#nbc superstore

I’ve watched Superstore maybe 20 times, 5 times consecutively, and I’ve come to notice something with my favourite character in the series — she’s definitely autistic. (general spoiler warning for for Superstore of course)

Just a disclaimer that, obviously, I’m not a psych major or some kind of professional, I’m just using my own experiences and knowledge plus observations of others. Also this is just for fun, I like this show and I love the character so I wanted to do this!

Starting with I think the most obvious sign is her “by the books” attitude and her strong sense of justice/rigid morals. Dina LOVES rules and organization and we can see that in many episodes across the whole show. Her uniform is always in tiptop shape with her signature company approved hairstyle, her ability to properly recite the employee hand book, her unwillingness to change the time sheet for Garret after he forgot to clock in because “rules are rules”.

As a side note, she’s very good at using said rules to her advantage, super good at finding loopholes while still maintaining her sense of justice and strict morals. In S2E3 “Back To Work” Dina uses the rules to essentially blackmail Jeff and prevent Amy from being reported and potentially fired while still being by the book! In S5E6 after the union cards go missing, before she looks for the cards in order to now be breaking the rules she says “according to company rules I must report any and all union activity to my manager so, \turns to Amy there’s been union activity” and then proceeds to break into the new DM’s car to find the union cards while Amy distracts her.

This need for rules seems to connect to one of her special interests: Security! Dina LOVES security and knows a lot about it. She’s knows all the emergency codes and protocols and is always trying to catch crime in action. She knows why people shoplift and what is done with those shoplifted items, she’s head of security for a reason!

Small mention to her special interest in birds. She loves (well, loved) her birds and is vegan because of her love of animals which I find to be a cute trait!

Moving on, she is… very very brutally honest and doesn’t hide her feelings from anyone. She’s very open about how she feels about a situation or about how you look, pointing out your worst physical features or insecurities without hesitation. She’s open about how she thinks her sister is ugly, about Glenn’s weak chin and high voice, about Garret’s weak chin, Amy’s left boob and joints, about her dislike but respect for Sandra, and many other quotable and equally funny examples

She’s very detailed-oriented. In both instances of her being a bride’s maid she is always prepared for anything and everything. She has a dollar amount on how much she would be paid for her to have sex with every employee in the store. She has a detailed list of enemies and best friends and she has every employee ranked by attractiveness.

She’s not the best at social cues! Sure she’s not completely unknowing but misses a lot. That whole one-sided crush in S1 with Jonah where she thought they were flirting. S2E22 “Tornado” Where Garret was trying to drop hints that he wanted her to care about him but she was oblivious to that fact. She’s also unable to lie, or at least lie well. In S5E21 “California Pt.1” She tries and fails to keep Jonah off Amy’s trail while she’s at the interview for corporate and in turn makes him even more suspicious of both of them and in S6E9 “Conspiracy” she very badly lies about being able to say “Have a heavenly day” again to Glenn.

Here’s some more points in a random order because I was never good at writing essays (plus there’s like 6 seasons with an average of 20 episodes each, I'm not going to actively look through all that just for Dina moments)

She’s not really empathetic? I think it’s more just a misunderstanding of social cues or strict morals but she has a perceived lack of empathy towards others

She’s got pretty literal thinking

She likes strict regimens and the only evidence I have for this is that she likes listening to the same songs

She’s awkward in conversations and doesn’t realize

She has a loud voice! I know she has an unusually large diaphragm but I also like to think this has to do with her being autistic and unable to tell when she’s being too loud

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(for any screen reader users, i use two kaomojis at the end. sorry if anything gets messed)

idk if anyone has said this before but i wanted to share this because... i just wanted to...

again just to rehash this is just a head canon. im not the creator or writers of the show and im not some autism expert, i just love this show and character

sorry if anything was hard to follow im not the best at writing essays, they were my least favourite thing in school and idk why. theyre just very hard to do ૮ ․ ․ ྀིა