So, a disability-related thing that annoys me

[terajk]

 (I'd call this a "trope" but I've only noticed it twice so far. I may not be looking in the right place.)

I've seen this thing in both Avatar: The Last Airbender and Soul Eater, where there are a) several disabled characters, b) themes about the importance of friendship and trust, and c) villains associated with paranoia, because they are Bad.

WTF?

Comments

[recessional]

I think the issue is the sequence goes "being an evil backstabber CAUSES paranoia, because you expect the same back", rather than "paranoia is evil".

Still results in an unfortunate thing. Clearly the appropriate response is to write good people with paranoia.

*looks at own work* . . . I think I've got that one.

[sholio]

Yeah, I think I'd agree with recessional that it's probably meant to be villain lifestyle factors causing paranoia, rather than people being evil because they suffer from paranoia as a mental illness. Which doesn't make the Unfortunate Implications any less unfortunate, however. (ETA: Though now I've read your answer to recessional, and Soul Eater is not a canon I'm familiar with, so I'll definitely take your word for it!)