Message I got from a survivor: "What are you, disabled?" (Updated)
I'll preface with this: this was a while ago and I didn't reply to them. Rolled my eyes, deleted the message, life goes on. I was also a bit wary of posting this since many people feel they need to defend themselves as if I am making an accusation or "woe is me" type post. I do not know life differently, it's not something I see a negative as much as just life. I am not posting this for sympathy, nor am I accusing anyone of doing these things. Some may also think I'm lying, since I deleted the message because I don't care what some random toxic survivor thinks of me. I have no reason to lie, but this is the internet, so you should be taking things with a grain of salt anyways.
Yes, I am. I was born with a disability that severely impacts my motor function. And it took me more than a decade of extremely nuanced OT to be able to even properly hold a PS4 controller.
I am very disabled when it comes to manual dexterity and motor function. Always have been, I was born with it. I am 19 years old and it takes me 2 minutes to tie one of my shoes. I couldn't play anything more difficult than Pokemon as a child. It took about a decade of specialised therapy to be able to do what can now. Taunt me all you want, I'm just happy I can actually play the game from a physical standpoint.
But I'm not the only bad killer who gets taunted for being bad. And I'm not the only disabled person playing the game. It doesn't bother me on a personal level because I am just happy that I can play, but it very much bothers me that people feel like they can go around saying these things.
I'm not accusing anybody of anything, of course, I will always give the benefit of the doubt.
I just think it's important to know that there are people who are fully okay with saying these things over a VIDEO GAME. If this person met me irl they wouldn't know I had a disability because I've learned to live with it in a way that lessens the burden on me, and makes me look more normal.
In the end though what does it matter? This person has the audacity to say these things, my life goes on and I'm the one using government funds to buy more DLC.
(But also...please don't do this)
UPDATE: Thanks for the support everyone. I'm glad to see most of us are on the same page. To the people who think it's generational: I've had more older people call me things such as the r-slur to my face so idk about that. To those who think I need to grow thicker skin...I thought it was clear that I am not angry at this incident. I have been called every name in the book. I have been physically attacked. I have been cyberbullied. I have been sexually harassed on and offline. I have been insulted for playing as a female character in games such as dark souls where gender changes nothing. If I didn't have a thick skin and the ability to forgive I'd have a bad time with everything. Not to mention, I use the knowledge I was forced to obtain to help others: I have been hit, pinched, bitten, choked, had my clothes ripped, been drooled on, had my lunch stolen, been sneezed on, been spit on, I've had my glasses taken off my face, I've had student's spit objects into my hands (worked with a student with a rare eating disorder called pica. It causes one to have the urge to eat non-food items and this student was developmental so he didn't know not to).
And there is a positive side too. It is technically a mental disability -- it affects me physically too because of the parts of my brain that it affects. I have the physical ability to do something, however it is often much more difficult and requires lots of therapy. In spite of this, certain parts of my mental capacity are above average. I have an eidetic memory and can memorize things very quickly and effectively. I am also hypersensitive to, uh, everything (which can be a blessing or a curse). Basically, there's extra neuron activity in my sensory perception and memory and less activity in my motor strip.
Comments
Oh no, formulating long arguments with reasoning and proof is what I do best, even if it doesn't get through to the person it helps other people recognise my point of view and maybe I can teach people a thing or too. Thanks for the concern though mate <3
Read the post from you which was quoted in my response. It's that simple.
Sharing a first person perspective not = whining.
oh no i fully agree with everything that you had said here. I am an american (sad to say) and i dont believe youre wrong in the slightest.
Partial Law A-Level coming in hot!
I really wish the devs would temporarily ban people over this stuff. I play survivor and other survivors have said some very racist, misogynistic, homophobic and ableist (if that's the term???) remarks. I've gotten a few very graphic death threats too (one for not jumping through the hatch before the killer closed it). I don't take these personal, but I don't think it's okay for people to hide behind their screens and act like they're invincible and say whatever they want. In real life they'd probably get beat up
No worries mate. I don't want your efforts wasted, that's all
Did you report them?
As long as someone learned something (which, turns out, I did because now I know what the First Ammendment of the US Constitution says and what it means, and I got my reading confirmed to be true by @Accept_Flow123) then my efforts weren't wasted.
you don't make sense, sorry :(
First page bud you said, "About these guys and girls which use a certain violent language and behaviour just because they are unable to empathise."
Sorry you don't remember what you said. But since you think language is violent, I guess I should use my words better.
Yeah. Does it actually do anything?
No without proof, and whether it can be bothering I do need to say I agree with it. Although I do agree that there should be an easier way to add proof, no one is always recording or such stuff to be able to do that.
Yes. The mods get chat logs automatically. It's only for other stuff that you might require video proof.
You say that they may have been asking me genuinely if I were disabled as if it's okay to do so. Wpuld you walk up to a stranger face to face and ask them if they were disabled?
Wherever the concept of "censoring free speech" came up...imagine needing to insult minority groups because you are literally unable to use ANY other words. Also this isn't about free speech, which i firmly believe in. This is some person initiating a conversation to insult me by implying i am less skilled than the average human because to them disabled = no skill. I'd like to see them memorize the Periodic table in a day.
He already said he was not angry about it! Did you even read it?!