#damian wayne is autistic

[gothamite-rambler]

Ra's Al Ghul began to wonder why Damian always acted "odd" compared to when he was a child. He had difficulty making eye contact, struggled to follow instructions at times, found it hard to share his interests, and had trouble expressing emotions—not in the way Ra's was accustomed to.

Silent concern gnawed at him. He feared Bruce might be doing something wrong, and the thought that he was ruining his grandson's development troubled him deeply. He couldn't admit that he actually cared for the boy; showing any semblance of weakness in front of his minions or even to himself was unacceptable.

So, he confronted Bruce:

Ra's: I've stayed silent about this for far too long, you better start talking, Bruce!

Bruce (dryly): Hi, it's good to see you again. What do you need?

Ra's: I need to know how are you raising him? Better yet, what have you passed down to him? He's struggling to look me in the eye, it didn't come from my bloodline. Tell me what you did cause I don't want him to end up as dim as you!

Bruce: Rude. There’s nothing wrong with Damian apart from the trauma you put him through.

Ra's: Trauma, you weak willed people. Well, there’s definitely something off about him and you're going to tell me!

Bruce: Ra's, you were around him for eight years. You didn’t notice anything about his learning difficulties?

Ra's: Hm, he did struggle to speak for some time. He has a hard time making eye contact, and teaching him certain things was a challenge. Plus, he’s not the best with emotions. But most of that is normal in my culture.

Bruce (smirking): You don’t know, do you?

Ra's: Know what? What did you do to him?

Bruce: I got him tested a few months after he got here. Ra's, he’s autistic.

Ra's locked up, horrified. His ideas about neurodiversity were outdated. At one point, autism was believed to stem from mothers not loving their children enough, I'm not kidding. It was considered a disease back in the 1900s and earlier (and to some idiots, it still is).

Ra's glanced over at his grandson, who was listening to music and twirling a pen.

Ra's: Oh Allah, how did this happen? Can we… What did you do? What did you give him? My poor grandson!

Bruce (trying not to laugh): I saw this coming, and I admit it’s still kind of funny. Ra's, he doesn’t have a disease; he’s not sick. He has a neurodevelopmental disorder, which is not a bad thing. I just have to raise him a little differently, no skin off my bones, honestly.

Ra's: Are you lying to protect your own ass?

Bruce: Nope. I’ve raised three kids before him, and each one is different. Damian is fine, he’s a great kid and my son. If you treat this like a problem that needs fixing, you’ll end up waking up in the Pit.

Ra's: Alright, I’ll believe you for the time being. But if I come back after researching this autism and I’m right, you’re going to be dealing with me!

Bruce: Cool, you can go now.

Ra's left, uncertain how to process this new information. He did the one thing many parents today fail to do: he researched the disorder and learned that it isn’t a deadly disease or a sign of parental failure, but rather something that one in every thirty-six kids is born with, and that they can lead normal, fulfilling lives.

Ra's defends his grandson

[damianwaynesutilitybelt]

Damian Wayne is autistic cos I said so

But also evidence

Trouble socialising has missed social ques over and over connects more to animals then people:

Example: trauma dumping on a 4yr old

When Dick was freaking out about his girlfriend possibly being pregnant Damian completely ignore that and demanded Dick's attention and followed him to his apartment.

Strong sense of justice

Struggles to go against his own morals

Example: gotham wars- won't let goons run Gotham

Immediately going vegetarian for batcow

Repetitive movements/

Saying "tt" alot

Could defiantly classify under a stim, as stimming is basically a release /express of emotions and he does it consistently

Insistent on sameness:

Example; Didnt want to get a haircut only Alfred could do it

Viewing jon as a master student situation and seeing the teen titans the same

Hyperfixation;

We know Damian spends hours to days fixated on something

Example: hacking into the batcomputer fir Tim's hit list

"It was child's play"

"That took you 6 hours"

Thanks for coming to my Ted talk

(Not super strong evidence as common but ads to the mix

Food struggles

"I hate orange juice with pulp

Immediately sympathising with Trinity- the mac and cheese has crumbs in it

"I eat fear for breakfast

"No you eat ovaltine and pop tarts"

- strange food combination but maybe implying he eats the same thing every day

[beeinc]

THEY !! WILL !! NOT !! LET !! YOU !! GO !! HOME !!

tHATS IT!!

Damian Wayne was in a CULT. period end of story I will not concede this point. He was ripped away from the only life hed ever known and then told that everyone and everything hed ever loved was BAD. THATS SO FUCKED UP.

can we talk about how Damian’s culture shock had not been addressed in any significant way ever in canon or fanon?

imagine you are 10 years old, your mother loves you dearly, you are told all your life stories of how important and legendary your father The Batman is, you are to be a strong warrior-assassin-son and you excel in your training, your mother and grandfather are proud of you until they say you have to leave.

you lose everything. your home country, language, religion, relationships. your comfort foods, smells, clothes. everything.

you're given to your father who you have been told you need to prove yourself to, you are being treated as an enemy, you have no allies, no one will explain the unwritten unspoken rules especially not your father who has decided you are a nuisance.

they tell you your past and everyone in it is evil, your home is evil, your mother and grandfather are evil. you cannot have any connection to anything or anyone familiar.

your father dies. they all still hate you. they will not let you go home.

[chaoswiththeprettyspine]

Damian doesn't like wearing hero merch (except nightwing), but he does collect every art supply he finds that has his family's logo on it. Those batman pencils you can find in every corner store? He has like 10. Nightwing themed ballpoint pen? He grabbed it the moment it came out. An off-brand Red Hood pen he saw in a second hand shop? It has red ink, and he corrects his friends homework with it. He even has a Red Robin eraser he found on etsy. Neon colored markers with Signals logo, a black brush set called 'Black Bat Brush Box', or a purple grafity can in the shade 'Spoiler'. It doesn't matter if it's official or not, he has it.

Just artkid Damian collecting his family's merch.

[livingtobethevillain]

Pediatrician damian except he treats every kid with the same amount of respect and attentiveness that he would give an adult.

Pediatrician damian who will tell parents with barely concealed distaste to shut up when they talk over their children during an appointment.

Pediatrician damian who is always watching his patients, searching for if the injury they got from "falling" is actually just that or if the injury has to do with the impatient and anxious parents nearby.

Pediatrician Damian who cares so SO much about every kid and who he learns to be comforting and gentle for because he doesn't want to cause them any more anxiety before their flu shots.

Pediatrician damian who is still a hero at heart and who has kicked ass when his hospital was briefly taken hostage by rogues. Who immediately jumped into a fight because the crying of tiny terrified children echoed in his ears and he was filled with enough righteous anger his 10 year old self would stagger.

Pediatrician damian who does everything in his power to make sure every kid who needs it gets Healthcare.

Pediatrician damian who refers to his patients as his kids.

Pediatrician damian who I'm SOBBING OVER

@puppiesandnightlock I have a lot of feelings bestie 😭

[were-wolverine]

[birdiegray01]

Bruce gets Damian legos because he’s trying to connect with him and the two end up completely missing patrol because they were to busy building all of Gotham with the legos

[strslv-4sh]

Someone: Boop! Got your autism.

Damian: You better give me that back, that was a gift from my father.

[timmydraker]

Everyone in the Bat Clan has been noticing something over the years, specially about Tim.

Every so often he will go to do something with his hands or even his entire body, such as swaying or shaking his hands, but always stops himself.

There’s almost this look of annoyance on his face that just barely hides discomfort, but he brushes it off quickly.

Bruce noticed and, thinking about Robin more than anything, offered some kind of fidgeting device to help him stay on task, only for Tim to snap at him for the first time. It was his usual snark or commenting on Bruce’s well being, but a real moment of lashing out.

He decided then not to bother Tim about his clear want to move around it play with something even if it’s just his hands, mainly because he was doing his job well.

Yet, as he starts to really try and be a good parent to his kids and realises that Tim is one of the places he messed up most by basically using him to cope with grief, he decides to ask the rest of the family what they think.

Dick says it could be ADHD and he needs movements, with Barbara backing it up with a few websites in agreement.

Damian says he should mediate and Cass so what agrees but says it probably won’t help someone like Tim that much.

Duke and Steph make up a somewhat chaotic plan of coercing him into telling them what he needs, out of love and somewhat aggressive care.

It’s Jason who just scoffs and says, “It’s stimming, you idiots. He has like, super messed up standards cause of his parents, right? They probably didn’t allow it but he’s got that like, autastic thing.”

Only Jason Todd could say something so smart followed by completely idiocy.

But he is right, very much so. It might also explain why sometimes he seemingly couldn’t handle touch but when he panicked he need to be squeezed as tightly as possible.

Naturally, with a family of emotionally repressed vigilantes, they decide to subtly let him know it’s okay.

Dick is the worst with it, speaking far too loudly about how Autism is okay and how he wants to learn to support autistic kids, while Bruce thinks nodding along to this helps.

Damian just stares at Tim for five minutes before bailing and running away.

When a month passes and Tim seem more like he’s even more ashamed than anything my, Cass smashes her hand on the table at dinner and drags him out of the room to talk to him.

Tim is forced to sit and listen to his sister, who may or may not be his favourite sibling, talk about how he’s not damaged or wrong for needing to stim and move his body. She calls him out on how he is being a hypocrite, for accepting people like Bart and Barbara and and her for their disabilities whether ADHD or something physical but not himself.

Tim wouldn’t have been moved by this if it was anyone else, but never in all the time he’s known her has he heard Cass say so many words in one go nor can see her cry so much. She’s loud when she cries, making up for her silence, but it’s only something any of them have seen twice and that was Bruce and Steph.

He doesn’t just magically accept that he’s neurodivergent, nor does he ever want a title as to what is different about him, but the difference is still noticeable.

A week later him and Dick are watching an episode of their show and something Tim adores, a comic series, is referenced. Instead of what he usually does, that being sitting there as still as he can, he bats his hands around a for a few seconds before pausing and waiting for Dicks reaction.

When Dick beams at him brighter than a sun he continues, smacking the couch and even Dicks arm in his excitement.

A few days later he makes a high pitched noice just to get to an itch in his throat and doesn’t realise that Jason is there, yet when the other responds with the same noice, given a bit deeper, Tim smile. Bruce walks in on them making strange noises at each other in a sort of echo.

It’s months later when it’s his birthday and his family has come together to buy him a new, stupidly expensive camera only to reveal they also added a red light room in the manner for him to print them that they really see how much safer he feels.

He flaps his hands aggressively and jumps in place, rumbling out words that don’t all much and thanking them over and over.

He squeals happily but only has a moment where he looks shamed before Bruce holds out a flat palm for him to smack excitedly.

Later, when he gets overwhelmed and crashes a little, Duke lies on top of him to give him pressure only for Steph to sit on him.

[fckbatmanhiskidsareminenow]

“He’s doing the rocking thing again,” Dick nudges him. Bruce hums and looks up from his computer at his eldest.

“Damian,” He whispers, pointing across the cave at his youngest. Damian is standing looking down on some pieces of paper that are spread out strategically on the floor. All of that would be normal except for the fact that he has one hand brought up to his mouth and he is rocking back and forth on his feet. Dick has mentioned seeing him do this previously but Bruce has never seen it in person.

Bruce studies him, he doesn’t look distressed. Damian’s distress or negative emotions in general tend to be a bit…loud for lack of better word. But this is completely silent. He looks calm.

“I think, it’s how he thinks,” Dick whispers and Bruce nods as they both watch Damian remove his fingers from his mouth to adjust the absolutely enormous noise cancelling headphones resting on his head. He hears Dick gag.

“Jeez, we probably shouldn’t let him put his fingers in his mouth but i dunno how to tell him it’s unsanitary without making him think he can’t stim at all,” Dick says conflicted. Stimming? Ah yes, Tim had given him a book on it a while ago. Maybe he’ll go read it when he’s done down here.

[punkeropercyjackson]

Hey full offense but if your excuse for not including Duke as Bruce's son and in Batkids/Batboys/Robins lineups is 'he already has parents' and you 'don't want to erase them',maybe you should consider Duke's parents literally can't take care of him and that you can have multiple parental figures.......and that Bruce and Duke have literally refered to eachother as father and son in the comics and even official arts frame them that way too.Duke was bullied all the time,kicked out of multiple schools,had a hard time making friends and keeping them too,was targeted by the cops AS A MINOR(which he still is!!!!),lost his parents or rather his parents lost their sanity to The Joker and now he's expected to self-rely when older and less good people were given more grace and care than him.I think y'all should drop the respectability politics and just let the black kid have a dad💀If DC stands for 'Disregard Canon',then DC also stands for 'Duke Counts'

[theaceofarrows]

Dick: Oh my gosh, guys. Bruce took Damian for diagnostic screening and found out he was on the spectrum, too

Tim: Nepotism. Damian is a genetic nepo baby

Jason: Well damn, you right...

[ambriel-angstwitch]

Omg! Tim liking the schedule and Damian’s solemn nod.

I love my little autistic boys. They’re so dedicated to the job. (And they just like schedules)

[chaoswiththeprettyspine]

Damian stole his case file so Tim hid his paintbrushes. Jason is just tired...and a little concerned.

[garpen]

Things I have projected onto Batfam Characters:

Austistic Bruce Wayne.

My Undying Love and devotion For Koriand'r, Dick Grayson

Mexican + Verbally Aggressive Love Language Jason Todd

Literally so quiet that people forget you're sitting next to them so when you say something you scare the crap out of them, Cassandra Cain

Autistic + OCD Tim Drake.

Knows all you insecurities and will use them against you in a verbal beatdown, Duke Thomas

Autistic Damian Wayne.

[hundredpoundsofsassyandunstable]

I bring Autistic Duke Thomas to the table where others may fight it.

AUTISTIC DUKE THOMAS!!!