#ND-coding

[lokiinmediasideblog]

This is not drama. This is prompted by a tweet about someone saying they would write about how MCU!Loki works as a seamless late-autism diagnosis metaphor. But I totally agree! And I am looking forward to their essay.

Whereas the "inter-racial adoption" analogy has a lot of flaws on it, being that MCU Loki is played by a white actor (and other messy optics), the late-autism diagnosis analogy is FUCKING PERFECT. There's also a long tradition of autism analogies being about "different planets", "changelings", and "aliens", which Loki is in cannon.

And I think one of my first posts was a reblog on how he works perfectly as an analogy for the queer neurodivergent experience of feeling like you're unlovable for some elusive reason only you seem to be unaware of. But I am not sure if I should put it here because I am trying not to traumadump.

I know someone who was diagnosed as a toddler for autism but their parents were like "We won't tell them so that they're not hindered and don't feel different." That's basically Loki's whole ordeal.

Because people can somehow tell that you're different and they hate you for it. Your friends are never yours. They're the friends of whoever decided to tolerate you to make you into their little project only to toss you out once they get sick of you.

If you have neurotypical siblings, you constantly get compared to them because, 'Why can't you be like them!?" You feel like they are always expecting the worst from you.

You feel like you are actually a great liar, because you've had to pretend all your life. Everyone makes it clear that they can barely tolerate you. So you play it up to seem amusing and endearing and funny. This even works with Loki's skill set of illusions!

It's just so perfect.

[vanderdyks]

I geniunely cannot stand when allistics try to say Resident Alien is actually making fun of autistic people because they believe Harry is too childish now because I JUST-

In the beginning, Harry tried SO MUCH HARDER to fit in with the humans around him. He mimicked their speech patterns, consistently observed them, emersed himself in their activities so they wouldn't suspect he was different.

The Harry now? He doesn't care. He's loud in places he should be quiet. He talks how he wants. He laughs FREELY. He's learned large crowds of people? Not for him. He doesn't like being touched by strangers.

He's just Harry. Himself. Because he can be. Because he's realized even if some of the people of Patience find him strange, it doesn't matter. They'll never guess he's from outer space.

Have you noticed that every other alien we have seen is not like Harry? Not the greys, or the half human hybrids, not even Heather. When Heather is around humans who know she is an alien, we get to see the difference, but when she isn't? She fits in so well with any other neurotypical human.

Not Harry though. So yes, he is autistic because I said he is. Because I am autistic. And if you're allistic, you don't get to tell autistic people they shouldn't headcanon Harry as autistic (even though it is very obvious they're purposefully playing him as neurodivergent now.)

When you take an autistically coded character that a lot of autistic individuals relate to, and try to argue the character is actually a "child" and being "infantalised," you're actually being ableist.

You're saying that the traits we have resonated with are childish... Harry seems like he's "regressed" because instead of trying to adapt and pretend to be human, he is becoming something else entirely. Not human, but not fully alien either.

The body of doctor Harry Vanderspeigle was once just a disguise. Now it IS Harry's. It's his body, his own skin. And he's gotten comfortable in it and you know this because you deliberately witness times where he might be holding his hands like he would his claws (primarily when he's sleeping.) His brain doesn't realize he's not in his normal form, because in many ways, this is his new normal form.

He has emotions. He cares. He's in completely new territory and finding himself. And in doing so, that carefully crafted human mask? It's fallen a bit.

So that thing you label as "regression" is a thing I label as progress. He's learning still. Let him learn. Let him be. And give it time. And I hope to GOD Harry never becomes fully human to the point we can't recognize him. I hope he never loses his unique inflictions, or his love for pizza and pie. I hope he continues to love the quiet. I hope he ALWAYS laughs obnoxiously. I hope he always runs like he doesn't know what to do with his limbs. I hope you always see his emotions throughout his body because they simply cannot be contained. I hope he continues to jump when excited or pace when he's angry. I hope he stays obsessed with Law & Order forever.

Because if you take all that away, you're taking away the bits that make him Harry. You want a carbon copy human. I want the autistic alien struggling to understand human nature.

That being said, of course you can express your opinion him. And it can be discussed because everyone is going to have a different perspective.

But you don't get to dictate an autistic perspective if you are not autistic. Or try to cancel anyone for it either.

I love Harry. And I relate to him SO MUCH. And I love how much representation I can see him through him for me. Because I personally believe Alan and the writers have chosen to keep presenting this character as ND.

It's okay to dislike the direction of his character development. It's okay to find the flaws. It's okay to share that perspective. What's NOT okay is dictating the feelings of others because they might not agree with you.

I don't find him childish. I see him as an autistic individual trying to navigate a society that his brain hasn't been hardwired to understand.

And if you think he's too childish, please look closer at the why you think he is. Really be introspective on this one.

Because Harry is a parent. And has a child. And he has relationships. And he takes care of himself. Not only that, he is the town doctor and takes care of everyone else too. He is the smartest. He is the strongest. None of the characters have had to worry about the wellfare of Harry specifically. Its why no one realizes the greys have captured him. Because of course Harry would be fine, hes the alien expert. He knows what he's doing. So while everyone else spent so much time worrying about each other, no one was left to worry about Harry.

So ask yourself why you believe Harry has become "too childish" and if your answer comes down to any of his quirky traits or his misunderstandings of human nature, then you really need to consider if what you're actually uncomfortable with is autism/autistic traits.

[benjingler]

Unintentionally trans-coded characters, whose transness is represented by monsters

Drops mic

[matchamiko]

Wriothesley is so husband shaped; those big shoulders for sleeping on snuggled in bed, thick forearms to bite when he’s fucking you down into the mattress, capable hands for kneading dough when you don’t want to, beautiful kind eyes that are the first thing you see in the morning, big wide hairy chest for leaning on in the bath, such a strong back for hoisting furniture around when you want to change the sitting room around, legs heavy and wide enough to sit on as you arrange flowers you’d both bought from the farmers market, fingers weathered from work and age sitting pretty between your thighs.

[rebuke-me]

the pilot program are all autistic in this essay i will

[shiningstarr15]

I am asking, no BEGGING this fandom at this point to PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE start depicting Vanessa more as a silly, dorky, awkward, girlfailure loser. Bc THAT IS WHO SHE IS.

Yes she is attractive, but she’s also just an absolute disaster. She’s a disheveled mess, she has massive eyebags, can’t do her makeup worth shit, pulls her pants up to her fucking belly button, walks like she’s a goddamn question mark, can’t talk to people (or animatronics) worth shit, literally MOCKS people (that is CANON), and literally just has no idea what she’s doing at any point whatsoever.

She’s a dork ok. She would rather play video games than literally do anything else. She has a glittery pink journal with goddamn puppies on it, she bakes cupcakes and has rainbow hair extensions. She put toe beans on a RABBIT costume when RABBITS DO NOT HAVE TOE BEANS. DORK!

Even in the MOVIE, she’s a soggy loser. She threw a man’s sleeping pills in the river, she threatened to SHOOT a man on sight if he ever brought his kid sister back to Freddy’s. She asked said man to dance in the most awkward way possible, and she actively built a fort with a bunch of ghost kids haunting animatronics.

So please. Literally on my hands and knees BEGGING this fandom.. MAKE HER THE SILLY DORK LOSER SHE IS. She’s not a ‘serious’ character. She’s overly anxious and screams at people bc she can’t control her own emotions. Take a better look at her character and I promise you’ll see it!

PLEASE!

[chrliekclly]

oh charlie kelly loose identity tied to emotions nd changing on a whim we're really in it now....

[wildaboutchu2000]

18matsu au....................

reika belongs 2 @mushimatsu :3

[r0semultiverse]

Hey, what the fuck? WHAT THE FUCK??

"12 years ago"

"Open your mind!"

Ice Queen counterpart's ice cream machine is a portal???

[saetiate]

being friends w me often includes getting really comfortable with telling me “i want attention on this” knowing that i will follow through. like the social convention of shame that comes with outrightly asking for what you want is baffling to me. “i want unlimited access to you and attention from you today because i’m going through something” okay let’s do it. i’m down. thank you for telling me

[just-sp-in-inginthevoid]

Autistic (at least ND) Kawata twins:

Smiley can't make eye contact while Angry stares into your soul

smile to mask - resting bitch face (not on purpose)

same thing with their voice (don't control intonation+volume very well)

^ lead to struggle with socialization

low to no empathy - hypersensitive

(drawn by violence, no sense of danger? - dislikes violence; only here to make sure his brother's safe and keeping him in check)

canonically likes plastic models and mangas but hides it to be popular (*cough* hiding your SpIns from others? *cough* being ashamed of them ? *cough* relatable *cough*) (also adds to struggle with socialization)

naturally knows how to make perfect ramen

both have a hyposensitivity to pain (OR - they don't know how to properly express it)

the several moments Smiley sit 'oddly'

cries when overwhelmed and lashes out (in their flashback/when they were young at least), perhaps meltdown

ramen is their comfort food btw. Wakui told me

(not but seriously, they swap expression when they eat ramen, that's so precious)

blunt, very straightforward

[lokiinmediasideblog]

Saw a post that Loki fits in way better with the TVA than he ever did in Asgard, where he's just tolerated,his illusions power-set sounds a lot like masking, and has that whole reveal about being an alien/changeling. And I think this further promotes my belief that Loki is very ND-coded (strong ADHD/AuDHD vibes), given that there's multiple Loki series characters that are very autism-coded (e.g. OB, Casey, Mobius, Timely).

[shadowspirez]

if you aren't at least a little weird about the squip, then honestly what're you even doin!

that tictac is literally a gaslight gatekeep girlboss, mansplain manipulate manslaughter! the potential!!!

you can't hate him, officer, he's literally just a little guy!

[darthkote]

[shiraishi--kanade]

A little bit concerning now autism-coding evolved from originally meaning "this character is said or implied to be inspired by a real person from the writer's life who later ended up discovering they're autistic or were actually always autistic, or that we can arguably assume were autistic; while this is almost never a conscious writing decision it is a representation of autistic people always being around and someone caring and loving them enough to make them into a story, and are therefore relatable to other autistic people in a unique way because they were never intended to be written as Token Autistic but instead as a full person and avoided the harmful tropes connected to autism" to now "actually this character is autistic and the writers Always Wanted to State That they just couldn't because #evilcensorship. Source trust me bro"

[soullessjack]

idk i just think it’s a little weird that almost every character who gets the “innocent baby” / “little ray of sunshine” treatment usually ends up just having neurodivergent traits and actual negative traits in the show that nobody pays attention to. like idk man it just feels like diet infantilization to me and it’s a teeny weeny bit uncomfortable to see all the time