[@SammyMcW] Best response to that person would've been to tell them "Go write a book," since they apparently already know exactly what kinds of characters they want in the story, and likely have a concrete plot they don't want to deviate from either.

As for playing characters that may share certain challenges, issues, or mindsets that we as the writers have IRL, I think recent kerfuffles with WotC about changes they've been making to D&D have bled out into other role-playing spheres and put a sort of stigma on that kind of thing out of the mistaken beliefs that it's an issue related to "self insert Mary Sues," "some weirdo with a fetish," or that fiction always has to be completely escapist/idealistic in its presentation---because (keep in mind this is sarcasm) why would anyone ever [i]want[/i] their character to be crippled in that way?

I mean, I'm not the type who would design the evil lich's ancient tomb dungeon to be wheel-chair accessible myself, but unfortunately the same way people walking on the street don't like to make eye contact with the homeless, those of severe deformity, and really ugly babies, some people in RP aren't going to be empathetic to our personal struggles. Just like they shouldn't try to make you change to suit them, them being "uncomfortable" with the idea may not be something they're ready to change about themselves---even if they SHOULD try to communicate it in a better way without being an asshole.

[quote=@Letter Bee]
That said, for the longest time, I denied that my OCs were autistic too because that was... well, let's just say I was more selfish than I am now.

But yeah, my present OCs are autistic.[/quote]

Don't feel like you have to pigeon-hole yourself just because other people insist that your characters "act that way." I think the nature of this hobby, just like video games, probably draws a lot of people who are somewhere on the spectrum. And we as writers will, of course, write more convincingly about things we're familiar with. But I've never been able to give any kind of independent psychiatric diagnosis to any character I've read in fiction outside of RPs or within them, and don't understand why other players would want to outside of a story specifically about dealing with those conditions. You write 'em the way you want.