Character Theory Writing as Characters with Disabilities

[Chordling]

I found it interesting that I have never created a character with a disability before and it is something that I only recently realized. I would love to create more characters with disabilities in the future to expand the diversity that I already try to include and one of the important things I want to be cognizant of is how I treat the character's disability as I write them. I already have a few ideas in mind about how I would like to educate myself about specific disabilities that I would feel comfortable describing but I'm also curious about what others like to do, too. Feel free to share a CS or two with your thoughts!

 

[Lioness075]

Well, luckily and not-so luckily for me, I tend to write disabilities or similar ones to what I have IRL. If you want to learn more about nerve damage, osteoarthritis, or migraines, then let me know. XD

But I have also written numerous characters who are half-blind, missing a non-essential finger, suffering from an old burn injury, and I have written for selective mutes before. When it comes to any disability I have no personal experience in, I tend to hit up Google and at least educate myself on the common symptoms and then read forums where people suffering from these problem congregate to discuss it. First-hand accounts of the disability tend to be the most informative imo.

I'm also mindful of what disability I give my character if I know there will be combat scenarios in the RP I'm joining. Sometimes it might make more sense just to give your character a gnarly scar over an actual disability.

 

[nerdy tangents]

So I have also toyed with adding in disabilities into my roleplays. One thing I like to do is ask people with the actual disability for feedback.

I do mostly slice of life roleplays though so I feel like this helps fill in information on just the daily life of someone with a disability.

So I would say make a thread to see if there are any people with the disability you want to add on RPN, and if they would be willing to help you brainstorm character ideas.

 

[Grey]

I know I have some good resources for this - after work I'll go through my files for them for you and post them here.
But one of the people I follow for this kind of thing is:

 

[Chordling]

I already love the combat wheel chair. Can’t wait to see the other resources you have!

 

[Malphaestus]

The first thing to consider, to me, is how your character interacts with their own flaws. Whether they've overcome the problem, or are still dealing with it, or find themselves looking down on themselves because of it. It all implies history, which is important when making a properly good character.

Proper representation and that is fine, respectfulness in portrayal is fine, but how your character handles their own issues is, in my opinion, more important.

 

[Chordling]

That’s a good point. Really dig into how they view themselves, their confidence, and esteem.

 

[M.J. Saulnier]

It's not something that should be done in a casual, "fun-oriented" setting where people readily and aggressively admit that this means nothing, and shouldn't be taken seriously.

Leave this to professional projects and settings, where the proper amount of real research (google doesn't quite cut it for some things) has been done, and the reasons for doing so go beyond wanting your art to seem more exulted.

 

[Sero]

When it comes to approaching disability, while it likely does not need to be repeated, research is your best friend. As a writer though, it's important not only to know what a disability is but to take in first and second-hand accounts of it.
As briefly mentioned above, I find that disabilities can be often dismissed in roleplay when someone views their character as kind, or accepting. The reality is, when someone is missing a limb people stare. Those who don't stare might be intentionally looking away. It's important to know the reality of how disabilities are perceived to write a realistic character. If the disability is obvious and they are used to people having a certain reaction, they may not trust those that easily accept them because it's outside of their personal norm, alternatively they might be incredibly pleased if they were raised in an accepting family.
I'm speaking more on observable disabilities, of course, because those that are rooted in behaviors such as Bipolar or ADHD might be approached differently.
I'd love to speak more on how people react and approach disabilities when it comes to writing characters but let's focus on the development of a character with one. One thing to keep in mind is that disabilities are very dynamic or complex, and oftentimes a disability might be a combination of things. For example, Bipolar is diagnosed as depression and mania, mania can lead into anxiety but anxiety and mania are not the exact same thing. Someone with Generalized depression might be asked if they have bipolar, simply because they state they have anxiety. There are a lot of moving parts to take into account.

I prattled on a bit, but I'd say the main points to focus on making a disabled character for me are:
- General Research (what is the disorder defined as, what are common symptoms, how often do they portray)
- First Hand accounts (What are different experiences with the same disability, how do they perceive their disability, do they even classify it as such? What personal difficulties or even benefits have they found with their disability.)
- Second hand accounts (How do they feel about their partner/child/friends disability? What emotions do they experience? If they perceive something as a struggle consider why and how they cope)
- Observation (If you know someone, observe them casually, or if there are videos watch how they interact with the world and how the world reacts in kind.. I wouldn't recommend just staring at people at the supermarket though, it's important to know your subject)

This is a very loose set of guidelines I tend to use and adapt. There's obviously much more you can dive into. The main thing though, take your character and the disability seriously and remember that in the end they are just a person. You can write people. Even if other players don't react realistically, your character should. Show not tell is a good principle to apply here. Show how they are affected, don't say how they're affected.

 

[Chordling]

Omg Sero thank you! That was very informative.

 

[Kiyoko Tomoe]

It's not something that should be done in a casual, "fun-oriented" setting where people readily and aggressively admit that this means nothing, and shouldn't be taken seriously.

Leave this to professional projects and settings, where the proper amount of real research (google doesn't quite cut it for some things) has been done, and the reasons for doing so go beyond wanting your art to seem more exulted.

I partially agree with this, but also disagree to an extent. Causal and "fun-oriented" doesn't mean "meaningless", and if anything, someone might go to the casual and fun-oriented writing in order to just get everything out without it mattering how they get it out because there's no real constraint or limitation of "serious focus on this specific topic because this is a serious and prim and proper story here". While yes, I agree research is a must for anyone writing for any kind of disability, even one that someone might think is as simple as "they can't speak, what more do I have to know?" (As someone that's been incapable of speech 14 years, lemme tell you, it's not that simple xD). If you're the person in question with the disability, or you suffer stress in your daily life because someone close and dear to you suffers from that disability and you have first-hand knowledge of it, then I think it should be acceptable for those individuals to write characters with said disabilit(y/ies) on the condition that they stay true to the original intent of the story/writing (Because yes, you can write a disabled individual into a happy and fun story and make it a happy and fun character. It's hard sticking true to the disability while still writing the story fun, but it can very much be done in many different ways).

Generally though, most people shouldn't be writing a disabled character in a fun-oriented / happy-go-lucky / positive vibes type of story, because you're right, it's not the proper setting for it unless you're the kind of person that needs that setting for getting out your personal life issues with that specific disease or disability being present in your life and your intent is to express your fantasizing of a positive / happy / fun moments despite the disability you or someone dear to you suffers from.


Also everyone should just copy/paste everything by Sero into a notepad or something and save that to your desktop, very good guidelines for understanding the basic requirements for writing a character with a disability.

 

[the scourge]

Ooh, here we go.

Mental disabilities function differently than physical disabilities in a few key ways. Namely that people cannot often tell, and often mistake them for other things. They also will more often think you may be faking said disability. When you are in a wheelchair, people assume you can't walk. They might pity you, but will they tell you to get up and stop faking it? Rarely. When you tell someone you have depression, you will at some point have someone unqualified to tell you you don't, that you need to suck life up and smile. These disabilities are not controlled by us. It takes treatment, whether that be therapy, medication, or even just better circumstances.

First-hand accounts are better for this. It doesn't matter if you know what causes a depressive episode or panic attack if you don't know what they feel like. You need to get inside the head of the person more than ever when the disability is in their head. Doctors will tell you how it works. Neurodivergants can tell you what it feels like.

If this is unwelcome, please ignore it. Just my two cents. : )

 

[Chordling]

I think it's wonderful that you recognize the difference between physical and mental disabilities. They are handled in different ways both by the medical professionals and by society so I think it's totally accurate to say that one may involve more emotional connection with research than the other.

 

[the scourge]

Additionally, I am always available for questions on certain mental issues-I'm not an expert, just neurodivergant.

 

[Crayons]

Mental disabilities function differently than physical disabilities in a few key ways. Namely that people cannot often tell, and often mistake them for other things. They also will more often think you may be faking said disability. When you are in a wheelchair, people assume you can't walk. They might pity you, but will they tell you to get up and stop faking it? Rarely. When you tell someone you have depression, you will at some point have someone unqualified to tell you you don't, that you need to suck life up and smile. These disabilities are not controlled by us. It takes treatment, whether that be therapy, medication, or even just better circumstances.

Let's not forget that a lot of physical disabilities are hidden too. Not everyone can tell that you have a disability by looking. Not everyone disabled is in a wheelchair or mobility aid.

Also ... yeah people genuinely do go up to wheelchair users and tell them to get up and stop faking it. Especially in my country where the prevailing attitude is that disabled people are welfare scroungers.

Oh which brings me on to...

Cultural attitudes to disability. What is the society like? Are they like the Spartans who think the "weak" should be taken off into the woods and left to die of exposure, or is it more of a caring, inclusive society where ill and disabled people are taken care of.

Did this person get a disability as a result of an accident, warfare, illness or were they born with it? This is also a big cultural factor. The society might be respectful of war vets for example, but think that those born disabled are something to be pitied/discarded. It could work the other way around ... maybe a war has left the society in need of some serious pacifism and ex-soldiers are vilified for being killers. (Think about how returnees from Vietnam were protested against, even though they weren't the ones responsible for the war.) In a war-like society, are combat-injury related disabilities seen as a good thing (you did a lot of fighting) or a bad thing (you're a crap fighter to let yourself get wounded).

Maybe there are some disabilities that are looked upon as a sign from the gods. For example - from my research from your RP Musician XD - if a person has fits and seizures, hallucinations or visions then they might be considered to be channelling the will of the spirits and trained as a medium. Or maybe they are thought of as possessed by demons.

With a lot of playing characters with disabilities you need a combination of research, yes, but also empathy and the ability to put yourself in the other's position. It does require a bit more careful imagining - what can/can't my character do, how does this impact them? but in a way it's not so much different than playing a non-disabled character.

Here's some things to avoid because they are annoying and/or disrespectful and/or cliche:

A character who gets miraculously "cured" from their disability.
A character whose main goal is to get miraculously "cured".
A character with a disability who has to sacrifice themselves so an abled person might live.
A character with a disability who has a magical workaround so that their disability doesn't really impact them at all and is just there for show.
A character with a "special power" that makes their disability negligible. (For example: blind, but has such incredibly heightened other senses that they are a master swordsman and can outfight everyone.)
A character who spends all their time angsting about their disability.
A character who nominally has a disability but it is never shown impacting them at all.


EDIT:

Generally though, most people shouldn't be writing a disabled character in a fun-oriented / happy-go-lucky / positive vibes type of story, because you're right, it's not the proper setting for it unless you're the kind of person that needs that setting for getting out your personal life issues with that specific disease or disability being present in your life and your intent is to express your fantasizing of a positive / happy / fun moments despite the disability you or someone dear to you suffers from.

I don't see why a disabled character shouldn't be in a fun-oriented etc. story. People with disabilities have fun too. I'd be interested to know why you you don't think it's a proper setting?

I think it might even be better for someone to start off writing disability in a fun/casual story because it will ease them into the character better than suddenly planting them in the middle of a ton of action.

 

[Crow]

Yeah, people in wheelchairs appear in fun settings all the time.

Hmmm... how about a character written as if he has a mental disability, but the writer either never specifies or never intended it to be? Maybe something like asperger's or a tinge of psychopathy...

 

[nerdy tangents]

Yeah, people in wheelchairs appear in fun settings all the time.

Hmmm... how about a character written as if he has a mental disability, but the writer either never specifies or never intended it to be? Maybe something like asperger's or a tinge of psychopathy...

So I will take this one as it’s my compromise to one of my major deal breakers. No real world mental illnesses.

I refuse to play (or play against) a character with a real life mental disorder. However I have no problem with mental disorders existing in the story.

I get around this in two ways,

1. since all my roleplays are fantasy or sci fi, I tell my partner to just make up a mental disorder with the symptoms they want to portray.

2. Write your character with traits that could be linked to a mental disorder but never actually diagnose them with anything.

 

[Malphaestus]

Why are you against participating with a character that has a real mental disorder.

 

[nerdy tangents]

Why are you against participating with a character that has a real mental disorder.

About a decade of experience that shows me people don’t take it seriously.

It’s the disabilities equivalent of the abusive relationship trope in romance literature. In that a lot of people’s only exposure to mental health is through pop culture which usually uses it as short hand to character development.

In both cases as someone who has experience in real life with the scenarios it’s extremely frustrating to see them treated the same as any other over-used trope. Like I don’t like the “Not Like Other Girls Trope.” but at least it’s not making light of real life suffering. It just makes your female character insufferable.

But mental health shouldn’t be relegated to “Quirky Character with mood swings”, “Sad character” “Scaredy Cat character” “Crazy character that hears voices or has multiple personalities.”

Or if you are going to just write the trope don’t say they have bipolar disorder, depression, schizophrenia, etc. because they don’t have those disorders. They just have some trope that claims to be based on/inspired by those disorders.

 

[Malphaestus]

About a decade of experience that shows me people don’t take it seriously.

It’s the disabilities equivalent of the abusive relationship trope in romance literature. In that a lot of people’s only exposure to mental health is through pop culture which usually uses it as short hand to character development.

In both cases as someone who has experience in real life with the scenarios it’s extremely frustrating to see them treated the same as any other over-used trope. Like I don’t like the “Not Like Other Girls Trope.” but at least it’s not making light of real life suffering. It just makes your female character insufferable.

But mental health shouldn’t be relegated to “Quirky Character with mood swings”, “Sad character” “Scaredy Cat character” “Crazy character that hears voices or has multiple personalities.”

Or if you are going to just write the trope don’t say they have bipolar disorder, depression, schizophrenia, etc. because they don’t have those disorders. They just have some trope that claims to be based on/inspired by those disorders.

That is an odd way to handle it. It is literally the same thing, just with a different name. Is there a point to that? People are still making light of it, just not as obviously. People have always been like that, after all.

 

[Malphaestus]

Not a criticism, though.

 

[Chordling]

Changing the name of something might come from the idea of avoiding the stigma that comes with the original term. (Which I find ironic.) It is an interesting approach and I do believe that if you take this route that there still needs to be some level of research and empathy involved.

 

[nerdy tangents]

That is an odd way to handle it. It is literally the same thing, just with a different name. Is there a point to that? People are still making light of it, just not as obviously. People have always been like that, after all.

Not really because again as I said it all comes down to tropes. People aren’t aware that the tropes actually reflect real mental disorders. (And the tropes that do I wouldn’t allow)

Ex. “My character had mood swings and is hyper active.”

A little poorly written but it’s not describing any kind of mental disorder.

Ex. “My character is crazy, they hear voices and have violent outbursts.”

Not a huge fan of the word “crazy” but again that’s not a mental disorder. I might talk to the person about the use of the word crazy if they seem open to it but otherwise I will just ask clarifying questions about the characters portrayal.

Ex. My character schizophrenia and hallucinates all the time.

No. Schizophrenia is an actual mental disorder and I am not going to allow it into the roleplay.

Ex. My character as Cassandra’s curse. They suffer seizures and can spout off gibberish. It is thought in the moments of their seizure they are speaking prophecy in dead languages. But my character has no memory of her seizures nor any idea of what she is saying. It’s also sometimes assumed to be Demon Possession, and some religious folks will douse the sufferers in holy water to cleanse them of wicked influences.

That is totally made up fantasy mental illness but it’s given a grounding in the logic of that universe.

 

[Malphaestus]

Forgive me if I come off as rude, but I have a lot of questions regarding your approach to the matter. But I will not delve into it, this is neither the time nor place for such a discussion. It would take away from the meaning of the thread.

 

[Syntra]

I have to say, as someone who has struggled with mental health since childhood, I find it a bit iffy when neurotypical people choose to portray mentally ill characters. Think long and hard about why you (and I mean general 'you', not OP or anything in the thread) want to do it. Do you view it as this cool, interesting thing? A fun flavor? A convenient source of drama? It's not. It literally destroys people's lives, and seeing it portrayed as an accessory is eye-roll worthy.

I'm not saying neurotypical people are forbidden from playing such characters, of course, but you should be very, very careful. You can easily fall into the trap of romanticizing these conditions, or making them look insignificant, or making those characters about their illness only. None of that is respectful, or a realistic portrayal. Basically, you need to be thoughtful, empathic, open to research and, most importantly, view your character as a person, not a checklist of symptoms.