Issues for a non-speaking female MC
Hi! This is my first time finding this subreddit so please be kind if I’m asking something that’s been explained a million times that I missed. I have a story in mind where my main character has her voice magically suppressed (her body is magically turned to look human as well.) She’s a mythical creature whose culture is literally entirely about their voice. I want her to spend the majority of the story being non-speaking, where she signs to communicate and uses instruments to conjure facsimiles of her magic instead- think kind of like a bard in D&D. I want to portray her, and eventually a community of beings that are non-speaking or deaf, as realistically as possible. I have done research on the deaf and non-speaking communities and don’t want to marginalize anyone, so I have tried to make an authentic character with realistic setbacks and challenges without turning into a victim to be pitied.
My problem comes in to this: her overarching story is her trying to regain her true form. How do I balance her trying to reconnect with her true self without marginalizing non-speaking people? It feels disingenuous if she gets the magical removed from her and it’s just like, voila she can sing and now all her problems are solved! But at the same time, I feel like the metaphorical implications of her staying magically cuffed feels very… anti-feminist in a way? Because I want there to be a romance with a human male, keeping her human form and its inability to use her voice feels like she’s sacrificing a part of herself for a man- or at least to fit in better in his culture.
So really, any and all help is truly appreciated
Edit: I want to clarify that her voice and her true form were maliciously and intentionally taken from her without her consent
