I recently visited a party and had a healthy debate with the Jovial Contrarian. I noticed that he uses a "wheeled chair", with which he wheeled himself away after the debate. I found it really nice to encounter someone who seems to be disabled in Fallen London, especially since it was just mentioned on the side and didn’t make him into a bitter villain or a tragic figure. Of course, most inhabitants of the Royal Beth are also disabled, but it is an important story element, while with the Contrarian it just happens to be the case. People who just happen to be disabled are too rare in the media, so I just wanted to send a big thank you to whoever wrote that card!
My agreement with this post is too great to be contained in a thumbs-up.
True true! Most of Fallen London’s visibly disabled folks are part of some fantastical plotline - spider-blinded cultists; mirror-maddened magicians; Cantigaster-venom victims - but the Contrarian is just a dude who has a wheelchair and who’s all about arguing vehement and generally contradictory political opinions with a smile!
[color=#ff9900]Just wanted to say I really appreciate this thread. [/color]
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[color=#ff9900]I worked in Student Disability Support for many years, and the treatment of people with disabilities in fiction (and reality!) is something I feel strongly about. The Jovial Contrarian was an attempt to express some of those opinions.[/color]
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Agreed. Its excellent to see something handled so tactfully. A little bit of flavor-text that normalizes the situation without making it tokenistic. If only there were more widespread examples of this in entertainment media. I’d love to see a day where this sort of thing is no longer a nice surprise, but rather a thing that just is.