That's really interesting to headcanon Mickey as autistic. I never thought about that. Do you think he knows he's autistic and what point would he find out/be diagnosed? How do you think he feels about it?
HI! okay first of all congrats on being the first anon about autistic!mickey I've received that wasn't a hate message lol. to be honest I don't have a lot of specific headcanons about it other than the fact that he IS and I believe that with my whole heart. but I think he probably wouldn't wind up being diagnosed partly due to lack of resources once he's an adult and partly due to resisting it. even in canon it's apparent that Mickey knows struggles with/doesn't conform to social and societal norms and just doesn't give a fuck. and don't get me started on the sleeveless shirt thing
hiiiiiii anon. im here to commandeer this post. i didnt make this my twitter name for nothing!!!!
here are some things that i believe are autistic-coded (whether purposeful or not) about mickey:
i literally cannot name a single normal interaction he has on the entire show. not one. he has a very brazen personality, often making others uncomfortable with the way he says how he feels. yeah yeah theres the whole "not everyone can just blurt out how they feel," but we're gonna get there soon. he MASKS. A LOT. but when hes not masking he says the most out of pocket shit. byron calls him socially inept. he does NOT have a filter and does NOT give a fuck about what anyone else thinks
"i like facts. things that are real, shit i can hold" ITS LIKE THEY TOOK THIS RIGHT OUT OF THE DSM-V OR SMTH
hates change, relies on routine (VERY obvious in s11. he literally walks home in tbe middle of the night because the moon is pissing him off and he needs specific background noises to sleep. SPEAKING OF, he has those stereotypical giant ass Autistic Headphones)
doesnt understand social constructs ie yevgeny's christening "what or it didnt happen?"
drinks, smokes cigarettes, smokes weed, and does coke; autistic people are more likely to use drugs to self-medicate and cope with uncomfortable social situations
MELTDOWNS! s10 "groomzilla" mickey, his s11 anger about moving to the west side and beating up lip + throwing the chairs in the pool, s3 when he beats up ian :( when he becomes completely overwhelmed with emotion, he doesnt know how to use words to explain himself so he acts out physically. yes thats part of how he was raised, but we dont see the other siblings doing it as much or as publicly as mickey does. also, the way he processes grief and trauma after his dad dies. he keeps crying and crying and he cant control it and he obviously HATES it but theres nothing he can do but let his emotions physically manifest because hes at his breaking point
he sometimes shuts downs rather than having a meltdown. ex after 3x6 and before beating up ian, he completely ignores ian until he throws his bottle/shooting target lol
learns buzzwords and uses them in sentences just to show he learned a new word. "kelly girls," "swole." this isnt a diagnostic criteria obviously lol its just something that a lot of neurodivergent people do hehehehe
i saw a tiktok about autistic people being obsessed with Hawaiin print shirts and. yeah that speaks for itself. smth about them having super breathable fabric and having funky visully stimulating patterns just speaks to the autistic mind ✔️
stims. yeah you know all those "nervous tics" he has? rubbing his eyebrow, biting his nails? thats stimming :)
in s5 right before the breakup, we see a broken bike chain on his nightstand. bike chains are really common stim toys and i headcanon that thats what he had it there for :)
i personally believe that his internalized homophobia is directly tied to masking. he has to put on a face of what his dad and society see as a "real man," and this includes not only acting straight but also hiding mannerisms that are tied to autism. autistic people are usually inherently treated different by others, even when they dont know the individual is autistic. calling other kids weird or the r word simply for talking to passionately about a subject, not making enough eye contact, etc. a lot of people get clocked as autistic growing up before they even have a diagnosis, because bullies and abusers target people with typical autistic traits. i think when learning to mask, mickey did what he needed to survive and hid all the "abnormal" aspects of himself. hence "not everyone can just blurt out how they feel." this would also explain why mickey shows a lot more traits in the last 2 seasons (outside of the writers being assholes and writing him as "weird" to be funny 😑). he feels much safer and stable, so he begins unmasking especially around ian
i headcanon that his special interest is guns/weapons. and also maybe (shitty) 90s action movies :))))))
im not sure if hed ever gotten tested as a child. its possible? but seeing as he also can barely read and likely has a learning disability like dyslexia, i think the education system failed him haaaard :'( being undiagnosded as an adult is half "omg noooo youre totally not autistic dont say that!!!1!!" half "wait youre not diagnosed? you def have it bro." so i think some people assume he has it and simply dont bring it up. if he goes to therapy (WHICH HE SHOULD), i think the therapist would mention it and hed be VERY combative at first. but i agree with cam that i think if he did get diagnosed/accepted being autistic he would definitely use it against ian à la "im still on my honeymoon"
at the end of the day, mickey has and will always be mickey. plenty of people watch the show and dont see his character as autistic-coded. but some people do, so maybe everyone here on tumblr.gov should agree that there may be some merit to this headcanon and not be mean to each other when people say a fictional character is autistic! okay im stopping myself here before i spiral even further into the darkness
