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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

The Disabilities Challenge -- NEW Challenge up Oct. 15!

Discussion in 'Fan Fiction and Writing Resource' started by Idrelle_Miocovani, Aug 11, 2005.

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  1. oqidaun

    oqidaun Manager Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Jul 20, 2005
    Smacked up side the head by a plot bunny--I knew I shouldn't have walked in here.
     
  2. Lola64

    Lola64 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 10, 2005
    Twisted and warped? I'm glad I'm not the only one with that kind of family. :p

    Great challenge idea Idrelle.

    *Lola goes off to sleep on it*

     
  3. JalendaviLady

    JalendaviLady Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 20, 2002
    Twisted and warped?

    No.

    For that you need two or more ADD people under the same roof.

    That gets you people hanging out of windows calling out to passerby at 2am. That gets you strange dancing to the radio at 7am. That gets you Total Wackiness and The Power Of Sugar.

    I am now apartmenting with a fellow ADD person. We just realized today that we are both Star Wars fans. So I fully expect that the first ROTJ viewing me and one of my friends have will include much wild giggling and at least one disagreement over which Skywalker is cooler and cuter (and I know I get to end up in the middle of the argument). The wonders of sugar.

    ...

    for the humor thing: Friends Long Gone
     
  4. VaderLVR64

    VaderLVR64 Manager Emeritus star 8 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Feb 5, 2004
    Well, to give you a few examples. My son's condition gives him head and hand tremors. Meaning his head will make random movements, jerk to one side and then another, and his hands are worse! Once, when someone was making "baby talk" to him because he was in a wheelchair he got annoyed and when the annoyer asked (in a sickly sing song voice) "What do you want to be when you grow up?" he answered very solemnly. "A brain surgeon!"

    Then he'll tell people if he misbehaves his mother will put butter on his wheels (the wheelchair) and set him in the middle of the interstate.

    Okay, that's how weird we are! 8-}

    On the upside, he tosses a mean salad! (Another family joke)
     
  5. JalendaviLady

    JalendaviLady Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Nov 20, 2002
    Probably also does a fair job mixing oil-based salad dressing (couldn't resist, sorry). Sugar bouncing works well for that too. Mixing things and high sugar intake are the only two times I seem to add an H to my ADD. I feel sorry for anyone living under me whenever I have to clean a large jar, because there is much jumping and leaping involved.

    I detest those who think a physical or mental handicap equals having the mentality and skills of a five-year-old. Every year I have at least one prof. who thinks high SAT + high HS GPA + well above normal college GPA + Honors Program + ADD = get thee to Support Services, for thy shalt not survive my class without accomodations even if thou art doing well off of meds and have never required other aid. I've had at least one prof. be almost downright nasty about it.
     
  6. Idrelle_Miocovani

    Idrelle_Miocovani Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Feb 5, 2005
    Weird families are good, VL!

    I hate it when people use baby talk to handicapped people. It's all right if they are little children, but once they get older, they should treat them their age.

    I have a slight problem where I get into the habit of addressing everyone with "baby talk" occasionally because I work in a daycare. :p I try not to, though. Really.
     
  7. VaderLVR64

    VaderLVR64 Manager Emeritus star 8 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Feb 5, 2004
    Considering my son was about twenty at the time, he took offense! :p But the look on her face was really priceless. We recreate it when we get together. Ah.... Good times!
     
  8. Idrelle_Miocovani

    Idrelle_Miocovani Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Feb 5, 2005
  9. JalendaviLady

    JalendaviLady Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 20, 2002
    I think one thing you have to absolutely remember is that whenever someone has a problem that is integral to who they are, that person and their close friends will joke about it somehow in order to deal with it. ADD people crack jokes about attention loss and watching squirrels. People in wheelchairs make jokes about greased wheels. Han Solo makes a crack to Leia in Black Fleet Trilogy about the senate not liking Darth Daddy (I know, not a handicap, but she can't run from that anymore than I can ignore my ADD). Someone with cancer wrote a book about No Hair Days. For a while after my grandfather died, my close family would sometimes say this or that about how he died and laugh about how it meshed with how he lived.

    In my opinion: If you don't laugh at something, it doesn't get dealt with. And if that something is big and/or affects you for the rest of your life, something not laughed at can indeed break you. Sooner or later, you have to smile again. You have to accept that, whatever the something is, it is now part of who you are. The same is true of any fictional character.
     
  10. Vongchild

    Vongchild Jedi Grand Master star 5

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    Apr 2, 2004
    Last year I worked with severely handicapped PRESCHOOLERS and I didn't babytalk them.

    I remember being smarter than most of the adults around me in second grade and being talked down to like I was two. I hated it. So I don't babytalk.
     
  11. VaderLVR64

    VaderLVR64 Manager Emeritus star 8 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Feb 5, 2004
    Greg hates it. It makes him nuts. Laughter has gotten us through some of the rockiest times we've ever had. And all of my kids have my same warped sense of humor, which I inherited from my mother. Greg's condition will shorten his life considerably and he's already outlived the doctor's predictions. Once, when he wanted to do something and I said no, he looked at me and said, "You'd think having a fatal genetic disorder would mean you'd cut me some slack!'

    I looked right back at him and replied, "You'd think, wouldn't you?"

    Now it's a family joke. That's our family 8-}

    But, I'd rather laugh than cry, joke than complain.

    And everyone in our family feels that way. That's why this challenge will either be easy or so terribly difficult than I'll never get it done! [face_thinking]
     
  12. Lola64

    Lola64 Jedi Master star 4

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    Mar 10, 2005
    You and your family sound amazing VaderLVR.

    Laughter is the best medicine and it seems you have a lot of that.

    And warped kids are a good thing, well that it until they turn into warped adults. Then you got to start worrying. :D
     
  13. VaderLVR64

    VaderLVR64 Manager Emeritus star 8 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Feb 5, 2004
    well that it until they turn into warped adults.

    You mean like me? 8-}
     
  14. Idrelle_Miocovani

    Idrelle_Miocovani Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Feb 5, 2005
    Yes, VL! Of course Lola means like you! :p :D [face_laugh] 8-}

     
  15. Idrelle_Miocovani

    Idrelle_Miocovani Jedi Grand Master star 6

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    Feb 5, 2005
    I've noticed that some challenge threads -- like the OC dueling challenge -- have votes after each challenge is complete. I've been thinking about starting one here, just for fun. The winner would get e-cookies and maybe an OC role in my major fic. :p

    The Rules for Voting

    After each challenge, the writers and readers will vote on the story they think was the best overall for each era (Before, Saga and Beyond). Voters will send their votes to me through PM. Voting will last for a week. I will not vote. If there's a tie, then there's a tie. Voters can only vote for the stories submitted for the particular challenge. For example, the first vote would be for the first challenge, called the "Free Challenge" (because you could do whatever you wanted).

    There is an index of all the stories submitted on the first post.


    Is that all clear? Any confusion? Like it? Leave it? Will we do it?
     
  16. JalendaviLady

    JalendaviLady Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 20, 2002
    Personally, I;ve always preferred the non-voting challenges, because any new person could just jump in on previous prompts and because I tend to get really perfectiony when something is being judged like that. I only entered the Ben Skywalker viggie thing, and after my emotional swings afterwards decided that sort of thing was not a good idea for me. Also, if we do judging like this, is there any way we could also somehow allow the posting of links for non-challenge disabled fics?
     
  17. Chewie-Fan

    Chewie-Fan Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Jul 2, 2005
    Thanks for starting the Disabilities Challenge. It encouraged me to continue and actually post again to the colors challenge. That said, I vote for not voting. I agree with Jalendavilady.

    I just saw the "humor/happy challenge" and have decided that humor is much more difficult to write than angst!
     
  18. Idrelle_Miocovani

    Idrelle_Miocovani Jedi Grand Master star 6

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    Feb 5, 2005
    ^^^ Yes it is. However, I'm sure everyone here can manage it superbly. :)

    ---

    I was just gathering ideas on voting. So far two people say no. If the majority switches, then we could begin it. It all depends on what you guys think.

    Remember that the deadline for the Happy/Humor challenge is October 22! :)
     
  19. Idrelle_Miocovani

    Idrelle_Miocovani Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Feb 5, 2005
    Upping out of spider-web infested area, to see if anyone wants another go at this challenge. :)
     
  20. VaderLVR64

    VaderLVR64 Manager Emeritus star 8 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Feb 5, 2004
    Are you going to be issuing a new challenge soon? I love this series of challenges! :D
     
  21. KylieKenobi

    KylieKenobi Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 25, 2005
    i vote for voting! I love voting its soo fun! <33
     
  22. BrightFeather

    BrightFeather Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Nov 13, 2005
    The first is an interesting challenge, though. :D In my family, half of us are handicrapped. (Family joke, because somehow, you're all crapped up) My two older siblings are ADD and LD. My dad's wheelchair bound because he was run into by a semi thirty-odd years back. Now he's basically got one hip that's near-functional and in constant pain. Then there's me. I've got secondary onset lymphedema, which doesn't have a cure. I was fairly lucky--we found out before my legs got to be the size of tree trunks. :D Well, or unlucky, depending on how you look at it. Most lymphedema patients don't have skin that spontaneously breaks open to leak pooled lymphatic fluid... But it was caught early enough that amputation is unlikely unless it gets much, much worse.

    I might give it a whirl...

    BrightFeather
     
  23. Idrelle_Miocovani

    Idrelle_Miocovani Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Feb 5, 2005
    :D

    I think we should stay with the one we have right now that was supposed to end in October, but this kind of died.

    Now that I'm reviving it, I'll revive the second challenge, aka the Happy Challenge:

    Same rules apply as before (read first post), but this time make it happy, or funny or silly. No angst allowed!

    :D

    BrightFeather: Weclome! [:D]

    But it was caught early enough that amputation is unlikely unless it gets much, much worse.

    That is lucky.

    My two older siblings are ADD and LD.

    One of the kids with ADD poked me in the eye today by accident.

    I love ADD kids!

    Actually, I love handicapped children. Most of them are so sweet.

    I might give it a whirl...

    Go for it! Just remember to post it in the challenge threads (links found in first post!) :)
     
  24. Cantador

    Cantador Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    May 15, 2005
    This is a great thread.

    The principal problem, it seems to me, of writing disabled characters in the GFFA is that, at that point in its technological development, there are few disorders one can imagine remain incurable. We know, for example, that limbs can be replaced both mechanically and organically. We know that extreme exposure and otherwise mortal wounds are perfectly treatable in bacta. We know that losing one's limbs and catching fire in a river of magma are no bar to a full and happy life as a murdering tyrant.

    We can extrapolate, then, that most injuries, if caught prior to death, are easily reversed. And as cloning is an established practice, it also stands to reason that congenital diseases have been eliminated, and if congenital diseases have been eliminated cancers and auto-immune diseases certainly have as well.

    Of course, we can ignore this. Fiction, afterall, wherever and whenever it's set, is an exploration of one's own consciousness, experiences, fears and ideas. But trying to present a realistic disability in the GFFA seems to me to be very tricky. So, assuming one wants to do this, or to rationalize a reason it would still exist, what are some thoughts on going about it?

    Maulested,

    I cannot imagine suffering bipolar disorder and fibromyalgia simultaneously. It's one thing to believe everything hurts; it's quite a bit more challenging when everything actually does.

    It raises another point that's close to my heart. I have never seen mental illness portrayed in either the EU or in fanfic, not even to the same degree as other disabilities. This strikes me as strange, particularly when, of any class of diseases, it's these that are likeliest to still be afflicting us thousands of years from now. There is a mounting argument in some corners of the psychiatric community that, in particular, the affective disorders (including manic-depression) are genetically intractable. They're part and parcel of sentience and cannot be cured genetically any more than intelligence itself. And even if the GFFA has eliminated the most serious genetic diseases, trauma, depression, anxiety, the personality disorders, sexual dysfunction-these cannot be eliminated by medical science.

    Yet we never see them.
     
  25. JalendaviLady

    JalendaviLady Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 20, 2002
    There is also the issue of those who may not want to be fixed. I played around for a while with making a Force-strong OC be deaf from birth, fully capable of using the Force to compensate and function as a hearing individual, and fully unwilling to even use the Force to do that unless in a situation where he absolutely had to.


    Hmm. I wonder if that's why I like exploring so much of what it would psychologically be to literally be Sithspawn (either that, or I like writing kid-of-Palpatine OCs too much [face_blush]. oh well.).
     
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