Let’s talk about Elliot, shall we? My boy, my dude, my buddy, my bro. He’s my favorite autistic-coded character. Maybe someday it will be confirmed canon. Anyway, I’ve written about some of Elliot’s autistic traits I’ve observed as an autistic person myself. Hope you enjoy! (This is a long-ass post full of gifs by the way, just a warning.)
Elliot’s tone of voice is almost always a very even monotone with minimal inflection. His facial expressions are also typically subdued. This is very common among autistic people. It is often something we don’t notice and can’t help, and it may make our emotions and intent difficult to read. It tends to reflect our inability to recognize the meaning behind intonation in others’ speech and body language. When Elliot attempts to lie about his feelings to the people he cares for, it tends to sound sarcastic and forced. It is obvious to those around him that he is not being sincere, although it is unclear if he is aware of that fact, as very few people confront him on it.
Routine & Sensory Processing
Elliot is rarely seen eating onscreen, but we have seen him eat fries on a few occasions. This leads me to believe Elliot does not have a varied diet, much like many autistic people who have a limited scope of foods they are willing to eat due to sensory issues and adherence to routines. Elliot’s trademark hoodie is also an example of both of these. He wears it constantly everywhere he goes, and he almost always keeps the hood up, likely for a sense of security. This all leads back to comfort. Elliot is comfortable in his hoodie, he is comfortable eating only certain foods, he is comfortable in his routine and in his own personal regulation of sensory input.
Usually due to sensory issues or anxiety, many autistic people have issues being touched, even with those closest to them. Elliot is highly aversive to sudden touch and will flinch if it occurs. He is slightly more relaxed if he is expecting the touch and can brace for it, and rarely he seems fine with touch as long as he is the one initiating it. (His touch aversion is likely compounded due to the physical abuse he experienced as a child).
Stimming means self-stimulatory behavior, usually through some sort of repetitive action. Autistic people stim as a form of self-regulation; it helps keep us calm in times of stress, expresses excitement, and releases nervous energy. A very common stim for Elliot is running his hands through his hair, which he most frequently does when pulling off his hood. Elliot has been observed rocking while working through a hack as well as when he finds himself alone in a motel room after withdrawal. He also exhibits echolalia (means verbal repetition of phrases). It is sometimes considered a form of stimming among autistic people and Elliot has done it on multiple occasions.
Elliot canonically has anxiety, clinical depression, insomnia, morphine addiction, and a dissociative disorder (likely DID). Autism frequently coincides with other disorders and mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression, insomnia, addiction, and schizophrenia, among others.
Elliot appears to have a special interest in coding and hacking. Elliot has been involved in it since childhood. It occupies a significant portion of his life, from his choice of employment, use of free time, and his anarchist activities. He has a highly dedicated computer set-up in his otherwise shabby apartment. This hyperfixation spanning years has led to his expertise in the field of cybersecurity.
Sensory Overload, Meltdowns, Shutdowns
Sensory overload occurs when one’s brain and body get overwhelmed by what’s going on around them, and it can lead to meltdowns and shutdowns. Both are involuntary reactions, although some autistic people can sense when one is about to happen and get to a safe place to ride it out. Meltdowns can include screaming, crying, lashing out, self-harm, and destruction. Shutdowns involve freezing up, becoming non-responsive, shallow breathing, inability to speak, and a blank stare. Elliot has experienced what appears to be sensory overload several times, along with a few meltdowns and shutdowns. He can be seen sobbing and rocking, appearing stunned, highly overwhelmed and disoriented, and lashing out while losing control. In Elliot’s case these may also correspond with dissociative episodes, as sensory overload could trigger a meltdown/shutdown which then triggers dissociation, or vice versa.
Social Confusion, Discomfort, and Isolation
Autism, first and foremost, is a social disorder. Elliot openly admits to having social anxiety and discomfort around most people. He feels like he’s on the outside looking in, a very common sentiment among autistic people. Elliot is unsure how to respond to compliments, avoids eye contact or holds it too intensely, has stunted awkward conversations, misreads social situations, avoids public events, and genuinely believes he cannot share his honest self with others because they will reject or betray him. Many autistic people self-isolate to avoid social situations and in turn express feelings of loneliness and a desire to connect but are unsure how. Elliot mentions his father was the only person he could talk to, meaning that like many autistic people, he is more relaxed and social with specific ‘safe’ individuals. As both a hacker and an autistic person, Elliot finds it very difficult to trust other people.
Although the pervasive stereotype is that autistic people lack empathy, we can be at the extreme of either side or somewhere in the middle. Some autistic people experience low-empathy, while others like Elliot experience hyper-empathy (although this doesn’t mean he effectively expresses it). He professes early on that he is good at reading people. Elliot has a strong desire to protect the people he cares about, even if he does it in misguided ways. He forces a serial cheater to break up with Krista and rescues (steals) his dog to stop it being abused. He worries about Angela and wants to shield her from disappointment. He gets Shayla’s rapist arrested. He feels guilty for the things he said to Bill at Steel Mountain and desperately wants to apologize. He connects closely with the plight of his therapist on a personal level. He leaves AllSafe to try and protect Gideon. He offers Darlene a place to stay despite viewing her as a stranger. He keeps constant tabs on those close to him almost as a compulsion. And while Elliot struggles with people, he more easily connects to animals; both Qwerty and Flipper entered his life unexpectedly but he cares deeply for them, even referring to Qwerty as his “friend” at one point, rather than a pet.
Sometimes when Elliot is interacting with someone he will speak only in his mind but will not verbally respond to people around him, which tends to irritate others because he just appears to be ignoring them by staying silent. His internal monologue is constant but outwardly he speaks very little. It appears that he often does not realize that he actually hasn’t said anything out loud.
Some autistic people have very firm ideals about right and wrong, it often comes with black-and-white thinking and hyper-empathy. Although Elliot is a bit morally dubious himself, he does have a strong disdain for the control money has over people, he takes down child pornographers, steals dogs from abusive owners, and mentally changes ‘E Corp’ to ‘Evil Corp’. He mentions multiple times his desire to ‘save the world’.
Autistic people often share their honest feelings without social graces to soften certain harsher assertions. Elliot is not shy about letting people know when he doesn’t want their company or opinions. Elliot is simply attempting to be straightforward, but it can come off as cold even if he doesn’t always mean it that way.
Not just a unique feature of the show, Elliot’s internal monologue is actually fairly common among autistic people. And while almost everybody talks to themselves sometimes, autistic people tend to do it more often than most as a means of working through tasks, dealing with emotions, planning social interactions, etc. It helps when the world is overwhelming to talk things out with yourself. Even the ‘imaginary friend’ (us, the audience) is a way for Elliot to externalize his thoughts about situations he finds himself in. Many autistics talk to ourselves out loud, which luckily Elliot avoids because if he spoke everything he thinks to himself he’d definitely be arrested by the first episode! Elliot’s likely taught himself not to speak all his thoughts out loud because he knows it would be dangerous, although occasionally he will do so without meaning to.
So yeah, I probably forgot a bunch of things, but this is all I could think of for now. Elliot is very near and dear to my heart, and I hope his character will continue to be treated with the respect and nuance he deserves.
(Psst, Sam Esmail! Make autistic Elliot canon please!!)
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