# DisRom : The Disability and Romance Project

1. #DisRom: The Disability and Romance Project Ria Cheyne, Liverpool Hope University cheyner@hope.ac.uk riacheyne.net @riacheyne

2. Today’s Presentation • Context and past research • Unanswered questions • The DisRom Project • Early Results • Future Plans

3. Wider Social Context • Dominance of tragedy model perspectives: disabled people not “permitted to exist as part of a desired present or a desirable future” (Kafer, Feminist, Queer, Crip 43) • Association of negative emotions with disability (sadness, discomfort, pity, fear, awkwardness) • Particular stereotypes: sexually incapable, sexually deviant • Sexual prejudice: 2014 survey found that 44% of Britons “would not consider having sex with someone who had a physical disability” (Mann).

4. Genre Context • Disability frequently represented in romance but: • Hard to identify disability romances • Particular patterns of disability representation • Lots of readers reading romances with disabled characters • Romance community interest in disability issues.

5. Scholarly Context • From 2010, scholarly work on disability in romance emerging: • Miller (2010), Baldys (2012), Schwab (2012), Cheyne (2013), Schalk (2016), Cheyne (forthcoming 2017). • Also sections/chapters in Kamblé (2014), Vivanco (2016). • Textual analysis.

6. Reading the Romance “Joy […] mentioned in her discussion of ‘bad romances’ that while ‘perfection’s not the main thing’, she still hates to see an author ‘dwelling on handicaps or disfigurements’. ‘I find that distasteful and depressing’, she explained” (98).

7. Unanswered Questions • What motivates authors of romance to depict disabled characters? • Do authors encounter barriers to publishing disability romances? Are there particular barriers for disabled authors? • How do agents and editors respond to manuscripts with disabled characters? • How do readers (disabled and nondisabled) respond to depictions of disability in romance? How important are such texts to readers with personal or family experience of disability? • How do readers respond to cure narratives? • Do readers who seek out diverse romances perceive disability as a diversity issue?

8. The Project www.disrom.com @DisRomProject

9. Project Overview Phase 1: Readers • Reader Survey (launched April 2017) Phase 2: Writers and other industry professionals • Writer survey, interviews • RWA Academic Research Grant: data gathering at RWA and RNA conferences • ‘Writing Disability: Potentials and Pitfalls’ workshop at RNA conference Phase 3: Data analysis, develop publications, secure follow-on funding.

10. Reader Survey: Early Results • Launched 6 April 2017, 36 responses as of 15 April 2017 • 33 of 36 respondents (91.7%) had read one or more romances featuring a disabled character.

11. Impairments and Character Roles Of those 33 readers: • 26 had encountered characters with facial disfigurement/scarring • 26 had encountered romances with PTSD • Substantial numbers also for visual impairment, limp/mobility impairment, amputation, autism/Aspergers Character roles: • 29 (of 33) had read a romance with a disabled hero • 25 had read a romance with a disabled heroine • 11 villain/antagonist Qualitative responses: ‘more often male’, ‘wounded hero is a popular trope’, ‘Most common for heroes’, ‘very rare for female in hetero romance’.

12. 1982 2016

13. You're looking for books and come across a romance where the front cover illustration or back cover copy indicates that it includes one or more disabled characters. Which of the following statements best sums up your likely response? "I'd be much more likely to buy/borrow this book" - 7 (20%) "I'd be more likely to buy/borrow the book" - 2 (5.7%) "It wouldn't make a difference to how likely I was to buy/borrow the book" - 12 (34.3%) "I'd be less likely to borrow the buy/book" - 0 "I'd be much less likely to buy/borrow the book" - 0 It would depend on the extent or type of disability, or how it was describes/illustrated" - 12 (34.3%) "I'm not sure what my response would be" - 2 (5.7%)

14. You’re looking for books and come across a romance that features a disabled character, but where the disability is cured during the novel. Which of the following statements best sums up your likely response? "I'd be much more likely to buy/borrow this book" - 1 (2.8%) "I'd be more likely to buy/borrow the book" - 1 (2.8%) "It wouldn't make a difference to how likely I was to buy/borrow the book" - 6 (16.7%) "I'd be less likely to borrow the buy/book" - 7 (19.4%) "I'd be much less likely to buy/borrow the book" - 3 (8.3%) It would depend on the extent or type of disability, or how it was describes/illustrated" - 15 (41.7%) "I'm not sure what my response would be" - 3 (8.3%)

15. Responses to cure narratives • 24 (of 33) had read a romance where a disabled character was cured or recovered. • ‘In the book I'm thinking about, it made sense so I was okay with it. With some others, I HATED it.’ • ‘It's ridiculous and demeaning, as well as lazy writing/plotting’ • ‘This is unrealistic and often insulting’ • ‘seemed to be the easy way out/unrealistic’ • ‘Kind of disappointed, seemed unrealistic’ • ‘Feels like a cheat, wasted opportunity to tell an untold story and unnecessary to have a romantic hea’ • ‘Side eye’ ‘Bleh’ ‘annoyed’ ‘unnecessary’ ‘I hate “miracle” cures’ • ‘Here we go again’ • ‘It's so frustratingly predictable!’

16. Future Plans • Increase the n! • Expansion of website: • Resources for readers and writers • Blog • Share early results • #DisRom campaign

17. Support the Project! • Take the survey: https://lhubos.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/disromreader • Share survey link, project website, or Twitter with your networks (www.disrom.com and @DisRomProject) • Guest blog posts • Any suggestions for connecting with romance readers let me know!

18. References • Baldys, Emily M. “Disabled Sexuality, Incorporated: The Compulsions of Popular Romance.” Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies. 6.2 (2012): 125–41. • Cheyne, Ria. “Disability in Genre Fiction.” The Cambridge Companion to Literature and Disability. Ed. Clare Barker and Stuart Murray. Cambridge, Cambridge UP. Forthcoming. • Cheyne, Ria. “Disability Studies Reads the Romance.” Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies. 7.1 (2013): 37–52. [Slightly updated Open Access version available at https://www.degruyter.com/viewbooktoc/product/430191] • Kafer, Alison. Feminist, Queer, Crip. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 2013. • Kamblé, Jayashree. Making Meaning in Popular Romance Fiction: An Epistemology. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. • Mann, Jim. “British sex survey 2014: ‘the nation has lost some of its sexual swagger’.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 28 Sept. 2014. Web. 31 May 2016. • Miller, Kathleen. “‘A Little Extra Bite’: Dis/Ability and Romance in Tanya Huff and Charlaine Harris’s Vampire Fiction.” Journal of Popular Romance Studies.1.1 (2010): http://jprstudies.org/2010/08/a-little-extra-bite-disability-and-romance-in-tanya-huff-and-charlaine-harris-vampire-fiction-by-kathleen-miller/ . • Radway, Janice A. Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 1991. • Schalk, Sami. “Happily Ever For Whom? Blackness and Disability in Romance Narratives.” Journal of Popular Culture 49.6 (2016): 1241-60. • Schwab, Sandra. “‘It is Only with One’s Heart that One Can See Clearly’: The Loss of Sight in Teresa Medeiros’s The Bride and the Beast and Yours Until Dawn.” Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies. 6.3 (2012): 275–89. • Vivanco, Laura. Pursuing Happiness: Reading American Romance as Political Fiction. Penrith: Humanities-Ebooks, 2016. Kindle digital file.