#i think i may be neurodivergent

[unoshallbeplayedbywe]

I've brought up the Bosnian war now twice to my therapist so I think the fall of the soviet union is my roman empire

[brittaunfiltered09]

Does anybody ever get so excited over a post about something they like they stim so much they figure out how to snap and also start crying a bit

[adhdandcomics]

hey

[dick-chugger]

Rob McElhenney when the podcast continues

[aroaceleovaldez]

in your most recent tyson post, you said something about leo being distinctly autistic-coded and I was wondering if you could elaborate on that? it sounds really interesting (sorry if you've already posted something on this, I couldn't find anything though)

Of course! I do have a specific tag for talking about Leo's autistic-coding/traits - [here], and [one for Nico as well].

The main aspects with Leo being autistic-coded actually have a lot to do with Nico being autistic-coded, because it's the comparisons between the two that most clearly indicate Leo is autistic-coded rather than it just being his ADHD or etc.

So with Nico being autistic-coded, it's very clear in the Titan's Curse that he's intended to be autistic. First, the first series has a repeating pattern of secondary characters being very distinctly neurodivergent-coded in different ways (Annabeth's adhd/dyslexia, Tyson's down syndrome-coding, Nico's autism-coding). With Nico's introduction, he's pretty stereotypically autistic and we're given a lot of descriptors about him that are notably not attributed to him being ADHD, like it would be for other demigod characters. He doesn't register social cues such as people getting annoyed at him, he's asking/making inappropriate or impolite questions/comments, he gets particularly upset about change (such as Bianca joining the Hunt) and generally gets emotional, and one of his most notable traits he's introduced with is the fact that he has a special interest (MythoMagic) - and we're shown that this special interest particularly colors how Nico navigates the world. While ADHD has hyperfixations, we don't really get much acknowledgement of hyperfixations with demigods usually - Annabeth gets a little, but most others don't and it's not nearly as focused-in on as Nico's is.

Then as the series continues we see these traits stick with him and him start to show or voice more traits that similarly indicate he's autistic: He regularly mentions how he doesn't understand living people and prefers the company of the dead (social issues). He has more notable stims than other demigods (twisting his ring, fiddling with bones, etc). He's indicated to have strong sensory preferences (usually wearing mostly black/aversion to bright colors, usually wearing layers/his coat, multiple times he's described as wearing loose/baggy clothing or clothes too big for him). He has specific comfort items (his ring, likely his jacket(s) as well). We later get even more information about his special interests (Mythomagic/mythology/history and an older interest in pirates - the latter he specifically notes likely heavily influenced his feelings towards Percy). He struggles with emotions and facial expressions and tone. He struggles particularly with ostracism and feeling like he doesn't fit in and has something distinctly different about him from the people around him (who notably, all have ADHD, which indicates it isn't the ADHD that's making him feel that way), and other characters regularly describe him as being off-putting because of his strange behaviors - again, different from specific ADHD traits they recognize. And that last point is kind of notable because we have Hazel and Bianca for comparison - we know people are off-put by both Nico and Hazel because of being children of Hades/Pluto and their powers/aura, but other characters get past that general feeling of discomfort way faster with Hazel. And even after characters get past the death stuff with Nico, there's a second thing that they aren't moving past that isn't a factor with Hazel (Nico's autism).

So that brings us to Leo - Leo is paralleled to Nico a lot. And there's some very specific traits about him that we know are autistic-coding because of how they're used with Nico: He similarly struggles with social cues/etc, and in a very similar parallel to Nico describes how he prefers the company of machines to people because machines make more sense to him. He has similar types of clothing/sensory preferences (again some stuff with layers but also - pockets! He likes having pockets and things to put stuff in! He's even introduced as having a jacket with lots of pockets), and he has a distinct special interest (machinery) that we specifically know heavily influences how he views and navigates the world (constantly comparing things to machinery, describing things with machinery metaphors/terminology, etc etc). He even describes his entire general worldview to Hazel and it's a machine metaphor. He also similarly struggles with ostracization like Nico does, the only difference being that Leo specifically puts on a persona to compensate for areas he knows he's lacking in and very explicitly describes it as a means to make people like him, because without it he normally struggles to fit in (He's masking!). We also see notes of characters describing that similar discomfort with Leo's behaviors that they do with Nico, except without the aura of death this time. And when we're in Leo's POVs we see a very stark difference between his masking and his actual personality/behaviors such as his internal dialogues or how he behaves when he's alone. Also, like Nico, he stims more than other demigods, though for Leo it's more attributed to his ADHD. Leo also, more often than most, similarly struggles with tone and reading the room, such as making misplaced jokes/comments or etc.

But yeah! It's really interesting. Also it's just a fun thing that ADHD/dyslexia and autism have comorbidity, so it makes sense that we see demigods who are also autistic. It's also really fun to look at how other characters are coded in the series, what coding looks like in the riordanverse specifically (usually it's tied into the mythological stuff - like Chiron being in a wheelchair but he's actually a centaur, Grover being introduced as having a muscular disease but he's actually a satyr, demigods having adhd/dyslexia, Tyson being coded as having down syndrome but he's a cyclops, etc etc - it's a lot of specific metaphor stuff that I've talked about a bit before), and to look at how characters are compared to one another.

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

If You Have ADHD Why Are You So Quiet?

I forget what I’m going to say (even while I’m saying it)

I speak very quickly (I get embarrassed, misheard, and often told to “just slow down”

I forget words, names, and sentence structure

I’m exhausted

I’m concentrating on listening and processing

I don’t want to interrupt (when/how am I meant to join in)

I have thousands of thoughts occupying my brain

I’m concentrating on my body language (whilst tying to read yours)

I struggle to speak about things I have no experience or interest in

I’m afraid of rejection (RSD)

I CAN Network Ltd

[franklyimissparis]

i think it’s funny how when some people talk abt alex turner’s potential drug usage it’ll either be like “he has a major drug and alcohol problem it’s so obvious!!!” or “i don’t think he’s the type to have ever even tried a hard drug” as if there isn’t a ton of middle ground between those two extremes

like the man who wrote “why’d you only ever call me when you’re high” and has been a touring musician since he was 19 has obviously fucking been high - and not just with weed - but that also doesn’t mean he’s completely off his head in every interview he’s ever done 😭😭

[wanderingmind867]

I feel like percy jackson is partially to blame for me liking mythology so much. It introduced it to me on a level i could understand. Because I cannot read those old texts. The illiad is written in a weird way, and I have no patience for it. Same with the other myths. They're old, so the translations seem weird when i tried to look them up years ago. It's like shakespeare or the bible. If things are old enough, eventually they become incomprehensible for my brain.

I feel comic books contributed to my love of mythology too (when characters like thor, wonder woman, etc exist), but percy Jackson and rick riordan's writing definitely contributed to it the most. His stuff at least feels more accurate than the comic books, but it also speaks to me on a level i can understand. Which i will forever be thankful for.

[quatregats]

Thinking about transfem Hornblower and like...I do absolutely think that there are things that read as dysphoria, but that's not the stuff that really makes me headcanon Hornblower as trans. I think the way in which the narrative is set up, in which we have a main character who is obsessed with performing a particular brand of masculinity despite the fact that he is terrible at it and it consistently makes him miserable is actually what does it for me. Like there's a point in the books where Hornblower's internal narrative becomes so unbelievably dishonest and unreliable about him being so! happy! that you can almost see that there's some central disjuncture in who he is that he refuses to address, and that's what really sells me. I do think you can read it multiple ways (the only readings of it that I personally actively disagree with are any that imply that he's legitimately happy in that situation because he's clearly not) but when you put the dysphoria-adjacent comments in with the larger context of insane cognitive dissonance of older Hornblower I think it makes a transfem reading really compelling and honestly explains the later books better than a direct reading could.

[aromantyczno-liryczna]

I am not here to entertain anyone.

"What if they think I'm weird? What if they think I'm boring? What if they think I'm shy? What if they think I'm quiet?"

I am not here to entertain anyone.

I'm not put here on this earth to entertain anyone.

If I can't talk or don't feel like talking, or I can't be myself fully in this situation, it's fine.

I'm not here to entertain anyone.

[sweetandsavageautistic]

So my therapist gave me a questionnaire to see if I have alexythymia, and I scored pretty high.

I don't know how I feel about that.

*BA-DUM-TSS!*

[anxiouslyextroverted]

do you have any dsmp neurodivergent headcanons? I have many

YES! thank you for asking!! :D

these are how i personally view the characters + whats canonically stated and I was debating to myself for an hour whether c!Tommy should go in alexithymia or not

[mccoyquialisms]

genuine, for real, question, especially for neurotypical folks. do you too feel completely drained after a full work day and struggle to find the motivation to do more than (1) Adult Responsibility after every work day and so your off days are crammed with all the shit you failed to do before that you definitely should have? Do you find the idea of also having an active social or dating life on top of just trying to get through the fucking day utterly exhausting? If you’re a parent, how are you working full time and also being a parent without wanting to kill yourself constantly or just going insane? If you are childless and want kids, are you also utterly terrified you’ll be an incompetent parent because “seriously I can barely handle myself much less a small human who depends on me??” or is this just a me problem

[redysetdare]

Let me tell you it is wild how fucked up language is because I will see a post that I agree with but then realize the wording is just vague enough that it could mean something entirely different and I gotta sit there debating if I'm gonna reblog it or not cause I'm like "what if it is not what i think it is"

[igarbagecannoteven]

hi!! just read your cake at the craft store fic and thought I'd introduce myself on here :) you're a talented writer and seem like a lovely person!

oh my gosh thank you so much! that's so sweet of you 🥰i'm so glad you enjoyed my work! (and thank you so much for the lovely comment on ao3!) also love your handles on both ao3 and here, i'm a big fan of herons myself 😊

[wanderingmind867]

Last night my stomach felt really upset and constipated, and that was upsetting me because i have school today. My stomach's still feeling a little weak, so i can't help feeling really nervous about school today. I'm half tempted to ask for luck today, because i definitely feel like i'll need all the luck i can get. Especially with my nerves. So wish me luck, and hopefully i won't end up needing to come home from school early because of stomach cramps, or anything drastic like that. Because i'm worried about that, and i really don't want to deal with it.

This is my third reposting of the same post. I queued it to post a second and third time while i was on the way to school, just because i'm super nervous about all of this. So if see three of these posts, that's why.