I have been wondering about RPing disabilities for a while, myself. Mental and physical disadvantages have always been controversial in video games, with escapists saying that "people with disabilities play games to forget their disabilities, they don't want to see them in there too", and others instead insisting that the lack of characters with disabilities in most of videogames is to be considered discriminative of people who have them IRL, because it's like refusing to acknowledge their existence.
A huge example is the many threads of discussion for the Sims games to include chairbound, blind, deaf etc. avatars in their games.
It's a big actual controversy sadly, which often comes down to the company deciding if they have a solid enough amount of demand from the players to use it to protect themselves from the arguments against the implementation of such.
So, again, it's subjective. I cannot speak for many disabilities myself so I will not pretend like I can. The closest I have to that is my face being disfigured from a nasty scar (I was bit by my dog when I was 7), and personally, seeing characters with scars does not bother me. But it's subjective, and I cannot guarantee that RPing a mentally imparied character will not bother one who happens to have the same problem IRL.
I'm also not going to say that "Only people with X disability, X race, or X illness, or X diet, or X religion, or X sexual orientation should RP that", because then Jim Carrey shouldn't have acted as a gay man, or X shouldn't have played the role of a blind girl, or no not-chairbound fan of the X-man should cosplay as Doctor Xavier. The challenge of diversity is one of the beautiful things of being an actor/roleplayer, and it shouldn't be avoided. What should be avoided though, is to do it without proper research.
So I'd say, go ahead, but get research done and always remember to RP your nature with respect and dignity for those you are representing.
A huge example is the many threads of discussion for the Sims games to include chairbound, blind, deaf etc. avatars in their games.
It's a big actual controversy sadly, which often comes down to the company deciding if they have a solid enough amount of demand from the players to use it to protect themselves from the arguments against the implementation of such.
So, again, it's subjective. I cannot speak for many disabilities myself so I will not pretend like I can. The closest I have to that is my face being disfigured from a nasty scar (I was bit by my dog when I was 7), and personally, seeing characters with scars does not bother me. But it's subjective, and I cannot guarantee that RPing a mentally imparied character will not bother one who happens to have the same problem IRL.
I'm also not going to say that "Only people with X disability, X race, or X illness, or X diet, or X religion, or X sexual orientation should RP that", because then Jim Carrey shouldn't have acted as a gay man, or X shouldn't have played the role of a blind girl, or no not-chairbound fan of the X-man should cosplay as Doctor Xavier. The challenge of diversity is one of the beautiful things of being an actor/roleplayer, and it shouldn't be avoided. What should be avoided though, is to do it without proper research.
So I'd say, go ahead, but get research done and always remember to RP your nature with respect and dignity for those you are representing.
To be an interesting, intriguing, well-written character, there needs to be something to allow the audience to relate to them. That is what the problem is with who wants their character to be "perfect". Perfect characters will never be strong, and strong characters will never be perfect, because WE (those who read, who watch, who RP) are not perfect.
"What makes a strong character is how they deal with their flaws, their fears, their turmoils, their troubles that get in the way. That's what makes them relatable." -- N.C.
"What makes a strong character is how they deal with their flaws, their fears, their turmoils, their troubles that get in the way. That's what makes them relatable." -- N.C.
