if youre planning on making a character that suffers from a trauma, disability, illness, etc that you personally dont have or that someone close to you doesnt have, heres a tip!

either dont include that aspect or do a HELL of a lot of research. many times i have thought about recreating an old character that had schizophrenia, but every time i shut myself down. i have never met someone with schizophrenia and i do not have schizophrenia myself, and i personally think that no matter how much research i do that i would not be able to correctly portray it without stereotyping or insulting or triggering anyone who has schizophrenia and could come across the character.

if youre going to make a character with any trauma, disability, illness, etc- make sure you are either confident with your research or have it/know someone with it. or, dont have that be part of the character!

just- always make sure you have an extensive understanding of everything you apply to a character. :)