#psi-force

PERSONALITY

Johnny isn’t a passive force. He isn’t treated as just an accessory. He’s shown to have an own will and personality. Yes, he is non-verbal, but he is shown to use sounds he tries to communicate with and he’s definitely shown to have intelligence. This is still uncommon. Non-verbal autistics are usually depicted as being less intelligent. He is also shown to have empathy and caring about others.

NO MONSTER

Autistic characters are often depicted as not being “fully human”. As lacking something fundamentally compared to neurotypical people. That is not the case with Johnny. Yes, they do make it sound like autism is a mental illness, but it’s also pointed out that he’s just a kid and that he has been abused, which he has. It’s also mentioned that the autism can be genetic (and therefore not an illness), something that also wasn’t common in 1989.

POWERS

They gave him real powers. Dangerous powers. No something savant related either. They made him pyrokinetic.

RELATIONSHIPS

He’s given actual relationships. There’s one man he gets more attached to, kind of like a father figure, but he’s shown being pranked and pranking right back with the others. There’s no doubt that he’s actually part of the team. He’s not just a token.

DEVELOPMENT

Johnny is shown to develop, although the most obvious thing is a bit stereotypical of him saying “love you” to a character at the end, but this is during a time when many still thought autistic kids couldn’t develop much (unfortunately, many still holds that belief.

That’s it for now. I’ve probably forgotten something.