"So, Here's the Thing"

[malymin]

This was originally posted as part of an extensive thread on disabled protagonists in action-adventure media; however, since I'd been composing it in my head as a stand-alone post for several weeks, I thought I would preserve it as one.

On the topic of disabled heroes, let us not forget Benjamin J. Grimm. The Ever-Lovin’ Blue-Eyed Thing. The Idol of Millions.

We shouldn’t leave him out of this conversation just because he doesn’t have a “real-world” disability. Ben has been regularly and consistently portrayed as disabled since Fantastic Four #1, and, as captainlordauditor points out, it’s integral to his identity as a hero.

Ben’s very first words are his frustrations at living in a world too small for him. He’s a two or three times as broad as a normal man, and covered in an orange, rocky hide. He weighs a quarter of a ton. He needs custom-tailored clothing. He needs special furniture. He’s an accomplished pilot, but he can only continue in his chosen profession because Reed builds the controls to suit his scale and his huge, four-fingered hands.

Early on, people faint at the sight of him, at the shock of his disfigurement, until he becomes well-known and popular enough to be seen as a hero, a big cuddly teddy bear, rather than as a monster.

Ben isn’t representative of a specific disability, but in the obstacles, inconveniences, and prejudices he faces, he most definitely counts as disability representation.

This is a repost of a short tumblr post I saw today, that relates to things I've talked about regarding "speculative disability" - characters who are functionally disabled in a fantasy context, having disabled experiences but not mapping onto specific diagnosed conditions. This is more on the physical disability side of things.