dunno if this is a common take or not but I think Dubois is at least semi-caonically written as autistic, (or at least Weir's stereotypical/unformed idea of such) kind of as a foil to Grace (who def has that same-neurotype connection to the rest of humanity but refuses to get close to them, vs Dubois who has it harder in SO many ways but chooses to put the effort in, goes back to what makes him genuinely heroic). I think that's what the infamous scene was supposed to be about, it's basically like, a joke about scientists not being very socially graceful, which is by extension a joke about autistic stereotypes. and bc of that I tend to read Dubois' canon characterization as a biased report being given by the type of guy who is both ignorant and socially unskilled at cross-neurotype communication.
