Jack Frost is presented as an ''all over the place'' character at the beginning. He mentions not being good with tasks and deadlines. He uses his frost powers whenever, wherever, and however he impulsively decides to. He struggles with not getting the attention he needs, not in an egotistical way, but in a very realistic way.

He has a lot of trouble understanding the guardian's system. Why they do everything they do. He can't understand why he was chosen, so he doesn't accept it. It felt very familiar to me as a person with ADHD.

And unlike most children's media, for example the first Tinkerbell movie or A Bug's Life, Rise of The Guardians doesn't express shock or offense at the main character not wishing to follow the system everyone else has followed as long as they can remember. They don't try to force Jack Frost or reprimand him for not immediately getting with the program.

Instead, one of the best adaptations of Santa Clause in my opinion takes him aside and actually explains things to him clearly, something many parents, teachers, etc. neglect to do for neurodivergent children who question rules and systems.

He takes genuine time to help Jack actually understand why the guardians are so important and why they have such strong feelings about helping children. I can't watch that scene without thinking of all the neurodivergent children who are scolded and treated like ''troublemakers'' constantly for simply wanting to understand why things are done the way they are, and how much those children would benefit from kind, jolly figures like Santa caring for them.

I also like that Pitch Black, the Boogeyman, is included and clearly the villain. For one thing, the happy figures in childrens' lives teaming up to fight the Boogeyman is an amazing story concept, but also it balances Jack out.

It shows that Jack may not have exactly the same mentality as the other guardians, but that does not make him a bad guy. You can be outside the norm and still be completely fine. That's an important message!

When Pitch tries to get Jack to team up with him because their situations are similar, Jack saying no is a powerful thing. Jack may struggle, as so many of us do, but he doesn't want to hurt people.

And that's why I think Rise of The Guardians is a wonderful accidental metaphor for being neurodivergent, because of that big distinction. Jack cares about others, and others care about him. Being slightly different that what society expects of you is bad if it's hurting others, like Pitch does, that's certain. But just being different, questioning things and being yourself, that's NOT bad. It's not causing trouble or being disrespectful. Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy understand that. And neurotypical people need to as well.

The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship

Fandom: Stranger Things (Season 3)

Characters: Robin Buckley, Steve Harrington, 'Mr Scoops'

Time: The weekend before Summer Vacation, 1985

POV: Robin's perspective

Topics: Platonic soulmates, autism solidarity, hurt!comfort

"Welcome aboard, matey! You'll be paid by the hour, anything extra will come from tips which you will split with whoever else is on duty with you and one of you will need to lock up and open up for each shift!" Smiled Mr 'Scoops'. Roger his name is Roger. I dredged up a cheery grin as he waggled a set of keys in front of us, a key chain holding a miniature sailboat dangling rakishly from the bundle. I reached out to grab the keys just as my brand new coworker swiped them out of Roger's hand deftly.

"Thanks Sir, we'll take it from here. Just hand me a scooper and a register of cash and we'll make it rain ice cream in this mall!" Steve crowed, running a hand through his greased up, over styled hair. There are many young men on this earth that can turn my stomach but none more than Steve 'The Hair' Harrington. A man who once thought flicking boogers at girls was flirting, sloppy kissing in corridors was charming and having hair held in place by military grade hairspray, was the same as having a personality. I was just about to butt in when Mr Scoops suddenly held out two clothes bags.

"Ah, not so fast there! If you're working at Scoops Ahoy you'll need a uniform. So you can wear the colors of The Seven Seas with pride, me hearty!" I was already so over this swashbuckling nonsense but now there was a uniform? Whatever, maybe it would just be a blue vest right? Wrong!

"Come on out, Sailor!" Roger called, clearly starting to get impatient. I could almost see Steve's smirk as he spoke.

"Yeah, show us what you've got, Shipmate!"

I stepped out of the backroom glaring at Steve, dressed in the official uniform. I caught a glimpse of myself in the refrigerator door and saw the blue and white sailor shirt, the blue cropped vest, the white knee highs, the sailor hat and the awful, awful pleated white mini skirt.

"I look ridiculous!" I exclaimed as Steve stifled a laugh, trying not to explode. Roger looked me up and down, clearly impressed with his own efforts.

"Perfect fit!"

"Are you kidding? This thing barely covers my ass!"

"You look the part!"

"You expect me to serve ice cream and bus tables in a skirt that men will oh so delicately pick at just to get a look at my hiney?"

"Oh don't be like that! It's your uniform."

I scoffed, pointing at Steve's outfit of a navy blue sailor shirt, sensible knee length blue shorts with pockets, sailor hat and hockey socks.

"I look like I work in a Men's Only Club!"

"You'll wear the skirt and that's final. It's policy, wear the uniform or seek employment elsewhere."

I shut up at that remark. I really couldn't afford to quit this job, let alone get fired. I was worse than broke. And I wasn't gonna get money doing errands around the house. I needed the income if not for my own independence this summer. This was it. If selling my soul to the capitalist market to make my own way in shitty little Hawkins was the price for my financial independence then so be it. But I was definitely investing in larger underwear. Just to be safe.

The first day of work. Yay. Not yay. It was pandemonium. The heat wave hit Hawkins like a truck and the kids swarmed to Scoops for any lick of ice cream, any semblance of relief from the burning sun. In the first hour my skirt had already either stuck to my legs or been raised by curious teen boys hoping to see my fanny. My smile got tighter as the day wore on, Steve flirted like it was his goddamn profession, this one group of girls insisted on sampling every flavor on offer and guys couldn't help but leer at me anytime I stepped out from behind the counter. It was all way too much. I threw down my scooper at around 12, so done with this shit. Steve tried to stop me.

"Woah Robin, we've still got customers out here! Don't leave me stranded!"

"Suffer."

"Robin, wait!" But I was already tearing off, trying to find somewhere silent. The noise in my head wasn't shutting off and the cacophony of talking, music, fountain sounds, machinery and everything else was sending my brain into overload. I couldn't talk, I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe, I just sat there curled up in the walk in freezer, silently sobbing and rocking, wishing it would all stop.

"Robin? Jesus, I thought we'd lost you.." I wasn't sure how much time had passed when he found me. The door of the walk in swung open hard when I came back to my senses, the noise seemed to have faded by a lot and seemed further away than before. I managed to lift my head and saw Steve walking towards me before crouching to try and help me up.

"Hey. You wanna turn into a popsicle in here? Cause trust me, I'm not so sure they'd like the taste of you."

Okay that was pretty funny. But I still couldn't find the words. It was like my tongue was frozen. And for some reason he seemed to understand.

"You don't wanna talk? Or...you can't talk right now? It's okay, I uh, I babysit these nerd- these kids sometimes and one of them...freezes up if they get a little overwhelmed. Doesn't wanna talk, goes kinda immobile, shuts down and stuff so what I learned was to let them know they're safe. They're okay. And that they don't need to worry. But if they want to worry then they can go right ahead. That's what you're feeling like, right?"

I'd never heard it put into words so perfectly before. Was this really the same Steve who had flicked fries at my head in Middle School? Who had deliberately broken Jonathan Byers camera in front of him? Also, Steve was a babysitter? I just nodded my head emphatically like a freak, my eyes widening as I tried to express myself without the power of speech. He smiled and helped pick me off the floor and as he did, I heard something rip when I stood up. My skirt...I tried to look at it but saw the cheap nylon had gotten stuck to the ice and therefore had torn when I tried to get up.

"I...am so sorry. Maybe there's a spare skirt in the bag?" I shook my head, knowing that I'd get fired for this. I was totally screwed thanks to my own stupid brain going into overload. Steve started rummaging around in the bags, looking for nothing in particular and then pulled out a pair of identical shorts, a size slightly smaller than his, pockets and all. I eyed them like they were solid gold, envious to wear them myself.

"You want these? This pair didn't fit me. You can have them, I'll explain everything to Roger." I took the shorts and went into the backroom, practically tearing off the skirt and pulling on the shorts, stroking the fabric and the gold buttons on the real pockets! I had pants with pockets. I flailed my hands like a little kid playing with them, grinning from ear to ear, squeaking a little. Steve walked in, an eyebrow raised when he saw me.

"So you like the shorts?"

"Ahem. Uh yes. I do. A lot. Very practical. Thanks."

"I won't tell if you won't. The whole babysitter thing isn't really something I brag about honestly. Truce?"

"Truce." I agreed, shaking his hand. Maybe this Summer wouldn't be so bad. Even if I had to share it with a total dingus like Steve Harrington. He handed me a scooper and smiled. Back to the grind we go.

Hope you enjoyed!

I agree. I ask not because I am impatient but because I want to plan before I lose my wits.

Also, if I know a specific time frame then I know when to follow up--and not look impatient. If I followed-up after the time they told me and they get angry, well …

There's a saying in the autism community: "If you've met one autistic person, you've met one autistic person." This phrase emphasizes that autism is a spectrum disorder, with a wide range of abilities and characteristics. Some autistic people may have speech delays, while others are highly verbal. Some may avoid eye contact, while others do not. Some may have exceptional abilities in certain areas, while others have different strengths.

Below is a circle-graph illustrating an overlap of traits from three types of neurodivergence. I fit right into the traits that are clustered together in the middle like several people I know who have seen this circle-graph. This overlapping circle may be a type of neurodivergence that hasn’t been labeled yet but a label isn’t what I’m looking for. Studying neurodivergence is about finding…

Autism acceptance= accepting us as we are and not wanting us to change to fit society

Present Mic, Sir Nighteye and Edgeshot make up what I like to call the Neuro-divergent Trio.

Basically I headcannon Mic to have ADHD, Nighteye is on the autism spectrum, and Edgeshot has ADD (the Kamino pizza thing had to have been a random idea he had and was like “lmao im gonna do it”)