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Writing Afab Autistic characters!

Prerequisite: autism in females and males present differently. For the longest time, autism was considered a boy disorder and Asperger's was its own diagnosis. Now the term Aspergers is out of date. I personally am a diagnosed Autistic Afab person. This is here for other neurodivergent authors and neurotypical authors looking for a way to make their characters dynamic!

And remember Autism is a disability and like sexuality, it’s a spectrum some are more “autistic” than others. Some are better at “looking normal” and others need constant care. That does not mean you baby us, accommodation does not mean coddling!

Terminology:

Special interest

Autistic meltdown

Going nonverbal

Executive (Dys)function

Masking

Stim

This is a short list of what I think is the most important terms. Please be advised certain words have by co-opt by neurotypical people like “special interest” and “hyper fixation”. They water down the meaning of those words. Such terms like "Are you acoustic?" Or “they got the tism.” Are used by neurotypical people as a joke but sometimes it’s used maliciously. The term “Acoustic” was used by autistic with autistic as a joke before it was co-opted.

Mentality:

Most autistic people are wired differently from neurotypical people, we have more synapsids in our brain. This means we are receiving more information than the average person. Some autistic (myself included) are strong-headed and very single-minded. We like to learn our favorite things.

People with autism have a correlation with other disorders like epilepsy, OCD, and ADHD. PTSD is also common with autistic Afab people as they were probably scolded and berated for traits they have. Remember there is no such thing as an untruamatize autistic (society is not at a place where that is possible. If left-handed people have to struggle in a right-handed world ppl with disabilities won’t have great help).

Autistic people are usually blunt and straightforward at their core, but Afab people tend to mask more. Afab people tend to feel the pressure to mask. They usually develop with their peers until preteen and teen years when they begin to slip through the cracks (they are the “mature for your age” that turn into “childish adults”).

A lot of masking in autism is done by gender, race, and social standing. A lot of Afab autistic tend to land on the non-binary. As we learn to unmask we discover that most autistic people don’t align with their body or even feel human (I am personally agender and I don’t see myself as human),

One last thing a lot of autistic take things at face value. The rules and layout are our bread and butter. A lot of us take a while to form friendships as it takes us personally a while to recognize friendship.

Special interests:

Special interests are very important to autism. The common special interest of Afab people are:

History (specific time periods ie. Victorian, tutor, French Revolution)

Mythology (Greek and Roman)

Crocheting

Reading

Fandom (ie being into animal or TV shows)

These are the most common. My special interest is YouTube, I’ve been obsessed since I was 8-9 years old.

Special interests aren’t the same as hobbies. Special interest is like breathing, it’s something you have to do. A special interest can build an autistic entire being. For me watching YouTube isn’t an “Oh I’m bored let’s scroll TikTok” it’s an “if I’m not watching YouTube I am nothing”. It’s kind of dramatic but YouTube and the things I’ve watched and absorbed into me make me me.

Special interest can be anything!

But remember if you give them a unique special interest like decay, death, or magic you must actually know what you are talking about. Having a surface knowledge isn’t going to work.

A lot of autistic people lose interest in conversation if it’s not about their special interest. Some can't even hold a conversation outside their special interests.

Autistic meltdown

An autistic meltdown is not a tantrum. A tantrum is done deliberately, it is done to manipulate. An autistic meltdown is about being overstimulated to the point you feel like the world will never recover. An autistic meltdown can mean the person shuts down and becomes nonverbal or dissociates, or it means crying screaming, and harm. Usually the aftermath they are drained of their energy.

Going nonverbal

Is a phenomenon both chosen and sometimes it's not. Some people are just nonverbal and can't really speak or when they do speak the words don't come out right.

Executive (Dys)function

Usually, neurodivergent people will hit a wall when it comes to one of the Executive functions. One of the best ways to make your character dynamic is by giving them a dysfunction and seeing how that impacts their character and dynamic with others.

Masking

Masking is a technique done by Autistic and other neurodivergent people to fit into society. It's a way to keep oneself safe and accepted. A lot of neurotypical people don't like things odd and strange things that are too out of normal.

Masking can get so intense that the person who's masking loses their real self and struggles to be unmasked.

Stim

Stimming is an act that can soothe you, positively or negatively.

Positive/ neutral stimming could look like:

Listening to a specific song over and over again

listening to a specific section of a song over and over again

playing with hair

doodling

rocking back and forth

T-rex arms

repeating what others say

jumping

suck on thumb

Negative Stimming could look like this:

scratching

biting

head banging

hair pulling

nail biting

Also, consider adding!

Echolalia

select mutism

Overly expressive emotion

monotone expression of emotion

alexithymia

Aphantasia

Service Dog

Other resources!

How to write an autistic character

Writing Autistic Characters: The Do’s, Don’ts, and Maybes

Understanding undiagnosed autism in adult females

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