Writing While Disabled

November 22, 2021 1:48 PM

Strange Horizons presents a conversation between Mary Robinette Kowal and Kristy Anne Cox “In hindsight, they are things that I have dealt with my entire life and have affected my ability to move through the world, because the world is not built for people whose brains are wired the way my brain is wired. But because, for decades, I didn't know that my brain was wired differently, I have come up with so many work-arounds that I just didn't realize it was a disability. And with ADHD in particular, I tend to push back against that very much. I'm like, you know, this is the way my brain is wired, and it's very useful in a lot of different ways. The parts of it that are a disability are parts where the world and the definition of normal have been rigidly defined based on a brain model that is not my brain model. But my brain model is not broken.” This is part 2 of WWD - first installment is an interview with Nisi Shawl.
posted by bq (3 comments total)

Very interesting!

And while my worst episodes were very like, ‘Oh, yeah, that is textbook’—not getting out of bed, not bathing—the problem is that that depiction is the point at which you are in crisis, and not depicting all of the stages that lead up to it does not give people tools for recognizing when it's happening.

And the daily coworking session makes me nod thoroughly.
posted by brainwane at 2:48 PM on November 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

Nisi is awesome.
posted by doctornemo at 3:48 PM on November 22, 2021

Thanks for this. I liked this bit particularly:

KAC: So I'm writing a story about a girl with OCD, and depression, and ADHD, and mobility issues, and people are like, ‘There's too much going on here!’ and, ‘You can't do this and have her fight dragons. That's just too much going on in one story,’ and I'm like, ‘Well, great, thank you for telling me my life is unrealistic.’
posted by paduasoy at 3:52 PM on November 22, 2021 [11 favorites]