and what it contributes to the story you’re telling. You should even ask this of less sensitive topics and changes you’re making. -

It’s especially relevant to AUs! And that’s part of the fun of writing fic!!!!! It’s not always a bad thing.

But just like with the other ism’s, when you take something this important away from him, people are gonna ask why. -

Do you have an answer that isn’t “I forgot” or “I was lazy” ? I see this more often that I’d like to, and it’s really disappointing coming from an otherwise really open, accepting fandom. Do you have an answer that doesn’t imply that disabled people are only allowed to have -

miserable lives full of regret? Would you do this to a characters race? Would you make a trans character cis?

I mean, maybe you would! Don’t get me wrong, I’m not here to be a fuckin frollo and I understand that fiction and creativity is extremely nuanced and personal. -

But when you make these changes, it would do you good to ask yourself why you’re making them. If someone comes to you and says “It hurts me that you changed X’s race”, would you be able to articulate why you did it? And while I think this creative process is helpful when it -

comes to being sensitive and inclusive, I think it’s also going to make you a better writer in general. You should be thinking these questions even about the mundane. -

Ask yourself who you’re trying to comfort when you make these changes. Whose fantasy are you indulging in? It’s canon that Shiro is disabled, so is the fantasy that nothing bad ever happened to him and he is not disabled? -

Or can we create the fantasy that disabled people aren’t defined by their disabilities? Is there a time in his life that he can wake up and have a day where he doesn’t experience distress over what happened to him, or are you saying that traumatized disabled people have bland -

lives with nothing else to think about? Are you yourself disabled and is your comfort the most important, or are you making heavy-handed assumptions about a group of people you don’t know anything about? -

You can navigate Shiro’s disability in your writing without erasing it. It doesn’t have to be the only thing about him. You can drop a tiny hint one time in your whole fic that he’s got a prosthesis and never again mention what his hands look like. -

It doesn’t have to be a big deal. You can casually mention him needing a medication without it being a plot device. But believe me that when you completely erase it, people notice. -

There are a million ways to work through these topics in a fiction space and there’s nuance here that can’t just be given a red or green light. There are conversations to be had about it. -

But if you wouldn’t make Shiro white to avoid having to talk about race, and wouldn’t make him straight to avoid dealing with homophobia, then ask yourself why you don’t want him to be disabled.

But ask. Think. Have these conversations. Be mindful and considerate. GO, BE GREAT.