Who Gets to Choose? Disability and Self-Determination in Translation State
Disability in Ann Leckie's Translation State
Set in the same universe as her celebrated Imperial Radch trilogy, Ann Leckie’s most recent novel, Translation State, follows three characters each on converging journeys towards self-discovery and self-determination. The novel follows Enae, a middle aged person working outside the home for the first time and investigating a long cold case of a fugitive alien; Qven, a humanlike alien who rebels against eir upbringing; and Reet, an adopted mechanic with a mysterious and disputed genetic history who must fight for his right to self-determination before an interspecies council.
Like many of Leckie’s works, Translation State explores the nuances of gender identity and expression. In addition to she/her, he/him, and they/them pronouns, Translation State also employs two sets of neo-pronouns: sie/hir/hirs, and e/em/eir. A core theme of the novel is the right to self-determination of identity, especially as it relates to gender, and family (for more about the text’s treatment of gender and queer identity, check out the LA times book review by David M. Higgens). Although the text focuses primarily on queer and gender identity, it also has some interesting things to say about disability.
I was first drawn to write about this novel by the presence of a side character who uses a mobility chair in earth gravity but moves effortlessly in zero gravity, and the more I looked at the text, the more disability I found to love. Two of our main characters, Reet and Qven, exist in non-normative bodies and can be read as disabled. As a result of their non-normative bodies, they find themselves before a committee that shares parallels with eugenics boards and other attempts to control queer, racialized and disabled bodies from our own world. On the whole, Ann Leckie writes her disabled characters with nuance and beauty and the text argues strongly for the right to self-determination for disabled people.
The character who first drew me to write about Translation State, is Batonen. Batonen is a “low-g adapted”1 human who lives and works in an environment with far stronger gravity than she is physically accustomed to. As a result, she relies on a mobility chair to get around. She is described as “a long, attenuated person in a mobility seat” with “the longest arms of anyone [Enae] had ever seen”.2 When the characters find themselves in a zero gravity environment, Batonen is able to move quickly and gracefully, and is far more mobile than the other characters.3 Charmingly, Enae sees her as the “picture of fishlike elegance”4 as she swims through space. This shift in Batonen’s mobility illustrates the contextual nature of disability and the massive impact that environment can have on an individual's needs and (dis)abilities. It’s not the body alone, but the interaction between the body and the environment that creates disability.
In the world(s) of speculative fiction there is often even more ambiguity regarding the category of disability than there is in our reality. In speculative fiction we can be introduced to improbable and impossible bodily differences; alien physiology and societies with completely novel norms and environments. How then do we assess whether or not a character is disabled? We have to rely on the rules of reality and society as presented in the text. To help me in my analysis I rely heavily on the criteria Sami Schalk lays out in her book Bodyminds Reimagined:
“I read a character as disabled if the character experiences their bodymind as different from others and that difference cannot be better interpreted as gendered, racial, or another type of difference; if that character's bodymind is interpreted from a medical or psychological perspective in the text as nonnormative and in need of treatment or cure; and if a character's bodymind variation is considered nonnormative or deviant by the text's fictional society at large” 5
With the help of these criteria, I will be reading Reet and Qven as disabled.
There is also an argument to be made for reading Reet as autistic—he has significant difficulty with social interactions and maintaining relationships; his internal life is different from others in ways that make communication difficult; he finds a great deal of comfort in eating the same foods and watching the same show day after day. However, I think it’s worth resisting the urge to apply specific real-world diagnoses to characters in speculative fiction when that diagnosis is not present in the world of the text. One of the things I love about speculative fiction is its ability to disrupt and complicate our expectations of how (dis)ability interacts with society, and imposing our diagnostic labels onto the world of the text can limit that possibility. That being said, if you’re autistic and you relate to Reet and enjoy thinking of him (or any other character) as autistic, I have no problem with that, I just don’t find it useful for me or my purposes here. I will therefore avoid using diagnostic labels when discussing Qven and Reet (and disabled characters in general) and instead focus on the specifics of their experiences within the world of the text.
Qven (e/em/eir) belongs to a species of human-like aliens created and trained from childhood to serve as translators between humans and the incomprehensibly alien Presger. Despite showing great promise, Qven becomes immensely fearful of eir future after accidentally witnessing two peers undergoing the messy biological process known as “matching” whereby two adolescents of the species merge to become one adult.6 This trauma is amplified when Qven, while attempting to escape eir society, is attacked by a peer who forcibly begins the process of matching with Qven.7 Although Qven is able to fend off the attack, the assault leaves eir body altered and, in the eyes of eir society, “unfit”.8 As a result, Qven is isolated from eir peers and carefully monitored and controlled by adults who hope to rehabilitate em.
Although Qven is very clearly experiencing symptoms of trauma, the authorities in eir society view em as disabled and “unsuitable”9 due to eir disobedience and the physical damage e suffered in the attack. There is thus a significant mismatch between Qven’s experience of eir own disability and eir society’s interpretation of eir difference. For Qven, fear of matching (something e must do in order to survive to adulthood) and intrusive memories are disabling, while eir desire for self-determination and even the changes in eir body following the attack are assets. Throughout eir confinement, it’s made clear to Qven that ey will be “disposed of” if ey have no “use”10; that is, if ey do not quickly conform to eir society’s expectations and agree to whatever match is chosen for em.
Reet is a young man who finds it difficult to fit in with his peers and his adopted family. Reet has no known biological relatives and his genetics are considered unusual and strangely distinct from any racial or heritage group known to the scientists on his planet.11 He’s plagued by intrusive desires to dissect and eat people, and despite his efforts to conceal his internal life, those around him find him “odd”12 and off-putting. As a result, he lives a fairly isolated life, working menial jobs and finding pleasure primarily in his favourite foods and watching and rewatching his favourite television show.
When Enae meets him and learns of his unusual history, sie quickly realises that he is the offspring of the alien fugitive sie has been searching for. When sie reports this discovery, authorities act quickly to detain and isolate Reet and return him to the Presger translators. Through the work of Enae, Reet’s adopted parents, and various lawyers, Reet’s case is brought before an interspecies counsel which will decide whether or not Reet has the right to identify as a human and choose to live in the human world, or if he must be turned over to the Presger translators and live under their authority with little relative freedom and no access to his adoptive family. After Meeting Qven, Reet is able to add em to the petition, potentially giving em the opportunity to also choose a human life.
The council set to determine Reet and Qven’s fate is tasked with determining whether or not, under a complex interspecies treaty, Reet and Qven have a right to declare themselves human beings. This would free them from the authority of the Presger translators and instead live in the human world with all the rights and responsibilities of other human beings. Conversely, if the committee were to rule against them, they would be taken into the custody of the Presger translators, where they would likely be strictly confined, controlled, and denied access to Reet’s family and the rest of the human world. Although precedent and treaty are arguably on their side, Reet and Qven’s freedom is threatened by concerns that they might pose a danger to society. Presger juveniles are very violent and have a strong desire to dissect and eat those around them. Some members of the committee are thus concerned that either Reet, Qven or their offspring could be dangerous if allowed to move freely through the human world.
There are significant parallels between this committee and the various boards, committees and courts that characterised the eugenics movement. In the early 20th century the United States and Canada enacted various eugenic laws and policies aimed at segregating, controlling, and sterilising individuals deemed “defective” or “degenerate” in order to eliminate the supposed harm they and their potential offspring posed to the public. Under these policies, tens of thousands of people in North America were forcibly sterilised and many more were institutionalised against their will.1314 These policies were justified by the threats these individuals allegedly posed, both to the public through their ‘unseemly’ appearance and behaviours, and to the future of civilization through the continuation of their ‘inferior’ genes.15 Various committees, boards and courts were responsible for overseeing and enforcing these laws and determining the fates of thousands of marginalised individuals.
Like these eugenics boards, the interspecies committee overseeing Reet and Qven’s case is responsible for determining who has a right to self-determination and who is too different to be safely afforded those rights. Those opposed to Reet and Qven attaining human status argue that even if Reet and Qven themselves do not pose a threat, their offspring would threaten the lives of all humans as well as the sanctity of the treaty that prevents interspecies warfare. Thus, much like eugenicists of the past, they argue that allowing freedom to those with non-normative bodies poses an existential threat to society.
Where the interspecies committee differs from eugenics boards and courts is in their genuine concern for the wellbeing of the individuals whose cases they are ruling on, and their scepticism of dramatic fear-inducing claims. Both Qven and Reet are present for the entirety of the committee’s meeting, and are given ample opportunity to speak for themselves and express their wishes. Additionally, the broad claims made by the Presger translators and others opposed to Reet’s petition are treated critically and with scepticism. The notion that Reet and Qven’s freedom would threaten the safety of humanity and the order of the universe is critically considered and ultimately discounted. In the end the committee decides that Reet and Qven are human and thus free to live where and how they please.
Compellingly this resolution does not in any way cure Qven of eir trauma, but simply gives em the opportunity to make eir own choices and pursue eir own happiness. This outcome, along with Leckie’s overall focus on the value of self-determination, argues for disabled people’s right to define our experiences, make our own choices, and live unsegregated in our communities.
Translation State 189
189
324, 340, 389
413
Bodyminds Reimagined 28
Translation State 58
93
117
236
117-118
49, 128
20-21
Feminist, Queer, Crip 30
Feminist, Queer, Crip 31