Hi, I’m currently writing a cyberpunk themed story with cybernetics. I have a character who is blind but about halfway through I’d like him to get his vision back through cybernetics. I’m trying to be as inclusive as I can but I’ve heard of people having issues with characters who have disabilities that get fixed later in the story. Do you have any advice?
Hi, I’m currently writing a cyberpunk themed story with cybernetics. I have a character who is blind but about halfway through I’d like him to get his vision back through cybernetics. I’m trying to be as inclusive as I can but I’ve heard of people having issues with characters who have disabilities that get fixed later in the story. Do you have any advice?
Don’t do it. Unless you’re going to treat it as anything other than a magical solution. He’s not amazingly cured and Better™ than before, he’s still blind. His eyes don’t work. Without cybernetics he’s back to square one, but he did just fine for himself before so he’ll get by. And even if his sight is Cured™, there must be drawbacks to having cybernetic sight. If glasses and contact lenses are costly, I can’t imagine the maintainence bills for cybernetic vision!
Geordi La Forge from Star Trek Next Generation is blind, but he wears a futuristic visor that allows him to see. Without it he can no longer see (and antags sometimes cruelly take advantage of that), but whether he wears it or not, he remains blind. However, his disability is not addressed in every episode as it does not define him or overshadow his strengths.
Bucky Barnes from the Marvel films loses his arm and it’s replaced with a cybernetic one. His new arm is stronger and more durable than his real arm, but it’s also susceptible to multiple unique drawbacks. When he loses that arm too, he learns to live without it.
Here are three in-depth articles on popular disabled characters and how they were well or poorly written as concerned their disabilities.
