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Playing Characters with Disabilities


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Another ginormous poll because I love polls.

 

Anyway! The Character Concepts You'd Like to Try thread has gotten me thinking about this topic. I don't think there's any arguing that characters with any kind of disability are underrepresented in RP, and I'd like to talk about that!

 

Why do you think disabled characters are so uncommon?

Why do people shy away from plotting and posting with disabled characters?

If you've played one before, what made you decide to play them? What was your experience with them like? How did other people react to the character? What challenges did you face? Was the experience rewarding for you? How so?

If you've not played a disabled character before- why not?

Is there anything we can do to increase the representation of disabled characters (outside of 'make more!')?

 

I think that characters with disabilities are uncommon because people are concerned about portraying it accurately, and sometimes it can be hard to find the right information on certain issues. But I think that a large contributing factor to the lack of disabled characters is the fact that people are very concerned about their characters being likable and about getting plots with a character. That's understandable, as RP is a hobby that relies on other people, and if no one else is posting with you then you're not going to be having any fun.

 

I'm not really sure where the stigma on plotting and playing with disabled characters comes from, though. I guess a lot of people are into romance in their RPs, and for whatever reason don't think that disabled characters could ever be considered attractive????????????? I'm just taking a stab in the dark here, since romance is never the point of my RP and I don't really know. I've never avoided plotting with a disabled character because I think they can provide challenges- which are fun! The disabled character that was not my own that I played with most recently had been severely messed up by the mob, and had even had her poor eyes poked out. My character fell in love with her almost immediately, not because of how she looked, but because he greatly admires strength and perseverance and there really is no better way to say "fuck you" to the people who fucked you up other than going out and making a life for yourself, which Miss Eyeless did. My guy thought that was really great and was just smitten from the get go because he felt he could only aspire to be that tough and was amazed that anyone could be as tough as her.

 

I've played characters with disabilities before as well. Most recently, I played a Templar Knight who lost both an arm and a leg as the result of a fight, which meant that he could no longer fight (of course).  This loss happened ICly, so it was a wild ride while he tried to cope with the fact that the thing he was born to do and had done all his life was a thing he couldn't do anymore. There was a whole storm of emotions to go through and deal with, and it was really interesting to see parts of his social circle fall away, and how other characters came to help repair it. It was fun to have him try and figure a way around his disability as well, as he's never been the type to be content to have other people taking care of him and has always had a clever mind for inventing things. It was INCREDIBLY STRESSFUL to write about and whenever I had to write with him he was always kind of simmering in anger, but I'm glad I got to go through that experience with him (even if he's not LOL) because I got to see a whole different side of him and the RP he was in. It made me think on my toes and stretch muscles I hadn't used before.

 

Aside from playing more disabled characters, I think that there needs to be more information provided on them. The RP community has a great wealth of information and experiences on these matters within it, I'm sure. At some point in our lives, all of us have probably known someone with some sort of disability. For example, my mom is legally blind, so I know a lot about the problems that blind people face even though I'm not blind myself. It could be of help if I wrote some information about that in a guide or something, so other people can use my experiences in their RP. The reason I've not done this before is simply because I literally didn't think of that until right this very second LOL. But I'll add that to my list of things to do.

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Oh the irony, lol. I would play the perfect deaf character, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I think because I'm forever observing other people in my world and most everyone in my life is hearing. It's incredible to me when I see my husband hearing something that I didn't and reacting to what he hears. I think it's also because I have a cochlear implant and I've been exploring what sound is for the past decade, so I enjoy writing it a bit. The funny thing is, though, that more often than not when you read my posts, you will see other senses explored more than sound. My characters are always seeing, feeling, tasting, smelling -- and forgetting to hear. On the flipside, I'll notice this and ... in some cases, over-emphasize their ability to hear things (like my badass Siam because he's a warrior or like my gypsy who enjoys singing). In a way, they all subtly show that their mun is deaf. It's kind of like how a hearing person might play a deaf character and over-emphasize their inability to hear, maybe.

 

If I were to play a deaf character, I would most likely only broadcast that in certain places like the bio or something. Other than that, in posts, I'd probably do the same as I try do with the hearing characters which is have them react or behave a certain way with subtle clues to their issues. I don't need to say "She/he didn't hear..." when I can say "She/he tilted her head, studying the painting on the wall" (missing that someone said something behind them). Heck, if the other player doesn't realize the char is deaf without reading the bio and their char acts realistically like "ARE YOU IGNORING ME", then that's the perfect portrayal of my life LOL. I can't tell you how many times my husband bristled in defense of me if someone is like, "dude is your wife ignoring me??" and he narrows his eyes, puts his hand on my lower back to signal me, and goes, "Pardon me, my wife didn't hear you".

 

I could play other disabilities fairly easily, too. Exploring everything sounds like fun to me! 

 

Is there anything we can do to increase the representation of disabled characters?

I've got one solution. Don't harass about it. On one site I played on, people kept acting like it was weird that more than one person chose to play blind characters. "You're copying me" kind of thing, you know? On one hand, I understood when two of the blind characters had similar background, history, plot, and their badass abilities to get around in the world easily despite the lack of sight and that makes the first person to make it go all -_- MY IDEA. On the other hand, I'm like, what the fuck? Get over it. The writing styles were different enough for this instance to work. Just because you already got a char of one particular disability on site don't mean another can't do it, too. Hello, you have over 10+ hearing characters, do you think all you hearing peeps are copying each other?

 

Second, model. If you want to encourage diversity, you model it. You want more black peeps on the site? Have at least one or two in your own legion. You want a deaf, blind, paralyzed, amputee, or mute char? Have one of those in your own list of chars. C'mon. You got this.

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46 minutes ago, kay said:

Oh the irony, lol. I would play the perfect deaf character, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I think because I'm forever observing other people in my world and most everyone in my life is hearing. It's incredible to me when I see my husband hearing something that I didn't and reacting to what he hears. I think it's also because I have a cochlear implant and I've been exploring what sound is for the past decade, so I enjoy writing it a bit. The funny thing is, though, that more often than not when you read my posts, you will see other senses explored more than sound. My characters are always seeing, feeling, tasting, smelling -- and forgetting to hear. On the flipside, I'll notice this and ... in some cases, over-emphasize their ability to hear things (like my badass Siam because he's a warrior or like my gypsy who enjoys singing). In a way, they all subtly show that their mun is deaf. It's kind of like how a hearing person might play a deaf character and over-emphasize their inability to hear, maybe.

 

If I were to play a deaf character, I would most likely only broadcast that in certain places like the bio or something. Other than that, in posts, I'd probably do the same as I try do with the hearing characters which is have them react or behave a certain way with subtle clues to their issues. I don't need to say "She/he didn't hear..." when I can say "She/he tilted her head, studying the painting on the wall" (missing that someone said something behind them). Heck, if the other player doesn't realize the char is deaf without reading the bio and their char acts realistically like "ARE YOU IGNORING ME", then that's the perfect portrayal of my life LOL. I can't tell you how many times my husband bristled in defense of me if someone is like, "dude is your wife ignoring me??" and he narrows his eyes, puts his hand on my lower back to signal me, and goes, "Pardon me, my wife didn't hear you".

 

I could play other disabilities fairly easily, too. Exploring everything sounds like fun to me! 

 

Is there anything we can do to increase the representation of disabled characters?

I've got one solution. Don't harass about it. On one site I played on, people kept acting like it was weird that more than one person chose to play blind characters. "You're copying me" kind of thing, you know? On one hand, I understood when two of the blind characters had similar background, history, plot, and their badass abilities to get around in the world easily despite the lack of sight and that makes the first person to make it go all -_- MY IDEA. On the other hand, I'm like, what the fuck? Get over it. The writing styles were different enough for this instance to work. Just because you already got a char of one particular disability on site don't mean another can't do it, too. Hello, you have over 10+ hearing characters, do you think all you hearing peeps are copying each other?

 

Second, model. If you want to encourage diversity, you model it. You want more black peeps on the site? Have at least one or two in your own legion. You want a deaf, blind, paralyzed, amputee, or mute char? Have one of those in your own list of chars. C'mon. You got this.

 

Thank you so much for sharing! Truly insightful.

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18 minutes ago, misfit said:

 

Thank you so much for sharing! Truly insightful.

 

*bows* I do what I can! 

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I've played a blind character, a paraplegic, and a variety of mental issues that weren't really labeled or categorized as mental issues.  (As in it was obvious these people had something wrong, but they weren't really diagnosed.)

 

Why do you think disabled characters are so uncommon?

Disabled characters are uncommon because 1) there is a societal stigma about disabled people, particularly people with mental illness, and 2) there will always be someone there breathing down your neck saying, "You did it wrong!" and that freaks people out (rightfully so).  I believe that the latter is more intimidating to RPers, who are so often willing to explore other types of people and worlds.

 

Part of it has to do with the fact that there are so many people who clearly don't do their research about disabled characters.  I'm sure many of you have seen the good ol' insane asylum RPs where all of the mental illnesses are grossly misrepresented.  Or when characters have bipolar and they literally switch personalities from 'happy' to 'eat-your-face-off angry' within minutes.  Then other people say, "Man, I wish people would stop playing disabilities wrong!" and then people get freaked out about being "wrong."

 

The other thing is that some people--people with disabilities and people without disabilities--are so willing to jump down the throats of folk who are actually trying to make a correct character.  Firstly, no one is going to be perfect.  No matter how much research you do, you're probably still going to make mistakes.  But you always run the risk of people telling you that you screwed up, and that can be scary.  Secondly, people will say, "I have XYZ disability, and that's not what it's like for me!" without realizing that someone could be representing a disability correctly but not everyone with a disability has the same problems.  For example, someone can look at your character and say, "I have an anxiety disorder.  Your character doesn't have panic attacks like I do, so your character doesn't really have anxiety disorder.  Stop trying to label your characters with disorders to make them feel special."  When in reality, your character just has a different presentation of anxiety disorder.

 

tl;dr: People are afraid of playing a disabled characters because they might get it wrong.

 

 

Why do people shy away from plotting and posting with disabled characters?

Probably because there are a lot of people who just label their character with a disability to sound cool without doing any research.

 

But in reality, I haven't really had anyone who hasn't wanted to play with my disabled characters just because they were disabled.

 

If you've played one before, what made you decide to play them? What was your experience with them like? How did other people react to the character? What challenges did you face? Was the experience rewarding for you? How so?

Honestly, I can't remember why I made the blind character.  I guess I just thought it was an interesting concept.  The paraplegic character lost his ability to walk during gameplay, so it kind of just happened, and it was fun.  Probably the biggest challenge was that I'd forget about their disabilities.  On more than one occasion, tired Uaithne made the blind character see and the paraplegic character walk.  (. . . Like Jesus?)  Then I had to go back and edit the posts so that they were correct once I was more awake.

 

Yes, the experience was rewarding.  I'd like to play more disabled characters in the future.  I know I mentioned in another thread that I want to play someone who is truly a narcissist.  I've done some research on personality disorders, so I'm confident that I could do a good job.

 

Is there anything we can do to increase the representation of disabled characters (outside of 'make more!')?

I don't know if we really need to.  I'm not of the camp where we need disabled characters for the sake of increasing diversity.  That said, I think we should encourage people to properly research disabilities so that they're not scared of playing one if they really want to go down that path.  Write the type of character you want to write, disabled or not.

 

My suggestion on this is not just to look up what the disability is in technical terms but to find blogs of a variety of different people and read about their experiences so that you can understand not just what is physically happening to the character but how someone would react to having that sort of experience.

 

People also don't need to "label" their characters for the sake of labeling them.  I saw one site where a member had 10+ characters, each one with a shiny label.  Autism, personality disorders, ADHD, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, etc -- oftentimes more than one disorder per character.  I couldn't really see how the disabilities actually impacted the characters, so to me as an outsider, it appeared that they gave the characters labels to make them hip and cool.  I don't think this person had a single non-disabled character.  It all made me roll my eyes to the heavens.

 

Another suggestion I have is that if people are worried about doing it "wrong" when it comes to mental disorders, to just not label their characters at all.  Then no one can get after you for being wrong.  Obviously you still want to try and to attempt research, but don't freak out about it too much.  

 

But in general, people just need to be kind to each other and if an admin sees another person playing a character so vastly wrong that it's not even within the scope of the disability, the admin should politely correct the member and explain that the disability as the member is playing it does not fall within the bounds of the diagnostic criteria.

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@Uaithne has just highlighted why I don't play disabled characters, especially in regards to where people 'label their characters in an attempt to seem cool.' There is nothing 'cool' about people having a disability or mental illness and it's a serious issue for people who have them. Having said that, my characters may sometimes exhibit mental and behavioural problems due to things that they've picked up from their environment or past experiences, but I don't list it like a grocery list in their bios - it just comes out organically. I prefer referring mental illness has a behavioural problem rather than mental because mental can cover a wide range of issues including intellectual impairments, so mental is not always the right term. Instead of a 'grocery list' of problems, perhaps explaining why a character behaves a certain way to certain stimuli would be better. It's easier to understand why a character has a fear of dogs, for example, if they were mauled by a large dog as a child instead of just listing the character suffers from PTSD.

 

I have come across parody rpers who have treated disabilities, mental illness and medical conditions as something to be made fun of which is something that you might want to keep an eye on as an admin or a moderator if members start doing that with their characters.

 

I don't like the idea that people 'must play a character with a disability' for reasons of representation. I find this to be a shallow reason. If people are inspired to write characters with them, need to explore an issue they have personal experience with or want to broaden their horizons, then those are good reasons!

 

Finally, you have to be cautious with whom you rp characters with disabilities with because if a person has known someone who suffers badly from depression for example, or has had an elderly relative suffer from dementia and would find story-lines with this to be triggering. You need to make sure that the people you're writing with are comfortable with this before writing with them (and if you need to write characters with disabilities, they don't need to be written in rp - you can write them in stories for yourself.)

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Why do you think disabled characters are so uncommon?

 

I think it's honestly because of under representation elsewhere. From my personal experience, there are very few disabled people in my life. I can think of only one disabled person I interact with regularly, at least with an obvious disability that I know about, and even then "regularly" is used loosely. In the industry and environment I live in, they're either uncommon or they don't have an obvious disability that I recognize, so exposure plays into it as well.

 

As an extension of that, disabled people aren't really represented in media, so there's little exposure there as well. Sure, there are some prevalent shows and books and whatnot that explore people with disabilities, but it's not quite "mainstream." There's a certain societal expectation and then there's political correctness, too, and I think that, without the exposure those types of people and characters deserve, it's a little frightening to broach as a subject when you know so little about that lifestyle. Without living with a disability, and knowing that there's a sensitivity there, I think a lot of people don't want to risk hurting anyone or, as @Uaithne said, being "wrong."

 

Why do people shy away from plotting and posting with disabled characters?

 

I think it might have to do with just not knowing what to do with them. For a less mature or a shallow player, it might have something to do with not finding them attractive or desirable, but I don't really think that's the problem. I think it has more to do with not knowing how to interact and being afraid to either hurt feelings or not be able to play out the things they want to play out. More often than not, I think the issue lies in not knowing how to approach the disability.

 

If you've not played a disabled character before- why not?

 

I honestly don't even think about playing a disabled character. It's not an idea that pops into my head unless it's mentioned somewhere, like here. My own characters will struggle with addictions or the occasional mental illness, but that's not what I think of when I think of a disabled character. So I really think it stems from representation and exposure. Personally, I rarely interact with disabled people. Or, rather, I rarely interact with people with an obvious disability. In my work and home environments, they're just not common. So a: I don't know enough about disabled people to even begin to know how to play a disabled character and b: because I've had such little exposure, it doesn't even dawn on me that "oh hey, it would be really interesting to play a [disabled] character." 

 

But this discussion has really gotten me interested. While I'm currently capped out on characters on my current site, I think I'll look into exploring a disability with my next character when I can afford one. I can't believe I never thought about this before, but it's now a topic I really want to explore!

 

Is there anything we can do to increase the representation of disabled characters (outside of 'make more!')?

 

I think that just encouraging diversity in general can help with that. And to play them ourselves. The best way to get more of a certain type of character is to lead by example. Also, share resources among the community about disabilities and playing a disabled character (hint hint, if anyone has any I would be very interested in them now!). Getting information out there so you have informed players is the best way to do it right. And be open to critique and suggestion if you encounter someone with said disability or experience with it. 

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Why do you think disabled characters are so uncommon?

 

Because the fear of "getting it wrong" outweighs the desire to actually give it a shot.

 

Why do people shy away from plotting and posting with disabled characters?

 

No idea. In forums where there were characters with various disabilities, there wasn't a problem. Um in other words, the only site I've been on (not my own) with characters with disabilities belonged to @Gothams Reckoning XD Outside of those sites, the one that I spent an extended period of time on was super strict about what kind of characters you could have. No one was allowed to have a disability because ~magic~ (I can't believe that site now that I look back on it.)

 

If you've played one before, what made you decide to play them?

 

Mental disabilities just happen probably because it's a part of my lived experience. As @Sage talked about, if it's not a part of your lived experience it won't necessarily become a part of your characters without effort on your behalf.

 

Physical disabilities crop up as consequences for misadventures (serious and lasting injuries) or because I was told, you are going to do this. So I did.

 

What was your experience with them like? How did other people react to the character? What challenges did you face?

 

Fine! It's just another factor to keep in mind. I think the greatest challenge is in working out how much emphasis should be put on it.

 

Was the experience rewarding for you? How so?

 

I really like this character so, yes! 

 

Is there anything we can do to increase the representation of disabled characters (outside of 'make more!')?

 

More resources to draw on? Basically a concentrated effort to make it seem less difficult to pull off?

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The only time I ever try to move people away from disabilities are when they are unrealistic tropes. Example: On my old board we were set in the West Indies a good many years before trade between the East and West really took off. It happened, but not a lot. Therefore, it was hard for Chinese/Japanese/Eastern characters to really be in the setting without having one hell of a backstory and able to survive that trip. (not a one way ticket! This was a good year journey!)

 

Anyway, of the handful of Asian characters in play two of them were blind but like the trope: blind weaponmaster http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BlindWeaponmaster or handicapped badass http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HandicappedBadass

 

And yes these things can happen in many ways, but when there is a huge struggle with diversity in our TV, Movies, Games ect please try and be a little more original with the POC that we do have. Also this character was just able to move around perfectly without needing their eyes! You would never know! How great! *cough* Mary Sue *cough cough* (The other app was actually really well written and the player wrote in her struggles as well their achievements perfectly.)

 

Ultimately I was overruled (win some you lose some) and with a few other little tweaks it was hit with the approve stamp, because at the end of the day it is an RP.

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I have no interest to play a disabled character. Not because I'm afraid I'll get it wrong. (Actually I could care less here. I've very much reached the point where if someone wants to jump down my throat over something they best be prepared to be told off. I'm tired of the whole improper representation argument and it's other barrel argument of lack of representation. It's always one or the other. Either not playing them right or not enough of them. It's impossible to ever satisfy people here.)

 

The real reason I don't play disabled characters is because I don't want to. I want to play characters that have fantastic powers and abilities. Characters that can do things I probably never will be able to. And ones that will make choices I hope I never have to. 

 

Oh, and another reason I don't play disabled characters is because a lot of the time in the setting/genres I like to play it doesn't make sense for a lot of types of disabled characters to exist. I mean in a setting where technology can combine humans and machines into one... having a character who can't walk because of a car crash might be simply fixed with a new set of legs that are every bit as good as their original ones. Neurological diseases may be fixed simply by implanting a chip to regulate hormone or chemical levels, like a pacemaker except for serotonin (or whichever chemical is unbalanced). 

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I have a character that has a limp, haven't really had any problems with getting plots or anything.

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I played a disabled character for about 10 years. It was sometimes challenging to play someone with mobility and chronic pain issues, but it was even more challenging explaining to other players why Character would have to approach Situation in an entirely novel way. I hated saying, "She can't do that," since I feel that does her a disservice. She probably would want to do whatever I put in front of her, just as her (entirely unrelated to her disability) pragmatism would keep her from feeling depressed for even a second if someone denied her the opportunity to participate. She would find a way.

 

After I was officially diagnosed with hearing loss several years into playing this character, it helped me deal with my own perceptions of disability, including participation and engagement, as well as dealing with those individuals who seem to think they're doing the world a favor by downplaying the severity of a disability by making this character (or myself) seem more normalized because we're not really that disabled (if we just x, y, or z'ed) -- or worse, by asking people in a community who are more genuinely accepted as part of the group if I truly belong and I'm actually doing the poor-disabled-person thing right. This sort of thinking contributes to so many in the persons with disabilities and Deaf communities feeling like a child of two worlds. It was irritating as a roleplayer; it's heartbreaking as a late-deafened adult, and I am profoundly glad I was able to work out some of this conflict through storytelling. Now I have the words in real life to explain what I'm feeling. That's kinda cool, right?

 

I have run into people who ask why my character hasn't had surgery, why she hasn't tried yoga, why she hasn't done The Thing That Will Surely Cure Her -- and I recognized it instantly. I am hard of hearing and no surgery is going to instantly make me "normal" again. My hearing aids don't fix my hearing and I still get really grumpy after heavy-listening days, especially when I can't seem to hear anything right, or I've asked someone to repeat themselves five times. She walks with a cane and her pain makes her a difficult person to like sometimes. Most people who have cared for a person living in chronic pain will recognize this. You love that person. That person is in pain. That pain is making that person act in ways that are unexpectedly hurtful.

 

In both of our cases, well meaning people would kill to make us "whole" again, not realizing that this adversity is now a part of us. It's the context in which we read our worlds. And sometimes there just isn't an easy solution.

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Why do you think disabled characters are so uncommon?

Honestly, I'm not sure. I wouldn't say they're super uncommon cause I see a lot of characters with issues on forums that fall under the umbrella of a disability, but most people just don't consider the character to be disabled. I know as to representation of outwardly visible disabled characters that is something you see less of than those with "hidden illness" as it were, but I'm not sure exactly why that is honestly. Some of it could be fear of misrepresenting, some of it could be fear that people won't play with you, and some of it could be that people will attack you for playing said character for one reason or another(I remember I used to be terrified to touch a PoC character cause I watched actual PoC players get attacked by non-PoC and other PoC for their character "talking white" or "not being x enough", etc and it took me ages to get past the fear of being jumped on like that). These are the more likely reasons I think? But I can't say 100% positively why.

 

Why do people shy away from plotting and posting with disabled characters?

Perhaps it's the fear of misrepresentation, and they think maybe a character isn't representing the disability well, but if that's the case it'd be much better to actually interact/talk with the player and the character. To try to help them work toward it. Or to just. . . ask. I've seen people get accused of not playing a disabled character right when I could choose multiple experiences from said disabled character's life and relate to them in as far as some of my own experiences. Sure others might not be able to, but every disabled persons experience is different. Other times, I will say I have ran into just purely shallow players who don't want to interact with someone unless they fit a certain trope or think it'll limit the ability for them to do fun things in a thread or cause if they're visibly disabled they might not be "pretty enough". Scars are only sexy in limited context apparently. Surgical doesn't count to those types.

 

If you've played one before, what made you decide to play them? What was your experience with them like? How did other people react to the character? What challenges did you face? Was the experience rewarding for you? How so?

I've played many disabled characters. I didn't realize it until I was reading this thread. At first I was like "hmm I haven't played many, maybe one or two" but then I started thinking back. I've had characters with mental illness such as bipolar disorder though for the historical time period it was called manic depression, anxiety, PTSD, depression. And I've had characters with physical disabilities - some visible and some not - such as a teenage former track star who got Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, a former Knight of a church order/military soldier who still occasionally fought that had a bad arm which gave him trouble with fighting on occasion and also with just day-to-day tasks like lifting stuff/building things, a former French naval character who got injured when his ship was attacked and ofttimes walked with a limp due to said injury, a healer who became blind after her dying(and therefore thinking he was in a battle) knocking her back into a wall(I never got to decide if it was temporary or permanent though I may have that chance now with a sorta reincarnation of said charrie), and so forth.

 

My experiences were that I enjoyed them all. I loved(and in some cases love as I still play them) each and every one of those characters. I don't think I've ever had any real issue with folks reacting to them poorly or choosing not to interact with them. As for reactions IC, if they know(ie visibility disability) or are witness to something(my former soldier with the limp some days walks normal, you can't tell so to see him with it is shocking or if he's having one of his manic episodes that can be a surprise), they were all pretty varied and that is how I expect responses to be. There is no acceptable response really. If IC bullying happened, I'd accept that too. Is it horrible? Yes, but that is an actual RL response and therefore it's not unrealistic to happen in writing. I did have a few cases where people were like "well, why does so-and-so have to be disabled" but they never argued it if it made sense. Even in sci-fi RPs where you can replace your limb with a robotic arm prosthetic, that doesn't change the fact that you still lost your arm and you're not just gonna be chill with it - that isn't how it works. There's still an adjustment period, a way in that you feel different, etc. and then you consider other factors like affordability, quality of said prosthetic, and roll from there. Or on magical/fantasy sites you have other ways to consider disabilities too(ie look at Harry Potter, for example - you can re-grow the bones in a limb that have been magicked away or easily get rid of muggle illness, but certain magic caused ones not necessarily). I always found ways to work in my disabled characters.

 

And sites that have "no this or that" type of disabled character is allowed to be played? I just slide right by them. Ignoring real world issues doesn't teach people how to write them with more care nor does it help representation. All it does is shut them up back in the box where they were before or have been all along. As to challenges, a great deal of research was needed, perhaps? But I don't consider that a challenge. The only challenge was that occasional site where someone wanted to know why they needed to be. . . and it's like "why not?" though I never played any of them cause it seemed/made me cool.

 

Is there anything we can do to increase the representation of disabled characters (outside of 'make more!')?

Well, first I'm going to say 'make more' cause that's just obvious and will help with representation the best way. Of course, you also have to be willing to do the research. Put in the time and effort. Look around not just medical sites that give you the diagnosis, but look at blogs, writing groups(you'll find people with disabilities in them, I assure you), and so on and so forth. Also don't be afraid to ask questions on a resource site of some sort, and don't let the fear of someone jumping down your throat deter you either. You'll never learn if you don't try. The biggest thing though is for sites to let people make these characters and not to just forbid/make a fuss about them right off the bat. And to also think outside the box about them. Disabled people can do amazing things, there's examples in history if you look. They don't have to fit this specific mold that staffers of a site have in mind to allow them, and you don't need a "limit" unless you're going to start limiting non-disabled characters as well.

 

As someone who is physically disabled, and deals with a whole host of chronic illness/pain issues, I will say that I've even let myself be briefly deterred from playing a disabled character before with something I had until I realized that not everyone's experience is the same. And that is how I decided to make my JRA character. In the end I took into account my own experience, but also applied others experiences and accounted for the changes in time(ie treatment methods from when I got it were not the same as they are now; kids who get it after a better chance of nipping it in the bud before it gets too bad and don't deal with some of what I do which is things I had to consider cause my track star could still run as to where I could barely bend my legs cause they were so stiff, etc). Sometimes you gotta take the plunge.

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Why do you think disabled characters are so uncommon?

@LOVEMEANDDESPAIR spoke about hidden illness, and that is a concept I think expands the range of disability in play. I am not sure that disabled characters are uncommon so much as unidentified, and that certain types of disability representation are what is more uncommon than disability itself.

 

"Hidden Illness" can apply to a wide range of mental and neurological situations that are not identifiable right off, but effect the way the character walks, talks, behaves, and what they are able to do in their everyday life.  When you expand the definition of disability, you find everything from mental situations such as PTSD, more severe cases of anxiety, depression, or other more classic mental illness someone could still keep away from the naked eye unless they experienced a triggering situation. To people who may have one leg shorter than the other, missing an eye, or a finger. If anything is more uncommon, it could be those disabilities that require more thought to write, research, and do not have as easy a work around as others.

 

Why do people shy away from plotting and posting with disabled characters?

 

People could find it daunting and concerning for misrepresentation to write something such as varying  degrees of paralysis or more challenging, forward facing conditions such as physical deformity alone or as a result of another condition.  It could be seen as too limiting and not give a writer enough range to interact in an environment, too. There is also the way in which the game setting may view disabled characters that run contrary to a creator's vision for them. Playing a person with disabilities in a modern setting is different than a historical setting, or even a fantasy setting with certain parameters of limitation or acceptance. 

 

The head space it takes as a writer, too, requires being that much more consistence of items in scenes. It requires, at times, a disconnect from how we may view things versus getting in to the setting view. 

 

If you've played one before, what made you decide to play them? What was your experience with them like? How did other people react to the character? What challenges did you face? Was the experience rewarding for you? How so?

 

I have played characters with a disability for years. Sometimes, disabilities disappear under the descriptive words used to label them.  A physical flaw, a quirk, some sort of character listing that really didn't include the word disability as a definer. However, the community has become much more aware of various representations in recent years to where it's much easier to not only identify, but to realize what one is writing. This could also result in low visibility of disabled characters, because of a low occurrence or lack of the word until recent times.  

 

Things that I have written in characters include life-long issues as a result of an illness or injury such as: issues as a result of head trauma,  blindness in varying degrees from partial to full, various medical conditions that prevented fuller participation or prolonged participation in events, losing the ability to walk, injury as a result of war that included weak or near useless limbs, nerve damage, limb amputation, and chronic pain/fibromyalgia. Another area that I use very often are psychological impressions that feed in to mental illness or scars as a result of event, or just in born: PTSD, auditory hallucinations, full experience of auditory and visual hallucinations, various mental illnesses and symptoms. 

 

The challenges I faced were the years in which I played them, meaning historical or fantasy historical settings. Sometimes, this would make me par back certain condition severity. Now, I prefer a more  wounded pursuit. Some things may be lessened while other things are very severe. There are times I find myself puzzled as to how I might do, say, or react while writing for this character. The rewards?  The character development, growth, and moments of story victory as a result! When your character reaches a level of importance despite external world and internal disability limitation? You want to dance! 

 

Is there anything we can do to increase the representation of disabled characters (outside of 'make more!')?

 

I think the biggest thing is to expand the definition of disability so that the spectrum of severity is seen from small to wider things of impact. Writer's should see what in their settings could be challenges for disabled characters to overcome, and write them as doing such, especially in plays where history would say they are more limited or current social values place them as "perceived less" but leave room on the curve for exception.  If they are curious about representation? Ask!  Forums like this prove great places to get perspective. Watch films, read articles and books. An expansion of the writer's mind to realize that there is much more a person can do than we think that they can while given less than status quo to work with is key, as well as remembering to have some room for learning. No one is going to be perfect right off the bat.  This can also be applied to specific settings where one may think that they know how the era viewed  a disabled person, while remembering that admin and members alike should leave room to learn themselves what could be possible, too. Finally?  In certain settings where the restrictions to individuals with disabilities are present, and harsher than our present day? Not to demonize people that write out those situations, because that is just as much a part of representation as the victory pieces. 

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Why do you think disabled characters are so uncommon?

Hm. I'd say underrepresentation in the media plays a huge role in this. Some people have said that the idea of playing a disabled character hadn't even popped into their heads before reading this thread, and others have stated that they don't want to play disabled characters because they want to play superpowered or otherwise larger than life characters. Both goes to show that people with disabilities just aren't present in our lived realities, at all - what others have stated - if you don't have a family member or otherwise close friend or work in that profession. The latter also shows us how neglected disabled people are in especially fantastic stories and fiction - like, why the hell shouldn't a disabled character be a superhero? Or have fantastic powers (that don't magically negate their disability), or be the most important person in the universe, or what have you? Doesn't make sense. 

 

If you've played one before, what made you decide to play them? What was your experience with them like? How did other people react to the character? What challenges did you face? Was the experience rewarding for you? How so?

I don't really consciously decide to make a character disabled - like, I don't think to myself, I wanna make a disabled character, and then go from there. I start with a rough character idea, inspired by literally anything, and it just happens in the process. I've been playing both physically and mentally disabled (personality disorders) characters for years - but only on 1x1s, so I can't really say anything about plots or player reactions, since me and my partner are both involved in each others character creation process. Me and my partner both love our characters, but - and I'm not sure how to word this right so I'm giving it my best shot - I'm not 100% on that the disability is/was in itself a rewarding thing to play out? It's another (important!) facet of a character, so the rewarding experiences kinda cover all of that? 

Challenges - well, research is always a big thing with disability, and finding good sources on things can be hard. 

 

Is there anything we can do to increase the representation of disabled characters (outside of 'make more!')?

Yep yep yep I actually got a huge thing (can you guess I got a lot to say abt this subject) I'd find very cool: Have creators and staff think about how their site lore affects people with disabilities. A lot of the time I see that people uncritically apply the real world ableism (societal standards & architectural stuff) to their original fantasy worlds, or even scifi, and it's like... why? You don't gotta do that. Stuff usually gets more interesting if you don't. Plus, even a throwaway line about disability in your sites lore can make people (or me, at least) feel like disabled characters are welcome on this board, and might encourage them to create some. 

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