3, 6, 9, 11, 12 for Garcia (and Reid, if that's not too many)?
3. how do they feel about touch?
Touch is good, and one of Garciaās favourite ways of showing affection. Sheās a huge hugger. Also, touch is one of her biggest stim things- her office is full of tactile stim toys and good textures, and sheās almost always fidgeting with something while working/thinking.
6. how do they feel about music?
Sheāsā¦ somewhat lacking in musical ability, to put it diplomatically. She enjoys music, though, and has made various (unsuccessful) attempts over the years to pick up an instrument. As for listening to music, she usually does it to relax or distract herself. Itās too much input when sheās working, and sheās more of a white noise sort of person when she needs to concentrate. The many ambient sounds of computers in use is her personal favourite, and she can find it hard to concentrate when there arenāt fans running in the background.
9. if you hc them as self diagnosed how did that impact their life?Ā
Garcia kind of had a vague notion that she might be autistic, but it wasnāt until she joined the BAU and talked to Hotch about it that she took the possibility seriously. Since then, sheās gotten pretty heavily involved in the online autistic community, and also just in general has gotten more comfortable with her own quirks and more forgiving of herself when she has difficulties with things.
11. how do they prefer to communicate? are they non verbal/have periods of being non verbal? do they use sign language? do they talk? do they prefer text, etc?
Garcia is pretty verbal, but she prefers talking to people over the phone because thereās less additional input. All the information comes from words and tone of voice, rather than also having to read and communicate through body language. Plus, she doesnāt have to worry about making too much eye contact. (Eye contact doesnāt make her uncomfortable and she doesnāt understand the rules of it too well, so she tends to overcompensate and stare at people.) Also in general she just prefersĀ communicating from the other side of her screens, and when sheās emotionally overwhelmed that preference gets even stronger. (Although she also gets tactile when upset, so itās a balancing act between needing her space and needing proper human contact.)
12. Is there any senses they struggle with particularly? (hearing, taste, etc)
She doesnāt exactly struggle with it, but nothing ruins Garciaās day faster than a Bad Texture. Whether thatās something she touched or something in her food, she always has to spin around in circles and wave her hands and goĀ āick ick ickā orĀ āgross gross grossā before she feels better. If it was something she touched, she always goes in search of better textures, and that can mean (among other things) stroking the fabric of her clothes or playing with one of the stim toys on her desk.
3. how do they feel about touch?
Heās Not A Fan of touch from strangers. He hates shaking hands (both for touch averse and germophobic reasons) and random contact with people in crowds and the like is The Worst.Ā
That said, heās really huggy when it comes to his friends. It takes him a while to get there, but thereās a point at which he becomes comfortable with a person, after which heāll happily attach himself to them and not let go. Generally he relies on other people initiating things like hugs, though, because heās still a bit unclear on the rules. (Although thereās this one time when he just straight up launches himself at Hotch- who is equally touch averse and awkward about hugging- and itās the only time they ever hug on screen and it still makes me emotional.)
6. how do they feel about music?
Music with words is distracting. If heās going to listen to music at all, he prefers classical music (and occasionally movie soundtracks), because his thought process is very verbal and easily sidetracked by external verbal input. He can get really into instrumental stuff, though, and is prone to waving his hands around in conductor-like motions while listening.
9. if you hc them as self diagnosed how did that impact their life?
This is a complicated one to answer, because I donāt have a definitive headcanon for Reid re: diagnosis? Because itās obvious in canon that heās not even considered it, but I refuse to believe that he could work alongside profilers for years and not have someone point out that heās Obviously Autistic. So I like to think that either Gideon or Hotch or both of them nudged him into getting a proper diagnosis (either an official one, or just going through the DSM or whatever with one of them) not long after he joined the team.
As for how it would impact his like, I think a diagnosis would help him deal with a lot of the stress he gets from not really trusting his own brain. Like, heād actually recognise sensory overload for what it was and not automatically assume his headaches have to be connected to potentially inherited schizophrenia. (Me? Bitter about Reid not being diagnosed in canon so the writers can milk theĀ āReid is scared of his brainā subplot for all the angst itās worth? Neverā¦)
Also, I like the idea of him finding a comfortable place in the autistic community (although his general reluctance to use the internet for communication means his version of theĀ āautistic communityā would probably consist of himself, Garcia, Hotch, Gideon and eventually Blake) and getting into autism acceptance activism now that heās got a name for his own weirdness.
11. how do they prefer to communicate? are they non verbal/have periods of being non verbal? do they use sign language? do they talk? do they prefer text, etc?
12. Is there any senses they struggle with particularly? (hearing, taste, etc)
Itās faster to name the senses he doesnāt struggle with, to be honest. (Which is a very short list consisting pretty much of just taste.) Bright lights and loud sounds are Painful, touch is uncomfortable, and he doesnāt often have trouble with smells, but sometimes they can be the thing that tips him over the edge into overload if heās already feeling overwhelmed.
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