echo-bleu

[echo-bleu]

Do you have any tips (or previous posts) about how to write a young person who’s first-time cane user? This one is for a character who escapes a lifetime of being experimented on, and learns in the aftermath of being rescued that this rather compromised her ability to walk well again. I’ve written characters with other mobility devices for getting around. But never canes. I myself am physically disabled but have never needed anything like these before. I’m always eager to learn.

Hi!

If your character is a first time cane user, here's some things that could happen:

She will need to learn how to walk with the cane first. When you're starting, it's easy to mess up (though it could be my dyspraxia speaking) and overfocus on how you should walk because you're just getting used to it. She could randomly stop and correct her gait, or look down a lot to check if she's still doing the motion (left arm and right leg forward, or the other way around).

She's probably gonna drop that thing a lot. Especially if she has a weaker grip in the cane hand - now, I don't have this problem (the opposite, rather) - but the overall thing is a really common occurrence for most of us. Walking and hit the smallest pebble imaginable? Cane on the ground, somehow. Tried putting it against the wall or table? It's on the ground. And then you need to reach for it... it's a struggle sometimes.

If she's not helped in picking the cane, she will spend some time figuring out what grip and height are comfortable for her. (Grip depends on personal preference, no one's preference has ever been the doorknob handle, height is generally to the person's wrist from the ground up.) I think that this could be an interesting opportunity to talk about disabled communities - maybe she's frustrated with the process and goes to an older (more experienced) cane user to help her?

If it's during the winter, her hand is gonna be freezing - and the opposite in the summer - and she might not be prepared for it. The handle can get HOT and it can be an issue. Depending on what her actual disability is, she might try switching which hand to hold it in. If she's able to do that, another character could warm up her cold hand :)

The first couple of times walking with a cane are an Experience. You feel way better, but also everyone is suddenly staring. Some people care about that, some don't. But it can be somewhat overwhelming either way.

Spatial awareness is gonna suck at first. She will bump into what feels like everything with the cane. Especially doorframes. It's always doorframes for some reason. Or mess up and have her cane slip down because she hasn't realized how close to the curb she was.

She will hit her shin. It will hurt.

She's probably going to be speedy with that thing! Getting a cane is like getting a speed boost. Without it, I have episodes where I'm extremely slow (my highest, extreme-pain speed would be slower than a person walking very casually) and with it, I'm faster than a lot of able-bodied people! It's fun and she would have fun with it.

She will not know what to do with the cane when she doesn't need it. For me, using backpacks always cause issues because I don't know how to hold it without dropping it, but I also need to swap hands, something gets stuck on the handle... it's a whole process that takes a comical amount of time at first. Same when going to the public bathroom, where are you putting it when you aren't using it...? It's a lot of trial and error and a lot of "eww, my cane just touched the dirtiest surface humanly imaginable".

In the real world, people are (overly) interested in young cane user's business and tend to stare a lot. Now, it doesn't have to be like this in your story, but it's often just an annoying part of life. Your character might feel awkward and feel like she needs to explain herself, but this goes away after some time. You just get desensitized after a while.

In the real world, people are sometimes interested and nice about it! For example, a lot of older people can be insecure about using a cane, exactly like younger people. I've heard stories about older people asking younger users where they got their cane from, how are they so confident with it, etc. Another opportunity for a disabled community moment!

I hope that my suggestions were helpful, it's been a while since I was a first-time cane user so I wrote down what I still remember, haha.

Mod Sasza

Hi!

I agree with Sasza on pretty much every point and wanted to add some things from my own experience.

It's really, really hard to hold both a cane and an umbrella at the same time. Sometimes I'll give up and get wet. Sometimes I'll give up and store the cane. She might do either of those, depending on what she hates more: being wet or walking without the cane. Or she could get a raincoat if that works for her.

Speaking of umbrellas, sometimes you need your umbrella and you need your cane and you also need a free hand. This Sucks. What I do for this sometimes (and maybe she or other people have better, smarter, more useful solutions than this) is shove my umbrella into my shirt or backpack strap or something, so the umbrella is Held Up by it. This is not very effective, and will not last long. But if I need to look up a map on my phone or adjust something on my clothes or get my keys, it can work. Sort of.

Just like mod Sasza said, people will take interest in your cane, younger and older alike. I've had people of all ages compliment my cane (it has flowers) as well as people of all ages tell me I'm too young to need a cane or ask what's wrong with me. An older woman once asked me where I got my cane as she had been wanting a 'pretty' one, and that was a nice moment.

She might develop a new awareness of mobility aid users. When you're new at using one and trying to figure it out, you're probably going to be frustrated, because it's a new skill like any other. But it might make her (like it made me) notice more people using canes. It's not that I never saw them before, but that they were more common than I ever thought, and I never would have noticed how common it was if I hadn't had to slow down and practice my skill.

Cane tips get dirty, and cane tips wear out. These both depend on where your character is using her cane (outdoors vs indoors, scratchy asphalt vs smooth wood) as well as how often. A cane with a worn-out rubber tip really sucks and is more unstable and if the cane is made of aluminum and the tip is worn out and you hit the cane the wrong way, you can damage the cane. Ask me how I know.

That's all I can think of right now that I had to learn to deal with when I started! As you can see I still don't have a solution to the rain thing and it's been like two and a half years...

- mod Sparrow

#writing resources #disability #disabled characters #disabled things

[echo-bleu]

Yes, yes, if I were a Gondolindrim I would be super pissed at him… But I'm not, so I can be controversial and say that I kin. da love for Maeglin T_T

Quick speed paint of the Lord of the Mole <;

Prints and other stuff on my RedBubble and Threadless

#maeglin #silm #tolkien #beau

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Golden Fields, Amber Brunsden — 2023 Oil on canvas

#beau

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I just added about 50 artworks, new and less new, to my INPRNT shop. I've had the shop for a while but I never really put in the time to upload things...

Anyway, if anyone wants a print of my art. I have very little work at the moment so it would be welcome tbh. INPRNT is great because the artist actually get 50% of the sale price, which is a lot more than Redbubble &co. And their print quality is really good.

If there's a specific artwork of mine you'd like but you don't see it there, feel free to ask! They got buried under a bit but if you scroll down you'll find the pride dragons too.

#echo's drawings #inprnt #self promo i guess #silmarillion #tolkien #dragonlance #the witcher #those are mostly the fandoms there but there's also some more obscure stuff #and original things too

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This is the first time I public some of my art on social media,but this one came out so good...🧍‍♂️. This is my version of Mae in a semi-realistic style. Reposts would be apreciate btw😃

#maedhros #silmarillion #tolkien #beautiful art

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Eowyn, do you not love me?

@kimothee-chalamet commissioned me to draw whatever Faramir/Eowyn thing I wanted, and I choose this quote from Faramir’s confession. I loved doing this, thank you <3

#lotr #faramir #eowyn #beautiful art

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Dalamars. Dalamari?

These studies are so relaxing to do, that's what I'm defaulting to now when my brain can't handle more involved things.

Yaroslav Bayarunas and Ruslan Gerasimenko as Dalamar (The Last Trial, Stairway Production)

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Chapters: 2/? Fandom: Dragonlance - Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Dalamar the Dark/Raistlin Majere, Crysania/Dalamar the Dark/Raistlin Majere, Caramon Majere & Raistlin Majere Characters: Raistlin Majere, Dalamar the Dark, Crysania (Dragonlance), Caramon Majere Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Ending, Raistlin lives, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Whump, Dalamar Whump, Raistlin without magic, Canon Disabled Character, Noncanon Disabled Character, Chronic Illness, Blind Character, Grief/Mourning, Getting Together, Field Surgery, no plot only feels, Recovery, Fix-It, Sort Of Summary:

An eternity of torture—a fitting punishment for his hubris. The price for his love, that he tried so hard to crush between his fingers. But what is the point of becoming a god, if not for love of the world?

Raistlin’s mind was ever hungrier than his body.

Give it up, and you may live.

*

Raistlin comes back from the Abyss with Caramon and Crysania, but without his magic. Back in the Tower of Palanthas, Raistlin, Dalamar and Crysania learn to deal with loss, new disabilities, and each other.

Chapter 2: In which there is only one bed, but nobody is in any state to enjoy it.

#dragonlance #raistlin majere #crysania #caramon majere #dalamar #echo's fanfiction #the right lesson

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Apparently people who don't have executive dysfunction think that actually working on something is the hardest part of doing something. And that's why they get mad that you call the rest of the project "easy" after you've finally worked through doing the plan and know what to do when you're working.

So when you're through with the epiphany of how to make it physically possible to make the thing you're making, and you're sharing the plan with excitement, because the hard part is over, and now you only have to get your hands moving and do it, they get mad at you like

"it's not that easy! It's a lot of hard work! >:C"

they mean it, because

to them, working is the hardest part.

They don't have to fight their brains to get started. They don't have to fight their way through making the choices, making the plan, making yourself make the thing. People who don't suffer from executive dysfunction think that the hardest part is actually doing the thing.

#yes this #executive dysfunction #autism things #adhd things #neurodivergent things #though sometimes climbing the mountain means you're too exhausted to then do the thing right away #and people get mad at you about that

[echo-bleu]

Dalamars. Dalamari?

These studies are so relaxing to do, that's what I'm defaulting to now when my brain can't handle more involved things.

Yaroslav Bayarunas and Ruslan Gerasimenko as Dalamar (The Last Trial, Stairway Production)

#ngl i'm highly amused about yarik using this portrait on insta to drop cryptic hints about more PI

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"Are you ok?" I'm actually tired bro. From the bottom of my heart I'm tired

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A little birthday present for my wonderful friend @moonlight-breeze-44

[echo-bleu]

Dalamars. Dalamari?

These studies are so relaxing to do, that's what I'm defaulting to now when my brain can't handle more involved things.

Yaroslav Bayarunas and Ruslan Gerasimenko as Dalamar (The Last Trial, Stairway Production)

#the last trial #dalamar #dragonlance #yaroslav bayarunas #ruslan gerasimenko #echo's drawings #artists on tumblr

[echo-bleu]

Was at the art museum earlier and i have a new favourite painting

#beautiful art #carl larsson #i adore his work #and his house is so pretty too #probably one of the artist house/museums i enjoyed the most

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i think about this comic at least once a week

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Cover reveal!!

Have you been wondering what I'm up to? Along with editing the first three PHU books for publication with Duck Prints Press, I've been preparing the first book in my new Seven Lakes (queer mildly spicy paranormal romance) series for independent publishing!

My cover was created by the wonderful Flore Picard (@florilege-studio) and I am delighted to be able to share it now!

Keep an eye on this space for more information. I'll post when the book is up for pre-sale! It'll be available in ebook, trade paperback, and hardcover editions.