Sergeant Bothari and Disability Representation in the Early Vorkosiverse

Rose Lemberg has a really very good article about Bothari and the way Bujold handles disability in the Vorkosiverse (I'm not sure that 'early' strictly applies given they also talk about Mark).

However, the essay is discussing Bothari, and his arc includes a lot of very unpleasant, if not outright disturbing stuff, so trigger warnings are provided for

• Ableism
• Abuse
• Child sexual abuse
• Mental health issues
• Rape/sexual assault
• Shaming
   

It's very thought provoking, and I'd personally have added the artificial way Bujold lumbers Miles with a seizure disorder just at the point his fracture disorder is rendered no longer quite as limiting via bone replacements. Good writing should make disability incidental to the plot, not blatantly pitch in another layer in order to retain your character's unique selling point.

The article can be found here.

Quick Note: Scalzi's Head On

I just re-read Unlocked, Lock In and then the new Scalzi, Head On. It's not quite as disability focused as Lock In, but it's a return to his world where Hadens, locked in by Haden's Syndrome, participate in society via remoted operated robotic 'threeps'. It's very good.

Full review to follow, but one line really caught my attention: "But one thing you get used to when you walk around in a threep is navigating through crowds and busy sidewalks , since non-Hadens will literally walk into threeps because they don't see them as quite human. It's not intentional. It's one of those unconscious biases that people don't even know they have."

You can switch wheelchair for threep, and it remains true. And Scalzi has nailed something I knew, but had never really articulated.

The following line is true too: "Well, most of the time it's unintentional. Some people are just assholes".