Last post Fri, May 02 2008 11:09 PM by Palsy. 9 replies.
hello, welcome to my first post. I love science fiction and fantasy. But invariably, I always end up confronting the same problem: there is always science fiction about able-bodied futures, but never about disabled ones. Let me tell you, it makes me mad. After all, we are the ones that use most of the technology. That technological future is ours, man! So, I guess I was wondering what you guys think about when you consider the future? What would you hope for? What kind of technology when you want to be invented? What kind of person with you be? What would your position in society be? What what it mean to you? How would you interact with able-bodied people differently?
Myself, I would like to be more powerful in the world. I would like to have an advantage over the walkies - who gives a crap if that's because of technology? I want to have one thing that I know how to do better than those people.
Mayby we should move underwater. Hey you are weightless there...Diving I'm better than most though I need crutches and wheelchair on dry land
Joe
Welcome!
I too am an SF/F fan. Actually there's a post over in the Arts section about disability in Star Trek because I have found a lot of references there. Especially of course Geordi LaForge.
Trying to think who else. . . Mercedes Lackey includes some characters with disabilties in some of her novels. Although I recall her using a telepathic "horse" as a sighted guide. . . something of a cop out I think.
I keep thinking it will be worse for PWD in the future. Because right now there are enough of us for lobbies and programs and schools and a market for supplies. But as more and more things are "cured" or "prevented' there will be fewer and fewer PWD. And then there will be too few voices to fight. And I think discrimination will then start getting worse after a period of getting better. It makes me really sad to think this way but I think in 100-200 years that's what is going to start happenieng. And so for those peopel who remain uncurable there will be no resources. And for those who don't want the cures there will be major societal rejection.
But I would love for it to be better. I would love for there to be so much computerized technology that my difficulties with handwriting go virtually unnoticed. I would love for there to be safe, effecient transportation methods that doesn't rely on my sense-of-direction lacking self to have to drive. I would love to get into my car, say "Work" and then close my eyes until I arrive. And mostly I would just like less discrimination. I would like non-disabled people to see me with my cane and my insulin pump and not use them to make hiring decisions. I want to be seen as an equal, even AS (not dispite) a person with a disability. Some days this seems as likely as wishing to fly, though.
Cudachaser: Mayby we should move underwater. Hey you are weightless there...Diving I'm better than most though I need crutches and wheelchair on dry landJoe
Maybe we could recruit Stefan hawking and other wheelchair geniuses to solve that problem. If we did move under water, or in outer space, would it be completely disabled? Or would we allow some able-bodied people? If we did, what would we expect of them?
I would love to see this: "warning no paternalizing within hundred feet of any mobility device. Violators will be prosecuted."
Thanks for your post! I really enjoyed reading it. I have thought about my future as young person with a disability, and as you say, I would like to be able to remain positive about it. I would like to believe that things are going to get better from here, not worse. Which is why I want to write novels, literature and popular fiction alike, that are disability centered, oriented, and ultimately, positive.
What you've describe here, as the future of society and disabled people with than that society, tickles my writing bone. Itcould make for an eye opening, society changing, sci-fi thriller. It would be worth exploring.
Ultimately, I think I want science fiction and fantasy, and literature, if it deals with disability, to be written by disabled people for disabled people. If not, the disabled characters have the potential to be a very harmful form of oppression.
Thanks again for your thoughts.
Nightengale: Welcome! I too am an SF/F fan. Actually there's a post over in the Arts section about disability in Star Trek because I have found a lot of references there. Especially of course Geordi LaForge. Trying to think who else. . . Mercedes Lackey includes some characters with disabilties in some of her novels. Although I recall her using a telepathic "horse" as a sighted guide. . . something of a cop out I think. I keep thinking it will be worse for PWD in the future. Because right now there are enough of us for lobbies and programs and schools and a market for supplies. But as more and more things are "cured" or "prevented' there will be fewer and fewer PWD. And then there will be too few voices to fight. And I think discrimination will then start getting worse after a period of getting better. It makes me really sad to think this way but I think in 100-200 years that's what is going to start happenieng. And so for those peopel who remain uncurable there will be no resources. And for those who don't want the cures there will be major societal rejection. But I would love for it to be better. I would love for there to be so much computerized technology that my difficulties with handwriting go virtually unnoticed. I would love for there to be safe, effecient transportation methods that doesn't rely on my sense-of-direction lacking self to have to drive. I would love to get into my car, say "Work" and then close my eyes until I arrive. And mostly I would just like less discrimination. I would like non-disabled people to see me with my cane and my insulin pump and not use them to make hiring decisions. I want to be seen as an equal, even AS (not dispite) a person with a disability. Some days this seems as likely as wishing to fly, though.
Did you all know that last summer, Stevan Hawkins was at the Kennedy Space Center. He flew on the Zero G commercial jet from the shuttle runway. He was scheduled for 2 zero G parabolics...well he enjoyed it so much...they did 8 parabolics. The very next day a group of Italians took the ride...I trained them in a pool on scuba for simulated Zero G activity..we even had a mock space capsule in the Holiday Inn pool! One guy was 93 years old!
Ok, this is to the person that is talking about stuff for the future. Someday I would like to have a voice thing where I can type my own e-mails so i don't have to have help. I am almost 18 and I have CP. I am very active. i have trouble doing lots of things, but the biggest thing is that I can't type very fast. I have other people that do it for me. I would like to someday do it on my own. I love to get out and do stuff. I live with my family. I have two sisters and lots of friends that take me places. I might have CP, but it doesn't hold me back from doing anything. I am glad that I have an active life. If I didn't have an active life, i wouldn't know what to do.
I think we are already in a Sci-FI future, given what we've had available to use for mobility, speech, hearing, seeing, etc, aides before. Heck, just going from a manual chair to a power chair like I did recently seemed like a Science Fiction scene to me. At first I was tied up with concentrating on how to make it do what I wanted, but now it's like I've always used one. It's totally automatic for me now. I figure the next step would be to implant a "thought" chip in my head and all I'll have to do is think about which way I want to go, and poof! it'll take me where I think.
Over 40 years ago, Star Trek (the original series) showed what I think was the first motorized wheelchair in the episodes "The Menagerie". Some of you Sci Fi fans may remember this one, it's the only 2 parter of the original series and also was noted for using an unaired episode originally titled "The Zoo". In it, Spock kidnaps Captain Pike, his former commander, to take him to a forbidden planet where he won't be confined to his body any longer. Slap a blonde short-haired wig and a cardboad box with lights on me, and I could go as Pike to a costume party!
In the 70's we had "The Bionic Man" and "The Bionic Woman", and now we have people running marathons with limbs they didn't have before.... I even heard of an AB runner complaining the Amputee in one race had an unfair advantage because of his high-tech legs. Having always been the one last because I was so slow, I could only grin at what must have been a funny scene. "Hey! That cripple is faster than me and it's not fair!" Yeah, well, it probably isn't fair, but you must admire a legless man who pulled up his fiberglass feets and got into the race. Now with the technology we have and better made, lighters prosthesis' available, we HAVE been able to "rebiuld him, make him faster". Hers too. ;-)
I want a tazer-like device to use on people who take someone else's handicapped placard and parks in our spots (BIG problem in my area) so I can zap them quietly without them knowing I did it. Just enough to knock them off thier legs for real for a few minutes. And somehow mark them for other handicapped people so they can zap them too if they didn't learn the first time. Hehehehe....
Yes, I am being evil this morning.
ShimasChild -
There's a whole discussion thread about Star Trek and disability over in the Arts forum. You might want to join in!
carrollmoore5:Ok, this is to the person that is talking about stuff for the future. Someday I would like to have a voice thing where I can type my own e-mails so i don't have to have help. I am almost 18 and I have CP. I am very active. i have trouble doing lots of things, but the biggest thing is that I can't type very fast. I have other people that do it for me. I would like to someday do it on my own. I love to get out and do stuff. I live with my family. I have two sisters and lots of friends that take me places. I might have CP, but it doesn't hold me back from doing anything. I am glad that I have an active life. If I didn't have an active life, i wouldn't know what to do.
I used to have the exact same problem. I'm a novelist, and someday I want to be published, so, as you can imagine, I do a lot of writing. If I had to write everything by hand, I would probably never get any of my ideas out and finished. Have you looked into speech recognition software? That may solve all of your slow typing problems. If you use a PC, might I recommend Dragon NaturallySpeaking nine? If you use a Macintosh, a new speech recognition software just came out called MacSpeech dictate. I'm using it right now to type this response, and it's not taking a very long at all.
If I didn't have my speech recognition software, I don't know what I would do.
Hope this helps, and thanks for posting.
