AAAAAAAAAGH. It totally slipped my mind. 😭😭😭  On release, I wanted to take a moment to raise awareness about ambulatory wheelchair users... So this is gonna be a day late..!

Ambulatory is defined medically as "able to walk; not bedridden" (eg, "ambulatory patients) and more generally as "movable; mobile."

An ambulatory wheelchair user, therefore, is someone who is able to get up, stand, or walk without the use of their wheelchair for a period of time: sometimes very briefly, other times for longer.

I wanted to take a moment to define it because, prior to working on Herotome and looking into various disabilities, I had never heard of the term. Like many people, some part of me mistakenly assumed that everyone who uses a wheelchair must be paraplegic - and it's simply, factually incorrect.  

I've personally met someone who had to use a wheelchair after burning his feet. My own grandmother uses a cane, and switches to a wheelchair when she needs to cross a large amount of space, such as an airport. People can use wheelchairs for reasons other than paraplegia. Young people can use wheelchairs for reasons other than paraplegia. Invisible illnesses exist.

However, in the world of mainstream television and media, almost every fictional wheelchair-using character I saw was paralyzed from the waist down. There were also many characters who faked their disability just to trick the audience, using wheelchairs or canes as a prop only to reveal "tadah! I was able-bodied all along!"

In the real world, I've found that many ambulatory wheelchair users have suffered from ableism. In real life, people have been accused of "faking" their disability just because they were seen getting out of their wheelchair; they have been assaulted and attacked and harassed. Verbally and physically. It can be bad enough that ambulatory wheelchair users are afraid of leaving their own home. It's horrific.

I am able-bodied myself, I am writing a disabled character, and I want to ensure I write as responsibly and respectfully as I can. Since Griffin's disability has not played a large part in this Super Demo, it occurred to me that players may mistakenly think she is paraplegic - just like I would have. So, I wanted to make this crystal clear sooner rather than later.

I intend to write Griffin as an ambulatory wheelchair user.

Griffin's wheelchair is NOT a prop.

(....I'm sorry for the large text size, I just know that a long wall of text where the font is all the same size can make it hard for some of us to focus and--a--anyway---)

It is my sincere hope that Herotome can help people be more empathetic and sensitive to others in their lives, and to treat them with patience and gentle curiosity. I wanted to write this either during or very soon after release to ensure it gets as much visibility as possible.

I don't think any of you will be ableist.

Everyone who's played and left me comments has been so terribly kind, and at present I really do think highly of you all. I simply feel it would be remiss if I continued on silently working on the next update, and then randomly surprise/confuse my audience by showing a scene of Griffin moving on two feet instead of his wheels - because I know that surprise and confusion are emotions that do not always lend themselves to empathy.

Therefore, I feel the least I can do is to try and raise awareness now; even if I'm not prepared to talk about the nitty gritty details of Griffin's health.

And if you'd like to learn more about ambulatory wheelchair users, the following articles are a great place to start:

https://www.rareyouthrevolution.com/post/ten-things-i-wish-you-knew-from-an-ambu...

https://medium.com/@nicola.sarsfield/ambulatory-wheelchair-users-who-are-they-a7...

I'd also like to take a moment to highlight some disabled creators I've looked into while working on this game!

https://www.youtube.com/jessicakellgrenfozard aka @jessicaoutofthecloset is my personal favorite. She's made many videos about disability and queerness in a historical context, and she frequently vlogs about her own life and vintage fashion.

https://www.youtube.com/@Oakwyrm I've also watched several videos by Oakwyrm about disability representation in various films and cartoons shows. He not only covers what was done well and what was done poorly, but generously provides ideas on what creators CAN do to better represent the disabled community. I've taken many notes!!!! Hahaha.

Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this! I'm conscious that I may have written something tone-deaf or ignorant among these paragraphs... I'm doing my best...!

This is also a good time to mention how I've very much been in the market for a disabled authenticity reader; if you're qualified, I got money for you. :^) The work would be very infrequent and irregular because I am a slow writer, but there will be work...!

(did yall know how hard it is to find authenticity readers who are not just willing but will actually enjoy playing through a romance visual novel and considering my insane number of conditional flags---)

.... That's all I can think of writing for now. I may come back and edit something if I really did say something ignorant. Er, anyway.

I'm very glad you all seem to have had fun with the Super Demo. You've been so sweet. Thank you. I hope to talk more and get back with some of you soon...!

Tata for now. Stay safe and keep warm,

Wudge.