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Had this conversation with someone who chose to no longer be at my table after meeting a blind NPC
(files.catbox.moe)
Another player who was at the table during the incident sent me this meme after the problem player in question (they had a history) left the group chat.
Felt like sharing it here because I'm sure more people should keep this kind of thing in mind.
The amount of people in this thread who assume everyone with any type of disability or difference in ability would even want to have their condition corrected is shocking. Why is it impossible to imagine a blind person who doesn't want their vision fixed for no other reason than they believe they're fine as is? Why is that such a difficult thing to grasp? Just because free magical heal exists doesn't mean everyone automatically wants it. You don't need to turn to other explanations about why it might not be trusted or affordable when you can just say "this person is blind and doesn't particularly care to be able to see."
I would guess that the vast amount of people with serious disabilities, paraplegic, blind, deaf, would jump at the opportunity to correct their issues.
That would go doubley so for someone who lives in a d&d style world with far greater dangers and less accomodations than our own.
Yes, but not everyone would. There are deaf people in our world today who don't want to be able to hear.
https://www.insider.com/why-deaf-people-turn-down-cochlear-implants-2016-12
A big part of this is that the existing technology ISN'T a magic fix. It has side effects, it works differently than traditional hearing does and this requires long periods of adjustment and learning to bear with it. Literally being able to magic your hearing back to what it naturally should be doesn't have those significant downsides.
It doesn't matter, there are still plenty of people who enjoy their deafness in and if itself and don't see it as something to fix.
I need to see some accounts of this, the reasoning behind this. Because it is unfathomable.
Later in this article:
https://www.insider.com/why-deaf-people-turn-down-cochlear-implants-2016-12
To you. That's a you problem.
Yes? That's why I asked for accounts so I could try to understand?
Try engaging with people without looking for "gotchas".
This developed because it couldn't be fixed in our world, long enough for these people to develop communities, culture, and literally their own language.
In a world where it could always have been fixed, such communities and cultures are not likely to have ever developed, since the only people who could not get it fixed would be poor, and the poor are in a bad position to gather together in groups based on their shared experience and thus be able to form their own culture.
Furthermore, people not wanting to be cured today exist in a world where there already are significant accomodations for their disabilities. It is not likely these people would be able to do this if our society had not made the collective decision to put in the effort needed to accommodate disabilities.
You've got a pretty weak imagination.
You think poor people never had their own cultures? Lol, lmao
Magic doesn't fix being poor
Not my point, obviously.
(but like any useful skill, those with access have much better chances)
Yes, but that is because they've either grown up that way or have been deaf for so long that they're fully integrated into the sub culture. In a fantasy setting, deafness would be taken care of before it could influence people culturally
I think that disabilities would still exist, but they would be limited to the poor and lower classes who couldn't afford the magic treatments. It really depends on how commonplace magic is and varies by the setting.
It also would depend on the disability. Deafness might be less covered, but people would be willing to save up or borrow to cure paraplegism because that prevents you from working most jobs
They'd force people to hear? That's not fantasy, that's authoritarian.
Parents finding out their baby was deaf would probably pay to get that healed asap. And people born with hearing and later lose it are probably going to want that fixed.
Also, your "argument" of gasp, authoritarianism!!!1! is nothing but a strawman and makes you look ridiculous
You're moving the goal posts. Originally you said,
Now you're saying they probably would while still taking a tone of me being wrong. You can't agree with me that deaf people would exist while still acting like I'm wrong.
Also, what you described earlier is akin to eugenics. Forcefully fixing alleged disabilities without consent is absolutely authoritarian.
So a parent is wrong for wanting to fix their child's disabilities? You're actually insane if you believe that, and I hope you never have children
That is not what you said. You're still moving the goal posts. You said something extreme and are stepping your position back when confronted with the reality of it.
Keep up with the gaslighting. It gets you nowhere
Yeah but this is a game for characters who are played by people who exist in a world where that is not the case, so maybe a little sensitivity is called for.
It's not impossible, but it certainly seems unlikely. I'm pretty sure even someone as bad ass as Toph would prefer to be able to see. it would make life easier for her without removing any of her strength. Being blind is fuckin hard according to my visually impaired friends.
If someone at my table wanted to play a disabled character we could have fun with it, if course.
It’s a big case of “I don’t like myself as I am and this person with a disability accepts themself so there must me something wrong with me; I’ll take it out on them!” Style projection
No, it's argued agaibst because it doesn't make any sense logistically or economically.
And no, handwaving it away because "it's a fantasy setting, realism doesn't matter" is not an argument. There's a thing called suspension of disbelief, which requires a settng to be internally consistent.
I’m responding specifically to the difficulty some folks have, with understanding why a disabled person wouldn’t want to be ‘fixed’.
The issue is that in a setting with access to healing magic, you generally wouldn't suffer from a disability long enough for it to be part of your identity