Disabled Characters

[darkknight]

We all like to have interesting characters, even if it means breaking their legs. Playing a character with a disability is both fun and a learning experience. Whether it's physical, mental, social, and so forth, it's just another aspect to explore with and share with others through your character. Handicap for the win, yea?

However, though it be, another person brought another thing to my attention. They said, "most characters with a mental illness is a psychopath," and this is true. Suffering from schizophrenia myself, it can be discouraging and stereotypical. Added, it is cliche, as if to say any character (and sometimes even real life people) who are mentally disable are like this.

There's never anything wrong with playing a character with an illness as long as you understand it. Like cannibalism, a disability of any kind should be played with respect. If you have a character or plan to create a character with a disability, play it through the character's eyes. Not just to be cool out-of-character or gain attention. Just be yourself and be your character while telling their story with dignity.

So how about you all? What kind of disabilities you like to experiment with or find a bit overused and abused? Do you like to play handicap characters? What ever the case, share your thoughts.

[Spottedbears]

disabilities?
insanity.
there's nothing to say on this topic. most of the "insane" characters are so awfully played..

being disabled to "get the part."
in most warrior RPs, there's always that one person that wants to be a medicine cat, so they're either blind or break their legs. this is awfully annoying, especially when someone else is already the apprentice of the medicine cat.

[LordSuragaha]

Ahhhh good discussions today hun.

I do enjoy playing as handicapped characters every once in a while because of the challenge. I can say that the main disability I've played in my characters is blindness or at least partial blindness. While I do believe it's a disability that users play as far too often it can be interesting if rped out right. Only two or my characters have ever had this disability and both got it differently. One slowly lost vision in both of his eyes due to a childhood accident and the other (Sura) lost partial vision in one of his eyes after defending a companion body and leaping into a blade.

Both tolerate their blindness differently but neither let's the disability bring them down. Both learn to empower their other senses to make up for their loss. While the first character enters a brief state of depression (since he can no longer see the female or pups he loved) he eventually learns to accept the challenge. Most often I notice users who play as blind characters victimizing themselves and becoming the drama queens of the rp. It's quite annoying really. While disabilities can often be debilitating they don't always have to get the best of the individual who has them. Users in game seem to suggest the opposite... The moment a character has a disability they suddenly become extremely dependent on the others and almost incapable of anything.

I have also seen users playing as mentally ill characters and rarely do they portray the disease they claim to have accurately. Often they just run around like fools. Most users seem to think that having schizophrenia makes them automatically into a deranged killer. It's so terrible when people don't bother to do the slightest bit of research before doing or acting out as something. I can only imagine how irritating it is to people who truly have the disability.

Mental illness is definitely up there with blindness among over used disabilities/diseases/etc. Depression is another.

[rustheart]

disabilities?
insanity.
there's nothing to say on this topic. most of the "insane" characters are so awfully played..

being disabled to "get the part."
in most warrior RPs, there's always that one person that wants to be a medicine cat, so they're either blind or break their legs. this is awfully annoying, especially when someone else is already the apprentice of the medicine cat.

Playing blind characters in fun and if you play them right it isn't annoying for the apprentice.  My two main characters, Rabbitfoot and Snow Shoe, are both blind and I don't see how it can bother other people.  But I never roleplayed with someone else with a blind character before so what do I know?

[Wyldercat]

I also like playing as partially blind or visually impaired characters. My 'sona Astuzia has stigmatism (when the eyeball(s) have an elliptical shape, thus resulting in slight double vision or slight blurriness) in both eyes. (And I might make a plot where she loses sight in her right eye entirely)

But as for everyone else, I think that it's good to have flaws such as disabilities, but not something so crazy that most of the people don't understand. I think a lot of people abuse disabilities for attention, and like Spotted said, they want a high rank in a roleplay, so they use pity or oppression to get it.

[greenart6]

I actually have a few mute characters that I enjoy roleplaying, such as my character Tii, who is mute and just wants to be treated normally by his siblings and the other hyenas, and I gave him some advantages for his large disadvantage (I guess), it's that he's smart, obedient, and has great hearing.

I kinda feel nervous roleplaying disabled characters, since I'm not disabled myself, and I feel like I'm getting something wrong or offending someone.

But I agree, most people link disability with 'craziness' and slap 'murderer' in their name.

[Spottedbears]

Playing blind characters in fun and if you play them right it isn't annoying for the apprentice.  My two main characters, Rabbitfoot and Snow Shoe, are both blind and I don't see how it can bother other people.  But I never roleplayed with someone else with a blind character before so what do I know?

well, what i meant was when people have characters become disabled specifically to become the medicine cat, i have no problem with blind characters. it's just that, more than half the medicine cats in the books were not blind, disabled, etc. and people think all of them are, that's what bothers me

sorry if it sounded offensive.

[Blindstar97]

I have always been (oddly) fascinated with blindness.  You see, I actually have a visual disorder that affects depth perception.   When I was younger I got interested in other eye disorders, ran into blindness, found it interesting, and made a strong, tough warrior cat named Blindeyes (rather an unimaginative name, I know, but I justify it still by the fact that her parents were complete jerks).  That awesome warrior managed to become a leader because she got all Daredevil like and used her other senses.  And that is why I am called Blindie :3 

I like to play something I am not to challenge myself, and disabled characters (when played well) can provide that.  How did Blindstar(eyes) struggle to be a warrior?  So, so much.  But through that struggle she learned and she grew and she accepted herself and it can add a very nice, interesting, and unique dynamic to a character.  I'm even going to make a very mentally challenged character too, based off the character Lennie from Of Mice and Men.  How will she (I said based, not is) grow to accept herself?  This new challenge is exciting for me and I can't wait to see if I can manage it.

My only problem is when people misuse disabilities, like to be cool or to be way too unique.  It can add to a unique dynamic, but that shouldn't be the only thing.  That would be boring.  Bad disabled characters are the ones who are making fun of or, as Fox put it, are disrespecting that certain handicap.  A good disabled character is one who respectfully displays that handicap and represents that specific handicap well, even if it might be in an evil light (dark?).

Disabilities can be interesting when role-played correctly, I would suggest it to anyone wanting something different.  Just make sure to do it right. 

Always Honorable,
Blindie

[Wolfie_Lover]

I, personally, love role-playing disabled characters (though, blindness is probably the worst as I've gone). I do find it very annoying whenever someone makes a blind, or just broken, character for a certain spot; or whenever I, myself, am called out for having a disabled character - because someone always makes a disabled character for a certain spot, yes. (If you couldn't tell, that was sarcasm.)

I love role-playing them, and that's all I have to say about that.
-Wolfie

[Yognaught]

I really love the idea of disabled characters. I actually have a character myself called Ink, who has only three legs.

But there has been some cases where people have misplayed these characters. I have actually seen a down-syndromed wolf, who was a total douche and was basically slagging them off. This made me extremely mad because I have a down-syndrome cousin and they were acting like it was the most horrible thing in the world.
This is one of the times I get upset from a game because some 8 year old decides to make fun of another person.