#alador is the time of autistic people think is being rude on purpose

[dazeddoodles]

I love the way you draw young alador

he looks so happy 8:)

Thanks, I think that's the first time I had Alador smiling and it was because I drew him as this guy

[softgaycontent]

Autistic Amity Analysis:

(Spoilers up to S2E2 Escaping Expulsion)

CW for: referenced child abuse, ableism

Good post here as well on Amity being Autistic. I may touch on some of the same points because the source material is the same.

Alador

Amity's father, Alador, is fairly overtly autistic. It runs in families.

Justifications real quick because he doesn't mask like Amity so it is easier to point to clear signs:

Fairly non-expressive, holding the same half-lidded expression that Amity does as default

Extremely interested in animals/creatures, to the point of being distracted by them in the middle of conversations

Unbrushed Hair / lack of attention to or care for grooming, even at important functions or for family portraits

Very intelligent / creative / technical (a successful inventor)

His body language and the way he holds his hands over one-another after Odalia crushes the bug-thing

Unsure if this is Odalia knowing her husband well or her being very rude (probably both), but she is constantly doing things like bringing him back on track or gently moving him away as they're leaving the school. He does look kind of annoyed when she reaches inside his coat for their business card though.

NOTE: I think if Odalia had any real influence over Alador at all, she would have at least made him tidy up for the family portrait (he has unbrushed hair, goggles, and abomination goop on him). She either truly respects him for who he is or can't make him do anything.

Abuse

Odalia seems genuinely fond of her husband. She sees him as her equal, and expects others to respect him as well (introducing him as the greatest inventor in the Isles). Unfortunately Amity, as her child, is not given the same room to be herself. She is expected to have all the strengths as her parents, with none of the "weaknesses".

It would not be surprising if Alador struggled growing up autistic and truly believes that teaching Amity to cover it up is better for her. It's unclear how much of her overall abuse is perpetrated by each of her parents, but Alador does seem to be an active (not just passive) participant at least some of the time.

In Lost in Language, the twins justify being cruel to Amity because "she's got to learn", and that as "her family" they are responsible for showing her "tough love". This is clearly something they picked up from growing up in an abusive household, but it may be something they particularly believe about Amity, their weird little sister who doesn't act quite like the other kids, and gets upset too easily.

Amity's necklace may have started as a way for Odalia to remind Amity in public places to make eye contact with people, to stop stimming, or otherwise mask. She has worn it since at least whatever age she is in the flashbacks of Understanding Willow (6-10?).

Special Interest

Amity and Luz both really love the Azura books. Luz is canonically neurodivergent with ADHD, which has some overlaps with ASD.

One of Amity's main forms of expressing herself seems to be in relation to the books. She draws herself as or with the characters often, befriends Luz more easily because of their shared enjoyment of the series, and tries to replicate a scene from tGWA in real life (Thorn Vault).

Emotions

Amity is fairly stoic. She is not super expressive most of the time, and her eyes are often held in the same half-open way her fathers are. Exceptions being when she is very angry or (more rarely) comfortably happy that her eyes open fully and more of her face changes.

Amity taps her hands against her knees when she is excited in Wing it Like Witches, and really tends use her hands to express herself a lot.

Her siblings make fun of her for getting so mad that her whole face goes red, which seems like the sort of reaction you might have if you were taught not to stomp out your anger like you want to, and hold it in instead.

Justice

One symptom of ASD is feeling very passionate about what is fair and what isn't.

Amity is shown consistently to get very angry over fairness. First, when Luz and Willow cheat by pretending that Luz is an abomination (taking Amity's badge), then again when Eda and Lilith cheat in Covention, and finally at the fact that her siblings never get in trouble despite their frequent troublemaking.

This is the thing that drives her to anger more than anything.

She seems visibly mad at her mom while her friends are being expelled in Escaping Expulsion up until Odalia reminds her that she didn't uphold her end of the deal (re: the expo) at which point Amity gives in and looks defeated instead. Seemingly, she accepts that this was her fault and there's nothing she can do.

Comfort

Amity seeks comfort in dark, quiet places. Her favorite place to spend time is a secret little room in the library. In Covention, Amity finds a dark corner to sit in to calm down.

(Arguably the fort that she and Willow built in the flashbacks of Understanding Willow was away from the other campers and out of the sun as well.)

Touch

Amity seems to like being touched (by Luz and Willow) clearly friendly ways, and strongly dislikes being touched at all other times.

Amity's siblings mostly seem to touch her in ways that annoy her in Adventures in the Elements. First on purpose, squishing her in a lean between them both, then possibly on accident, as Edric copies the hair ruffle Eda had just done to Luz. Amity seems to visibly dislike the feeling, and the fact that it messed up her hair.

She also really hates it when Hooty touches her; although most characters acknowledge him as annoying, she really loses it when he touches her again.

When Luz hugs her in Understanding Willow, Amity does not reciprocate, even though she seems to enjoy the gesture. She also reacts noticeably to the fact that Luz is still holding her hand after they arrive back in the owl house.

She seemed to enjoy keeping a close proximity to Willow when they were kids.

Misc

Amity takes Luz literally when she says, "I'm picking up what you're putting down."

Hair

OK this one is purely a bonus headcanon about Amity's undercut. :)

Amity's hair is shown to be rather thick in her concept art, and Emira also seems to have very thick hair, so the reason it is not big and poofy in canon is probably due entirely to her undercut.

A lot of autistic kids have sensory issues around having their hair brushed, which only get worse with large, thick hair which tangles easily.

I like to think that Odalia had a lot of trouble brushing Amity's hair and putting it up into a neat style every day. much less teaching her to do it for herself. Eventually, she gave up and took Amity to get her hair cut, eliminating a lot of the thickness with the undercut, and providing Amity with a hairstyle she could easily manage herself.

Amity loved it, and also really likes running her hands over the short parts when she is by herself.

(While Odalia is too harsh about the way Amity behaves and looks, she will usually actually meet her half-way on sensory accommodations, like comfortable sheets)