Originally I was going to tag this on the end of my ‘Is Sayori Dyspraxic’ post, but there wasn’t enough room for it. A fresh post to have a heart-to-heart about my Dyspraxic Characters project is probably better anyway.
As I build my Potential Dyspraxic Character list it’s going to attract more attention and so I want to set the record straight what exactly my intent with these characters are. I can understand those who feel that any of the characters I talk about aren’t dyspraxic. I can confidently say they are right because I 100% agree with them. There might be a rare circumstance where a character is dyspraxic, just the creator hasn’t disclosed it officially. It really doesn’t matter either way because the whole potential dyspraxic character project has a purpose outside its initial appearance.
Building an understanding
Within the dyspraxic community, we enjoy a good discussion on which characters could be dyspraxic. Certain characters can show some dyspraxic tendencies and we can assume that they sure could be dyspraxic. However, I’ve taken a risk by extending this hobby out into the public eye as it creates a potential problem. That problem is controversy as p
I just like to go on record now to say that the characters I bring up are not dyspraxic. It’s a reason why they’re under a ‘potential’ banner. Fictional characters run off the imagination of their creator(s) and so all creative licensing belongs to them. As viewers of their work, we can formulate all sorts of ideas and theories with the given material and come up with all sorts of extra depth or ‘headcanons’ to the characters and stories.
Dyspraxia is not commonly known, but some characters can actually be accidentally created to have dyspraxia type traits. That’s because dyspraxia is just a group of specific certain human traits. If we can relate to certain dyspraxic traits in a character then in our heads that character could be dyspraxic. Dyspraxia isn’t some kind of outrageous alien concept after all; sometimes we see a part of ourselves in a fictional character. Plus, it shows great character design if we’re able to relate to them on a personal level – even if it is unintentional by the creator.
Character Examples
We get characters like Warrior, who is a boat – how can a boat have dyspraxia? The answer is he can’t exactly have dyspraxia, but he does have dyspraxic type traits.
We get characters like Sayori, where most of her traits are explained by another condition – in her case depression. Does she have dyspraxia instead of depression? Absolutely not. Does she have dyspraxia as well as the depression? Probably not. Could she have dyspraxia as well as the depression? Perhaps. Does she have dyspraxia traits that those with dyspraxia can relate to? Yes, she does.
The Overview
And that last note is exactly what I am after. I want to pinpoint a series of dyspraxia-type traits found in a character. I also pinpoint any known information that goes against a character having dyspraxia just to add extra depth to my analysis. In reality, I could just fire off a list of dyspraxic traits found in each character and leave it at that. I don’t as I feel that would be an injustice to the characters as they each deserve time and effort.
It helps when describing dyspraxia to use a character as a point of reference. Certainly is easier to say “You know Tonks from Harry Potter? Yeah, I’m pretty much like her.” With dyspraxia we can stumble over our words so to be able to
At the end of the day, it is just my opinion on what makes a character potentially dyspraxic but it makes for a great thinking point. If after reading my analysis of a character you feel you agree or disagree then that is absolutely fine either way. If you oppose my theory without even reading my reasoning behind it then it simply doesn’t work.
Many thanks for reading this post and I hope it clarifies my intentions for my current selection of characters and all future finds. I guess this does mean I’m officially back to blogging after my break so look out for more posts in the near future!