Disability in Science Fiction Part 1
In 2015, during my Master’s, I thought that I would write about the use of disability in science fiction.1 Then I didn’t—mostly because I discovered Kathryn Allan’s work on the subject and her collection Disability in Science Fiction: Representations of Technology as Cure (2013). Allan also co-edited the disability sci-fi anthology Accessing the Future (2015), which I recommend.
This slow-to-update series will provide short summaries of stories that I had considered working with, but then abandoned. Also of note is that many of the stories in this series are written by non-disabled authors.
First up . . .
✿ “The Persistence of Vision” by John Varley (1978)
SYNOPSIS: The sighted and hearing protagonist wanders into a DeafBlind commune in New Mexico.
OVERVIEW: The story addresses the 1964 rubella epidemic in the United States which resulted in large numbers of DeafBlind children. The story addresses their subsequent institutionalization by the state and their fight for rights and education. Some of these DeafBlind people break away to start a “way of living that was by and for the blind-deaf”—a commune that uses systems of touch and tactile communication.
OTHER THOUGHTS: Many of the commune members are naked, which leads to some pretty weird sexual scenes. Is this meant to be a commune thing or what Varley thinks DeafBlind people would prefer? This point also leads into the story’s very disturbing use of the character Pink, a thirteen-year-old girl CODBA (child of DeafBlind adults), who guides the forty-seven-year-old male protagonist around. Trigger warning: they end up having a sexual relationship.2 In any case, communes are hot-spots for predators, sexual abuse, and the abuse of children, so I’ll leave my thoughts there.
PAIRED RECOMMENDED READING: See Andrew Leland’s amazing article on Protactile, a system of tactile communication — DeafBlind Communities May Be Creating a New Language of Touch.
Pedophilia is unfortunately a recurring theme in Varley’s stories. Although Varley is a good writer, I’m not sure I would recommend him for this reason.