Writing Disability with Cy Cyborg
Writing and creating disabled characters can be a bit tricky, and it’s so often handled poorly.
My goal with this blog is to help creators of all kinds, from authors to character designers, game developers to comic creators, be more empathetic and sensitive in their depiction of disability.
New posts on the first Monday of every month
New Posts
The Untrustworthy Fake - Disability Tropes
In media, characters pretending to be disabled is a common trope that has a very real impact on real-life disabled people, so let’s talk about it!
How your disabled character's allies react to their disability matters - Quick Tips
The way other characters interact with disabled character is just as, if not sometimes more important than how you depict their disability itself, and it’s a part of writing disabled characters so many creatives overlook!
Toph Beifong doesn’t hold up as disability representation - Disability in the Media
I love Toph and the original Avatar series, and while her creators got a lot right, they also missed the mark in a few ways that mean she doesn’t really hold up in the modern day. So let’s talk about it
How The Owl House did amputee representation right before Eda ever lost her arm - Disability in Media
The Owl House did a surprisingly decent job with it’s amputee characters… before they even became amputees, so let’s talk about why!
Baldur’s Gate 3’s (accidental) examples of accessibility in a fantasy world
Baldur’s Gate 3 seamlessly included accessibility accommodations into it’s world that some TTRPG fans have been saying would be “jarring” and “immersion breaking” for years, and no one even noticed, so let’s talk about what they were and what you, as a writer or creator, can learn from it.
The Jaws Effect and What it Means For Media Representation - Writing Disability
The jaws effect is the name for the phenomenon where information about something appearing in fiction makes more people believe it in reality. And when that “information” is wrong or misleading, it causes serious issues. This isn’t a problem that’s unique to disability representation, but it’s a big factor, and it’s a big part of why so many disabled advocates talk about how disability is represented in fiction. So let’s talk about it
Please note, all posts with images and video should contain alt text. However, some posts, especially those from 2024 and earlier, may not have alt text embedded, however, in those cases, it is provided in text below the image or video
If you encounter any that do not have any alt text at all, or encounter any other accessibility issues with this blog, please let me know and I’ll fix it ASAP at
CyborgDragon@outlook.com.au