The Question of A Character With Disabilities

The hero in my story has a disability...a big one. As I outlined this out and began fleshing it out more and more in my mind, I thought I hit a snag.

The question that nearly stopped me dead was the question of the hero having a disability. I started wondering if that was even something someone would want to read about. Could a disabled character be considered sexy? Would anyone see him as sexy? This became a big concern and I thought I was done with the idea before I even got to start writing it. I suppose, of course, that that's a good time to realize something may not work, which is before it gets going, but then several other things occurred to me...

First of all, I thought the character was sexy, so maybe someone else might think so too. That's a hard one to go by, though, since my opinion is probably biased;)

Second, I remembered Daredevil. Of course, this is a comic book character, but there's no denying that sexy bodysuit-clad Ben Affleck from the 2003 movie. And, of course, even though it's a comic character, it's a pretty romantic story if you think about it. The most intriguing thing about Daredevil, though...

He's blind.

I don't know about anyone else, but that somehow made him even more sexy.

Then there was the movie about the two blind lovers. I cannot remember the name of that movie to save my life, but it was definitely a romance and both characters had a disability.

Then I realized two main characters in my fan fiction have a disability. That actually worked out very well.

Thinking about fan fiction, a long time reader of mine just started a blog. She has a link to her website in her profile, so I clicked on it out of curiosity; it took me to her fanfiction.net page. I felt ashamed that she has been following me for so long and I haven't even looked at her works. As I read about her original character, I found myself slowing down as I focused on each word...Then I read it again.

Her main original character is blind. That very much grabbed my interest and gave me yet another incentive to continue with my new story. Then, just today, she wrote about an idea she has and her heroine has a disability.

Next, I found this: http://kayemanro.blogspot.com/2011/03/sci-fi-tech-meets-hot-sex.html. This is a blog entry from a blog focusing on the romance of sci fi. In this blog enty, this sentence stood out for me: "Erotic sci-fi romance has loads of potential to examine and question cultural attitudes toward beauty, ethnicity, and even physical disabilities."

Okay, so, now I'm convinced. There is definitely some intrigue with a character with a disability. It's not just me being biased. There is definitely something about this. There seems to be numerous stories, movies, ideas, even comics, out there exploring characters with disabilities.

And they can be sexy, indeed:)