Players with disabilities, represent & share your feels!

[Tanama]

I have anxiety. I used to be diagnosed with ADHD but my new therapist thinks that all of the symptoms labeled as such were really just from my anxiety. Seeing my behavior and responses that way was quite a game changer. Socially I do alright because I've learned to "fake it til I make it" but I also spend most of my time at home because I hate social situations. Sometimes my anxiety gets so bad I "turtle" as I call it. I shut down and shut out the world. The only way this effects my gameplay is because I end up never being able to keep up with progression though that's also because I get bored easily.

I find I am on a similar wave length as you except I have not been diagnosed or have met with a professional. I am going to make that initiative though.

[Iscah]

Yes, having a disability is a negative thing.

But if someone has a disability, is it a bad thing to acknowledge it exists?

And you're pulling that half-a-quote out of context. DRKoftheAzure seemed to be saying that it's an inherently negative thing to give him that label - "let's not [do that] to our favourite characters", they said, like it's cruel to even suggest his personality traits add up to "a disability".

And again, I will argue that Asperger's is not inherently a disability, and I am certainly not proposing that he is "disabled" in any way. He just has a collection of traits including - as I said before - high intelligence and social awkwardness.

Is it a disability if it's not actually stopping him from doing anything?

I should also add that I'm not proposing he fits every point on a "textbook Aspie" description.


Oh, as a general note, also it's just clicked... Awkwardness with eye contact would totally explain his insistence on wearing opaque goggles at all times, right?

[AnnaRosa]

But if someone has a disability, is it a bad thing to acknowledge it exists?

No is not bad to acknowledge it exists personally is good to talk about it without having a clown judging you because of it or making you death threads based on it, as I had in real life.
In consequence I developed a fear and often dream that have a criminal clown obsessed by my health problem.

It is also good to surround yourself with persons who do not develop superior complex towards you just because you have one disability, or remove your human side as an excuse to their crimes of hate towards you or persons with disabilities.

[NessaWyvern]

I don't know if this counts as a disability, but I have a phobia of thunderstorms. I cannot play when there is one, and if I find myself caught by surprise while playing I have to log off immediately and then try to track the thunderstorm to see how close it is, if its pretty close I'll hide, and if it's overhead I am basically a shaking, sobbing mess in a wardrobe somewhere. In fact right now I am not playing because there's one near-by ish, and I am trying to distract myself by scrolling through the forums on my phone, while I wait for it to pass.
My cat shares my phobia and is hiding under the bed :/

[Lynesse]

I don't know if this counts as a disability, but I have a phobia of thunderstorms. I cannot play when there is one, and if I find myself caught by surprise while playing I have to log off immediately and then try to track the thunderstorm to see how close it is, if its pretty close I'll hide, and if it's overhead I am basically a shaking, sobbing mess in a wardrobe somewhere. In fact right now I am not playing because there's one near-by ish, and I am trying to distract myself by scrolling through the forums on my phone, while I wait for it to pass.
My cat shares my phobia and is hiding under the bed :/

Aww! Omg! My eyes actually teared up reading this.

We're here for you!

[NessaWyvern]

Aww! Omg! My eyes actually teared up reading this.

We're here for you!

Thank you I should be fine now, as the storm seems to have passed by, rather than gone over-head.
I got this phobia after lightning struck my neighbours house and completely exploded their water tank, it was impossibly loud and the ground shook like an earthquake, and I've been terrified ever since :/ Note, if you have a fear of thunderstorms, don't look up thunderstorm facts, it just makes it so much worse.

I am usually completely fine with in-game thunderstorms, however once when I was farming Ramuh, I did get a fright from his judgement bolt as a reflex XD

[Destati]

I have ADD and crippling anxiety, though the latter is generally easier to manage when I'm online. I also have difficulties learning and processing things, so when I'm being introduced to new mechanics I require copious amounts of repetition, maybe some visual references, and of course patience from others haha. Even if my internet connection is 10/10 I still need to account for mental lag since it often takes me a bit longer than most to register what's going on.

[NekoHina]

I want to also say to everyone who deals with challenges that your strength and courage are inspirational and I thank you for posting in this thread.

Personally speaking, I have severe fibromyalgia and degenerate disc disease in my spine resulting in 4 spinal surgeries. This has caused so much chronic pain that it is difficult to sit and concentrate, but the game is also a wonderful escape for me. Oh, I also have ADHD.

I know about bullies in the game. I have been playing since the beta, however I all but stopped for about a year after the original Titan runs. Someone hurt me and I allowed them to destroy my own faith in my ability to play. I had no confidence left. It took a long time to come back.

My son is the main reason I did. He is my hero, my inspiration. He has a very rare disability where he was born with no surface feeling in his extremities. He cannot feel anything with his hand or feet. Yet he learned to to walk (though delayed and in his own way) and he had to figure out the controller when he wanted to play games. I don’t know how he does it, but he plays and no one would ever know. We both stay out off savage content, but otherwise it is fine.

He also has mild cerebral palsy, autism, ADHD and anxiety disorder on top of not being able to feel the buttons. He gets commendations nearly every rum and he is DPS! He is amazing.

So back when I lost my confidence I thought that if he can do it, run with strangers in duty finder, deal with bullies and play unknown dungeons...then so could I. I also have an anxiety issue along with my spinal issues (that cause nerve problems), fibromyalgia and ADHD. But I love to play FFXIV.

Our FC does not officially do voice chat because we have had a few deaf members before. We have chosen to remain with written chat. We welcome players with disabilities as well as those without. But we want everyone to feel safe in our FC.

Again, thanks to all who have had the courage to share here and best wishes to those who are just reading at the moment but are part of our community.

Take care everyone!

[Lynesse]

Thank you I should be fine now, as the storm seems to have passed by, rather than gone over-head.
I got this phobia after lightning struck my neighbours house and completely exploded their water tank, it was impossibly loud and the ground shook like an earthquake, and I've been terrified ever since :/ Note, if you have a fear of thunderstorms, don't look up thunderstorm facts, it just makes it so much worse.

I am usually completely fine with in-game thunderstorms, however once when I was farming Ramuh, I did get a fright from his judgement bolt as a reflex XD

I'm glad you're doing well now.

But aww. You just want to learn about the thing that scares you. That's okay! c:

All of the hugs!

[NessaWyvern]

I know about bullies in the game. I have been playing since the beta, however I all but stopped for about a year after the original Titan runs. Someone hurt me and I allowed them to destroy my own faith in my ability to play. I had no confidence left. It took a long time to come back.

Oh gods, I am also a Titan survivor from that period of ARR history, it really was the worst time in ARR.
They hadn't fixed the latency issues, so it caused a lot of frustration in the game, which turned into pure toxicity. I quit for a few months because that was the single most toxic thing I had ever experienced in a game, and I have played Rust. Since I am from NZ, and my latency was worse, combined with the latency issues of Titan at the time, I was often knocked off by landslides and killed by weights, so I was told to "uninstall the game", to kill myself, and that "it's not latency, you're just bad", it was a really bad period in ARRs history.
It's why my poor chocobo doesn't have that Reindeer barding :/

I'm glad you're playing again, and I hope nothing as bad as the Titan situation happens again, for everyone's sake.