#autism rated

[irate-autism]

I come baring my autism:

Special interests; Space, Teenage mutant ninja turtles, science, and Star Wars

(As a kid my interest were; horses, veterinarians, cats, and FNAF)

Stims I do; Flapping hands, shaking fists, squealing, verbal clicking, jumping, singing, repeating words (also echolalia), humming, and rocking/swaying

(stims I did as a kid; LOTS of spinning, dancing, fiddling with my fingers, jumping, hand flapping, screaming, singing, hanging upside down, crashing into walls, and ‘blowing raspberries’)

starting off at 10 we stay good with space. space is GOOD

-3 for teenage mutant turtles fan you guys scare me

0 for star wars I have no idea how to feel about it.

+1 for stims we eat good tonight

autism rating: 8/10

[macdenlover]

it came to my realization that 99% of my fandom related headaches would be cured if everyone understood this

[doesephs]

ronan lynch guessed adam parrish was dressed as scarface claw. ronan lynch was incorrect.

[is-the-snake-video-cute]

what's the weirdest experience you've had with snake-keeping? mine was when my husband found the frozen feeder pinky mice in the freezer while making breakfast, mistook them for some kind of strange condiment and actually fried some of them before he realized just exactly what he was cooking 😭

That is terrible and hilarious, and it reminds me of how feeder rodents completely ruined a date I had once.

I'd had a couple dates with this guy, right, things were going pretty good. Invite him over for dinner one night. Had some white wine chilling in the fridge and asked him to grab it.

Also had a bucket of rodents thawing in there.

He was like "hey, what's up with the bucket of rats?"

It's just such a completely normal thing for me that I didn't even register he thought it was strange. So I just said. "Oh. That's food."

Didn't put it together why he seemed so weirded out after that until after he'd left. I don't know why I didn't say "snake food" instead of just "food," I guess in my mind it was so obvious it just didn't even need saying.

We did not have another date.

[emmashouldbewriting]

13yo came home with her maths and welsh exam results (and anxiety over potentially getting her science results tomorrow, wherein i promptly reminded her that the results do not matter as long as she tried her best. and if she didn't, that's on her, and that's her responsibility to rectify next year.)

this girl got 64% in maths!!!! her weakest subject!!!!!!! and 86% IN WELSH!!!! her second language!!!

i just... i'm so proud of her. she tries so very, very hard in everything she does in a world that isn't made for her and doesn't understand her, but she just keeps going. i'm honestly so lucky to say she's mine.

[apuff]

thinking about love in danger days

this is part of my conspiracy theory that that album is aroallo, but i've always gotten the sense that romance and romantic attatchment is much less important to danger days than any other mcr record. with bullets&revenge it's quite obvious as the demolition lovers take up like, everything, and the black parade has a heavy focus on a romantic relationship as well. 

while i do think there are lines in it that are romantically coded, there is a definitive lack of emphasis on it- like it's nowhere in the plot at all. 

i do think danger days represents a very familial type of love though. while other albums visit a sense of "i want you, i need you, i miss you, i hate you,", this is more like…"i love you, i want to protect you, i'm sorry"

i find this especially strongly in s/c/a/r/e/c/r/o/w:

"Nevermind about the shape i'm in, I'll keep you safe tonight"

"love, love, love won't stop this bomb"

"run, run, bunny, run"

and other songs: 

"i'll find you when the sun goes black"

"just save yourself and i'll hold them back tonight"

"how long until we find our way in the dark and out of harm"

relevant things i can't cover with just quotes are planetary go, oft-theorized to be about party poison and kobra kid, as brothers, leaving battery city together; sing, about the killjoys' last message to the girl while saving her; goodnite dr. death, phrased as him saying goodnight to children; and summertime, which i can't discern the meaning of but seems more like a family type of love. 

i think it makes sense that danger days is like this, seeing as it features main characters that take care of a child main character as opposed to main characters that love other main characters of the same age/ability. 

another thing i noticed while re-listening to the more sentimental songs for this essay is that there's just a distinctly different vibe to it. So much of it is focused around wanting to protect people, keep them safe and out of danger (<- ha that's the name of the album) and loved. i think this also makes sense, because the killjoys live a very, well, dangerous life without much security, and they'd want to provide what they lack the most. another semi-related thing i noticed is just how much of an emphasis there is on childhood in this album. i feel like there's a vibe of youth or teen-hood throughout the earlier ones, but this is just VERY strongly about kids. again this makes sense cause not only are the killjoys teenagers (a type of kid!) they also have a proper little kid to watch. 

also, i wonder how much of this stuff was due to gerard becoming a parent. just something to think about 

[sojourner-between-worlds]

"Special Interest." Boy, is it ever.

[liquidpaperfoundation]

Just read the one-shot death note manga where Watari talks about what it's like to live with L and the amount of autism mom vibes I get from this are truly staggering

[hoardingpuffin]

Autistic Person rates Autistic Characters in Media

In this post, I will be rating some autistic characters in media (specifically TV and movies) based on how well represented I feel by them as an autistic person. Keep in mind that this is thus a subjective list since autism is very individual and no two autistic people will have the same experience or opinions. I would also like to add that I am what would be considered a Low Support Needs autistic person, seen that I can generally live without too much assistance or accommodations, which means that my experience is going to not be relatable to autistic people with higher support needs than mine. On that note, also please keep in mind that “low functioning” and “high functioning” are harmful labels and that they are not the same as “low support needs” and “high support needs”. Also, obviously, since this is subjective, I am not saying that nobody else on the spectrum can’t like or relate to any of these characters; this is my own opinion, not a purely objective rating. Finally, whilst I will be rating these characters on a scale of 1 (worst) to 6 (best), I will not be ranking them in this post.

This list includes characters that are explicitly named to be autistic or that are widely accepted to be autistic, for example because the creators or actors confirmed it in retrospect or because the canon very strongly implies it and the creators have not spoken out in denial of it. Also I can obviously only rate the media I have actually seen so if your favourites aren't on this list, this is why.

CONTENT WARNINGS THAT APPLY: mentions of antisemitism (briefly), mentions of Autism Speaks, mentions of ableism, mentions of an autistic male character acting creepily towards women.

I will be signalling Pros/positive points with a + sign and Cons/negative points with a – sign.

Dr. Isidore Latham (Ato Essandoh) – Chicago Med (2/6)

- “curing autism” theme in the episodes centric on his personal experiences

- usage of the outdated and antisemitic term “Aspergers” over “Autism” (this is especially harmful considering Dr. Latham is Jewish)

+ Black autistic representation (which is rare seen that most autistic characters tend to be White) and Jewish autistic representation

+ whilst Dr. Latham is shown to not be the most social man and to be very direct, he isn’t outright rude or unprofessional

- as far as I could find out online, the actor is allistic (it is always better to cast a disabled actor for a disabled role)

Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) – The Good Doctor (0/6)

- the show collaborates with Autism Speaks, who are known to be a hate group not actually looking to help or listen to autistic people

- allistic actor

- extremely stereotypical in its portrayal (extremely antisocial, no friends, always literal, no social awareness – even though autistic people struggle with allistic tone patterns, usually they would be able to pick up at least somewhat what other people consider rude behaviour and would try to avoid it, something Shaun never seems to do)

- transphobia from the one autistic character, implying directly that autistic people are unable to understand the concept of a transgender identity (when in truth, studies show that many people on the spectrum also often identify as not on the gender binary or as transgender)

- Autistic Savant trope (portraying autistic people as geniuses when in fact, less than 5% of all autistic people are a Savant and even if we are very interested in a topic such as medicine, we still need to learn and study just as allistic people)

Abed Nadir (Danny Pudi) – The Community (4/6)

+ writer of the series is on the spectrum

+ PoC autistic representation

+ whilst not clearly being labelled as autistic, the character is recognizable as an autistic person without hitting all the stereotypical tropes such as being antisocial, never joking, always being literal or being a “genius” without ever studying etc. - allistic actor

- whilst generally not labelling a character as autistic is not a bad thing, it makes it harder for autistic people to definitely say “this character is autistic”, meaning that allistics can ignore the coding if they wish to cling to their own, often stereotyped idea of what autism “looks like”

Dr. Alfred Jones (Ewan McGregor) – Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (3/6)

- allistic actor

- stereotypical, but not as badly as other portrayals

+ avoids the trope of autistic people not having emotions, instead showing Alfred’s struggle expressing and understanding tone and emotions

+ generally good portrayal of a special interest being made part of the life via the job (salmon and fly fishing)

Music Gamble (Maddie Ziegler) – Music (0/6)

- creator Sia has openly shown ableist behaviour, putting down autistic people, not listening to autistic voices and criticism etc.

- allistic actress

- collaboration with Autism Speaks

- extremely stereotypical portrayal and infantalization of autistic nonverbal people

- harmful techniques such as restraining being shown on screen

- graphic meltdown scenes being shown

Sam Gardner (Keir Gilchrist) – Atypical (1/6)

- allistic actor

- in-universe infantilization of autistic people (via Mother Elsa)

- having the autistic character act dangerously, for example locking someone in the closet because they annoy him or borderline predatorily pursuing his therapist, sheds a harmful light on autistic people

- as far as is known, no autistic people were included in the production or writing process

- many instances show autistic-related habits or traits, for example wearing noise cancelling headphones, but frame it in a way that the audience is supposed to find it funny or laugh at the protagonist

- instead of making Sam sympathetic, he is largely just shown to make everyone around him uncomfortable

+ the ongoing portrayal of Sam’s special interest is generally well-done

- an ongoing theme is Sam’s girlfriend Paige restricting his info-dumping and by extension his special interest (something autistic people get active joy from) to three “dumps” a day so he can act “more normal” – this might teach allistic viewers that this is something they can do to their autistic friends

Sara Eriksson (Frida Argento) – Young Royals (5/6)

- usage of “Aspergers” both in the show and by the actress

+ actually autistic actress

+ autistic traits like mirroring, struggling with social context or tone and directness/bluntness as well as a special interest (horses) are shown whilst tropes like Sara being entirely unempathetic, rude and antisocial being avoided

Isadora Smackle (Ceci Balagot) and Farkle Minkus (Corey Fogelmanis) – Girl meets World (2/6)

- usage of “Aspergers”

- the original title of the episode centric on autism was “Girl Meets Normal”, implying autism is something abnormal, which is a potentially very harmful rhetoric

- autism is shown as something bad, with Farkle’s friends actively trying to fight over him being not autistic, insisting he is “normal”, generally treating autism as something they don’t want their friend to be associated with – a very harmful take in a show for kids and young teens

+ Smackle is a major, long-term autistic character rather than a One Episode throwaway character, even though she is generally quite stereotypical (but given that this show generally has every character act over the top and often fitting in specific categories this is not as bad, it just makes her fit in the framework of the show; she is not the only one who is largely stereotypically portrayed)

+ actor Ceci Balagot is themselves autistic (according to their twitter that is)

Renee (Madison Bandy) – Loop (6/6)

+ PoC nonverbal autistic character portrayed by a nonverbal autistic voice actress

+ in production, an active effort was made to make the actress feel comfortable, so that her experience working on the film would be accommodating and positive rather than unnessicarily stressful

+ generally very well-done portrayal of both sensory seeking and sensory overstimulated behaviour and the experience as an autistic person

Matilda (Kayla Cromer), Nicholas (Josh Thomas) and Drea (Lillian Carrier) – Everything is gonna be okay (6/6)

+ autistic actors playing autistic characters and autistic writer

+ very realistic portrayal of autism and how it differs in different people, as well as how it can affect interpersonal relationships (also having the sister mention that she thought she understood autism as a whole but later realized she only understood her sister's autism specifically because it is so individual)

+ realistic portrayal of sensory overload, stimming, communication between different autistic people etc.

+ queer autistic people – gay and asexual autistic main characters

+ autistic people joking, showing emotions, humour without the autistic people being the butt of the joke

+ empathetic portrayal of an adult realizing they might be on the spectrum and the denial and questioning that comes with that

+ portrayals of autistic special interests and autistic joy

Quinni (Chloé Hayden) – Heartbreak High (5.5/6)

+ autistic actress playing an autistic character

+ autistic queer representation

+ themes of ableism are included but dealt with sensitively and without making the ableism seem harmless

+ realistic portrayal of stimming, struggle with abrupt change of plans, overstimulation, meltdowns, autistic joy, info dumping etc.

+  autistic character having genuine friendships and friends who support her and know her sensory needs etc.

- because it is set in high school, this is a very specific group being represented so it is possible that the largest part of the autistic community won’t see themselves completely accurately portrayed, but chances are they can relate to Quinni nonetheless at least in aspects.

[irate-autism]

Special Interest: Brandon Sanderson’s cosmere’s magic systems and their interactions.

starting off at 10, we're taking off 3 points for it looking really basic. I have definitely seen this before.

taking off 1 more point because I can't read.

+1 point for LOOOREEEE

this rating: 7/10

[chronicallyaunline]

Rating Autism Shirts

I got a targeted ad for one of these and it sent me down a rabbit hole of the weird world of autism shirts. There's a pretty huge range in quality, so I have three metrics:

Is it good autism representation?

Is it well made/ aesthetically pleasing?

Would I wear it?

This is about what I expect from autism merch. We've got puzzle pieces, we've got dabbing, we've got an image that's photoshopped onto a photo of a person wearing a different shirt. It's bad, but almost compelling because it's so so bad. Representation: 1/10, aesthetics: 4/10, would wear: 6/10

Overall: 4/10

This is a masterpiece. Really weird, not infantilizing, acknowledges autistic people can experience the full range of the human experience (including being dtf). Representation 10/10, aesthetics 10/10, would wear 10/10

Overall: 10/10

Now this is a worst-case scenario. It centres the feelings of caregivers rather than autistic people, assumes autistic people are all going to be male children, uses puzzle pieces, is super hard to read, and it's just worst kind of millenialcore design. Representation 0/10, aesthetics 1/10, would wear 0/10.

Overall: 0/10

This has a lot of the problems of the previous shirt, but look at that sweet dinosaur wearing sunglasses. I know it's bad. It's got the puzzle pieces, it's got light it up blue, it's got that unreadable colour choice for the font, but something about this is really funny to me. Representation 4/10, aesthetics 6/10, would wear 10/10.

Overall: 7/10

I'm torn on this one. Is cringe culture still dead? I think whether or not I like this shirt would depend on who's wearing it. Like, autism mom puts it on her son? 0/10 for the mom being embarrassing and pushing compulsory heterosexuality. Queer autistic woman wears it? 10/10 humour. I'm just going to call this one un-rateable.

Overall: ???/10

This joke is too on the nose to not have been made by and/or for autistic people. The drawing is cute, the font is readable, the leaning into stereotypes is whatever you make of it. Representation 8/10, aesthetics 10/10, would wear 8/10

Overall: 8/10

Holy fuck they're bad. The dad one is terrible. Your kid is disabled no matter how great of a parent you are, and buying your kid something like this is the parenting equivalent of sucking your own dick. Bad.

The mom one is also terrible in a different way. If you can't read the image it says:

They whispered to her, "you cannot withstand the storm." She whispered back, "I am the storm."

I added punctuation to help it make sense, but the "storm" you're referring to is your child. You're advertising your bravery at "withstanding" an unchangeable aspect of your child's being. How is your kid going to feel if/when they see this and realize how you feel about them? Parents are allowed to feel their feelings about raising their kids, but maybe don't show the world how much you resent the human you're supposed to love unconditionally.

So bad they broke the rating scale.

Overall: -10/10.

We gotta end on a high note. Look at how perfect this is. Something about fake-edgy autism skeleton shirts just hits so right. We've got a blurry skeleton with two guns and the word "autism" is on fire. Not a puzzle piece in sight. Just the strange joy of being. We've got ourselves another 10/10 across the board.

Overall: 10/10

[ohdeargodwhy]

bella baxter my aromantic autistic queen

can always rely on Yorgos Lanthimos to make a film critiquing amatonormativity

mainstream film oozing feminist theory AND queer theory AND crip theory we love to see it

[theres-whump-in-that-nebula]

Interesting. Don’t necessarily think I’m autistic but I have more going on than just ADHD and I’m not sure what that is.

[zosonils]

apparently at some point it became my mission in life to have a flight rising dragon for every character from idw sonic

[perplexingluciddreams]

can't sleep can't get comfy not right position back neck ribs hurts.

hot but fan is bad noise can't wear hoodie to block ears because face hot and bunch up make sensory bad. everything feel wrong bad.

both pillows is bad and make hurt more.

hate sleep wish can live without it is horrible but so so tired need sleep but can't can't angry bad

[nattousan]

i got a new job recently as a lab tech making dentures on recommendation from my sister. We both have pretty significant adhd and i'm hella on the spectrum, and she said, from her experience, the fast paced nature, art focus and hand-engaging detail work works very well for people like us.

And she was right!

I'm taking to this job like a rat to pizza, like a flame in a fireworks factory. I'm sinkin into it like a farmer in a grain silo, because its a job that suits how my brain works in a way that no other job has done before. I'm not gonna say it's because of my adhd /autism that i'm successful but it definitely lets certain elements shine.

Now my trainer, bless her, has been a lab tech for almost 40 something years. But She doesn't have adhd, she's just absent minded. She doesn't have autism, she just needs me to use the airhose and torch sparingly because the loud noises drive her nuts. She just talks to herself, reuses a certain carousel of rote phrases, forgets what she's saying in the middle of a sentence, has SEVERAL neurodivergent children, gets upset when certain routines aren't followed to the letter or done correctly, talks at top volume, rarely makes eye contact, and is unusually passionate about teeth.... because, "that's just how she is..."

👀

Needless to say we've been getting along swimmingly. Along with all the things I've been silently noticing though, one thing in particular sticks out to me. And that is how she talks about herself. Often she'll (laughingly) punctuate a rant about teeth or the processes therin with " yea i know, you're thinkin "will this lady just shut up and leave me be??" or " I'm not overwhelming you with all this am I?" She's constantly apologizing for herself or referring to herself as mean things or saying "there's somethin wrong with me" How many times has she heard that said to her? When did she start repeating that to herself?

idk, i just find it really sad that this very nice and passionate woman in her 60s who raised 5 kids by herself and endured some of the worst kinda shit a person can go through never gained a deeper understanding of herself. I wish I could ask her about it, gently, and let her know that I see her, 40 years into a career she loves, with the respect of her peers, a nice home, children who love her and still visit, and see... myself.

I see that I can have that for myself. It's possible, to have a good life, not despite me being me, but because of it. Someday.