soupbegone31: Hello and welcome to my personal hell I know these spaces are mostly full of kids but this is also why this topic is so important to me and many others. Disorders and disabilities in roleplays are so so so important to represent properly that it's sickening to see it done improperly. Let's take three examples of cats; these both are hypotheticals, and I genuinely am making them up on the spot for the sake of this. If you think either is based on a real thing then inform me I guess? Both clans are also made up for fun. Thank you to my headmates for naming some of these things. Twoface is a SnowClan cat who has DID, and is an example of poor representation. They take tropes such as an evil alter or blaming the actions of their cat on one alter as something that's important to their cat. Silverwind is a RainClan cat who also has DID. They don't carry these stereotypes, but there seems to be a weird absence of their DID being acknowledged or shown in roleplay, only being briefly mentioned for one-off things or plot beats. Redwhistle is a SunClan cat who also has DID. They display very clear symptoms in the roleplay with different headmates with different personalities; albeit none are portrayed as outright harmful or evil, and the actions that are done are on the whole system. Which one do you think is the best representation? It's pretty clear; albeit hard to see in day-to-day roleplays. One thing I've seen, although I don't recall from where, is that some disorders are banned. Some content isn't allowed for safety of scratch users and sensitive material; Eating Disorders and SH alike. It is important to be aware, but those shouldn't be portrayed in a roleplay that may not be aware of these things and may be susceptible to being exposed to it, especially those who are in recovery. HOWEVER We should not ban mental disorders for the right of just being 'controversial' okay.. DID, OSDD, NPD, BPD, ASPD, Schizophrenia, SZPD; these are all disorders that have heavy stigma around them and negative stereotypes, but are not actively something that a kid online could be exposed to and suffer from, instead it is a port for people to learn about these disorders. We should not restrict disorders from the public because they are not things to be hidden. Even with negative stereotypes it should just mean 'hey, we require harder research with more sources for this because of how it can easily be negatively portrayed' not 'sorrrryyyyy Uhm you're not allowed to give your character that' also uhmm cosmetic disabilities. my genuine behated if you have given a kit ocular albinism because 'omggg pretty purple / pink eyes!!' or wanted a male calico so bad you just gave it klinefelter's, or made a kit blind just for the 'foggy eyes' I am going to be very disappointed! I have heavy qualms with all of these examples, and I'm gonna let a different headmate explain all of these points better because I'm very mean about it and I think he could state it "1. Giving a kit ocular albinism for the sake of the eye color. This isn't something that should be done, ocular albinism is a real disorder that affects real people. And 9 times out of 10 when a kit is given ocular albinism, the genuine affects are researched, but never applied in roleplay. It's like all of the vision loss that they looked into for their kit magically disappears. It's a gross standard people do that rightfully should be cut out. 2. Wanting a male calico kit so klinefelter's Soup's opinion is very strong on this, and I will try to phrase it lightly. This is an action that is likely rooted in transphobia and ableism. Taking advantage of an intersex condition by often also shoving them into a 'male' category. Intersex people struggle with often being forced and assigned into a gender category at birth, which immediately putting every single kit with klinefelter's syndrome as male and not actually intersex is something disgusting to me. Even if it only affects those with XY chromosomes, it's an intersex condition that's been recognized by various groups and advocates. if you genuinely want a male calico so bad, I implore others to simply make a transgender character. Why people don't do that already when they're desperate for a 'male calico' out of desire for a certain appearance and more is concerning. It is not that hard to make a trans character. 3. Blind eyes for foggy appearance People who typically do this don't even research the kind of blindness that causes a foggy appearance; most typically as cataracts. It's decently insulting to see people not even look into types of blindness when just tossing it onto kits in litters. 10 to 18 percent of the actual blind population has a total loss of sight. Where is the representation for the rest of the blind community? I believe this is rooted in the books themselves and how they handled Jayfeather. Which is not a good example how they handle Jayfeather was absolutely an example of ableism." - Derek
