this post was submitted on 03 Feb 2024
10 points (75.0% liked)

Dungeons and Dragons

11013 readers
1 users here now

A community for discussion of all things Dungeons and Dragons! This is the catch all community for anything relating to Dungeons and Dragons, though we encourage you to see out our Networked Communities listed below!

/c/DnD Network Communities

Other DnD and related Communities to follow*

DnD/RPG Podcasts

*Please Follow the rules of these individual communities, not all of them are strictly DnD related, but may be of interest to DnD Fans

Rules (Subject to Change)

Format: [Source Name] Article Title

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
10
submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by Worx@lemmynsfw.com to c/dnd@lemmy.world
 

Having diverse worlds and representing different types of people is a good thing. For something like skin colour, sexuality or gender it's very easy to just say that your character posseses those qualities because it doesn't necessarily change much about them. However, how do people feel about playing NPCs who are neurodivergent?

The main example I'm thinking of is someone with Down syndrome. I don't have that lived experience to draw from because I don't have Down syndrome, but I also feel that these people (like all people) can be valuable members of society and I don't like to see them excluded. Therefore, I would want to see them in my fantasy worlds too. The problem is, I worry I'd mainly be falling back on stereotypes in a potentially harmful and offensive way.

EDIT: I would especially like other neurodivergent people to chime in, of course. Personally I really like to see representation for my neurodivergence in D&D and other literature, but also it can really upset me when it's done badly and it's worse than nothing at all

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] match@pawb.social 22 points 9 months ago

Diversity for diversity's sake is not particularly effective at representation; do you have enough experience with down syndrome to write that character authentically and not from a place of stereotypes and slapdash research?