5 Tips For Writing Amputees - Disability Rep 101

[@BarefootDani]

Thank you for this video, it was very educational and answered some specific questions I had. One of my main characters is a below-knee amputee, and I'm doing my best to try to represent her as fairly as possible

[@nathanlong5703]

I immediately thought of leutenant Dan when you said wheelchairs are used to indicate sadness with disability, while prosthetics are used to show that they're doing better.

[@londoncintron680]

This is a really neat video! I've got this ongoing passion project and several characters are amputees. The main protagonist is missing both her hands and two other characters are bilateral above knee and below knee amputees respectively. It's a sci-fi series revolving around robots and technology so their prosthetics and assistive tech play a fair part of the story. The main protag has these claw-type hands (I've read that many hand amputees prefer these since they've got less moving parts, making them lighter and less maintenance heavy), the below-knee amputee as athletic style legs, but the above-knee amputee prefers using a wheelchair and even has special customization made to it!

[@max_trashpanda]

thank you for all that information. I'm writing a story and one of my character loses a leg in the aftermath of war. I already had some details in hand on how and what happens, etc, and how they eventually get a prosthetic (my story is a bit of scifi / inaccurate technology, in an apocalypse, so i made it so another character builds that prosthetic for them. However, i had not exactly pinpoint if it was above or below knee yet, but your video really brought into light a lot of info i did not know I'm glad that you put emphasis on the fact that the prosthetic is not a cure to the disability. And i try to show this as much as possible in my story (especially because, in my story, it's built with stuff they could find. It's not a perfect one, and they hate wearing it if they don't "need" to, even if, at first, they think of it as a "super cool robot leg" and gets very excited at the idea (they are young). I'll need to look more into the phantom pains, it's not something i had thought about. And i love the idea of decorating prosthetic! That's so fun! I'll definitely watch your other videos, you explain things very well! Thank you again! (and sorry if my comment seems discombobulated or feels like there's way too much details lol)

[@spacecat85]

that was really helpful, thanks! I have a unilateral above-knee leg amputee character who usually wears a prosthetic. so, in light the shenanigans I put my characters through, one question I have right now is, with a leg prosthetic about the same technology as yours (it's scifi, but not everybody wants robotic prosthetics either) how difficult would it be to repair (temporarily, with limited tools), and what parts are the most vulnerable? also, any further tips / info in general, and good places for research that you (or others in the comments) happen to have are most welcome. (on a sidenote, I saw some really nicely decorated leg prosthetics years ago, that stuck with me as a great idea to help with characterization, too.)

[@Cy_Cyborg]

Thank you! Im glad you enjoyed it! For makeshift repairs, It depends what part broke. Most modern prosthetic legs are modular, so the socket, knee, pileons (the poles) and the foot can all be taken apart and swapped out for temporary parts (technically, in the case of emergency anything sufficiently strong enough be used as a part, as the connectors for each are a vice-like structure. I once used a broken chair leg as a temporary peg leg lol). If it's the foot or pilons, those are usually pretty easy to fix/replace with just an Allen key. The knee is a bit harder, since it's a lot more complicated but I havent personally tried messing around with that sorry. Sockets are custom made to fit, you could hypothetically fix a small crack with some silicone sealant or tape but anything bigger would be tricky. They're also typically the most vulnerable too. The knee is not as vulnerable but it's temperamental lol. As for other general advice, if you want to go with a lot of realism, google "ottobock" and "össure" they're the biggest producers of prosthetic components in the world and they have detailed instruction manuals for all their parts on their website that you can download. Most go over how to do repairs/installation etc for the more complicated bits!

[@spacecat85]

@@Cy_Cyborg awesome, thank you! gonna check them out, manuals will defo help me understand the technical side better.

[@meowltdown]

8:48 YEAHHHH CERTIFIED NDIS MOMENT I LOOOOVE THE NDIS I LOVE THE PEOPLE IN CHARGE OF MY CARE BEING WOEFULLY MISINFORMED YEAHHHH WOOOO I LOVE NDIS (sarcasm) anyway, came here from your new video and am seriously loving your content. i'm disabled but am not an amputee so while i did know most of this stuff through disability community osmosis, there were a few smaller points you made that i'm definitely going to pay more mind about incorporating in my writing and i really appreciate hearing about. it's also just always great to see more disability focused creators on youtube :] keep making awesome videos man!

[@izabelamisiak]

Thank you, that was very helpful and informative! There are things I didn't even know I should think about. You made me a better writer and human today - I really appreciate that. Have a great day!

[@neptune0740]

Hi Cy, I wanted to say this video gave me a lot of ideas to consider for my amputee character. I found you through TikTok first and I was excited to see that you posted a KZbin video. I have an oc with a double unilateral shoulder disarticulation (left arm) and a hip disarticulation amputation (right leg). I don’t know if that’s the right terminology so please lmk if it’s not. A big thing in his story is that he had to come to terms with his amputations and how differently he would have to function and learn to accept that it’s a new part of his life. That’s not all of his story, there’s definitely a lot of other shit that he has a character arc in but for my questions on amputation, that’s the main thing I want to discuss. A part of him coming to terms with his amputations is him realizing he needs to use a wheelchair sometimes as an ambulatory user instead of just using prosthetics exclusively bc the energy it takes to use them is incredibly draining to him. He’s also coming to terms with the prejudice from others and barriers he would have to face with using a wheelchair vs using prosthetics since his wheelchair would be more showing of his disability than his prosthetics would. He usually wears them under his clothing since he gets cold very easily, especially in his stumps and bc he can physically walk in them and like you said, people see prosthetics as a cure for amputation all together. As the story goes on I plan to have him use a wheelchair more because he’s learning to slowly accept that using a mobility aid like a wheelchair instead of almost always being exhausted on prosthetics is perfectly okay and that the barriers with using a wheelchair are sometimes more worth it than being exhausted and using nicotine to cope with it. Before the story starts and in the first few years of it, he used his prosthetics and the only reason he’s coping in the first part of the story is bc he smoked cigarettes to cope with the physical pain and energy deficiency he had. He was smoking before he became an amputee as well but only sparingly. I guess the main question I have is that I don’t want to write this part of his character as a pity story but rather a part of his character that shows him caring for himself more and being okay with sometimes using a mobility aid that causes more barriers for the sake of his own well-being. Also I’m so sorry this comment is as long as it is. I just wanted to make sure I articulated everything about this question and his character correctly. Thank you for reading this.

[@azazelreeds]

Of course I'm still researching and talking to amputees, that's why I'm listening to this video now, but something I did with my character to help me handle the whole thing better was make their amputation congenital. As someone with a congenital disability it helps me connect with and understand how the character would view it more. At least on some level

[@andeeharry]

thanks for sharing

[@smiledude1538]

Currently writing a quadrilateral amputee, so im currently doing research how to write them, ty for this video!

[@AmbrosiaMooshine]

I have a couple of character with missing limbs, and I haven't written much about them yet but this has helped - :)

[@IridescenceStudios]

Interesting! I enjoyed that, thanks for sharing. :)

[@TheKawaiifan]

been mulling over a potential dnd character concept. A wood elf druid-monk who would be a bilateral below elbow amputee with wooden prosthetics. This admittedly did start off cuz I wanted to combine shillelagh with unarmed strikes for bigger damage, haha! but since then I have been thinking more and more about who this person is and how they'd function with that disability. I still haven't settled on whether or not he was born with two missing forearms of if shit just happened later in life. but he would be born in this small wood elf village and probably knew a guy who hand carved his arms and he's probably gone through several prototypes and models to get it just right. how do the arms move and work if they're just wood.....idk, magic? i imagine he studied with a druid or two in his hometown before taking an interest in martial arts and leaving to join a monastery to train in. he works and trains very hard and is probably constantly massaging his sore af arm stumps every break he gets

[@shroudstov.e]

I needed this video so much, thank you!! My protagonist is a double below knee amputee and as you mentioned, finding resources to cover the finer details like this has been a mess 😭 thank you so much omg 🧎‍♂️

[@Kanadeyoisakilovesyou]

Exactly 😭

[@andeeharry]

This is helpful and since my stories take place in the far future where magic and technology is combined as society has reached type 3 on the scale...how would magic fused robotic tech limbs sound?

[@Saphimau]

I want to talk to people with disabilities to understand their experiences, where should I start in finding them online?

[@LucasDarkGiygas]

Thanks for the video

[@Sly-Moose]

Ty! Gonna search for an amputee YTer with an above the elbow cut My amputee character is a Puerto Rican grandma :)