Recently,
I came across a call for submissions for an anthology. They wanted sf/f stories
from writers who have disabilities. Since I am deaf, and I had a sci-fi story I
was trying to find a home for, I submitted my story. I figured I met their
requirements in just being a writer with a disability; they didn’t say anything
about how the stories submitted should contain characters with disabilities. My
story didn’t; there were no deaf characters and there were also no other
characters with disabilities.
Still,
the whole thing made me think. I have been deaf since age 13, and by the time I
became deaf, I was already writing stories, poems, and articles. Becoming deaf
didn’t change how I wrote my stories; I did not start writing stories with deaf
characters in them. I have, however, come up with novel ideas with deaf
characters, but I haven’t written those novels yet. (I’ll get around to them,
at some point!)
But
even so, I didn’t write stories with deaf characters. Then I wrote a children’s
story with a deaf character, who is the main character in the story.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have any luck placing it with a publisher, and these
days I can say that I am glad for that! It needs a lot of work. I actually plan
to revise it at some point in the near future and try to find an agent for it.
(Right now, I have to finish writing my middle-grade series!)
As
far as writing anything deaf-related is concerned, that happened in my poetry
and in my nonfiction writing. I have written a lot of deaf poetry (with only
two published so far and I have a collection of deaf poetry I plan to get out
there at some point), as well as a lot of essays on subjects related to being
deaf. I wrote articles on deafness, and I also wrote for a newspaper called
SIGNews, which was a national newspaper for the Deaf/HOH community. I wrote
about Deaf education and Deaf parenting for that paper, but I eventually
branched out to cover other topics.
And
as a ghostwriter, I have been sought by other writers who are deaf who want me
to write for them mainly because I am deaf.
And,
of course, I wrote essays about my experiences as a deaf parent in the book, Parenting Pauses.
But
as far as my fiction is concerned? Well, there are not many deaf characters. I
do plan to introduce a deaf character in The GHOST Group (in Book 9), but we
are not there yet. In one of my novels, my character learns sign language so
she can communicate with a deaf barista, but that deaf character never makes an
appearance.
This
tendency to not include deaf characters in my fiction very often has always
baffled me. Writers of fiction are told to write what we know, and if there’s
one thing that I do know, it’s what it’s like to be deaf! (This is a common
question I receive.) So why haven’t I included deaf characters in my fiction? I
mean, aside from the children’s book I wrote, there really aren’t any. Why
haven’t I included deaf characters who go through the same struggles I have as
a deaf person – the discrimination, hostility, ignorance and feeling left out?
I write about this in my deaf poetry, but not my deaf fiction. And I really
wonder why I haven’t done that yet.
Part
of me thinks that maybe the reason why is because writing fiction is like a
form of escape for me. One thing I know very well as a deaf person is the
communication barrier that exists between me and the hearing world. There are
so many things I chose not to do simply because of that barrier. For example, I
can’t participate in group discussions, because I can’t keep up with the
conversation when there are multiple people talking and EVERYBODY is talking
fast and nobody wants to slow down to sign to the deaf girl what everyone is
saying. But when I write fiction, I can be a part of those things. I can “talk”
with people on the phone through my characters, shout things to someone in
another room and hear their response through my characters, and have an ongoing
back-and-forth conversation that is not slowed down for signing through my
characters.
I
know this kind of discrimination exists in the hearing world. One guy I was
interested in a long time ago said he likes to walk and talk and he prefers not
to be with someone who can’t hear and keep up with the conversation. I was told
I could not have a job at this one agency because I couldn’t answer the phone.
I have sat through MANY appointments and meetings where everyone is talking but
I don’t understand a single thing said because there are no aids to help me
understand them.
I
know all of these things, and more, as a person who is deaf. As someone who has
been deaf for a long time.
I
think as much as I like to escape from those limitations in my world by writing
about a world where those problems aren’t there is nice, but I really think I
should start putting in more effort where I have deaf characters going through
those experiences just so more people can understand what life is REALLY like
for a person who is deaf. There are struggles, yes, but we find a way around
them and we adapt our lives to live with them. We can’t communicate on the
phone like everyone else, but we CAN still communicate on the phone. We can’t
order at a drive-thru like everyone else, but we CAN still order at a
drive-thru, thanks to certain businesses who are aware of customers with disabilities
who want the same access to fast food that everybody else has.
Life
is different for people who are deaf, but we find a way to make things work.
After I bring my deaf character into my series and after I get that children’s
book published (fingers crossed I find an agent for it!), perhaps then I will
finally start to include more deaf characters in my fiction. I think that
really needs to happen.
Labels: books, deaf, disability, disabled writers, writers, writing
