Hot Buttons/Cold Readers
by Nan Jacobs ©2001
"But ... but ... you sing! You dance! You ... listen to Dylan!"
She? known me several months before my good friend Susan, newly off the boat from Arkansas, discovered I was a Quaker. To my bewilderment, she seemed to expect an abrupt cessation of joyful noises and Dylan-listening. The realization I actually belonged to a minority group of sorts, prone to misconceptions and stereotypes, opened my WASP eyes wide.
Where do misconceptions originate? No doubt from many sources, not the least of which are books, and by logical extension, writers and their research--or lack thereof. We as writers have a moral obligation to research to the best of our ability and to present our findings with integrity.
We can annoy readers with inaccuracies in cold, hard facts (? beg your pardon! The color ?sychedelic blue·did not exist in AD 200!· or alienate them by pushing emotional hot buttons with assumptions about touchy subjects (Autism? No sweat, like Dustin Hoffman in Rainman). Potentially sensitive topics lurk everywhere, from the obvious (religion, disabilities, childhood disease) to the seemingly innocuous (hey, watch it, that? my husband you just stereotyped as a sloppy, cigar-puffing tow truck driver!).
Life experiences present themselves in differing ways to different individuals; we can hardly avoid affronting *someone* when we endeavor to portray their world with our words. There isn? much we can do to avoid that pitfall, but we can take measures to satisfy ourselves we?e written about [insert your favorite hot button topic here] in a sensitive, enlightened manner. Check for support groups and special interest groups through local hospitals, schools, religious groups, specialists. Scan the Internet for e-mail links, bulletin boards, and live chat groups on your topic. If you belong to a writer's organization, a rummage through its ranks may well yield a wealth of knowledge and experience.
People who deal with hot button issues on a daily basis are often willing to share their personal experience and knowledge in the interest of enlightening others. The ?orse? mouth·resource could well make the difference between tossing in a ?ainman·as a convenient sibling to supplement the hero? goal/motivation/conflict (which screams "contrived!" to everyone who reads your masterpiece), or crafting a gripping characterization of the hero, enlightening many readers about how a disability can affect relationships and families and personalities.
Sensitive issues abound but, correspondingly, so do first-hand sources. Let them be heard before we put assumptions in writing.
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Note of interest:
To read what it? like to live as an adult with Asperger? Syndrome (an autistic spectrum disorder), visit the following site. It includes an article written by a woman with AS about *her* feelings and *her* view of the world.