#actually decent autism representation

[maaikeatthefullmoon]

If you’re in the UK I’ve got to recommend Ludwig on the BBC.

Fiendishly clever, yet cosy, and very funny; I flew through it and am gutted there’s no confirmation of a second season yet.

Main stars David Mitchell and Anna Maxwell Martin were absolutely superb. And I even managed to love Derek Jacobi finally (it’s taken me this long to push past the Metatwat & Master block…).

Have to give a shout out to the sympathetic autism representation, although it’s never once labelled or mentioned. I frequently get annoyed at how neurodivergence is depicted in the media and this did a great job.

[dr-spectre]

The autism representation in Splatoon needs to be studied and celebrated because oh my god it's actually really damn good and some of the best in media, especially compared to how its usually portrayed in popular media....

As someone who is on the spectrum and has been diagnosed, it's really comforting to know that one of my favorite game series has such positive depictions of autism and isn't just stereotypical depictions we commonly see in media.

Autism in most media is either portrayed as white nerdy dudes who are cold robots that have super intelligence, can understand alien languages and see the world like they are a fucking Lego master builder or some shit and see blueprints in the sky like in The Good Doctor or The Big Bang Theory with Sheldon. Or it's portrayed as people who are incredibly disabled, cannot communicate and have constant tantrums as seen with the dogshit movie Music (2021). Literally the depiction of autism in that movie is actually fucking dangerous as it shows a person pushing an autistic person who is having a meltdown onto the ground and RESTRICTING THEM! WHICH IS VERY VERY VERY BAD! DO NOT DO THIS!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!! AUTISTIC PEOPLE HAVE DIED BECAUSE OF THIS!!!!!!!!

Now I'm not saying that these types of autistic people don't exist, remember, it's a spectrum so there's a ton of variety in people who have autism, some people have really high intelligence, some have low social skills and need help, some can talk for hours and hours to anyone, some need serious help to function day to day living and thats perfectly fine. however the type i listed of the super cold robotic genuis is just the really popular stereotype which impacts the perception of autistic people just trying to live and enjoy life like everyone else. Some autistic people are just in the middle and aren't on any of the extremes. There are tons of people who fall into the "low needs" and "high needs" sides of autism of course, however there isn't exactly a ton of representation for people in the middle and sometimes those popular representations of autism can damage the entire perception of the spectrum. And there still isn't a lot of fair representation of "high needs" autistic people in media and that needs to change as well.

Thankfully Splatoon doesn't go for any damaging stereotypes but instead goes for something a little more positive. I think the best examples of this are Marina, Marie and Harmony. While they haven't been canonically confirmed as being on the autism spectrum, they are heavily hinted that they are and show some evidence that supports it.

Harmony for instance is just.... a regular autistic girl, she isn't some incredibly smart girl, no, she's just a regular girl who speaks in a blunt and neutral way but that's about it. As someone who is autistic i can relate somewhat to how she speaks, in real life i tend to just say a few words when talking to someone and i don't really sound energetic or loud about it. i just go "Hey. Hi. Alright. Okay. Oh ok. Uh. I'm good." Some autistic people normally do not speak like they are the nerd emoji and sound hyper smart like Sheldon from Big Bang Theory, and they are not able to speak entirely. That's not what ALL autistic people sound like. There's a decent chunk of them that just speak regularly or speak a little quietly and thats okay. Harmony captures the speech of what a fair portion of autistic people talk like, but not every single autistic person of course. There is a large chunk of autistic people who need support when it comes to communication, and that's perfectly okay. They are just valid as human beings as the ones who can speak.

She also has an interest in music as she is the singer of Chirpy Chips and is seen stimming and fidgeting with an Ultra Hand. Autistic people usually fidget and stim to calm themselves down and keep their emotions in check, maybe Harmony plays with the Ultra Hand because it helps her stay calm when running Hotlantis.

Now it's time to talk about the most popular example of autistic representation in Splatoon. Marina.

She is quite shy when you zoom in on her in Splatoon 2 when you play as an Inkling, but is known to ramble about machinery and excavators to Pearl and Acht for hours at a time. Technology and machinery seem to be a special interest for her as shown with her creating the Shifty Stations for Splatfests, having hacking abilities and building the Memverse. She gets so much energy and excitement from working on the Memverse as shown by her dialogue in the Dev Diaries. However she is not a flawless super genius like in most depictions of autistic characters, she is known to have uncontrollable emotional outbursts, when Pearl even suggests the idea of Off the Hook breaking up she becomes extremely devastated and thinks of the worst case scenario in her dialogue from the Chaos vs Order Splatfest. She sometimes can't control her anger and snaps at Pearl after losing multiple times in a row in Splatfests.

She also has issues with proper work life balance as she overworks herself with working on the Memverse alongside going on a world tour with Pearl, she vents abouts this in her 10th Dev Diary in Side Order. And speaking of order, she chose team order because she wanted to maintain the balance in her life that she has found. A lot of autistic people have strict routines and any changes to that routine will cause them to get really distressed. If someone comes into my space and says "hey we're going out in 10 minutes." I'm gonna get pissed off and be in a terrible mood as my routine has been disrupted and i wanna do something else. Routines give autistic people a lot of comfort and predictability.

Marina's deepest flaw she kept hidden was the desire of a perfect world of order where nothing can change because she's so scared of her new life being destroyed, but she learns to overcome this fear of change with the help of Pearl by the end of Side Order which may inspire autistic people to learn to be more okay with change, even if its very hard.

Marina is also seen wearing her headphones quite often and rarely takes them off which may indicate she might have sensory issues. Some autistic people may suffer with sensory issues and need to wear headphones or certain pieces of clothing to stay calm and keep their emotions from becoming too much. I tend to wear headphones often because i hate my ears being exposed and I'm very sensitive to certain noises.

She also may have another special interest which may be the Squid Sisters as she litters her laptop and keytar with Squid Sister stickers. Marina also talks in a very excited tone when you get Marie's and Callie's palettes in Side Order. She also acts very giddy and excited during live performances with them and starts stimming which is shown by her moving around in place and clamping her hands together.

Another character who you might not think is autistic right away but shows signs of it is Marie. And to be honest i find her to be very relatable.

Marie is known to be more quiet than her cousin and she acted like this since she was a child. Marie also seems to struggle with social situations and struggles to talk with Agent 4 and Neo Agent 3 and wishes they can just leave her alone when you keep talking to her. However she seems to be a lot more comfortable talking with people she trusts and loves like her cousin Callie. She also makes quite snarky and sometimes rude comments but that doesn't mean she's a rude person, she just likes being cheeky and truly cares about the people around her. She even self loathes and worries about her cousin to an unhealthy degree.

A lot of people tend to say that autistic people have low empathy when in reality some autistic people are far from the case. Some autistic people might be TOO empathetic but they cannot show it because it's just so much for them that they can't properly express it. Marie may appear as rude and non caring but she's genuinely a very caring and emotional person but she doesn't know how to show it due to not having developed communication skills compared to neurotypical people. A fair amount of autistic people are not shy people that don't care about you, they just have a different way of speech and communication. 2 autistic people can talk vastly different from each other. It is a spectrum after all. There are some who may have low empathy, but they are not psychopaths who don't care about human life. It's really, really weird to think that and kind of damaging to see autistic people in that kind of light.

Marie is also known to be a picky eater and despises vegetables, refuses to eat the ends of bread loafs, hates tomatoes and pineapple on pizza. (she's literally me holy shit...) some autistic people can have sensory issues when it comes to certain textures and smells and vegetables usually have a weird texture compared to meats and other food groups. They can be seen as "picky eaters" that don't wanna try anything but, some autistic people genuinely cannot eat certain foods and may get sick in the stomach if they see that food and would rather eat anything else. You cannot get me to eat carrots, like I'm sorry but that's not happening buddy. I don't care if they are baked or boiled, i refuse to put that shit in my mouth.

She was also on team order like Marina as she likes to keep things nice and tidy like with most autistic people. Not all but most.

A little tidbit i wanna add as well is that since Splatoon 2, Marie has been seen holding an parasol and for seemingly no reason. Some may say she holds it to seem more professional, however i think she has it around because she likes to hold it in her hands and use it to fidget with, much like Harmony with the Ultra Hand. You can see her spin it around when you stay around her for a little bit in Splatoon 3's story mode. Although I might be looking too deeply into this but i think it might be a cute little detail.

I find it really fantastic that Splatoon not only has good representations of autism, but it's also pretty diverse and shows different elements of the spectrum. Not every single aspect of the spectrum as there isn't an example of a high needs autistic character in Splatoon that I can think of unfortunately, but if you can think of a character who may be in the high needs category of the spectrum then let me know, however we got a pale skinny sea anemone who runs a general store and uses an Ultra Hand to fidget with, a tall black woman who's extremely passionate about machinery and technology, and a Japanese squid woman who would rather eat a Splattershot than a tomato. (Callie and Marie are based off of Japanese culture, look at their clothing and styles of music. If they were humans they would not be white women, sorry to break it to you bud.)

Before this ends i wanna say, if you disagree with me then that's fine. I get it. They aren't canonically confirmed to be on the autism spectrum and a lot of this is just speculation and observation. However don't be a fucking dick about it okay? Don't say that i don't know anything about autism and that I'm crazy and dumb. Don't do that shit. Seriously. I am allowed to look deeper into these characters and find relatability and comfort in them. Don't try to make me feel like a freak for this.

Anyways if i did get something wrong about autism let me know in a fair and polite way. I am human and I'm gonna make mistakes, but don't be a dickhead about it, k? Good. Have a goodnight or good day wherever you live.

[ask-ciaphas-cain]

Also, if you like the Alien movies but you were holding off on seeing Romulus because Prometheus and Covenants disappointed you: go see Romulus

It's a proper return to form: creepy abandoned lab, xenomorphs, H. R. Giger vaginas, people making decent choices that make sense in the context of the information they have available but it still all goes to fuck, and appropriately sparse and well timed call backs.

There's also a VERY autistic coded character who's important to the story and has agency!!!! He's treated poorly by some of the characters but like... Weren't we all as autistic kids/still sometimes as adults. I was NOT expecting actually good, sympathetic autism representation from the movie at all.

Go see the movie it's very fun

[dearsholmes]

Autism movie/show deep dive and my very general thoughts on them!

(everyones different these are my own opinions as an autistic woman please watch for yourself and share any additional thoughts you have on them!)

Music (2021)

Enough said.... had to get this one over with 0/10

Adam (2009)

I found most of these movies to be outdated BUT I actually really appreciate Hugh Dancy's recreation of an autistic character (those who know him as Will in Hannibal would probably also agree). Even though originally I wasn't a fan of the ending I came to appreciate it that he wasn't 'saved' by romance and that it proved he was able to be independent and had great character growth while still respecting himself and his passions. I think it offered a decent insight to the different aspects of autistic joy, passion, while still including the difficult aspects with socializing, navigating relationships, grief, and meltdowns but now being overshadowed by them or 'becoming a problem'. However, I do love space so that could've also been responsible for my love for this movie. 8/10

Heartbreak High (2022)

I absolutely love Chloé Hayden who is autistic herself so her character in the show feels real and more relatable. Pretty much what I said about 'Adam' but to an extreme I think the script and character interactions are such a fantastic and understandable demonstration of what being an autistic women is like (granted everyones experience is different). Cannot wait for the next season! This show is such a great modern day representation and not based in stereotypes like others are 10/10

Big Bang Theory (2007)

I will never not defend this show - I know people tend to hate this because Sheldon is heavily stereotypical but I find him incredibly relatable as I do fall into a lot of these stereotypes myself. Once again everyones experiences are different so I don't understand why people write this show off completely. Love it 10/10

Atypical (2017)

Unfortunately I don't have much to say about this show in regards to his autism because the constant inconsistencies during scenes deserve their own post and were too distracting to focus on anything else. Another thing that upset me about this is that the show is meant to take place in Connecticut yet they filmed in one of the most recognizable aquariums in the west coast. This show probably could've been good if it was just made better/had quality control. The only thing I remember liking was the pros and cons list because I also do that. 4/10

Mozart and the Whale (2005)

I'm going to preface this one specifically that I know everyone's autism presents differently but I almost found her... offensive? I think this is because it was made in 2005 and is just outdated but I felt like a lot of the characters especially hers were more caricatures than characters. Sheldon being stereotypical is one thing but this felt kind of insulting? I'm having a hard time putting it into words. There were moments I liked though - it was a weird back and forth. 5/10

What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)

Other than the mistreatment/beating/abuse I actually am pretty fond of this movie. Once again, outdated. But almost... endearing in a way (minus the mistreatment once again). I hope anyone who has seen it will understand what I feel. I did find the love interest annoying but that is unrelated to this post yet I felt the need to warn you all, I don't like her. 7.5/10

My Name is Khan (2010)

I watched this movie six years ago in school before my diagnosis and I didn't even remember or realize he was autistic but I do remember having generally positive thoughts on this movie ?/10 (someone let me know if its worth a rewatch.

A Brilliant Young Mind (2014) ((also called X+Y))

There is a lot of downtime in this movie so it can be kind of boring but it is honestly one of my comfort/go to movies. Of course its the whole "autistics are math geniuses" thing but the movie itself I think is sweet. It shows his diagnosis, he loses his father, he has almost a fill in father who coaches his math, his mother is really supportive of him but not in a savior kind of way, he experiences going out of the country for a competition, struggles with socializing/overwhelm, romantic interests, and there is another character who is autistic and his struggles are also shown in a relatable way, nothings (in my opinion) is annoyingly over exaggerated like it sometimes can be in movies. 9/10

The Good Doctor (2017)

I never actually finished the show because the person I was watching it with kept making fun of me by relating myself to him. Since then I also haven't seen much of a positive reaction from other people either but please let me know your thoughts on it! ?/10

The Imitation Game (2014)

Alan Turing himself was autistic and so even though it's not a main focus of this movie I still wanted to include it because I love this movie! 9/10

Sherlock Holmes (timeless)

I have to also through him in here, obviously some versions are more autistic coded than others but I'm going to generally say all of them are great autistic representation <3 10/10

Not Dead Yet (2023)

Like in Heartbreak High, Rick Glassman an autistic actor plays an autistic character and I think its another great modern day representation. It obviously isn't the main focus but they honestly do a pretty good job being educational in regard to social situations/difficulties and explain it in a way that people can learn from. 10/10

Bones (2005)

I honestly can't remember if they ever say it but Temperance is 100% autistic and I think this is a very endearing show. Since its not the main focus I don't have much to say other than sharing my recommendation 9/10

Criminal Minds (2005)

I mean... enough said. I love Reid with my whole heart. He is very much the 'autistic genius' again but you can't not love Reid! 10/10

Community (2009)

Abed. Another one that doesn't really need much to be said about it. Abed is great 10/10

Dr Who (timeless) ((quite literally and figuratively))

Now this could be considered a reach or projection but Dr Who... autistic! simple as that 10/10

House (2004)

I had to just throw this one in at the end because its really just another version of 'Holmes' and 'Watson' now as 'House' and 'Wilson'. Sherlock, previously said as autistic means House is also autistic 10/10

[cripplecharacters]

Hello! Want to double check that I've done a decent job of avoiding disfiguremisia, and try to turn it into great counter to hatred instead of just an okay one.

Preface: I have a form of memory loss and likely brain damage so I cannot always phrase things clearly although I will try my best.

Personally I do not feel happy reading escapist stories as that happy ending is not achievable for real people. We don't get to live in a place that's completely safe and free from judgement. I'd like to write people in a hostile world who find love and safety and community, however this does necessite writing hostility. I want to make sure I'm doing so with care.

I would like to make sure that the hostility written as tension does not tar how I write how one of the main characters. He should be written with dignity and respect even when he is not being treated well by those around him.

One of my characters is blind and develops severe burn scars. He wears a blindfold to help with photophobia and sensory overwhelm, but takes it off when its dim. (CVI plus autism.)

While he does wear a cloth coverings in public due to ugly laws, he views it as a ridiculous requirement and happily removes this mask when with friends. He also enjoys that being visibly strange or somewhat unnerving to most people means that shallow people who judge by appearances avoid him.

Question: what other things might I be able to employ to counter disfiguremisia? I have him being content with his face as it tells a story of his life and he's a blunt, forward person, not covering his face for most of the story despite laws necessitating that he do so, and a few other things too (and many side characters with facial differences and deformities also).

Also none of the central plotlines centre around facial difference. He's joining a servant rebellion, befriending a bitter exile intent on status at all costs, and discovering the truth of history. (Also a mind controlling octopus being is involved and a semi sentient moon amalgam thing but don't worry about it everything's fine.)

I think later books will be a more effective counter due to lack of ugly laws and him finding a lovely interest. I will also do my best to make the counters feel real and feasible - I want it to feel like an achievable option for those who deal with prejudice in the real world. I want his happy ending to feel real.

I respect the hell out of escapist fantasies it's just that they do nothing for me personally. I really want to write someone dealing with a lot - more than I ever have - and coming out the other end happy. Yes this world is hostile and will judge me but I can find joy despite it all. Some say the world is universally cruel but I have not found this to be the case. It is wise to be wary but myself and friends can create small sections of time and space where no precautions are necessary. Am I not part of the world? Are not they? The world is not universally cruel as long as I and those I treasure live in and we are not extraordinary, simply uncommon, and what is uncommon is still a great bounty. (Something to that effect.)

I'm set on what I want to write but the specifics I'm more than happy to change in order to bring joy. Do you have ideas on how I can do this full idea full justice?

Hello,

before getting to your actual ask, I have a "few" questions about the premise of the story itself.

You mention that you don't like escapist fantasies - that's fair. Taste differs; you can write whatever and that's great. But I do find the insistence to write a story about a specific type of discrimination as an outsider rather strange. If you want to have facial difference representation, I assume you want to have readers with facial differences, correct? I mean, I don't think that many able-bodied people would be too interested in it specifically considering most don't know what it is. So okay, this is supposed to be a story of characters with facial differences overcoming centuries worth of hatred and all that. Arguably more, considering that disfiguremisia and ableism go all the way back to Biblical times.

Why are you the person who needs to tell this story?

Just as people with facial differences are readers, we can be authors as well. We tell our stories. I will take an #OwnVoices book over a one that isn't that any day, and this fact will influence the rest of this answer. I'm a firm believer in #NothingAboutUsWithoutUs and all when it comes to this stuff.

Have you talked to people with facial differences who would be interested in the kind of story you want to tell? Do you know what they want to see from an author that's not taking it from their own experience? I don't count here, because as I made clear before, I'm not and won't be interested in it. I also don't know anyone in the community who has ever said "I wish more people without our experiences wrote about how hard it is to be us!". You need to make sure there are people who want this.

So, have, or will you, reach out to those that could like it? Sensitivity readers, random people online who like to read about disfiguremisia in their free time, advocates who work on media-centric problems? Anyone who would enjoy it is automatically a better candidate to help than me. I'm too jaded.

If you want to talk about people with facial differences in such detail and setting, you need to get to know us. One guy with a specific set of opinions from a blog on Tumblr isn't that (thank god), but I guess I can serve as a reminder that not everyone will be excited to read a book that represents them in some way. We still have preferences.

To write it, you need to involve yourself in the community, start actually spreading activism about our issues. Preach about Face Equality and celebrate when our once-a-year week happens in May. See what disfiguremisia causes. Share our efforts to get all the problematic garbage off the big screen. Read our stories. Understand us as people who are incredibly diverse, and that not all of us like to be described as strange or unnerving.

If you only want to talk about our suffering as some quota to fill on a "types of discrimination" list, it will always be flat and inauthentic, and if you don't put in the effort it's pointless. We don't want tragedy porn, and we don't need to be included in every story about struggles that just wants some brand-new type of bigotry in it. We want authors who care about us, the living and breathing people. And sometimes it might mean respecting our opinions on writing disfiguremisia.

Here is a great post by @writingwithcolor explaining the effects of tragedy exploitation. Not everything there applies, but I would consider it a very valuable read.

If you think about all this, and decide that you are ready to write such a heavy, community-based story, go ahead to...

Actual Answers! Hooray

what other things might I be able to employ to counter disfiguremisia?

Sympathize with him. Disfiguremisia is a tragedy, it's brutal and it hurts. It's traumatic and impossible to forget, even if it wasn't happening constantly just to remind us that it's still there. On this note, I would recommend you research writing characters with PTSD.

Have him think about it. Sometimes I get home after getting stared down on the street and just want to yell. You don't forget a microaggression or a hate crime after five minutes. Let him vent and let him be upset. He can have flashbacks or recall similar situations that happened in the past.

I'm glad that he's aware of disfiguremisia unlike a ton of characters who are somehow always unable to figure out that it's a problem. If the ableism he's facing is so systemic and severe, individual people will be even more extreme. You can have him remember that the shop owner was a slur-spitting bigot, or that his neighbors avoid even talking to him. I want him to call them out - in retrospective, at the moment, in his head, whatever - on what they're doing. Throw a "not this fucking thing again" or something in there.

The minimum is to make him feel like a human with an internal thought process, who is able to actually experience what's happening to him, and for it to have long-term effects.

Also, outside of the whole disfiguremisia thing and me being overdramatic, check out our #blindness tag, and research burn scar care. If you don't show the boring and mundane, it will only feel closer to tragedy porn; just a sad thing one after another.

I will also do my best to make the counters feel real and feasible - I want it to feel like an achievable option for those who deal with prejudice in the real world.

This I think is the part of the ask that made me the saddest, and not because of what you wrote. I tried to think of achievable ways; ways that we did it, tried to do it, and are doing it, and one-by-one I crossed them out as "didn't work", "no one cared enough" or "kinda worked but honestly, it didn't". Face Equality is basically non-existent, not matter how much it hurts me to admit it. We are trying our best, and it doesn't work. It's just plain hard for me to come up with suggestions for this.

In fiction, I suppose that personal resistance is the way when it comes to this. I don't think there are feasible systemic changes that could happen that don't border on magical thinking or get into the "singular glorious revolution that somehow fixes everything and everyone lived happy ever after. We fixed racism, yay!". This just sucks. He could try to educate the people who are willing to listen - that's somewhat what I'm trying to pull off here on this blog, I guess. Sometimes it works, often it doesn't, but in his situation it wouldn't hurt to try.

The fundamental part here will be whether your character is able to find a way to make the ordinary person care in the end. To me, society who still hates us just as much, with a small group that thinks we're okay isn't a happy ending. The opposite, rather. It's cold and isolating to know only your friends could value you as a human being, and downright sad to imply that we should be happy for that. I don't mean that everyone should love us in every story, but there's a difference between The Ableism being represented by an antagonist or two versus the entire world except for the main characters.

If you decide to go forward with this story, I do hope your other readers with facial differences enjoy it.

mod Sasza

[This ask was submitted before my announcement of not taking questions regarding this subject matter. As of publishing this, it still applies.]

[rainecats]

If you like The Magnus Archives, Badlands Cola, Malevolent, The Penumbra Podcast, Doki Doki Literature Club, analog horror, creepypasta, Jack Stauber, canon queer characters, decent representation of disorders like BPD, bipolar disorder, and autism, or catboys, you might enjoy my horror project The Woes Of A Mad Scientist!! I’m trying to talk about it more publicly again after making the pilot burnt me out intensely, but I have a pilot episode/short film out that you should be able to find on youtube!!

TWOAMS is about Cleo, a 32 year old man from England in 1974, who’s daughter was in an almost fatal accident related to his ex-husband Mikey. Cleo is convinced he can fix her. After all, he knows how humans work inside and out, it shouldn’t be that hard, right? Right??

If you’re interested, the pilot is here!! https://youtu.be/mhGu6BNE5dU?si=p0zx7IVd06AzWjIV

As soon as the actual first episode comes out, this pilot will be considered non-canon, but for now it lines up pretty well with canon and shows off my initial ideas for the characters!! I hope you enjoy, let me know what you think :]

[physalian]

Character Types: The “Likable Autistic”

Already gave a tiny breakdown of this kind of character in Yet another 5 Character Types The World Needs More Of where I had this to say:

Neurodivergence in media is often the butt of the joke. You like these characters in spite of their “quirks” or you find them incredibly annoying because their “quirks” are their entire personality. Usual representations are arrogant and anti-social narcissists who lack compassion. Shockingly, autism is a spectrum, and a very far cry from sociopathy. No one trait should define an entire character, and that includes neurodivergence.

Best character I could think of that does neurodivergence justice without being “cute” and infantilized is Lilo Pelekai, and I’ve posted about her.

Today I’m going to put my money where my mouth is and break down how I approached this kind of character in Eternal Night, with Markus.

Disclaimer:

He is based off me and my experiences, not meant to be a blanket representation of the DSM-5 checklist of autism, nor did I set out to write an autistic character. I set out to write one who’s neurodivergent, and he happens to be a lot like me, and I happen to have a lot of autistic traits (not officially diagnosed) but also a bunch of others, because he’s a person with nuance, not a walking agenda.

Anyway.

—

My goal with writing him, first and foremost, was not to make another Sheldon Cooper. One is enough. I wanted a “character who is also neurodivergent” not “the neurodivergent character” and when neurotypical (and usually straight, white, and cis) creators want to check off boxes on their diversity list, they tend to think of the latter counting as the whole personality.

Markus still fits the mold of the quiet introverted smart guy, but he’s capable of empathy, is the voice of reason to counterbalance his love interest’s “feelings first” decision-making, a bit of a badass able to hold his own in a fight, and witty when he wants to be, as not much intimidates him. And he’s gay and demisexual because I felt like it. Special interests? Cats and vampirism.

Without spoiling my own book too much, when I was sending it out to beta readers, I had a few come back who made it clear they did not like Markus and did not understand him. Reader: These were neurotypicals who needed me to slap an AUTISM label on Markus’s forehead to give his decisions a pass. Which, to me, meant I did a pretty good job writing him correctly.

He’s the obligate doctor of the coven, a former mortician’s apprentice who became a vampire to sate curiosity: He wanted to know what death felt like. His room doesn’t have a bed, just sheets in a pile in the corner and the rest of the space taken up by piles of books, various knicknacks to fiddle with, and all his medical tools (his favorite is the stethoscope).

Making him/giving him a love interest wasn’t planned. Things Happened and Opportunity arose to give both a neurodivergent character, and a demisexual character, a happy, healthy, communicative relationship, and I just couldn’t pass it up. Is he wish-fulfillment for me? 100%.

But so many times I see these characters and, if they do even have a romance, they’re always takers. They “take” in the partnership, but have nothing to give back. The writers insist that there’s something lovable about them without actually writing them doing loving things, that their person, usually a woman, tolerates (usually) him, because… she feels bad, or they can’t write women, or she’s settling because she couldn’t get anyone else, or the only thing competent about him is that he’s decent in bed.

Usually he’s rude and selfish and only thinks of himself, and she bends over backwards doing all the emotional labor, all the “adult” relationship things like home keeping, mothering him not unlike the deadbeat “everyman” protagonist. He’ll insult her and play it off as brutal honesty, he’ll only talk about himself and his interests and cut her out of things the second she becomes a hindrance to his plans, and he overshares about their intimacy to friends, oblivious to how embarrassed she is because he doesn't understand that some things aren't meant to be shared (you know this is really starting to sound like a standard dickish man just with an "ND" sticker like that absolves their behavior of any accountability....).

In essence, they’re “together” but only because the writer says so. They wax poetic about how great she is for him, but have zero supporting evidence for why he's good for her (which is a lot of male protagonists, to be fair).

I didn’t want to do that with Markus and his lover. They’re a team, through and through. Markus’s filtered pragmatism is still honesty-above-feelings, but it’s not brutal honesty. He can ignore “feeling” in the name of the logical solution, no matter how unpopular the logical solution may be. His partner, in turn, is aaaalll “feeling” and quickly Markus’s fiercest defender without infantilizing him or belittling him or stepping on his toes. Markus gives back in his own ways, too, in taking meticulous care of his lover’s tools and weapons among other spoilery things.

Being on the ace and autism spectrum is pretty common, not breaking any new ground there, but I thought the combination of Markus being demi and his lover being a sex-favorable ace was fun. When he got nervous around approaching sex, I got to write him stimming with his favorite comfort objects (his various vintage medical instruments), seemingly random different hardlines on intimacy he likes vs won’t go near, how overstimulation can ruin everything, and how one can feel like they’re wrong or broken for not liking sex—in his case, he just took a while to figure out an emotional attachment is a necessary ingredient for his enjoyment (and, you know, somebody who gives a shit and is patient and attentive).

Markus is also in stark opposition to his lover’s other love interest (this book kind of has a love-pentagon going on). He’s mature and independent and knows exactly what he wants in a relationship, to a person who’ll bend over backward trying to make everyone happy at his own expense.

He also is new to this “love” thing and he does have his emotional shortcomings. He's unable to understand why XYZ is so important or so meaningful or why Person F continues to repeat such-and-such behavior that clearly only brings them grief and upset or why Person G continues to shoot themselves in the foot. His pragmatism does come at inopportune moments and it frustrates other characters who aren’t looking for a solution, just room to vent.

Markus doesn’t get a ton of screen time and only a couple narrating POVS, but I took every chance I could get to write what I think is both a multifaceted character and relationship to admire.

—

Sooooo, if you’d like to read him in full HD technicolor, you can pick up a copy of Eternal Night of the Northern Sky in ebook or paperback.

[can-of-w0rmz]

@shotofstress

When I tell you I read this I saw it and I WHEEZED I was in TEARS and I shouldn’t be bothered arguing about it but quite frankly I’m trying to procrastinate anyway and I’ve had a god awful week and need to take out my frustrations somehow, ergo, I’m going be petty not because this person disagrees with my reading of the novel, but because they implied that in reading queer or neurodivergent elements in a work, people “can’t see the important themes that the novel is about” which actually does piss me off a fair bit

Right so first before we argue we’ve got to decipher because English apparently isn’t this person’s forte for someone who is, apparently, such an avid reader and esteemed critic of English literature. Also I just realised I haven’t really provided any context here so apologies this was in response to that joke post I made about mischaracterising Frankenstein adaptations (again yes the pettiness is not lost on me but I’m embracing it anyway)

“He is not gay nor autistic” cheers this person disagrees that Victor Frankenstein is either gay or autistic. To each their own. Wonder what kind of backup they’ll have for that argument.

“Pls stop seen representation of us everyone bc u can’t make the difference,” Right so this is where we get confusing, I’m going to take a wild guess and I think they’re trying to say “please stop seeing representation of us everywhere because you can’t make the difference”, and I still don’t know what “make the difference” means, but we’ll go with it.

“read nothing new”, alright so they’re saying people who see representation everywhere read nothing new, and then the kicker that’s kind of the only reason I decided to respond to this anyway, ��nor really see the important themes that the novel is about.”

First off, “stop seeing representation of us everywhere”, let it be known that as I make a hundred jokes about Victor Frankenstein being homosexual, I myself am thoroughly through and through without a doubt bisexual as the days are long. Absolutely love men. Also adore women equally. So no, I am not a Disney corporate executive trying to squeeze in as many queers as possible for the entire purpose of using the fact they have representation in media to excuse the fact it’s a shite film but also, not trying to revisit every old piece of media to squeeze representation where it doesn’t really fit or make sense just for shits and giggles. (Also just saying, you made this comment on Tumblr. So even if I was just going haywire with lgbt headcanons on my favourite media with no real backup, who gives a shit? Who actually gives a flying fuck? I don’t. Let people live, man. It doesn’t mean they don’t understand the source material just because they’re having fun and playing loose with it. It’s Tumblr, not a Netflix adaptation. Let people do whatever they want and have fun with it. It’s cool.)

But like I said, I do have backup and a lot of it so let’s get into that, shall we?

First of all, whoo, autism. I’ll be real not really a hill I’m going to die on but the wording you put of “he is not autistic” is just ridiculous because yeah, no, there is a lot of perfectly decent ground to read Victor Frankenstein as autistic and a lot of people do, mostly people who are autistic or otherwise neurodivergent themselves. Just because in the 18th century people didn’t necessarily have the language for things doesn’t mean they didn’t exist, and I mean, now we do. So what’s the harm in using it? They had their own language for things back then, do we have to revert back to speaking in early 19th century English every time we want to refer to a character who was written back then as neurodivergent or lgbt or anything else?? What’s the point in that??

But yeah, Victor Frankenstein. I can’t even be bothered to explain and to be honest every single other person I’ve said “Frankenstein is autistic to” has immediately responded “oh yeah, obviously”, even my father who famously is just hypercritical of all sorts of headcanons just went “oh yeah no for sure the man is definitely autistic no doubt about it”. So instead I’m just going to include some quotes.

My temper was sometimes violent, and my passions vehement; but by some law in my temperature they were turned not towards childish pursuits but to an eager desire to learn, and not to learn all things indiscriminately.

It was my temper to avoid a crowd and to attach myself fervently to a few. I was indifferent, therefore, to my school-fellows in general; but I united myself in the bonds of the closest friendship to one among them.

From this day natural philosophy, and particularly chemistry, in the most comprehensive sense of the term, became nearly my sole occupation.

Two years passed in this manner, during which I paid no visit to Geneva, but was engaged, heart and soul, in the pursuit of some discoveries which I hoped to make. None but those who have experienced them can conceive of the enticements of science. In other studies you go as far as others have gone before you, and there is nothing more to know; but in a scientific pursuit there is continual food for discovery and wonder.

Like I said, self explanatory. It’s harder to come up with an argument for why he isn’t autistic than why he is, and frankly, what’s the harm in reading him that way? It doesn’t really change anything about the plot or themes, and his character doesn’t change. It’s just a very probable diagnosis for said qualities. It doesn’t change them, whether you use that word or not. The concept of autism was coined in 1911 anyway, so its not like Mary Shelley’s going to be sat at her writing desk in 1817 writing in big bold letters “BY THE WAY, FRANKENSTEIN HAD AN AUTISM DIAGNOSIS.” It doesn’t change the fact that people still had autism back then, just because the term wasn’t discovered yet. Anyway.

Now, second bit. “He isn’t gay” – now, if you read Frankenstein and thought “ah yes, this man seems perfectly heterosexual to me”, then honestly, sure. Go ahead. But to say that reading Victor Frankenstein as queer in any way means that people “don’t understand the important themes of the novel” is completely bloody ridiculous because, again, there is astronomical ground to read him that way.

Victor Frankenstein never really shows interest in any women in the novel, except for Elizabeth, who he has been raised, since he was five years old, to see as his “gift” and was told by his mother since he was a very young child that he was going to marry her – to the point where his mother, on her deathbed, tells both Victor and Liz: “My firmest hopes of future happiness were placed on the prospect of your union. This expectation will now be the consolation of your father.” Also, they’re cousins/adopted siblings. If you don’t think that’s fucked up, even by the standards of the time, I’m not really sure what to say to you. Of course he married her. And before he married her, he generally expresses very little romantic interest in her bar just expressing as much affection as you would a close friend or sister, or seeing her as his “gift” who he “has to be wed to”. Read any other story from this time period, in this genre, and you will not be remotely questioning whether they’re actually attracted to each-other or not. In fact, here’s an excerpt from The Vampyre, another book born from the same trip to Geneva that Frankenstein was, by John William Polidori, about the protagonist’s love interest:

And that’s only part of it. So. Yeah. Victor’s lack of romantic affection for Elizabeth is not “a product of its time” nor “a product of its genre.” And The Vampyre is a short story.

And so you may be saying, “well, just because Victor doesn’t show any interest in women doesn’t necessarily make him gay”, and yeah, true that (ace and bi Vic hcs y’all are valid) but there is very good basis to take the reading that he is attracted to men.

For one thing, just the fact that he’s so particular about creating “the perfect man” is subject to a lot of queer readings in itself, but let’s be real here, you all know me enough by now to know that I just want an excuse to rant about Clerval and Frankenstein. And rant about them I shall.

First, I’m lazy, so here’s an excerpt from one of my previous essays I’ve written that I’ve never posted everywhere on Frankenstein in general:

Just as The Creature is Victor’s narrative foil, so is Clerval. He's equally ambitious and fascinated with the secrets of life, however he’s healthy with how he goes about it and healthy with how he keeps the balance between taking care of himself and pursuing his dreams, while Victor goes over the edge and neglects himself and his sense of morality to complete what he set out to do. He's supposed to represent the ideals of gothic romanticism in Victor and he's supposed to be his anchor and support, (something the Creature doesn't have), caring for Victor during his illness, (“reanimating” him, almost, once again showing that comparison between both Victor and Henry, as Henry “reanimates” Victor with compassion and cares for him after, and Victor reanimates The Creature in a haze of obsession and mania and immediately abandons him, showing what Victor could have been), and constantly accompanying and being sympathetic and empathetic towards him. I also find it very interesting how he does also seem to have those darker aspects to him, lying to Victor’s family about the extent of his illness and caring for Victor in his apartment despite the fact that, for all he knew, from the evidence lying around his workspace and Victor’s feverish rambling, he very well could have murdered someone, and Clerval chooses not to press him on the issue and instead to intentionally help Victor cover it up. The fact that Clerval exhibits these traits only makes Victor’s own downfall all the more tragic when we consider that it likely very much isn’t a stretch to imagine that Clerval, too, likely exhibits a lot of the same morbid curiosity as Victor; he isn’t a superhuman figure with purely positive attributes who is completely far removed from Victor’s situation, the only difference is that Clerval chooses to prioritise his own sense of morality over his selfish aims, which only emphasises the point that Victor’s downfall is, ultimately, Victor’s own fault. When Victor "kills" the Creature’s chance of the same support and love (his unfinished bride), the Creature kills Henry and sends Victor into a downward spiral of suicidal thoughts and heavy depression because the character that represented that stability, that romanticism, that balance of keeping healthy, is dead, and that throws Victor downward into his inevitable obsession with the monster's destruction and his own death.

On this point, I feel like it’s worth bringing up that a reasonably good case could probably be made regarding a lot of queer subtext in the novel, although I won’t rant about it excessively as it obviously isn’t the focus, the theme of love is a very prominent theme as I’ve previously mentioned with The Creature; familial love, platonic love, parental love, romantic love, and I don’t think it’s particularly much of stretch to suggest that Shelley, intentionally or unintentionally, might have added a lot more romantic subtext than given credit for. Not that it matters particularly narratively speaking what kind of love is portrayed, but in reference specifically to Clerval and the Ingolstadt chapters there’s a very good argument to be made regarding Shelley’s poor relationship with her own husband and how she may have projected a lot of her wish for that kind of care and sympathy into his character, perhaps not taking into account, or perhaps she did, how it would come across – author intentions are mostly lost with time and we’ll ultimately never know for sure, but even for the standards of the late 18th century when the novel was set and the early 19th century when it was written, “I desire the company of a man who could sympathise with me, whose eyes would reply to mine. You may deem me romantic,” and “your form so divinely wrought, and beaming with beauty, has decayed, but your spirit still visits and consoles your unhappy friend,” probably weren’t standard platonic sentiments.

And honestly on that essay excerpt, that still sums my thoughts on that subject up pretty much perfectly. After all, a character in a book talking about his best friend going “I loved him with a mixture of reverence and affection that knew no bounds” as well said best friend tenderly nursing him back to health, and the character talking about how his body is “divinely wrought and beaming with beauty” and gently pressing his hand and referring to him constantly as “my dearest”, “my dear” and “my beloved”, while living together and travelling together and talking about how his voice “soothes” him and “cheats (him) into a transitory peace”, pretty gay!

And yes, before anyone says a single thing, if it wasn’t already obvious from the essay excerpt, I do understand “the important themes the novel is about”. I do understand that there are more themes and characters and subject matter, and more than that, I bloody love it! Because this is one of my favourite novels! Of-fucking-course I’m invested in it on a deeper level than “ooOoooh what classical literature characters can I RUIN with my gay agenda today!” But you commented this on a joke post, a joke post, again, on Tumblr. No harm but Jesus Christ if there is a singular platform I can go on and just post stupid bullshit about two book characters from 200 years ago being soft and gay without having to justify that yes, I did in fact read the book, and shock horror yes, I do know that there are other themes, it’s bloody Tumblr. (Absolutely love you lot btw especially all my lovely fantastic incredible mutuals all your takes and readings and art is 👌✨ chef’s kiss)

Oh and by the way, op, I noticed you reblogged this:

And to be honest if I had to say any take or reading was a misunderstanding of the text, it’d be that one (as well as “Victor is sexist for cutting women out of the creation process” takes – Christ that’s just gross. And feels mildly if not explicitly homophobic.)

So just for shits and giggles to counter that argument, here’s another excerpt from the same older essay as before:

Speaking of Hugo, it is rather interesting how many adaptations and literary criticisms seem to go down the route of the Hunchback of Notre Dame moral of “who is the monster and who is the man?”, suggesting that Victor is the “true monster” of the narrative. And, as much as I am a decent Victor Hugo fan, (I’m over 50% through Les Misérables, have you seen the size of that book? I’d have to be), in reality the point of the story is that neither Creator nor Creation are more monster nor man than the other – Victor mutilates corpses and brings the creature to life, and allows Justine to be executed without owning up to his actions, and The Creature murders a child and a multitude of other innocent people, Clerval and Elizabeth who had nothing to do with anything and Ernest left completely alone with his entire family dead. We can’t acknowledge The Creature’s sympathetic qualities without also acknowledging Victor’s, and regardless, sympathetic motivations don’t make up for immoral actions.

Also this meme, which I can’t for the absolute life of me remember who posted it originally I’m sorry I use it all the time in GCs whoever it was you’re so valid:

[pifinzz]

Hi there! I’m going to be building an animation studio dedicated to normalizing disability through interesting stories with disabled main characters!

It’s going to take awhile to officially start up but to start I have an idea for an animated show for the studio, Doves and Crows.

I’m actually looking for people who might want to work on this project with me. We’ll be creating a 1 minute animation proof of concept (and perhaps even a trailer depending on how things go) to procure funding for the project and studio.

Unfortunately to apply for funds the proof of concept is needed first, so I’ll be unable to pay for these steps, but should things go well or even decent in the future I should be able to start paying people.

ABOUT DOVES AND CROWS:

A thousand years ago the deity Chaos was sealed by Order. A thousand years ago all progress in the world stopped.

But when Sam accidentally frees Chaos, he discovers there's more to life than the routines and predictability that have ruled the world for so long.

Now having access to Chaos' magic, Sam takes on the persona 'Crow' - a magical thief. His mission? Steal all the artifacts used to seal Chaos before Order can use them all to seal Sam's newfound mentor away.

Of course, it won't be easy. Order finds his own protege Mia - who takes on the mantle 'Dove'.

It’s a race to collect the artifacts with the future of the world on the line.

PEOPLE I’M LOOKING FOR:

writers

concept artists

storyboarders

background artists

animators (rough and clean)

colorists

video editors

compositors

musicians

sound designers

promo artists

voice actors (Sam, Chaos, Mia, Order)

PERKS:

Credit on project

Use of project work as portfolio pieces (as long as the piece isn’t too spoilery you can add it to your portfolio without permission)

I will help you on your projects if you want (I can do stuff like writing, project management, organization, world building, story plotting)

You can use me as a reference for work applications

HOW TO APPLY:

You can either DM me or apply at the Casting Call Club link below!

ABOUT DISABILITY:

Disability representation in the media is often really bad. Often disabled characters are used as "inspiration", are really 1 dimensional, or their arc consists of becoming not-disabled. Yikes.

As someone with a disability this treatment of disabled characters is so very frustrating.

That's why I wanted to create stories with MAIN characters with disabilities. These disabilities will be actual parts of the character's life and identity (not just aesthetic choices).

The stories while not specifically about disability, will be impacted by disability because it impacts how the characters interact with the world and how they approach and solve problems.

For example in Doves and Crows, Sam has epilepsy and Mia is autistic. While the story itself isn't about epilepsy and autism, these disabilities affect how these characters live and interact.

Of course, while I'm autistic, I do not have epilepsy. As such I am partnered with a local epilepsy advocacy group where I am currently connecting with people who have epilepsy and learning quite a lot!

If you have epilepsy or autism and you're interested in talking with me --- please send me a DM!

[veggiefritterz]

you mind if i yap for a moment?

Heartbreak High means so much to me. especially Quinn. i know it's kind of cliché or whatever to say, but having a character who's like me, and actually the same age as me and having similar experiences, ESPECIALLY because that character is portrayed by someone who's also like me and who's had similar experiences, is so amazing. i'm not even joking when i say i cried about it. to have some actually decent autism representation in a show is so so good.

[crusader-exodus]

So after several failed attempts to actually get into this series, I finally have seen all the currently released Delicious in Dungeon.

Unpopular opinion ahead trigger warning!

Truthfully, it's been quite a rollercoaster ride, and I don't say that in an entirely complimentary way. As a long-time fan of Studio Trigger, and as a fan of trashy GameLit, I would have thought that this would have been right up my alley. The biggest issue I kept running into when watching the series was the same sort of nebulous feeling that I had when watching Frieren.

It feels like half the show is filler, but it's not simply filler for the sake of filling airtime, rather it being filler is entirely the point of the show. Now, that feeling has subsided some as more than halfway into the season, something interesting started happening.

To make a food allegory meta-commentary joke here, the show has all the ingredients for a dish I'd really like, but it only winds up being decent instead of great.

I won't say that it doesn't have some great moments, because it does! One thing that seems to be buzzing on the intertubes is the representation of atypical character types among the main cast of protagonists. In my own viewing, I have to agree with the general consensus on the two pictured characters.

We have a male hero character who is very firmly on the autism spectrum, and we have one heckin' gay elf. The show lets us draw our own conclusions on these characters for the most part, although, admittedly, the neurodivergence is a bit more subtle than the yuri.

It should also be mentioned that the show is gorgeous. The animation quality and art direction are fantastic.

I'm going to hold off on making any final judgments on the show until S1 wraps. I'll be watching the new releases as they come out, though, so that's a marked improvement in my overall interest level.

Edit: This show is a proshipper's dream, though, so I totally get that aspect of the appeal.

[blue-bower]

Autism Awareness Month

I was diagnosed with severe anxiety and ADHD back in 2021. And I feel like I can confidently say that I also have high-functioning autism. And throughout the month, I'm going to be sharing videos I've come across that really resonate with me.

More of my own thoughts & experiences below the cut.

No, I'm not diagnosed. No, I don't know if getting diagnosed is the right option for me at this time. I know there's a stigma around self-diagnosing, especially here on Tumblr where it was running rampant for a while and becoming a genuine detriment to those who actually needed proper resources and expertise. But many people around me throughout the course of my life, from my parents, to high school and college counselors, to friends who do fall on the autistic spectrum, have agreed that I exhibit symptoms and behaviors typically seen in diagnosed autistic individuals.

The main reason I never ended up getting tested was because of my mom's concern with the stigma it would place on me to be labeled autistic. And I do understand where she's coming from; the education system and working world can be absolutely barbaric in the way it treats people on the spectrum.

But I'll always wonder if it would have helped me in the long run, had I been able to acquire tools and knowledge earlier in my life to help me better process my own emotions and responses to the world around me.

I was the "weird kid" in class, constantly being bullied to tears by classmates, being made to feel alienated because I simply didn't understand social cues, throwing tantrums due to my constant short fuse, and being marked a "problem student" because I had trouble focusing - while simultaneously being praised for being a "gifted" student with Straight A report cards.

I felt like I was so sheltered and bubbled that my emotional and social maturity didn't bloom until much later down the line; and, frankly, there are still very few neurotypical social expectations that I just don't care about or vibe with.

I've always been so badly overstimulated by typical background ambience from places like restaurants or grocery stores that I have to wear earplugs or headphones in public spaces to avoid having panic attacks.

I constantly feel like I'm masking; responding how I feel neurotypicals expect me to respond, otherwise I'm going to come off as completely aloof, rude or disinterested when in fact I listen better by looking away and keeping my responses to a minimum.

I have many comfort plushies and stim toys. I have a special interest in clowns, lucid dreaming, and Quantum physics, among others. I latch onto fictional shows and characters- hell, I make my own OCs to latch onto, because projecting through them is a means for me to understand myself better.

The only people who ever see me for my truest self are my closest friends, who treat my fickle boundaries with utmost respect, just as I do for them. We all happily ramble on about our personal stories, fictional worlds, video game interests etc, while parroting each other's silly sounds and dumb memes; things that feel completely and totally normal to us, that would make the average person think we belong in a mental institute.

There is still so, so much stigma around autism and neurodivergence. We still have a long ways to go, to make sure that harmful, deceitful programs like Autism Speaks don't get to have any claim to being the "face" of autistic representation. There's a reason it's a spectrum; autism isn't always going to look the same from person to person. Just because I have developmental differences, and "different" ways of perceiving and responding to the world around me, doesn't make me any less capable of being a functioning member of society. It just means that social situations will always be a bit more difficult and draining to me than it is to the average person.

Autism isn't a disease. It doesn't need to be "cured." It's simply another way that a decent chunk of the human population processes the world around them. And the day more people can start treating it as such, and making a better effort to understand the needs of neurodivergent folks, the sooner we can stop making our fellow human beings feel so alone in their own minds.

[watchinghallmark]

Okay! I'm so excited to have the big movie announcement out today!! I still maintain that 40 is too many even if like none of you agree. This is the first time I'm going through the list so I'll react as I go! Under the cut because it's a little long.

Checkin' It Twice - Love Kevin and have really enjoyed Kim. Sounds like a cute plot and he gets to be Canadian and play hockey so that's fun.

Where Are You, Christmas? - What a fun concept with having it in black and white! I'm into the cast for this one.

Under the Christmas Sky - Excited to see Jessica in a movie and Ryan, of course. Could be interesting. Love to see some disability representation.

Ms. Christmas Comes to Town - Interesting concept. People love their home shopping. I used to watch it all the time actually haha

Christmas by Design - Meh about this one.

Mystic Christmas - Not sure I understand the plot of this one but decent cast.

Joyeux Noel - So happy Jaicy is back and in France!

My Christmas Guide - This feels very Guiding Emily but I'm here for the representation. The actor is visually impaired so that's a plus!

Flipping for Christmas - They randomly include a clip of this movie in the Fall into Love promo. Anyway. Could be cute.

Never Been Chris'd - Obviously can't wait for this one!

The Santa Summit - A Hallmark movie about bar hopping! Love it.

Mystery on Mistletoe Lane - I like Victor. This sounds pretty cute with the kids.

Everything Christmas - Fun concept with roommates.

Christmas Island - Kind of a weird plot but should be fun with Andrew and Rachel.

A Heidelberg Holiday - Excited to see a Christmas movie in Germany!

A World Record Christmas - Love that we're getting some autism awareness this Christmas!

Navigating Christmas - Sounds fine.

A Merry Scottish Christmas - Should be a good one!

Holiday Hotline - This sounds really adorable.

A Season for Family - We need more movies about adoption, honestly.

Catch Me If You Claus - Ridiculous and I can't wait!

Letters to Santa - Could be cute.

Holiday Road - An 'inspired by true events' road trip. Okay.

Christmas in Notting Hill - Really looking forward to this one! It got the coveted Saturday after Thanksgiving spot which means Hallmark is also excited about it.

Haul Out the Holly: Lit Up - Did we need a sequel? I'm sure it'll be really fun.

Our Christmas Mural - Meh about this one too.

A Biltmore Christmas - Very excited about this one!

Time for Her to Come Home for Christmas - Can we be done with this series?

My Norwegian Holiday - You had me at 'troll figurine'.

A Not So Royal Christmas - This sounds really fun.

Christmas with a Kiss - Not much to go off of with this one.

To All a Good Night - I always love Kimberley.

Magic in Mistletoe - Damage control? Sounds fun.

Miracle in Bethlehem, PA - New baby!! Cute.

Friends & Family Christmas - FAKE DATING LESBIANS!!! It's a Christmas miracle!

Sealed with a List - Could be fun.

The Secret Gift of Christmas - Excited to see Meghan back but a little meh about this.

Heaven Down Here - Love a good stranding.

Round and Round - Super weird and I'm here for it (for for Bryan!!).

Christmas on Cherry Lane - This sounds good.

[river-taxbird]

You know the parts in Oppenheimer where Oppenheimer randomly imagines particles flying around during unrelated conversations, this may seem like a cynical ploy to make sure the audience hasn't fallen asleep, but it's actually a decent representation of what having science and math autism feels like. It's not always a good thing though, particularly if you can feel people breathing in you without a mask on. It's not good to imagine those particles.

[thestargayzingetherian]

Related to a post I just made on my other blog, @thestargayzingheroine, She-Ra actually has quite decent disabled representation. Aside from Entrapta having autism and being neurodivergent, there's quite a couple decent examples of other disabled characters.

Tallstar for example has a pair of prosthetic robot arms, that can stretch extra long.

Hordak has a full on life support armour he uses for most of the show. He DOES seemingly get cured of his medical condition though, but I'm kinda okay with that since it was clearly a life-threatening condition. I suspect he probably still uses parts of his armour to help with mobility sometimes though.

But here's one I don't think many people noticed... Bow, might be disabled in some way. See, in the portal universe, Bow is depicted wearing glasses. It's a small detail, but honestly, it seems to imply that Bow might be visually impaired in some way and probably wears Contact lenses since well, they're probably better for someone whose very active like Bow and less likely to get broken. Bow also had some glasses in concept art for his future design by this didn't make it into the final show.

I know it's not MANY, but it's honestly better than a lot of franchises I can think of.

[dracophile]

I'm not kidding when I say this is a big part of why we have to fight censorship, and why many who want to keep the status quo or push it further want censorship. Because there are communities where people just don't get to actually meet people who have disabilities, or are gay, or trans, or are even certain ethnicity or religions. So their first exposure to a POSITIVE look at these people is often FICTION. And it works the other way too.

One of my teachers in college was a black man, who served overseas in Japan and met his wife, a Japanese woman, there. When he went to meet her parents in a small town in Northern Japan, he told us his wife and her mother had a rapid conversation he couldn't follow in japanese when they first arrived and her mother seemed very agitated. Later when they were alone he asked what was up and his wife told him that her mother thought she was dating a CRIMINAL because the only exposure she had to black people growing up were American movies and TV that were brought over and they all showed Black Men as criminals. He wasn't that shocked, he said, but he sought out some other movies to bring over and show her and they talked and eventually she finally realized it was just media. But if she'd never met him, this woman in a small rural town might've gone on thinking that. Media is a powerful thing.

There's also that story of kids being much more accepting and inclusive of other children with Autism when Sesame Street introduced an Autistic character. The same character a lot of people AGAINST autism acceptance (and some well-meaning but misunderstanding people) lambasted whenever possible. The same with adding a black child character to Peanuts comics decades ago. And that's because the people who want to keep the status quo knew that positive and sympathetic depictions helped foster acceptance.

So, if teens and adults are gaining positive views of gay and trans and disabled and all these other types of people through books or TV or movies, LET THEM. It's better than the alternative and it's a decent foundation to build on if they should ever meet them in real life.

(And I'm just going to add this is anti puritanical censorship--exploring dark topics does not mean the author or audience accepts them as good or condones them or will want to do them. I am talking representation of people facing real discrimination; I do not want anyone thinking witch hunts against people that write topics that make certain people uncomfortable are acceptable.)

i do not care if someone learned compassion from a cartoon or a comic or an anime im just glad they're here with us now a better person fighting the good fight. should it have taken something so trivial? maybe not- but it's in the past! and this is the now! and if they're objectively better for it who cares