Glad to know it’s still alive 
As someone new to Choice of Games who took their username from one of their many conflicting diagnoses, I can’t definitively answer your question. From what I’ve seen in games - and this is not limited to CoG, this is across the entire video game medium - mental disabilities are rarely stated outright. This might be a good thing; a concrete diagnosis is notoriously hard to maintain, even among professionals. There’s a reason they call autism a spectrum.
That said, I’ve seen autism-like behavior crop up in the strangest places. A major component of ASD is the inability to naturally pick up on social cues. A writer can cause this effect by leaving out or obscuring character descriptions, which amateur writers tend to do on accident. Even at professional level, “Show, don’t tell” means that you’ll never innately know someone else’s feeling. For instance, if the writer says a character’s arm is shaking, the reader can’t “feel” the emotion. They have to “think” it. Logically, what does a trembling arm mean? Fear? Hesitancy? Maybe a medical problem? If the reader then has to make a choice, well…things go wrong. Anyone who’s run a tabletop RPG and had players misinterpret cues, you know what I mean.
I can’t give you any CoG recommendations, but I can give some general writing advice. As an extremely general rule, a person living with autism can’t think fast, but they can think well. They might panic when processing lots of information at once (for instance, a cluttered party), but give them enough time and they can ace any test. However, getting into right situation is easier said than done. For instance, if their disability causes them to be placed in the “special” classroom, they may lose out on potential friendships and social skills. But if the “special” classroom is specialized in autism, it might be easier for kids to relate. But if it’s an underfunded school or generic “emotional” school, the autistic kids might share classes with the anger management cases. Or if…okay, there’s a lot of “ifs”. No coping strategy will work for everyone, no matter how easy it would be to generalize.
Think of a disability as a character trait, just like any other. What do they think of their disability? What’s there living situation? Who are their supports, if any? What advantages can they capitalize on? Not reading social cues doesn’t mean they’re antisocial. They might be the only ones that can see through a charm offensive, or be willing to give the criminal a chance. Done right, an autistic character can be escapist, maybe even a power fantasy. Everyone listens to the authority figure because they play to everyone’s emotions, but just one person can see through their lies. Or maybe everyone’s scared of the monster, but this one kid sneaks out at night and plays with them. “Crippled train wreck” isn’t representation, it’s misrepresentation. And as someone living with whatever-the-doctors-say-I-have-today, I wanna find ways to overcome my disability, not sulk in how shitty my life supposedly is.
I’ve spent way too much time on this post. Again, I’m making an extreme generalization. It’s in bold, so you know I’m serious. Don’t pity someone because they have a disability, but don’t ignore it, either. The screwdriver can’t hammer a nail, but that doesn’t make it useless. Even if it’s that weird screwdriver, the one with the knobby end. You know, the one with the strained analogy.
I’m stopping now.
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I think one issue that can crop up is that when we rarely see ourselves represented in a certain way, we can expect when we do see it, it’ll feel true to how we experience it. Even though very often people have wildly different experiences. And when the field is so narrow it’s easy to get bad feelings that this ONE thing that should’ve been great fell flat for you, and feel like it’s objectively wrong - even though it might well represent someone else’s experience. That’s not to say there’s never examples of just plain bad handling of these topics of course.
This topic struck a chord with me because one of my good friends had a really bad experience with writing - not CYOA, but fanfic…anyway, she wrote about a disability that she herself has, but didn’t say anywhere that she has it in an author’s note or anywhere, and while some people did like her work some others took extreme offense to it existing because the portrayal of her condition was not how they experienced it, so they felt she couldn’t possibly have personal experience with it, and said things like “obviously didn’t even talk to someone with X condition” (sorry for being vague, but it isn’t my story to tell and was quite upsetting.).
I’m not really sure what the solution is - i think really what it is is MORE portrayals of disability (and other communites like LGBT stories where this also crops up) so it doesn’t feel like each individual story is trying to “speak for” the community as a whole.
for example for me, I have a vision disability, can’t drive due to it as well as some other things, but I really don’t think about it very often. So if I were to write about it it would just be a pretty minor fact that crops up pretty rarely. Others might feel differently. Or with depression, there’s a lot of disagreement about treatment, recovery etc. and how that works/should be shown. Some people loathe the idea of a mystical cure to any type of disability (I am generally not a fan myself) and others are OK with it. Some people take offense at a disabled villain because of the “evil disabled person” trope, others don’t mind it, etc. So I think just saying “talk to people” doesn’t always work cause you might talk to someone who has Idea A about their disability but someone else sees it completely differently. I do think it is important to talk to people involved though and get some awareness of the issues if you’re trying to write about them - for instance get some familiarity with the deaf/Deaf community if you’re trying to write a modern story about a character with hearing loss. But if it’s a fantasy setting, that’s a bit different.
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You know, I’m just gonna put this out there for the authors wanting to make a story of their own with someone that has a disability.
If you’re going to write a deaf character in your story, just ask me for my perspective and I’ll give you my honest opinion on being deaf seeing how I was born this way. However, I have met several deaf people with different perspectives of their own, like for example, I have a cochlear implant that helps me to hear so really I have the best of both deaf and hearing worlds here. But there are some deaf people that prefers to be completely deaf by choice or by a situation that makes it impossible for them have a cochlear implant. And there are some deaf people that insists on being able to hear with one so usually you don’t even know if they’re deaf or not until you see them wearing one or someone else tells you that because they do not like to talk about their deafness. It happens but please do remember that there are different perspectives of those that has a disability of their own.
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When I was doing research on deafness, the show: Switched at Birth was recommended to me and it seems like a great resource. It was there that I learned about the conflict involving the cochlear implant within the deaf community.
Anyways, I’d recommend the show to those seeking knowledge for multiple reasons, including the fact that the deaf characters in the show are actually deaf actors and the show’s writers do a lot to raise awareness of issues and concerns from their point of view.
Of course, it is not a perfect source but its a pretty good fallback when you don’t have access to someone as willing as @MichaelCrank, here, to help.
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It’s very much alive. In addition to Emily (mute), there is also a character with PTSD and another one with Dissociative Identity Disorder.
In the WIP Freak: Amidst the Neon Lights the main character is a mute, and in my opinion that’s being handled quite well.
In Deathless: The City’s Thirst the main character can have missing limbs and make use of prosthetics.
In Ratings War (I think? I’m not really sure) the main character has to implant new eyes…or something along those lines. I don’t really remember.
In Fatehaven, Silvana (I think that’s her name) gets her leg caught in a bear trap and it never properly recovers.
In Samurai of Hyuga 3 Momoko gets her tongue cut off by Junko.
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I think that Fallen Hero has done a good job portraying depression and the helplessness of it. And as others have mentioned Zombie Exodus has a number of characters that deal with various disabilities.
I only have one rule when it comes to portraying mental illness in fiction: either don’t use it or dedicate yourself to portraying it accurately. I have clinically diagnosed OCD among other mental illnesses. Last year, it took over my life. I spent most days lost in obsessive thoughts to the point I often considered terribly drastic measures. I had to basically put my life on hold to find the correct medications and change my thought patterns through therapy. It was a terrible experience and I’m always scared I’m going to relapse into a suicidally depressed state. So when some writers will simply give their character an OCD label because they wash their hands a lot, it frustrates me because it makes me feel like my illness is a quirk. A coat you can put on and take off every time you want to give a character a little more depth.
However, I’m also pretty understanding when I see authors put effort into the subject. I can usually tell when an author has researched or consulted people. They want to get it right. That’s what’s important to me, that you are trying. Knowing that it’s something that will effect you daily and takes a lot of work to manage. That’s really all I’m asking for.
And there’s always research help out there if you look for it. While I probably have at least one family member combating with any number of mental illnesses that I can ask, I’ve even asked my therapist for his opinion on hypothetical situations. Use beta testers input, please.
So TL;DR as long as you are putting the effort in and consulting knowledgeable voices, I think writing a character with a disability is great and it can give certain audience members someone relatable while calling attention to how important these issues are.
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I want to boost this, and add that depression is not the makings of a “beautifully sad” character. Don’t use it to show how “inspiring” your character’s perseverance is either. If you use it as an obstacle to be overcome by romantic love, I will fucking scream. Stop fetishizing it. (To be fair, I see more of this shit elsewhere than in this community. Just saying)
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Something struck me when reading this. What if the character doesn’t have OCD (or depression, or whatever), but thinks they do? Or: what if they’re misdiagnosed?
Say Steve is in first grade and can’t sit still. His teachers refer him to a guidance councilor, who recommends he get tested for ADHD. A doctor gives Steve a neuropsych test, which supports the diagnosis.
But Steve doesn’t have ADHD. He can’t sit still because his teachers suck and was flagged from the test due to bad test design/pressure to find a diagnosis. So now what?
Say Steve is a character in a story. His “ADHD” isn’t real, but is Steve still representing ADHD? What if it’s shown to the reader right off the bat? What if it’s never stated out loud? What if it’s revealed halfway through? If I were reading this story, I’d put it down if I think Steve represents ADHD, even if there’s a reveal later on.
At the same time, I do believe Steve the character deserves to be explored. In fact, if a reader has a preconceived notion of ADHD, Steve-as-plot-twist might be just what they need. Normally, this reader would complain if an ADHD character didn’t fit their stereotype. But Steve lets the writer use foreshadowing, showing in advance how and why Steve isn’t ADHD. Maybe he meets someone truly ADHD and can’t relate. Maybe his classmates are shown being just as rowdy as him. Maybe his teachers are later fired for bad performance. The reader slowly picks up on these clues, so when the reveal occurs, they’re willing to ignore the stereotype.
I’m not sure how to write Steve. If I had to try, I’d drop foreshadowing ASAP, so a reader experienced with ADHD can figure out it’s a misdiagnosis before they put the book down. But that risks blowing the twist for everyone else. But if it’s too subtle, then the savvy readers can’t figure it out. But…ugh.
Food for thought. The answer might be “one story can suit everybody”, but I don’t like saying that. True or not, I prefer to keep my audience as wide as possible until forced otherwise. Though this might be otherwise.
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When it comes to a misdiagnosis or something like it, it’s up to the author to accurately communicate it to the reader. The characters in your story can all be convinced that Steve has ADHD, but if the author knows the character doesn’t have it, then it should be obvious to the audience. There are ways to do this by using not only the effected character’s voice but also the actions, the setting, things that aren’t reliant on the biased views of the story’s characters.
For instance, my grandfather was misdiagnosed with Insomnia when he was younger. He got medication for it and while it helped with a few of the symptoms, he was never in a completely healthy state of mind. Eventually he went to a doctor later in life that realized he had actually had Depression. There was a significant change in his mood and behavior from that point on. It wasn’t perfect but it was manageable. So while the doctors and his friends and family might have been convinced, that didn’t change how he felt. Also, these ideas were a product of the time he lived in. We just didn’t know the same amount about mental illness that we do today. And even today, we’re far from perfect. But in a fictional scenario, the reader should be able to recognize that something is not right here, the same way my grandfather might have felt.
The most important thing is not invalidating someone’s experience. It’s true everyone’s experience is different. For instance, while many people want to be given space and not be touched during an anxiety attack, I personally take a lot of comfort from it and Deep Pressure Therapy is probably the most helpful thing for me when I’m experiencing a panic attack. However, there are some universal rules that always apply and I think that’s what the majority of people are upset about: when it comes to Depression, Anxiety, OCD or other mental illnesses, there is no simple fix for it.
When you tell a person with Depression, ‘Life is great for you, why can’t you just be happy?’, it’s like telling a person with cancer ‘What’s the big deal, just get better’ or someone in a wheelchair ‘Stop whining, just get up and walk.’ There are still many people who can’t make this connection though, and that’s why misinformation can be so harmful. Especially when it’s used as something as trivial as using it as a trendy label for a character to make them seem more complex.
In general, if you are putting the thought into it as you are in the above scenario and you are worrying about being accurate and considerate, then you probably don’t need to worry. You are putting more effort and thought into it than the writers I’m thinking of when I talk about this. Also, as I mentioned, beta testers are great for this. If one of your beta testers is upset with your portrayal, use their experience and concerns to correct it. Come up with a scene or scenes that you are both satisfied with.
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Ooh! Thank you! I will definitely make a note to beg you to be one of the betas when “The Floating City” is finally ready.
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That in itself makes me very twitchy because my husband, father-in-law, and daughter all have Inattentive ADD (notably NOT hyperactive at all, which is easier to diagnose).
My daughter is 6, and she is on hard-core meds to help with her ADD.
That sentence alone would make many people assume that I’m an abusive parent drugging my daughter to make parenting easier.
The truth is that ADHD is BOTH over- and under-diagnosed. But there exists a prejudice against ADD/ADHD drugs, and anyone who wrote about a fictional misdiagnosis would have to tread very carefully so as not to spread the idea that ADHD is not a real condition but just “kids being kids”.
I can volunteer myself as an ADHD/ADD resource, a bit. More as a relative than a sufferer, obviously.
Manic depression is another that’s often misdiagnosed because doctors tend to only see the patient when they’re depressed so they assume a less complicated disorder.
Women (and especially women’s issues) are especially prone to misdiagnosis. Studies show that this is a problem across the board, and various other horrifying stats such as that women’s reports of pain are treated with less powerful painkillers than the same reported pain levels in men.
The most awful statistic about medical bias is about deaths in childbirth in the US. They’re much, much more likely for women of colour. The prejudices against anyone not male and especially not Caucasian, are not always obvious, but they effect how quickly nurses respond, how accurately doctors diagnose life-threatening conditions, and how much necessary pain relief is given.
Ooh, and public funding for “female” conditions! Eg During pregnancy abdominal muscles separate (100% normal). Usually they come back together (or most of the way back) in about 6 months. Mine didn’t, and I was advised to do more physio exercises (which don’t work for that kind of injury). Here in Australia our public system is usually pretty great (eg giving birth is free and you can usually meet with your medical team several times before birth) but this particular condition is not covered. If your abdominal muscles separate due to a sporting injury, THEN the surgery is covered.
The fact that my stomach muscles were 9cm apart for over 3 years meant nothing. Eventually I did a fundraising campaign and got the surgery privately. Among other things, it semi-cured the diabetes I had gotten due to being so ill for so long (I still take pills, but my blood sugar has been rock steady since the day of the operation - exercise and diet doesn’t change it at all and never has). My life would be very different if I’d gotten the surgery on time & free.
Oh, and by the way? One surgeon told me, “Your gap is too small to fix, but go ahead and get a scan” then when I came back with proof of a 9cm gap he said, “You gap is too large to be fix.”
Another offered to put in some surgical mesh to fix the umbilical hernia without actually putting the muscles back where they belong (a serious operation that would have made fixing the actual problem virtually impossible - a fact he chose not to mention).
Yes, misdiagnosis can be a compelling story. And there’s a lot of it around.
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Pfft. When I have a panic attack, I just bolt out of the room and hide in a closet like a normal person.
Seriously though, I wonder if portraying a disability (mental or otherwise) with only one person is even possible. No one is a textbook case, and even if they were, they would misrepresent everyone that isn’t. Knowing this, I would lean away from naming any disabilities my characters have, as I wouldn’t want my audience to think they represent anything but themselves. Or at the very least, I would have other characters with the same disabilities and different experiences. Each character would need to be reasonably likely to exist given the story’s circumstances, but that’s just internal consistency. If you can’t do that, then the rest of your story probably doesn’t make sense either.
I can understand that. It grinds my gears pretty often when someone with ASD in media is portrayed as a “savant.” (I’m looking at you, Good Doctor) There are so many people with ASD that have varying degrees of functionality. I feel like the media puts undue pressure on these normal people that sometimes I just want to turn the TV off.
My wife, however, likes these kinds of shows, however. While I find my comfort//hope for my kids’ future in research and work, she doesn’t have that outlet. So the Good Doctor fills in that void for her.
I think the misdiagnosis thing would be difficult especially with something like ADHD, where there’s such a stereotype that people are unnecessarily drugging kids and nobody really needs ADHD meds, etc. I don’t think it would be impossible to make it work but it touches on some potentially uncomfortable stuff. It’s sort of like a trope of “character is diagnosed with schizophrenia (etc), actually has superpowers” which can work OK but can also get…not great in some of the portrayals. I think because there’s often an implication of “we thought you were broken, but it turns out you’re just extra special!” even if it isn’t outright said. On the other hand, if someone in the real world DID show certain powers it’s likely they WOULD be misdiagnosed with something…so I dunno.
Misdiagnosis in terms of “thought it was condition A, is actually condition B” feels less uncomfortable to me but probably would be more difficult to work into a plot. I had a boss who they thought had bipolar, but it turns out he had PTSD, for instance. I think that kind of thing is actually pretty common when dealing with conditions that don’t have an easy diagnostic criteria like a blood test.
Thank you for noting this. I have a major Deaf character planned in my current project (though I don’t have a WiP up yet), as well as a more minor one 
The main one is deaf since birth, and would be fairly profoundly; would not have a cochlear implant. The secondary one became deaf gradually, later in adulthood, and probably wouldn’t have had a cochlear implant but is more likely to use hearing aids 
I have ASL in as one of the languages the player character can know
One thing I did wonder about is, if I have Deaf characters, does it feel unfair not to grant the option for the player character to be deaf as well? 
I think it’d be interesting to have more representation of this in protagonists, but would be a lot to implement 
Hey, I watched a fair bit of that show 
(I’m very far behind now, though )
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Well that is entirely up to you as it is your project but you can have it as a option. There is a WIP here that does give you that choice to be deaf or not, and I have to admit it was done pretty well in the terms of explaining it and having it a part of the plot as well. I feel that I should probably let you know that ASL isn’t the only form of sign language that deaf people in America knows, ASL is like the shortened version of English Sign Language which is more proper and older. Different countries actually has their own kind of sign language. (I remember being so surprised meeting a deaf guy from India that used the Indian Sign Language when I was pretty young then discovering that most countries has their own by asking my teacher in school.) Deaf people can also read your lips and respond accordingly by using their voice, writing on paper/texting, or using ASL or English Sign Language if the person they’re speaking to knows it.
As I have mentioned before, I’ll be very happy to help anyone that wishes to write a deaf character in their stories by giving my opinion and advice if you do ask me for it.
Edited: I forgot until just now to mention that as Eiwynn has pointed out, the cochlear implant is most definitely a very sensitive topic among the Deaf community as most deaf people feels as if there is absolutely nothing wrong with being deaf and some of them were not given a choice to have a cochlear implant, but rather it was mostly done when you are a toddler. I had mine transplanted when I was two years old so I had absolutely no choice in this because most doctors are aggressively pushing the cochlear implant as “the cure of deafness” when it is not. About 70-90% of the deaf children are born to hearing parents always has a cochlear implant because their parents felt it would be easier to communicate with their deaf child while this doctor is pushing it as a cure. But sometimes, it doesn’t work because we cannot understand you perfectly every time so there are people that chose to stop wearing it completely. And I have heard stories of deaf people with a cochlear implant being shunned by the deaf that does not have one.
It’s that bad in the deaf community when it comes to the cochlear implant.
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If this is getting too project-specific for the general thread, I can move the conversation elsewhere, but I’m hoping these questions would be useful for other people too
Oh, one other concern that had occurred to me… I’ve seen criticism of the trope of characters with disabilities having superpowers, if they’re presented as sort of making up for the disability or the like. My main Deaf character does have psychic abilities, as do most of my other main characters—his mostly relate to sensing emotions—and I do want to be sensitive about this trope.
It’s sort of one of those things where, in an ideal world I’d definitely want it there, but I worry about being overambitious with features and about doing it justice
Same thing with using a wheelchair… one thing is that the opening scene is a campus tour, which would need to be different versions for each, so there’d need to be a choice between them before I even did much narration.
I’d be interested in checking this out when I have the time. Anyone remember which it was?
I was under the understanding that ASL is part of the French family of sign languages? 
And that the British system was part of another family, used in most of the Commonwealth, except Canada.
Would you say British Sign Language or additional sign languages are particularly commonly known in the US? My main Deaf character—his name is Matt—is from a fairly small town background, working class, but I was thinking he went to a school for the Deaf through high school, if that makes an impact?
I’ve also read that ASL can vary a bit regionally, and that African Americans often have a distinct dialect as well—but I wasn’t sure if I should bring this into play, or how big a difference it would make? (My two Deaf characters are from different parts of the US, and one’s white and one’s black, so they probably would have different accents?)
My plan for Matt was that he mainly prefers using ASL, but is also good at lip-reading. I was writing him as having not much liked speech classes, so he really doesn’t speak orally. I do have him writing notes a lot! The secondary character (whom I have not yet named; she’s the mother of one of the other main characters) would have grown up speaking English, since she was hearing for most of her life.
One thing I’m wondering about is describing namesigns, since I figure these characters would have them, but I’m not sure how okay it is for me, as a hearing person, to come up with them.
Also, on a really basic level, just wondering about punctuating ASL… I mean, it’d have to be translated into written English, but would it work like this?
“Hi, good to see you again,” Matt signed.
(Would “signed” be the normal tag? I mean, for oral speech I’d use “said,” but I’m not sure if the word applies to signing or not )
I definitely feel like this is the way Matt would feel.
(Also, how difficult is it to afford a cochlear implant? I expect his parents might’ve had trouble paying for it in his childhood—they weren’t well off.)
And thanks for responding and all your information!
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To answer all of your questions that you asked in order.
One. The WIP that I spoke of earlier is called “Whispers Under the Stars” but it is currently on hiatus.
Two. From what I do understand and remember about the history of ASL, I believe the sign language itself was originated in France hundreds of years ago. Could had been much more eariler than that but I’m not sure about that. For the second part, I don’t believe that the British Sign Language is commonly known in America as the ASL which is very common for both deaf and hearing people to learn in school. College courses actually offers ASL classes as part of a foreign language course such as Spanish, French or German. For the last part, yes the ASL itself does vary in certain places in America. There’s probably at least 10 different signs for the word “paper” in this case. But idk about the African Americans having their own dialect, I never heard of that until now.
Three. It is normal to say “Matt signed” instead of “Matt said” if he is deaf. Deaf people always tries to acknowledge in a story involving a deaf character that that person is using sign language to communicate by doing this.
Four. It is incredibly expensive to get a cochlear implant, usually the average of thousands of dollars to get the surgery done then having your ear fitted to make sure your cochlear implant would be comfortable to wear on your ear. But medical insurance can pay for it if the parents has it. But if it is damaged in anyway, then it can be expensive to replace it as well depending on what is damaged.
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Okay, thanks, this is all really helpful!
I just took a look at wikipedia’s page on Old French Sign Language, which says it was first mentioned in the historical record in the 1700s, but it’s unknown how long it had existed before then. So that’s interesting!
I took a brief course in basic ASL about a year ago, which was where I heard this. It didn’t go into detail; just said that the African American dialect tends to use older vocabulary on average. I wasn’t sure how widespread this is.
As far as regions go, Matt is from Wisconsin and Rosa (she’s the one with the deaf mother) is from Louisiana—would you expect much of a communication barrier, or would it be more like English speakers from those areas—a bit of a difference in accent?
Okay, thanks, good to know!
I think for now the main thing is just how I handle namesigns… I suppose I could just write it as “Matt showed his namesign,” and then just keep translating it as their names within dialog. I’m unsure what’s appropriate here, since I heard that namesigns are supposed to be assigned by people in the Deaf community. Maybe I don’t need to go into that, though?
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