Can a jerkass with a severe disability be a jerkass woobie?

I am creating a character. She is very temperamental and difficult to work with due to her personality. She also suffers from debilitating epilepsy and has frequent seizures. Being unable to control her body means that she is very controlling over everyone else; the distress and insecurity she has due to her disability has contributed to her being temperamental and difficult to please. Would this character be a jerkass woobie?

id add more woobie traits than just being disabled. i feel like thats got some bad implications.

While this rings true I'd also show their disability seriously hindering them such as keeping them from doing things they enjoy or even forcing them to struggle through even the simplest of tasks depending on the disability.

A character with a disability is not automatically a woobie. The implication of just relying on a disability alone to carry the woobie part of a jerkass woobie is that a person can behave as terrible as they want but it's ok because they have a disability so we should feel sorry for them.

It also sends the message all disabled people should elicit our undying sympathy and pity just because they have a disability. Not only is this tasteless and disrespectful, but even comes across as condescending more often than not to people with disabilities in real life. Overall it comes across as "Awww look at the poor little disabled person that can't take care of themselves. Here, let ME help you!" and if that's not enough for you then read it in again this time in the most insincere, self-righteous voice you can imagine.

In short, in order for your character to be a jerkass woobie, or any kind of woobie for that matter, they have to earn it. Largely through suffering. If your character suffers a great deal from this disability then it may be enough to fit the bill. If you really want to guarantee it though, make the woobie and jerkass parts linked, sort of like how you mentioned in your post. That's a good sign.

I guess the bottom line is not to make their disability seem like an excuse for their actions .

Edited by VidExGuy on Aug 18th 2020 at 1:49:31 AM

Thx for helping!

This character in question is actually a living smartphone, Aaliyah's disability was caused by water damage and is severe to the point of her not being able to do things on her own; she constantly needs other phones to help her with simple tasks. This is because of her tendency to have seizures along with the need to carry a heavy battery pack on her back (her seizures are caused by sudden drops in battery percentage, which happens because her motherboard cannot regulate her battery percentage, meaning her battery percentage could drop from 90% to 20% in a split second).

Aaliyah has other woobie traits as well, that I'll list below:

• Her owner had no choice but to sell her, as they couldn't look after her.
• Her next owner, alongside all of humanity, was wiped out, and other phones, being ableist, rejected her.
• She wants to be independent, but due to her disability, she cannot.
• She is part of a team that has another disabled member, Solange. Solange is blind and mute, relying on her sense of hearing to get around (the components that would allow her to see and speak were damaged). However, Solange makes it clear that she is capable of independence and often rejects others' help. Aaliyah is jealous of Solange as she has a disability that she can easily adapt to.
  • The grief from the loss of humanity, the trauma from abuse, jealousy of another teammate's circumstances, and the knowledge that she will never be independent caused Aaliyah to become a massive jerk.

Well, knowing they're a smart phone is nice but ultimately doesn't change anything since they're still an obvious allegory for disabled people.

But yeah, that sounds significantly better. Now she's more like a standard woobie than someone who's woobieness comes solely from the disability as the title implies.

It looks good so far and tweak the story as you please but remember not to go too far in the other direction lest you end up with a Sympathetic Sue on your hands.

Good luck!

What can I do to prevent Aaliyah from being a sympathetic sue?

The page quote should give you a good idea of just what you're trying to avoid and it's fairly easy once you're aware of it but here's a few bonus pointers:

1. Make them a real character, let them have an identity outside of the awful stuff that happens to them.

2. Don't pile on one unfortunate event after another. If you do so you either get a character that everybody's going to find too ridiculous to take seriously or a book series by Lemony Snicket.

3. Don't let the woobie part justify the jerkass part.

Really you seem to have at least a decent grasp on writing so I'm not worried about you falling into the trap but it's a common mistake and it always helps to be aware of these.

"Don't let the woobie part justify the jerkass part".

How do I avoid this in writing?

Simple, just don't make it seem like the bad things she's gone through makes her jerkish behavior okay. Like, if a character finds out what she's gone through you can have them feel sorry for her and have their perspective on her change but don't have them suddenly forgive her for everything especially if she's been really jerk-y to that character. If you want you can even have another character tell her to her face that her past and condition don't excuse her behavior.