"poptoss98;c-16722465" wrote:
unpopular opinion here, but as someone with multiple mental illnesses, i think that, if done right, disabilities would be an important addition to sims 4. there is already a bad stigma around mental illnesses because there isn't enough education on it, so it the sims 4 team worked hard with doctors to develop an appropriate version of it, kids would learn more about disabilities and see that, though it may cause a bit of difficulty, life is still live-able and even great for those who are affected by disabilities. i think that in the long run, we cannot keep hiding disabilities, especially the stigmatized ones, from players because lack of knowledge is what made these illnesses feared in the first place. continuing to ignore the idea of incorporating all abilities into our media is not helping us progress as a society at all, in fact, it may cause us to fall back on old perceptions. i'm not requesting a full release of complex disabilities at once, but for the sims 4 team to release maybe one or two at a time, at their own pace, and when they have had it approved by professionals as something appropriate.
Just being realistic here, TS4 isn't a learning centre or somebody's parent. If you want to teach children about mental illness make a lecture about it in your highschool or middleschool or ask your teachers to do it or have the school bring a willing health professional into the school to teach the kids. Media isn't anyone's teacher, much less a parent, in fact you should go to school to learn how the media can and is manipulative and get a better grip of your life. Palyers, have lives beyond playing, they are normal people, and no one is hiding anything from them.
As an example, In preparation for our internship our university brought in people with disabilities, and relatives, to speak about their lives and the best ways we could communicate and interact with them. That's how you handle stuff in real life, not by ambushing a gaming franchise.
