Dsypraxia needs changes, negative stereotypes

[Silent Majority]

Hiya! This one has been cooking a bit and i was never sure when to say it but...


Dsypraxia is a developemental disorder.  Its usually called "clumsy child syndrome". 6% of the population have dsypraxia.  They dont rip their eyeballs put with forks trying to eat drop items or fail to open doors.

Using it in the manner it is used is a bit othering, we have players here with dsypraxia.

What we probably intended to use is Atraxia. Atraxia is a brain damage disorder that causes inability to do fine motor skills.

I firmly believe the name should be.changed..I also think yhat if cloned into atraxia, or having developed it from.lomg term brain damage (something i think should happen),  it should be  treatable with manitol.

Failing that just name it clown genetics.

[Lord_earthfire]

Using it in the manner it is used is a bit othering, we have players here with dsypraxia.

Honest question: have these people voiced a concern or discomfort about the name for the mechanic? Couldn't find much on a quick search on the discord.

I personally don't mind a change of the name. But i don't like the reason being an assumption about people that are regulary confronted with it and don't mind it or don't think it's bad.

[AveryQuill]

We discussed this earlier so i'll just say thank you for biting the bullet and actually posting about it.

I was diagnosed with dyspraxia when I was very young. I walk a little weird, misstep occasionally and you might see me catch myself falling over when I'm standing completely still. It hasn't really held me back but it is something I have to confront about myself frequently.

Seeing dyspraxia represented like this was less immediately upsetting and more..  super jarring and out of place? I just wonder how this slipped through the cracks when there's been such an effort to be better in recent years. I don't know of any other real-world, lifelong developmental disorders being played for laughs so it's odd to have this one.

I'm also a little concerned that Dyspraxia is relatively uncommon and it's not unlikely this is someone's first exposure to the idea, which could easily spread assumptions and misinformation about a pretty visible disorder.

[UrsulaMejor]

I just want to say that things can be made less offensive or problematic on the basis of that alone; we don't need to wait for anyone to complain about them before we address them. Often, people may not feel comfortable complaining about things that bother them, and for most things, simply drawing attention to them is enough to determine whether or not it's harmful. It can be good to receive testimony that something is harmful where and when it's not clear, but in this case, we really don't need to reference any real life disorder with regard to this trait at all.

It can just as easily be relabeled "clumsy" or something like that.
In fact:

   

It appears to have already been named clumsy at some point in its past.

I think that, at one point, there was a push to un-sillify all the silly names for things we had, but at the same time we brought reality into some very unrealistic scenarios that were always meant to be silly.

Ultimately, I don't really want to open the doors for removing all reality from everything, since reality is something that we can and should make fun of, but in cases where we do make jokes about reality, we shouldn't be punching down.

[Lord_earthfire]

I just want to say that things can be made less offensive or problematic on the basis of that alone; we don't need to wait for anyone to complain about them before we address them. Often, people may not feel comfortable complaining about things that bother them, and for most things, simply drawing attention to them is enough to determine whether or not it's harmful.

I mostly agree. I had specifically asked because the people affected by this condition in the community was taken as a reason. And if this reason was given, i would at least like to know if some have been asked about their opinion, because it's about their comfort about this and they can gauge at best if it is out of place.
And given the answer of Avery, this has happened, which is why my concern is completely alleviated. Granted, maybe i am a bit cautious because of personal background.

Given the context, i agree to change the trait into something gene-jumbling sounding stuff involving clowns, a brain region or just "clumsy".

[TDHooligan]

i, personally, have a serious case of dyspraxia and associated harassment/difficulties throughout my life. but i don't really see clowns having dyspraxia as a bad thing (though i expected this thread to be made at some point).

if anything, in my experience, people don't even know what dyspraxia is. it's not really a distasteful representation either, as clowns do bog standard dyspraxia things like drop stuff and mess up. the reactions to it, like when i do it irl, are purely positive. Maybe I don't do things to some extremes that the clowns do it sometimes, but it's funny that it's part of the job description that the silly role has to have it.

i dunno. i guess it can be called clumsy? I don't like the idea that the disorder I have is somehow bad enough to warrant pursed lips and shushing. The fact the clowns are just dyspraxic by nature is silly, and they do silly exaggerated things.

[Silent Majority]

thank you for your responses.

Yes this had bothered me for a while, but, it was someone speaking to me that made me post about it. Emily summed up my feelings on the matter almost exactly.

[Kotlol]

If it could change, why not?
Clumsy, Clown Genetics and such infact help with players understand the mechanic slightly better.

Dsypraxia is the offical term yes, but... not everyone knows this. But I am fine with either outcome.

[Cal]

I just wonder how this slipped through the cracks when there's been such an effort to be better in recent years. I don't know of any other real-world, lifelong developmental disorders being played for laughs so it's odd to have this one.

Well,

Dyspraxia is relatively uncommon and it's not unlikely this is someone's first exposure to the idea

Probably that.

Yes, i'd be fine changing it to 'clumsy' or something, please feel free to suggest an appropriate name if you like!

At one point, there was a push to un-sillify all the silly names for things we had, but at the same time we brought reality into some very unrealistic scenarios that were always meant to be silly.

Yeah. At some point someone changed stuff and chems to be more irl-accurately named. This slipped through because nobody ever brought it up. Simple as that.

[KikiMofo]

I assume the only reason it was called Dyspraxia is because of the thing Urs mentioned where Goon was going through and desillyfiying stuff in the game so what once could have just been called Clown Syndrome or something like that it was given a medical name instead. Never really saw the reason to make things this way so I'm perfectly fine with giving it a silly name or just calling it Clumsy.

[Silent Majority]

" The Sillies" is a good name