User blog comment:DustpeltX/Making Of: Shamrock and Raspberry/@comment-5426254-20170705032616/@comment-13593058-20170705164601

Great point on Razz, and I think you're getting the wrong idea based on my insufficient explanation on her, my bad, but I see where you're getting at though.

I think Razz is a more realistic approach on the subject rather than an standout of saying "we should keep the differently-abled differently-abled". Trust me, I have my fair share of conflicts with SJWs and I by no means identify or condone their way of extreme shame based mentality.

To Razz, the lack of access to said technology is her focus and what puts her in this limited state. The other thing common with amputee OCs is that they somehow have magical connections to some sort of technology or massive form of wealth that allows them to have seemless integration of said artificial limb.

And the key here is seemless integration.

As we see in the show, advanced prosthetics are rare to come by and almost exclusively military in nature. You have Taiyang who even says, "I thought I would have to call in a few favours." alluding to the fact that high grade prosthetics, while available, are out of reach even for established Hunters. So the question is if a Hunter, who is by the way the main frontline of the world who should by all means be entitled to the most effective Grimm deterring technology out there, can't get access to this kind of technology without the means of the right connections, how would a civilian like Razz get her hands on something like that, let alone afford it?

And yeah, maybe Razz COULD afford it if she gambled her way to a massive fortune. She as a character might probably stay in her current form because simply having those enhancements don't solve the underlying problem that beneath all of that, those parts are still gone.

Calling back to the inspiration of Razz, the story of Fragile and Tough centers around an office worker with the same disabilities of Razz being praised for doing something other abled individuals view as amazing when the main character herself feels her job is "so simple a monkey can do it." It also explores the concept of body views and the social taboo of confronting the physical limitations of the disabled as being polite or impolite versus treating the disabled as normal through the interaction of a man who has ties to her current state as an amputee. The dynamic here with the man not willing to lay a finger on her is interesting to dissect as it is a reflection of the real life behaviours.

If someone had a mentle disability, the immediate response is to talk to the individual kindly, slowly or like he/she was a functioning toddler. I even find myself doing that by default and it makes me think if what I am doing is degrading to the person or am I just lying to myself that I'm doing the right thing. However, if I confront the individual like I would my other friends, would I be being inconsiderate by not accounting for his/her disability? Honestly, I may never know, but the instances are so rare I never really think about it until I have to again.

And I think this is interesting, because it's something that is very apparrent when we as "normal" people praise these individuals for achieving things that seem like a hurdle in our eyes when the individual in question has no qualms about it because this is their "normal" now. "Normal" is relative, and I think for Razz, her current condition is her new normal, not because she wants it to be but because the circumstances forces it to be.

 In the character of Razz, I wanted to display her as a person that acknowledges these physical limitations but reassures others that it shouldn't affect the way we interact with her. She is self aware that these disabilities may turn some people off, and that's okay. At the end of the day, the handicapped aren't normal, they may never be normal even with the most advanced technologies we have today and with what we've seen so far in the world of Remnant, which is by the way a weird mix of Advanced Medieval Era sort of vibe rather than a true futuristic society.

I guess what I'm trying to display, and what the story of Fragile and Tough tries to display as well, is how the behavior of "normal" people changes around the disabled. "Normal" people are quick to praise these individuals for their achievements when for the disabled, it's their "normal" which makes the praise rather degrading in a sense.

All I want is for someone like Razz to tell me that what I'm doing is okay and respectful to her, because I will never know how it feels to be her nor do I ever want to. I want to know that it's okay to laugh about our unfortunate circumstances without makeing her upset and that it's okay to sometimes forget she can't do certain things as quickly. I want to know that is okay to touch her in a friendly manner because I never get that from a differently abled individual and so I am always forced to adopt a false face.

And I hate that, because it feels uncomfortable to not know that it's okay to be me.