forum Conditions from the real world you'd like to see more of in books?

Started March 11, 2019 by @Becfromthedead group

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I'm just curious. Anything goes here.

A lot more genetic conditions would be nice, especially ones that provide a hindrance to the character but aren't played for pity or romance. Give me more arthritic characters, or people with fibromyalgia! You'd be surprised how many people deal with this on a daily basis. Some more diabetic characters would also be nice, especially ones that need to stick to a routine. My grandfather is diabetic, and my grandmother has the whole thing on lock, including having Skittles on hand for when he has a sugar low.

I'd really like to see autistic characters that aren't just the 'socially awkward genius' and the 'tactless know it all'.

Adhd characters that aren’t just hyper assholes who never pay attention. I want ADD/ADHD kids who are rally smart but lack impulse control, a good memory, the ability to sit very still. I want ADHD kids who struggle to keep up and feel quilts for losing focus. I want ADHD kids who have anther related symptoms and disorders like rejection sensitive dysphoria, or depression, or anxiety.

Adhd characters that aren’t just hyper assholes who never pay attention. I want ADD/ADHD kids who are rally smart but lack impulse control, a good memory, the ability to sit very still. I want ADHD kids who struggle to keep up and feel quilts for losing focus. I want ADHD kids who have anther related symptoms and disorders like rejection sensitive dysphoria, or depression, or anxiety.

As someone with ADD, depression, anxiety, and Aspergers (and also at a high risk for OCD and bipolar) I'd love to see characters with multiple disorders, since they're basically like 'Buy 1 Get 7 Free'.

Adhd characters that aren’t just hyper assholes who never pay attention. I want ADD/ADHD kids who are rally smart but lack impulse control, a good memory, the ability to sit very still. I want ADHD kids who struggle to keep up and feel quilts for losing focus. I want ADHD kids who have anther related symptoms and disorders like rejection sensitive dysphoria, or depression, or anxiety.

As someone with ADD, depression, anxiety, and Aspergers (and also at a high risk for OCD and bipolar) I'd love to see characters with multiple disorders, since they're basically like 'Buy 1 Get 7 Free'.

Ikr

My sister has joint issues as well as ADD, mostly because they are both nerve related. Then again, both she and my mother managed to win a dime in the genetic lottery, so…

More characters with physical disabilites!
I try to include physically disabled characters in my stories and I have a handful, but there should be more!

I agree! I just can't figure out what kinds of physical disabilities to give characters?? I had one who had bad hearing loss in one ear, but I feel like that's different, since it's something I've actually experienced.

I can’t really add disabled characters in my stories, as I don’t know anything about any of them and a lot of my mains are in a position that having any sort of disability would probably mean they wouldn’t get to that position or have gained so much respect. Also, a lot of my characters are not human or even close.

There are plenty of disabilities out there that are almost invisible from the outside though. You could definitely slip one or two in there if you really wanted to.

I have a character with a prosthetic leg, a mute character, a character who is blind in one eye, a character who has a heavy limp and uses a crutch, and a character who is fully blind (but I'm still not sure if he will stay blind for the whole story).
Since I write a lot of dystopian and some fantasy with fights and such, it's also pretty safe to assume at least one character is temporarily unable to use at least 1 limb.
My realistic fiction stuff is less violent so no one really gets hurt in-story besides Jackson (who gets shot in the leg during an attempted break-in) and Victor (who injured both hands and forearms in said break-in and is beaten around for a few weeks)

I would like to write about physical disabilities that people are born with, or don't acquire in fights and such. I just don't know where to start myself. It's probably a good idea to see what's most common, then from there, do research on how it affects people's lives.
As Yamatsu was saying, arthritis, fibromyalgia, and diabetes are good examples of conditions that don't come from fights. However, my personal problem with some things (more like arthritis) is that typical onset isn't until after the age of 30. Not to say that it can't happen when you're younger, but still. The oldest character in my main cast is 29.

Heterochromia and synesthesia

Heterchromia I see a good amount (Alex Fierro and Jules from TDC come to mind) but synesthesia's a cool one I never thought of!

Are there a lot of characters out there with partial heterochromia, though? I feel full heterochromia, while much more rare, is usually more talked about.
And Synethesia! I would love to do more research on it, but idk if it would even be possible to write the experiences of a character with synesthesia unless you had it yourself. It'd probably be most helpful to talk to someone who actually has it. (I also get annoyed when people think synethesia is just color/sound/other sense associations… is that just me?)

Welp I have synesthesia, and I always find it really difficult to explain, partially because I’m bad with words, but also because I don’t really understand it myself.

Huh, that's interesting.

An actual realistic and sensitive depiction of DID, because I've learned from people who really have DID that it's not what pop culture and movies show it as all the time and there are a lot of interesting things about it I never knew. I'm lowkey a fan of this youtube channel and you should really check it out if you want to learn more about what DID is like:

BAI!!

Some interesting disability Youtubers are
Jessica Kellgren-Fozzard (A myriad of things), Molly Burke (Blindness), Kat Napiorkowska (Social Anxiety), Izzy Kornblau (EDS), and amy (the most wonderful woman in the world) Lee Fisher (Myriad of things).
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I want to see phobias more accurately portrayed. I have a plethora of phobias, narcolepsy, insomnia, Stereotypic movement disorder, OCD, Excoriation, and more myself. I like writing mental illness into my characters as well as some physical disorders because they're so stigmatized.

I'd like to see more accurate depictions of Autism. But an important thing is that once a character goes through something traumatic, they are not okay. They can get depression or PTSD. I'd like people to show that you can't just walk off trauma.

Yeah. It's always those characters who experience, like, a week of mourning or grief or something and then they're fine. Trauma STAYS WITH YOU. It's something people need to recognize.

Seconding what Jynnie and Fangirl said about autism. . I'm on the spectrum myself and I find that I rarely connect with autistic characters because they're all just stereotypes. There's so many different ways that autism can manifest in a person, but we always see the same recycled cutouts and its so frustrating.

Also, I'd really like to see more epilepsy but like… done well. I feel like it's often just treated as a cheap plot device. Like, can we please stop with the character whose basically able bodied until the author decides there needs to be a conveniently timed seizure to shake things up a little bit? Maybe this needs to be said about other disabilities as well, but don't just talk about the symptoms. Someone with epilepsy is going to be worrying about a whole lot of stuff that an able bodied person won't be, so do your research maybe? Sorry for the mini rant I read one (1) book with bad rep and I'm still bitter
But if anyone is interested, The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue had some A+ epilepsy rep.

I would like to see more accurate portrayals of ADHD in books.
Rick Riordan does a decent(?) job, but it's not really portrayed except in convenience. And that bugs me. Sure I'm glad for the thought that if I were ever attacked my ADHD would help in a fight like it apparently does for a Demigod, but it's really innacurate, and bugs me.
ADHD is a constant thing. CONSTANT. And there are many ways it can be shown too…
So, mini rant there, hope it get's my point across.

Corruption in general (It's not really a "condition" but it's definitely a condition that the government suffers from)