Katawa Shoujo Forums

I've never really had the subject of disability brought up in my life, so I know little about it. The only person I have known with a physical disability was a boy in a wheelchair when I was much younger who went to the same school as me. And I didn't know much about him or see him much, really. Due to this I can't say I had a particular opinion or view on the disabled before reading KS. I can say KS has certainly given me more of a view on the subject. I still don't know anyone who suffers from such a problem so can't give an in depth answer, but, albeit this is a very obvious thing to say, I know that people with disabilities are exactly the same as any other person.

My college offered a free subject on Wednesday evenings for about a year, and despite options such as Skiing and Film Club, I found myself choosing the Sign Language class. That said, it was less because I thought it would be useful thing to know and more because I thought Shizune would like it. I'm a sucker for cute girls. Even if they are fictional and me taking a year long class won't affect them in the slightest.

Answering the topic: Indeed, actually the game DID change my attitude towards cripples. At first I just ignored them. I mean, totally. Treated as thin air, threw them out of my head. I have no idea why.

No I give a damn, for a change. I care about them, I treat them like equal human beings, as I should have from the start. KS opened my eyes and told me that not only there are people with disabilities in the world but that those people have hearts too, they go on and struggle in life, they don't give up on life.

The game made me think about many different aspects of life thus making me a better person.

KS didn't really effect my opinions. Hell, I was raised around that kind of stuff, so I've never really given disabilities much thought. My dad has one leg, my mother works with people with mental disabilities, I have apparently have Asperger's Syndrome, and my grandmother was in a wheelchair for a long time. To add to that, I actually attend a private school aimed at kids with stuff like Asperger's and ADD.

I do admit to making offensive jokes about the topic, but who hasn't?

Actually, the game did change my attitude towards disabled people. Despite dating a special ed teacher (who had an autistic brother, too) and knowing a good friend's roommate with cerebral palsy, disabilities made me uncomfortable. I tried not to let it show, since I knew it wasn't a good thing, but some things just bother certain people. *shrug*
But, after playing through Act 1, one line of Mutou's stood out to me in particular. "There's not a single student here who isn't a normal kid on the inside" or something like that.

Minister of Gloom wrote:

Extremist_Line wrote:

Minister of Gloom wrote:And then people say games corrupt the youth. We should show this post to some of them.

Er, not sure that telling them I got that attitude from a cripple porn game is a good idea, even if it doesn't have porn yet.

It's not about the porn. It's an interesting interactive story with some very well written characters(some of which happen to also be cripples) which has porn as a bonus for those who are into such things.

Unfortuntately, this is one reason why I'd love to see a "clean" install of the game released. I'd love to recommend this game to a ton of people, but many of them would have a problem with the porn. Based on the writing and subject matter, I'd love to see teens enjoy this game, too. (not that it will stop the underaged who download it on their own) I appreciate that the devs are including an option to skip over adult scenes, though.

Yeah, it's good to be able to skip porn scenes. Although I will watch :p
1. I just will!
2. It's a symbol. That disabled people of many kinds can lead a normal, healthy and successful sexual life.

Smoku wrote: normal, healthy sexual life.

Until we find out that Lilly is infact a cruel dominatrix.

Or maybe that is normal and healthy.

Xybaro wrote:

Smoku wrote: normal, healthy sexual life.

Until we find out that Lilly is infact a cruel dominatrix.

For some reason I don't see that as being the safest thing.

neumanproductions wrote:

Xybaro wrote:

Smoku wrote: normal, healthy sexual life.

Until we find out that Lilly is infact a cruel dominatrix.

For some reason I don't see that as being the safest thing.

But Yamaku has 24/7 medical staff, so I think it should be alright.

neumanproductions wrote:

Xybaro wrote:

Smoku wrote: normal, healthy sexual life.

Until we find out that Lilly is infact a cruel dominatrix.

For some reason I don't see that as being the safest thing.

As it turns out, she didn't see it either.
YEEAAAHHHH

But on a more serious note, yes, it definitely changed how I look at disabled people. Unlike a lot of guys on here, I never really personally knew any disabled people. On the few occasions that I would pass them in malls and such, I remember I would feel a bit disconcerted and maybe look away even. Nowadays, though, I feel perfectly fine with them; sometimes programs about disabilities on TV will catch my eye and I'll happily watch those. As well, I've taken a bit of time to learn some (basic) sign language, just out of curiosity. Should I ever run into somebody who's deaf, I could probably make something out at least.

So yeah, KS has definitely changed my life for the better.

I've always respected disabled people.

The only sad thing is that I also avoided contact with disabled people. I get the feeling I'll infect them with my unhappiness if I ever tried talking to one.

Xybaro wrote:

Smoku wrote: normal, healthy sexual life.

Until we find out that Lilly is infact a cruel dominatrix.

Or maybe that is normal and healthy.

I still count dominatrix as a healthy sexual life.

Smoku wrote:

Xybaro wrote:

Smoku wrote: normal, healthy sexual life.

Until we find out that Lilly is infact a cruel dominatrix.

Or maybe that is normal and healthy.

I still count dominatrix as a healthy sexual life.

I agree aswell.

I was just originally trying to mock your point there,

It didn't really have an affect on me. I guess you can say it did have a minor one, though, because when I started browsing these forums I learned about how people adapt to these disabilities and it made me realize it's not as bad as I thought it was. That's not exactly from the game, so I'm not sure to say that the game itself changed my attitude.

But yeah, I was like, "how can these people be so happy?" whenever I saw a happy disabled person, but now I understand a bit more. You just get used to it.

Scarlet Fox wrote:It didn't really have an affect on me. I guess you can say it did have a minor one, though, because when I started browsing these forums I learned about how people adapt to these disabilities and it made me realize it's not as bad as I thought it was. That's not exactly from the game, so I'm not sure to say that the game itself changed my attitude.

But yeah, I was like, "how can these people be so happy?" whenever I saw a happy disabled person, but now I understand a bit more. You just get used to it.

I am not going to be the first, or the second, or the tenth person on the forum who is going to say: I know many, many cripples who are way happier with their life then I am. I also know some cripples who are depressed(sometimes about the fact that they are disabled), but neither is really a law. They are capable of exactly the same degrees of happiness and sadness we are all capable of. For some it's a little more complicated then that(Just came back from trying to calm down over the phone a friend who is very upset about going blind, and currently she is in some sort of "murderously, rabidly angry" phase about this, but I guess it will change with time. I hope), but the reasons don't really matter much, in the end.

I realize that now. But, just the thought of being blind, deaf, or having no arms really seems like that would be a major hit to my happiness. It's just hard to imagine yourself in a situation like that when your body is fine. My tinnitus annoys the hell out of me even though it's such a minor detriment compared to others. If I'm this annoyed about that, I feel like I can't really be happy for a long time if I had a major disability.