Starts at $250/manuscript.

Does a character in your manuscript have cerebral palsy? As an editor with cerebral palsy, I would like offer my feedback as a sensitivity reader.

Sensitivity readers, also called authenticity readers, targeted beta readers, or diversity readers, offer a personal perspective on a manuscript that features a character that the author does not identify with. Examples of this include a white author writing characters of color, a non-adopted author writing about the adoption experience, or an able-bodied author writing about a physical disability.

I strongly support the #OwnVoices movement; I believe that we need diverse authors writing diverse characters. I believe in #DiverseBooks. I also believe that writers shouldn’t be scared to write outside of their own experiences and that marginalized populations deserve a broad representation. Sensitivity readers can help you not only make your representation more authentic, but also avoid inadvertently perpetuating outdated and harmful ideas of those not like you.

A word of caution: hiring a sensitivity reader does not then absolve you from responsibility or guarantee that all your readers will approve of your portrayal.

My cerebral palsy is called mild spastic diplegia. There is also moderate and profound, hemiplegia and quadriplegia. Everyone’s experience of cerebral palsy is different; even those of us with the same type do not walk exactly the same way, for example. My feedback on your character comes only from my single lived experience. Of course, I’ve talked to other CPers, and there are some near-universal moments in our lives. Still, if it’s feasible, receiving feedback from more than one reader is always best.

Sensitivity reads should be done before the copyediting stage. You can expect to make several changes to scene and dialogue after feedback. Sensitivity reading is not editing; it is a written response to one character’s representation throughout the manuscript.