#autistic echo

PLEASE, correct me if I am being insensitive or wrong, I really don’t want to be rude or spread misinformation.

I am just going off of the more obvious traits but he loves routine, regulations. Like a hyper fixation. Maybe that’s more OCD or something.

He’s a really picky eater, something I have also noticed in my autistic brother.

Echo loved Hardcase. Really, he did. But there were times that he absolutely couldn’t stand him, but it wasn’t really Hardcase’s fault. As roommates, it was true that Echo and Hardcase regularly inhabited the same space (along with Fives, Jesse, and Kix). It was also true that their personal preferences could not be any further apart.

But

I absolutely love your headcanons and was kinda curious if you could do some badbatch headcanons where they try to help Echo with his autism?

Thanks

HI hello yes! Sorry it took me way longer to respond to this than your first ask, it’s the ADHD 😅 But for sure! And don’t worry, asking me to share headcanons doesn’t come across as rude. The enthusiasm makes me happy!

One thing I think about the Bad Batch is that they’re all a little autism coded—Hunter’s sensory stuff, Tech’s special interests, Crosshair’s tendency toward a flat affect, Wrecker sometimes missing social cues—so I feel like they all help in different ways! (I also feel like Tech and Wrecker are a bit ADHD coded, which will come back later.)

Hunter would be the one to help Echo deal with sensory overload and to help him learn to prevent it, because he has the most experience with it. He probably has things that help, like noise-canceling earmuffs or headphones, weighted eye masks to help with visual overstimulation (personally I don’t like having lightweight masks over my eyes but heavy ones feel nice, hence headcanoning weighted masks for him too), maybe… not candles probably, but some sort of pleasantly-scented oil or something to help with bad tastes and smells. And I think he’d share these with Echo until Echo got his own collection.

Tech is a great buddy to have infodump sessions with and to learn that special interests are cool and good, and maybe to expand Echo’s list of special interests. Like, Tech obviously loves technology but he also CLEARLY loves linguistics—I think he would help Echo find things he enjoys outside of the regs to develop special interests in! And then he would listen to Echo infodump about his new interest, knowing that in a few minutes it’s his turn to talk about the 800 languages and dialects of this one planet they’ve never actually been to and Echo will listen to him right back.

Wrecker seems like he sometimes misses social cues. Whether that’s out of distraction (ADHD) or not understanding them (autism) is probably up to interpretation, I feel like there’s a little of both—but I bet that he would help when Echo felt embarrassed about missing or misunderstanding a social cue by taking the attention off of Echo. I say this because he seems willing to make himself look a little silly sometimes—I imagine he probably understands the embarrassment and uses his own personality to his advantage to help Echo out without having difficult or uncomfortable conversations about it.

Crosshair… I’m not sure how he would help really! Like, I know for the other BB members I kind of used the way they I felt they were autism coded as part of how they would help or at least understand Echo, and to an extent that’s true here too? Early on in Echo’s timeline (I’m thinking s1e5 Rookies) he seems to have a bit of a flat affect, and so Crosshair would understand that because he also has that. But I’ve personally never known another autist who was particularly disturbed by their flat affect? In fact, I know/follow several other autists who have a flat affect and personally I barely notice the difference between that and a “normal” affect. People mention it because it’s something some of us experience while others of us tend to be… the opposite but I don’t know what the phrase for that is. But some autists tend to use more inflection than the average allistic person does. Anyway, all this to say it’s something people in general are aware of and that we know affects autistic people, but unless it’s a little exaggerated (like in a voice acting situation) I personally don’t really notice and so I don’t know how it affects other people/causes distress.

THAT all said, I think he still supports Echo and helps him deal with other stuff. I don’t think any of them “stays in their lane,” as it were. They all help and support him in the ways that are most comfortable for them and sometimes those overlap! Even if it’s just “sitting in the same room while Echo has a meltdown/shutdown” I feel like Crosshair would support him because even though he’s a bit flatter and less physically affectionate than the rest of the Bad Batch, he definitely still loves his brothers. It’s just less obvious to us as viewers.

Thank you for my life anon. Have some autistic Echo n Hunter

Chapter 3 is up!

And some ADHD Fives headcanons (bc I have always liked the idea of Fives having ADHD)

Please? I would really appreciate it

YELL HEAH OMG

Okay, so I haven’t been super active in the fandom for a while and I don’t really remember what headcanons I’ve talked about before. I saw that you’ve liked a couple of my posts and hypothetically I could double check those but where’s the fun in that? /j

Autistic Echo

One thing I love to think about in autistic characters is how they stim. I think Echo has a general energy-release stim of tapping his toe in his boot. I also think he stims verbally by reciting the regs.

Echo definitely experiences echolalia! I’ve actually written a fic on it, but I misrepresented echolalia in that fic so I’m not going to link it here. It’s a cute little nod to his name, of course, but also I like thinking about the different ways echolalia and palilalia present and I think Echo does it when he’s stressed (I’m projecting lol)!

He likes the weight and compression of his armour! It’s soothing.

He clearly has a hard time getting along with and communicating with other people. This isn’t really a headcanon so much as evidence to the overall autistic!Echo headcanon. I also like that he and his brothers ALL learn to communicate better with each other and get along, that the onus isn’t on the autistic-coded character.

I think he has a special interest in the regs! I think there aren’t a lot of things to have a special interest in when you’re a clone, and of the few options I think the reg doubles as a good way to feel a sense of order and organization, which a lot of us crave.

Another fic I have is about how he gets overwhelmed sometimes in the battlefield and experiences sensory overload! I don’t think it’s an all-the-time thing, or he just wouldn’t survive that environment, but I do think it’s something he experiences on occasion and his brothers do his best to protect him when it happens.

ADHD Fives

Oddly this is harder even though I also have ADHD and totally vibe with it! (Also ADHD Hardcase for SURE.) But I have a few!

I think he’s primarily hyperactive!

He TOTALLY self-medicates with caffeine. He drinks as much caf as he can get without getting in trouble or making himself anxious.

In some ways I think he’s actually found a lot of healthy coping mechanisms. Like, exercise is really good for the ADHD brain and easily accessed for a soldier, likely part of his daily regimen.

External routine is also awesome for ADHD! Although I headcanon him as ADHD-PH, I know that all ADHD is on a spectrum much like autism and he likely still experiences inattentive symptoms, and routine helps. I think that he actually THRIVES in the military, especially on Kamino where routine is strictly regimented.

I think Echo taught him to stim by tapping his toe in his boot! Get out that excess energy when standing at attention or parade rest for long periods of time.

He sits on the floor a lot! Floor-sitting and other forms of active rest are awesome for ADHD, and he finds it super comfortable.