Diversity and sensory disorders in comics the case of Diego Agrimbau and Lucas Varela’s Diagnósticos

Abstract

Taking as starting point the conception of comics away from its traditional monosensorial definition in favour of a multisensorial approach, the aim of this article is to examine the ability of comics to represent diversity and sensory disorders, focusing on the paradigmatic case of Diego Agrimbau and Lucas Varela’s Diagnósticos (2013). This volume of independent short stories connected by the presence of various sensory disorders makes use of some of the formal aspects of comics (such as the holistic vision and the different degrees of text-image integration) to explore the interior subjective point of view of its main characters, all of whom are women. This work is analysed in light of the Graphic Medicine movement, although, unlike what the title may suggest, it is a fictional comic that does not intend to be a medical handbook. Therefore, this text examines the potentiality of fictional comics to generate empathy, as well as other related aspects connected with functional diversity such as identity and gender. It is concluded that despite some stereotyped representations, Diagnósticos stands as a unique example of the depiction of sensory diversity in comics due to its experimental and self-conscious nature.