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unlessimwrongwhichyouknowimnot · 8 years ago

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Autistic Arthur Shappey (Cabin Pressure)

Cabin Pressure is a BBC radio show following the four members of MJN Air, an airdot (because you need more than one plane to have an airline) run by Carolyn Knapp-Shappey. Arthur Shappey is the steward of the plane and Carolyn’s son. Arthur is voiced by John Finnemore, the creator of Cabin Pressure who also wrote every episode.

Arthur stood out to me as autistic from the 2nd episode when he mentioned taking a course on understanding people. Because autistic headcanons are turning into a new special interest of mine, I decided to create this list of reasons why Arthur is very much autistic.

Martin Crieff, another character on the show, is also very autistic. You can find his list here.

The traits focused on were taken from this list of Inclusive Autistic Traits.

All the examples below were taken from transcripts at this website.

Social

1. Differences in body language and nonverbal communication (this is obviously extremely difficult to tell with Cabin Pressure being a radio show, but there was one instance of Arthur’s body language being described as atypical)

2x02 – Gdansk

MARTIN: Yes. Arthur, what are you doing with your face? ARTHUR: I’m winking. MARTIN: You’re only supposed to use one eye. ARTHUR: I know, but I can only do that if I hold the other one open with my finger, and I thought Douglas would notice.

2. Differences in verbal communication (Arthur struggles with not recognizing sarcasm, taking things literally, not understanding rhetorical statements/questions, struggling with metaphor, occasional echolalia etc.)

A. Different use of literal and metaphorical language

1x05 – Edinburgh

ARTHUR: Oh, I just, er, popped onto the roof of the plane. CAROLYN: The roof?! What the hell are you doing up there?! ARTHUR: Well, the picture on the rugby went all funny, so Douglas said I should shin up onto the roof and twiddle the aerial … only now I’m here, I can’t seem to find it. CAROLYN: Ohh, you idiot boy! This is “Go and water the window boxes” all over again, isn’t it? ARTHUR: Ohhh!

3x06 – St. Petersburg

ARTHUR: Here you are, Skip. Nice hot cup of coffee. MARTIN: Oh. (He takes a sip.) Aww! It’s cold! ARTHUR: Nice cup of coffee. MARTIN: It’s horrible! ARTHUR: Cup of coffee. MARTIN: I’m not even sure it is coffee. ARTHUR: … Cup. How’re you feeling?

~*~*~*~

DOUGLAS: Alas, an exhaustive search of St Petersburg airport duty free has yet to turn up anything in the shape of a Toblerone. ARTHUR: Triangular.

4x03 – Vaduz

ARTHUR: Wow! It’s an actual castle! DOUGLAS: What did you expect Vaduz Castle to be? ARTHUR: I dunno. World of Leather was very disappointing.

4x05 – Xinzhou

ARTHUR: Er, Mum? CAROLYN: Yes? ARTHUR: A quick question: you know those small chickens you get where everyone has one each? CAROLYN: Yes. ARTHUR: What are they called? CAROLYN: Poussin. ARTHUR: Oh. Not ‘baby chickens’. CAROLYN: No. ARTHUR: Oh. Chaps, you know how we were talking about mistakes? MARTIN: What have you done? ARTHUR: … and how they happen to all of us and it’s just one of those things? CAROLYN: What have you done? ARTHUR (frantically): It should have made it clearer! When I was ordering the catering, there was one called ‘baby chicken’ and I thought they’d be those little ones, and I love those because you feel like a giant! But they didn’t mean that! It-it meant these. CAROLYN: So … the catering you have laid on, Arthur, for four people trapped in a plane overnight, is two jars of chicken-flavoured baby food? ARTHUR: No! That’s not all. There’s two lamb-flavoured ones as well. DOUGLAS: What did you think ‘baby lamb’ was? ARTHUR: Well, all lambs are baby lambs.

~*~*~*~

CAROLYN: Arthur. Say something. ARTHUR: Ooh! Okay! What shall I say? CAROLYN: Well, anything, just so I know where you are and I don’t tread on you getting back to my seat. ARTHUR: Oh, right! (Half-singing) ♪ Here I am, don’t tread on me. Here I am, don’t tread on me. Here I am, don’t tread on me. Here I am, don’t tread on me … ♪

4x06 – Yverdon-les-Bains

HERC: You can have something more interesting if you like, Arthur. There’s, er, there’s guava; mango; dragon fruit … ARTHUR: Wow. Dragon fruit?! HERC: Help yourself. ARTHUR: Thanks, Herc! (He takes and eats a piece.) HERC: So, what do you think? ARTHUR (with his mouth half full): Yeah, it’s quite nice. Mmm. It’sh not really what I was expecting. I-I thought it’d be a bit more, um, I don’t know … HERC: Dragony?

Zurich – Part One

CAROLYN: It is a happy ending – just not a fairytale ending. We can’t expect that. Real happy endings are never simple. ARTHUR: Yes they are. Like in ‘Finding Nemo’ when they find Nemo. Or in ‘Casablanca’ when the woman gets a go on the plane. CAROLYN: It’s not! ARTHUR: I suppose maybe ‘The Jungle Book’ when you’re meant to be happy that Mowgli goes off with the boring girl to the human village instead of hanging out with Baloo and Bagheera. That’s a kind of sad happy ending.

B. Different use of speech (Echolalia)

4x05 – Xinzhou

(Arthur, Carolyn, Douglas, and Martin are having to sleep on the plane. Arthur has claimed the aisle to sleep, and sings his song when the others are moving past him in the dark so he doesn’t get stepped on. When he’s the one moving, he still sings the song.)

ARTHUR (tiredly): ♪ Here I am, don’t tread on me. Here I am, don’t tread on me. ♪ CAROLYN: It’s you moving!

Zurich – Part One

(Arthur has turned a small moving van into an ice cream van and created his own “ice cream chimes,” which consists of him repeating the words ‘ice cream’ repeatedly.)

ARTHUR (dramatically): The chimes. I’ve done my own ice cream chimes. Listen! (He inserts a cassette into a player and his own voice starts to play from it.) ARTHUR’s VOICE (singing to the tune of ‘Greensleeves’, with no musical accompaniment): ♪ Ice cream, ice cream, ice cream, ice cream, ice cream, ice cream, ice cream, ice. Ice cream, ice cream, ice cream, ice cream, get your lovely ice cream. ♪ (His voice goes very off-key at the end.) MARTIN: Er, yes, that’s … ARTHUR’s VOICE (straining for the high note at the beginning of the chorus): ♪ I-i-ice cream, i-i-i-ice cream, i-i-i-ice cream, i-i-i… ♪ (The cassette is turned off.)

Differences in interactions and relationships (Arthur has a very distinct way of speaking to passengers, struggles with knowing how to communicate with others, and gets flustered easily in conversations. His mum sent him on a course on understanding people in Ipswich.)

1x02 – Boston

ARTHUR: Good evening, sir, welcome on board today. Good evening, madam, welcome also to you today on board. Good evening, sir, welcome to being on board to you today. Ooh, er, sir? Excuse me? MR. LEEMAN (American accent): Yeah? What? ARTHUR: Er, may I inform yourself that MJN does run a fully comprehensive non-smoking service, and as such as a result of this, all cigarettes, cigars and cigarillos must be extinguished upon embarkation, and retained in a state of extinguishment until termination of disembarkation. Thank yourself for your co-operation. MR. LEEMAN: I’m not co-operating. ARTHUR: No, not yet, but I’m sure you’re going to in a minute, and then, thank you! MR. LEEMAN: Do you know how much I paid to be on this flight today? ARTHUR: I bet it was loads! MR. LEEMAN: Yeah, good guess. It was loads. It was so much that it seems to me that, uh … (he takes a drag on his cigarette) … I can pretty much smoke where I like, okay? ARTHUR: But … it … it’s very dangerous to smoke on an aeroplane. MR. LEEMAN: No it’s not. ARTHUR: … I don’t know what to say now. MR. LEEMAN: How old are you, sonny? ARTHUR: Twenty-eight and a half. MR. LEEMAN: Well, I was smoking on airplanes for twenty years before you were born. Why do you think the No Smoking signs go on and off? ARTHUR: Actually, ours don’t, mostly; although one of them flickers. And there’s one we can’t turn on at all because it makes the cabin smell of fish. MR. LEEMAN: Well, that sure gives me confidence. So, uh … (he takes another drag on his cigarette) … we’re all done here, right? ARTHUR: Yep! MR. LEEMAN: And I can smoke. ARTHUR: Er …

~*~*~*~

MARTIN: Shut up, Douglas! Now, Arthur, we’ve already had one fire scare on this trip. We can’t afford to take chances, and since we know that Mr. Leeman has been fully informed of the policy and therefore certainly won’t be smoking in the loo again … ARTHUR: Actually, I think he might. MARTIN: No, Arthur, he won’t. ARTHUR: Hmm. The thing is, though, Skip, with all due respect, but what I’ve got that you haven’t is that Mum sent me on a course on understanding people in Ipswich. MARTIN (slowly): And if I ever want the people of Ipswich understood, you’ll be the first person I call. Meanwhile … ARTHUR: Yeah, yeah, but it means I can now read people – you know, like a book. DOUGLAS: Have you ever read a book, Arthur? ARTHUR: Yes, actually! White Fang. Twice. Anyway, bringing my people-reading skills to the table, I’m able to reveal to you now that Mr. Leeman didn’t show any of the five indicators of true resolve to change his behaviour patterns, and therefore, in a nutshell, I reckon he might smoke in the loo again.

1x03 – Cremona

ARTHUR: Might I ask yourself at this time if yourself would care to partake of the enjoyment of the in-flight entertainment system we do provide on the aircraft today? HESTER: What? ARTHUR: Shall I put the telly on?

2x04 – Johannesburg

ARTHUR (into cabin address): Ladies and gentlemen, as you can see, our onboard transit process today has now reached its ultimate termination. CAROLYN: He means we’ve landed. ARTHUR: Yes. So, as yourselves prepare for disemboarding, if I could kindly ask you to kindly ensure you retain all your personal items about your person throughout the duration of the disembarkation. CAROLYN: He means take your stuff with you. ARTHUR: In concluding, it’s been a privilege for ourselves to conduct yourselves through the in-flight experience today, and I do hope you’ll re-favour ourselves with the esteem of your forth-looking custom going forward. CAROLYN: … No idea.

4x02 – Uskerty

ARTHUR: No, no. I just think it would look good. And then, Douglas, we should be saying things like, you know, “Hey, you guy. The dames, eh?” “Yeah, the dames. Stupid dames. You had any luck with the horses?” “No, the horses are all … idiots. You know, between the dames and the horses, sometimes I don’t even know why I put my hat on.” That’s how they talk in bars, isn’t it? DOUGLAS: … No, Arthur. That’s not how anyone talks, anywhere. ARTHUR: Oh, right. So … how-how do they …? I mean, I’ve never really been to a … What sort of things do they say?

DOUGLAS: I don’t know. You just ask about each other’s lives. ARTHUR: Oh, okay. Right. Er … So, do you miss your ex-wife? DOUGLAS: What?! ARTHUR: No! No! DOUGLAS: You don’t … not like that! ARTHUR: Sorry, sorry. DOUGLAS: You don’t talk about anything. You-you just … I dunno – you-you joke. You moan about sport; you-you tease each other. It’s terrific. ARTHUR: I don’t know about sport. Um, I could tease you, though. I’d like to be better at teasing. DOUGLAS: Well, you can’t just … ARTHUR: Honestly, Douglas, you silly great … man. Look at you with your hair all … straight. … It’s not easy, is it? DOUGLAS: Apparently not.

~*~*~*~

ARTHUR: I ju… I just don’t know the sort of things people say. DOUGLAS: Yes you do. You’ve heard me tease Martin hundreds of times. ARTHUR: Oh, right, okay. Er … I notice Sir isn’t terribly tall today. DOUGLAS: … Yes. That’s better. Of course, I am quite tall. ARTHUR: Oh, damn! It’s-it’s just really difficult with you. There’s-there’s nothing to make fun of. (Silence.) ARTHUR: What? DOUGLAS: I’m a fifty-seven year old first officer with three ex-wives and I’m drinking sodding pineapple juice. ARTHUR: I know. So? DOUGLAS: Nothing. You know, I think maybe you should give up on teasing. It’s not really your thing. ARTHUR: Okay. DOUGLAS: If it helps, you are excellent at being teased. ARTHUR: Oh, really? Am I? DOUGLAS: Oh, first rate! Second only to Martin. He’s the master. ARTHUR: Aww, thanks, Douglas! And-and maybe if I practise, I could get as good as him. DOUGLAS: As good as Martin? I’m afraid not. He always goes the extra mile. The man just phoned me from up a tree.

Sensory

1. Differences in sensory sensitivity (Arthur prefers certain sensory experiences as shown below)

1x06 - Fitton

(When discussing whether it’s possible to be perfectly happy, Arthur provides sensory examples to prove that he’s often perfectly happy.)

ARTHUR: Like, for instance, when you get into a bath quickly and it’s just the right temperature, and you go … (blissfully) … “Ohhhh!”

~*~*~*~

ARTHUR: Like when you realise your knuckles are ready for cracking.

2. Strong enjoyment, desire, or need for certain types of sensory input. Demonstrated by stimming (self-stimulation) behaviour.

1x06 – Fitton

ARTHUR: This – tossing an apple from hand to hand. It just feels really nice. I could do it for hours. Try it.

Cognitive

1. Strength of focus and rigidity (Arthur will attach himself to certain topics and learn a lot about them in a short amount of time. He plays the game of “Yellow Car” every time he’s in a car and gets upset when the rules of the game are changed.)

A. Intense focus and interests

1x03 – Cremona

Hester Macauley

ARTHUR (excitedly): Hester Macauley?! The Lady of the Lake?! In my cabin?!

ARTHUR (high-pitched with excitement): She was Griselda, the Lady of the Lake – in-in Quest for Camelot!

ARTHUR: Right. I see. Still, though, I just want to say, I am your biggest fan. HESTER: Oh really? ARTHUR: Absolutely!

3x01 – Qikiqtarjuaq

Polar Bears/Bears (plus bonus Egypt!)

ARTHUR (almost bursting with excitement): What?! Are we?! Polar bears?! We’re gonna fly over polar bears?! And see them and look at them and be with the polar bears?!

CAROLYN: Oh, if you’re online, Douglas, look up ‘polar bears’ or ‘exploring’ or something. DOUGLAS: Why? CAROLYN: Because one of you will have to give a lecture on it. Unbeaten Track’s thing is that the crew are all experts on the region and they give lectures. ARTHUR: Can I give a lecture on polar bears? CAROLYN (instantly): No. DOUGLAS: What do you know about polar bears, Arthur? ARTHUR: Polar bears are … brilliant. DOUGLAS: You might want to pad that out with some PowerPoints.

ARTHUR: And this one’s a koala bear. Uh, that’s not actually a bear, in fact. This one is a panda bear. That’s not actually a bear. Honestly, it’s like nothing’s actually a bear. MRS COOK (Canadian accent): I’m sorry. I’m confused. Why are you showing me this? ARTHUR: It’s interesting about bears and things. Don’t worry: it’s all part of the service. It’s not extra. We’re all experts on stuff today, you see? I’m the expert on bears. And Egypt, actually. In Egypt, they used to pull your brains out through your nose with a hook. And that’s not even something in this book – that’s something I know!

ARTHUR: Hello. Uh, we didn’t meet properly. I’m Arthur. I’m the steward and bear expert. For instance, the sloth bear eats half its own body weight every month.

ARTHUR: Right, because I just know an awful lot about bears – at the moment. Uh, so if you ever need to, you know, borrow me, well you’d have to sort it out with Mum but I’m sure it’d be okay.

(Flight deck door bursts open.) ARTHUR: BEARS!! (Martin yells out in surprise.) ARTHUR: Bears, bears, bears! Polar bears! Look, on the ground!

CAROLYN: Goodbye. Goodbye. Thank you for flying with Unbeaten Track. ARTHUR: Goodbye. A female bear is called a sow. CAROLYN: Goodbye, madam. Thank you for flying Unbeaten Track. ARTHUR: Goodbye. A grizzly bear can strip a deer’s carcass in six minutes. MRS COOK: I beg your pardon? CAROLYN: Farewell bear facts, madam, courtesy of Unbeaten Track.

4x01 – Timbuktu

Timbuktu

ARTHUR: Oh, and I, er, I found that book you wanted, Douglas. DOUGLAS: What book? ARTHUR: About Timbuktu. DOUGLAS: Oh, right. Yes, well, you hang on to that for now. ARTHUR: Oh, okay. It’s about all of Africa really, but there’s a chapter on Mali and a page on Timbuktu. I’ve nearly finished it. MARTIN: The book? ARTHUR: The page. It sounds amazing. I can’t wait to see it!

ARTHUR: Don’t mention it. I read the whole page of that book. I’m basically an expert on Timbuktu now.

ARTHUR: Er, no, Douglas, you’re thinking of France. Mali was in the French Empire. DOUGLAS: No, Arthur … ARTHUR: Yeah, no, definitely. It was in my book.

ARTHUR: It’s just, my book was saying that most transport is still camels and donkeys, but I haven’t seen a camel all journey!

ARTHUR: Well, it is a bit surprising, Mum, because the book was saying the Sahara’s one of the flattest places in the world!

B. Preference for routine and sameness (Arthur has a certain game he plays every time he’s in the car, and he gets upset if someone changes the rules.)

The Official Rules for Yellow Car

3x04 – Ottery St. Mary

ARTHUR: Yellow car. DOUGLAS: What? ARTHUR: Nothing. Just “yellow car”. MARTIN: Why did you say “yellow car”? ARTHUR: There was a yellow car. MARTIN: But why did you say “yellow car”? ARTHUR: You’ve got to say “yellow car” when there’s a yellow car. MARTIN: Why? ARTHUR: That’s how you play Yellow Car. MARTIN: I’m not playing Yellow Car. ARTHUR: You’re always playing Yellow Car.

4x01 – Timbuktu

ARTHUR: … Yellow car. MR. BIRLING: Can’t you do something to stop him saying that? CAROLYN: Trust me: there is no power on Earth.

4x03 – Vaduz

MAXIMILIAN: Green truck. That counts double. ARTHUR (indignantly): What?! No, no, that’s not how you play! MAXIMILIAN: It is in Liechtenstein. ARTHUR: No it’s not! MAXIMILIAN: It is, because I’m the King of Liechtenstein and I say it is. A hundred points to me! ARTHUR (frantically): There aren’t any points!

2. Difference in cognitive abilities (Arthur struggles with executive function and has been shown to have a slower processing speed. He needs multiple prompts to do things and struggles with multi-step directions.)

2x06 – Limerick

CAROLYN: Arthur. Arthur, it’s an intercom, not a chat line. You’re supposed to be putting the dinner on. ARTHUR: Oh, right. Sorry, Mum.

~*~*~*~

ARTHUR: Is it valuable? CAROLYN: No! Of course not(!) A client just chartered a plane and two pilots to fly a packet of crisps halfway round the world(!) Arthur … you remember when I told you to put the dinner on? ARTHUR: Yeah. CAROLYN: Did you, in fact, do that? ARTHUR: … No. No, now I think about it, I got mixed up and made coffee. CAROLYN: Then perhaps you could have another crack at it now. ARTHUR: Right-o! What are we having?

~*~*~*~

CAROLYN: Arthur. Why is there a half-cooked Admiral’s pie congealing in the microwave? ARTHUR: Oh! I forgot about it. It was just having its little rest in the middle, because otherwise it goes all bubbly at the edges and you have to … CAROLYN: Yes, thank you, Heston Blumenthal. Just sort it out. ARTHUR: Right-o.

3x04 – Ottery St. Mary

ARTHUR: Here we are, chaps … er, chap. Coffee for you, Douglas, and coffee for you … to maybe have a bit later on, Douglas. DOUGLAS: Did you by any chance forget Martin wasn’t flying today, Arthur? ARTHUR: No, I didn’t, actually. It’s just, I only know the amounts to make coffee for two people. DOUGLAS: You could just have made half what you usually make. ARTHUR: Well, I couldn’t because I’d only know what to make half of once I’d made it, and once I’d made it, I’d made it.

~*~*~*~

DOUGLAS: Give me strength. The address on the envelope you picked up from Martin’s pigeonhole at the airfield. ARTHUR: … Right. Now … I know how you’re going to be, but remember you also asked me to pick up the van keys. MARTIN: Arthur … ARTHUR: Half the job was picking up the van keys, and that part I did brilliantly!

3x05 – Rotterdam

DOUGLAS: It’s certainly biggest. All right, Arthur, in your own time. (Pause.) ARTHUR: Who’s saying ‘Action’? DOUGLAS: You can say ‘Action’. ARTHUR: Action! (Pause.) DOUGLAS (tiredly): And go.

4x01 – Timbuktu

MARTIN: Actually, we’re fine, Arthur. We-we’ll be landing in twenty minutes. ARTHUR: Oh, right-o. Oh, and a message from Mum. Er, she says how long until we land? DOUGLAS: … Right.

3. Difference in thinking styles (Arthur thinks and learns in an atypical manner.)

1x01 – Abu Dhabi

CAROLYN: What time is it? ARTHUR: Six fifteen … Oh, damn! CAROLYN: What? ARTHUR: I’m trying to train myself always to talk in twenty-four hour clock, like Martin, but I keep forgetting. CAROLYN: Well, what should you have said? ARTHUR: Well, six fifteen. But not the six fifteen I was thinking of. You see, I was thinking of the one there’s two of, but when you do it right, there should only be one, and what I was … CAROLYN (interrupting): Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, light of my life, do please shut up.

2x06 – Limerick

If you want to listen to this one, click here

MARTIN: Arthur? ‘M’. ARTHUR: What? Ooh! Er, Mountain. Moccasin. Magma. CAROLYN: What’s this now? DOUGLAS: Arthur’s trying to learn the phonetic alphabet. He favours the spot-check method of revision. None of the above, Arthur, no.

ARTHUR: Er, Molecule. Mongoose. Mosquito! MARTIN: Shorter. ARTHUR: Mosque. CAROLYN: It’s a name. ARTHUR: Macnamara. Michinson. Moon! DOUGLAS: A first name. ARTHUR: Er, Martin, er, Maggie, Milly, Molly, Mandy, Matthew, Michael … CAROLYN: Nearly! Shorter. ARTHUR: Mickey! Mick! Mi! Muh! MARTIN: No, Arthur, the phonetic alphabet version of the letter ‘M’ is not ‘Muh’. It’s ‘Mike’! ARTHUR: Oh! I was close, then.

~*~*~*~

ARTHUR: Sorry. Mum, did you say one minute, three minute, one minute? CAROLYN: Oh, for goodness’ sake! No! Of course not! What cooks for one minute and stands for three? It’s three, one, three. ARTHUR: Oh, right. Okay, actually that’s easy to remember, because I’ll just think of 433 Squadron, only remember to swap the first two numbers and take three off the middle one! CAROLYN: Arthur, are you insane? That’s the stupidest way to remember anything I’ve ever heard! MARTIN: Also, it’s not 433 Squadron, it’s 633 Squadron. ARTHUR: Oh, yeah! Thanks, Skipper. So first, I’ve got to add two to the squadron I think it is to get the real squadron and then swap … CAROLYN: No! Don’t do any of that. Just remember it. Just use your brain and remember the three numbers. ARTHUR: Yes! Sorry. Three … three … CAROLYN: No! Oh, come with me.

#cabin pressure #arthur shappey #autistic arthur shappey #autistic headcanon

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