AN EXERCISE IN YOUTHFUL BLASPHEMY

not to b autistic about it or anything but i’ve noticed that the rpc is mostly peopled by allistics.

i’ve also noticed that when characters are autistic, they usually seem to be of a certain type: ‘Cold,’ Quiet, Likes Numbers, What Are Feelings Does Not Compute Error 404. furthermore, that seems to be just about the only criteria needed to meet in order to headcanon a character as autistic. even furthermore, seeing those characters over and over as the only representation of autism is uhhhhhhh kind of boring and largely rooted in autism through the allistic eye, ie negatively. this Autistic Character Mould people are putting ocs and canons alike into needs to be broken up and diversified. here’s how.

first of all, you, the presumably allistic writer and / or character, need to heed these four ( 4 ) factors before i continue:

while those kinds of autistic people, ie the quiet ones ones that like numbers and not people do exist, autism is called a spectrum and with good reason. more importantly, autism does not exist in a vacuum. an autistic person may have all of those traits, a few of them, or none at all.

also, those traits are not solely autistic ones. a person can like numbers and not people, have issues expressing emotions and keep to themselves and be allistic.

cold unfeeling autistic characters are usually written with very little or no insight into the neurological condition itself, which makes for a shit portrayal. this post should not be your only character building source for autism. as you should with every other foray into a subject you’re unfamiliar with, for the love of the GODS, do ya gotdamn research.

if you have a Gasping Need to make your Cold Unfeeling Machine character autistic or conversely, make your autistic a Cold Unfeeling Machine, do it, i suppose ( sarcasm, ) but think about where your decision for making them autistic comes from and why you want to do it.

but queen morgaine, how am i going to write my autistic character then? fear not, reader, here is a list of lesser-recognised autistic things you can and are encouraged to apply to your autistic character to make for a more realistic, nuanced, and overall more human and less robotic portrayal. 

allistics are allowed and encouraged to reblog.

bering and wells + touching

Bonus:

Joanne: I also think it speaks to Jaime's strength as an actress that she brought so much to the table in setting up that relationship. We are so lucky to have her. You know, we have a very male set. There are a lot of dudes around. So to have another woman come in, one who is so smart and so interesting — I'll just say H.G. Wells wasn't H.G. Wells until Jamie stepped into her shoes.

Jaime: Oh, you!