Writing Disabled Characters - Elizabeth Kay
I’ve written about a boy with a terminal illness (Felix, in The Divide ) and I’ve written characters with psychological disabilities. I've also tried writing someone who was blind. But only now do I realise that I’ve never written about anyone who was physically disabled. This revelation came after an operation on my foot for Morton’s neuroma (a painful but benign inflammation of a nerve) which resulted in me being unable to use my left foot for a while. It was a revelation. I’ve been a faithful follower of Melanie Reid’s Spinal Column in the Times every Saturday, the diary of a someone rendered tetraplegic after a fall from a horse, and I try to be thoughtful and considerate to those I encounter with physical problems. But oh boy, is it different when it’s you! Writers know that personal experience is worth ten Wikipedias when you’re describing something subjective, and we hark back to painful episodes in our lives when we want to express the anguish that one of our ch...