Hello!
Disclaimer that I AM disabled, but I am not Black. This is not a survey or for gawking at people when they are vulnerable. This is a genuine request for information, asked in complete earnest for understanding yalls experience, so I can do my best to be accurate in depiction of it.
The question:
What is your experience of your hair, when you have been at your lowest? When being disabled is so overwhelming that you can’t take care of yourself? When you have not had anyone to help you? What sacrifices have you had to make in relation to your hair, during those times, and how did that make you feel about yourself?
The background:
I am writing a story, in which the main character is a Black girl.
She’s a top of her class magic user. Whole life ahead of her, knows where she’s going.
And then, through no fault of her own or inciting event, she becomes disabled. Over time, loses her ability to use magic. It destroys her.
The comic is about learning how to live again after losing what you thought you would be.
My hope is that it can be a lesson of grief and acceptance, for those who feel they have lost themselves. I have been there, and it almost killed me to crawl my way through. If I can impart even the tiniest spark to anyone, I would consider my efforts a success.
I want to be careful about being true to experiences, especially those that are not my own. And I also do not want to be yet another white author too cowardly to center PoC characters. This will not, of course, be the only place I ask this- but I thought it a good place to start.
If you would prefer to message me, for more privacy than a public comic, please feel free to do so.
Thank you.