#ptc rambles

This started out as an agreement/addition to @derschokoladenritter ‘s post about Data having creative autism instead of math/science autism, but my ideas ended up not being as related as I initially thought. And longer than I’d have liked. So I’m making a separate post.

I’ve noticed some of my own ADHD traits in Data (he’d be closer to the hyperactive kind, not the inattentive kind). I don’t necessarily think it’s for the same reason or affects him in the same way as it would a human, but it’s interesting. So I like to headcanon him as AuDHD (with hyperfixations in creative fields, as you pointed out).

He gets ideas that aren’t necessarily relevant in the conversation/situation he’s in and shares them anyway (sometimes interjecting them at “inappropriate” times despite him constantly trying to be considerate of others). Tbf his thoughts are relevant in his eyes, his brain is able to make different and faster connections than an organic brain. And he often doesn’t realize that other ppl didn’t make the same connections or find his new topics relevant until they point it out to him OR he realizes something he says wasn’t relevant/appropriate after he says it. I headcanon that Data makes tons of these rapid connections as he’s talking to someone, and he consistently has to manually filter them out in real time.

He can listen to 100 or so songs at once, but chooses “only” to listen to 5 at a time (I always have like 5 different songs stuck in my head at once). Also, when he had his emotion chip (as much as I want to rant about how I don’t care for the emotion chip, this post is long enough already) we get to see the LIFE-FORMS SONG. He also becomes more sensory-seeking and impulsive with the emotion chip, which is understandable bc he can feel new sensations now, but I still think it’s interesting.