Steve Leonard Headcanon-Turned-Essay
I HC that Steve has ADHD.
As someone with ADHD, I know how often people have this misconception that ADHD is all about not being able to pay attention, and most are gnorant about how emotions are affected in people with this disorder.
The first thing people think of, no doubt, when they hear the word is “oh, the thing in which you can’t focus or something, right?” and then they proceed to laugh and say “oh yeah I’m pretty ADD too”.
But back to the point. How do emotions of people with ADHD differ from emotions of people who don’t have it?
Obviously, you know what this means. People with ADD tend to be really sensitive, and even gentle criticism can really mess with them, to the point that they become so obsessed that the criticism is all they can think of.
And although Mr. Crepsley’s “YOU’RE EVIL” criticism was nowhere near gentle, it shook Steve so bad that even after 17 years, that’s all he could think about.
the intensity with which they feel emotions is higher than most people
Again, I think Steve is a VERY emotional character. He usually appears to be calm and collected but when the mask slips we get glimpses of the pain and anguish underneath. He becomes less sensitive when his insanity spins out of control, but that’s a topic for another day.
But this would explain why Steve felt SO wounded. Boys, he was SO angry/sad about the incident that he dedicated his whole life to revenge. Imagine being that offended and affected by something that you start plottingt the downfall of a whole RACE. It’s not pettiness that caused Steve to do this (well, PARTIALLY pettiness XD)
Another thing, kids without the disorder tend to develop coping mechanisms as they grow up- like if they feel worried, they tell themselves to “Calm down, inhale, exhale. try again.”
People with ADD never quite develop those mechanisms- or even if they do, they’re quite slow at it. It takes them MUCH longer to calm down, leaving them more susceptible to getting wrapped up in their emotions.
Due to this, they may easily be overwhelmed by frustration, anger, discouragement etc.
To put it simply, the emotion they feel in the moment takes over ALL of their thinking and building of opinions.
That’s EXACTLY what happened to Steve. The defining/critical moment was Mr. crepsley calling him evil- at that very moment, Steve was overwhelmed with probably guilt, shame, sadness and anger. But the first three were probably the felt most.
Im so SORRY for writing this essay but ADD Steve? hes probably more canon than you think!