Disability in Science Fiction

[alias_sqbr]

Draft program presentation

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So:
Any thoughts?
Anyone want to run the panel with me? (I'd prefer someone who identifies as disabled or at least has a moderate amount of experience with disability/chronic illness, but I'm somewhat open)

(nb I deleted the original lj version so I could use the "comments on dreamwidth" counter)

EDIT: But it didn't work! Clearly I need to play around with the crossposter. Anyway here is the lj post and here is the dw one (cross posted since lj is more swancon-ish and dw more disability-ish)

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/peasant_/]

I'd ditch the slide defining disability (slide 3) because I can see that in itself leading to much too much discussion about definitions and the impact of society and responsibility and general wank. If you start by trying to redefine people's internal definition of what disability is then you are getting off to a very bad start. People 'know' what disability means and they will resist you trying to redefine it for them.

I reckon most people will instinctively grasp some level of 'continuously portraying a type of people in a negative light will over time have negative impacts on real world examples of that type of person' so you can cut straight to your examples of what those portrayals often are, without actually needing to spend time convincing them why it matters.

The examples though are all brilliant.

Should the scary mad magic seer type be deserving of a slide to itself? It is very common and more or less the only portrayal of non-neurotypical behaviour that you get in most sci fi.

On geek nitpicking, Davros is from old Who canon as well as new. The cybermen are also another example of scary 'upgraded' humans with all emotions and individuality removed, and there are several others in Who.

And surely the title of 'He's more man than machine now' should be the other way round? You have a few other typos in places but I'm too lazy to list them.

[alias_sqbr]

Hmm....maybe. I do think I need to get across the difference between the effects of one's impairment and the effects of society, especially when for example in a lot of science fiction being "blind" is no more a disability than being shortsighted is today, while having a minor disposition to heart failure is a disability in the Gattacca universe despite causing no impairment at all. Maybe change it to be less confronting: "The two aspects of a disability are your impairment, and the way that impairment interacts with the society you live in eg.."

I am pondering a seer page.

Yes, Davros is from old Who, I didn't express that very well. What I meant is that they already had Davros and added ANOTHER character like that.

And surely the title of 'He's more man than machine now' should be the other way round?

Noo..it's...irony *coughs* *edits*