The recent addition of neurodiversity is bad
Just today, I found out that Social Awkard trait from The Sims 4 High School Years is supposed to be neurodiversity representation. It really does feel disrespectful that the first intended addition ...
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It in fact doesn't. There aren't two separate boxes with neurodiverse over here and neurotypical over there. Instead, it refers to an arbitrary point on the bell curve of human variance. A bell curve that has more typical towards the more populated centre and more diverse towards the less populated edges.
And more specifically, it refers to an arbitrary threshold of what sits outside what is regarded as 'normal' by both society and the systems that our society is made of.
Social anxiety disorder is a disabling disorder of brain function that directly impacts cognition, from working memory to concentration to ability to control obsessive thoughts. This sits outside society's arbitrary view of 'normal', therefore neurodiversity applies. My social anxiety disorder brain certainly functions outside of the middle of that bell curve. It doesn't seem any different to me than my ADHD brain or my seasonal affective disorder brain, it's all just part of the spectrum of human cognitive variance.
Telling the designer who identifies as neurodiverse (see interview) that she is in fact not neurodiverse really isn't cool, especially when it relates to an arbitrarily defined label like that.
And while I agree that had it been called social anxiety instead of social awkwardness then there would have been less misunderstanding, we don't know what the reasons for the labelling are. There might even totally compelling reasons for all we know.
@ianhamilt0n , @PatrickClSim3Low , @DellaLuna48 , @ValFreya13 , I think that social anxiety and social awkwardness are 2 different things that can overlap. Social anxiety comes from inside the person (but can be affected by things from outside a person) while social awkwardness is more like a judgment that others can have on a person (Such as a person who often thinks differently about something and voices their thoughts on that topic could be considered an odd person because of those thoughts , or a person might do certain actions that are considered odd by others. This person will often not be received well by others (which can later lead to them developing social anxiety, but not necessarily). You can be socially adept and have great social anxiety, but you can also be socially awkward but have little or no anxiety about it. Most will fall somewhere in between.
Many neurodivergent people have social anxiety because of repeated failed interactions, but some are just anxious about being social even if they are well received by others. Many Autistic people are very introverted, but there are some extraverted Autistic people as well.
In the game, if there was a difference between the two, it would be something like If your Sim has social anxiety, then they would have an anxious moodlet before they even interact with others. Social awkwardness, on the other hand would only have an embarrassed moodlet after the social interaction failed.
- @PugLove888 I agree with you. Some neurodivergent individuals can have social anxiety due a variety of factors, and being socially awkward can be one of them (as a neurodivergent I am well aware of my behavior while hypo, which in turn makes me socially anxious when not hypo.. so fun). But there is the difference 2 even if they can be linked. Someone can be socially awkward and not have social anxiety as they may not be aware of their behavior.
That said, I do still stand by my comment about sims hating other sims too frequently. It seems unnecessarily cruel and I think it could have been done a little better. Especially since it came with a Teen pack - being hated by the whole school just because you said hi is so mean! Lol.@ValFreya13 , well, sometimes if you go to a small enough school the whole class can hate one student for being different, but that level of realism is a bit much in a game. So, I agree that it does seem excessive. Especially with family or with friends. Most people you are close with in real life are used to you acting different than most people, and if they are family, they very well might be neurodivergent too! 😊 That is how it is in my family, anyway. 😄
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