#midoriya izuku is autistic

[dogwaterdish]

As promised, I'm back to talk more about Midoriya being autistic! I'll talk about special interests, stimming, social difficulties, intense emotions/empathy, and other miscellaneous things I think are better explained about him when looked through the lens of Autism.

Special Interests

One of the most obvious traits is his strong- often described as obsessive- interests. Mainly heroes, All Might, and quirks. These interests are pretty much just special interests - the level of intensity and long term hold on him is how special interests can function.

Some people might argue he's just using it as an escape from his reality of quirklessness, but these interests were visible before and after he was quirkless. When he got diagnosed as quirkless, he had already had a passionate interest in All Might.

And while All Might and heroes are loved by the majority of the population, it's been noted by many people that he has a lot stronger of an interest in them than most, to the point some call it creepy and obsessive. He's very knowledgeable about these topics, and infodumps about them very often! For example, when his class met the pussycats:

As we can see, he's very ready to start spewing hero facts, and is excited by seeing heroes. He does this often, and knows very much about most heroes- as we can see in the first chapter as well. He knew the name of Kamui woods big move despite him being a new hero, and knew several facts about him off the top of his head. This muttering is also frowned upon socially, but he doesn't pick up on that much at all, and continues his muttering until he either gets distracted or stopped by someone else. This all makes me believe that these are his special interests!

Stimming

Midoriya has some things that he does that I categorize as stimming! The biggest one is muttering, he's seen doing this often, and a lot of the time it seems to be a form of regulation. For example, during the USJ when he hurt is finger:

He is often seen muttering in times of high emotions (which is often for him with the intense emotions he experiences) and it seems to help him calm down, focus, and relax, as well as make plans.

Another example of him stimming is when he was talking with Nighteye about an All Might clip!

These motions are often used by him during times where he is excited, scared, and even focused. A common stim I've seen from him is pulling on his bottom lip!

While stimming is something everyone does to some degree, autistic people stim much more regularly for emotional regulation and to keep a proper amount of stimulation, and Midoriya falls into the latter category, where he stims much more than neurotypical people. This stimming has been pointed out by many characters and some have called it odd, mainly with his muttering.

Social Difficulties

Another major thing I see in him that is reminiscent of Autism is his abnormal behavior socially, and his cluelessness when it comes to social interactions.

Here we see Midoriya wave to Shinso, then get confused about why he ignored him. This could be just general confusion that many people would experience but I think that since stuff like this happens to him somewhat often its pointing more towards social issues n such !

Another example of this was during the final exam arc, where Tsu was asking Uraraka what her and Aoyama were talking about and Uraraka got flustered. Midoriya was clueless during this whole interaction and they made a point to put a question mark by his head. I cannot find this picture for the life of me right now, but if I do I will edit this post and put it in!

I think it's very interesting that he is often characterized as very observant (with his very detailed notes and pattern recognition with how Bakugou fights (another autism thing...)) , but when he is clueless about something it's always a social interaction. Here's some more miscellaneous pictures of him with question marks by his head:

It's very common for autistic people to be lost or confused during social interactions, and to have problems being entirely calm or oriented during conversations. Midoriya has also been shown to be a bit fretful, anxious, or quick to overexplain during conversations, such as when Iida and Uraraka were asking about the nickname "Deku".

Intense Emotions and Empathy

Midoriya is shown many times to have extremely strong emotions, it's one of his key traits along with his high empathy. These big emotions he has are very unregulated, at least early in the series, and he is prone to bursting into tears at a moments notice. This upcoming picture was when he met up with All Might after receiving his UA acceptance letter.

If you have seen any clips of MHA, you have seen how much he cries and how intense his emotions are. However, he doesnt always cry when he has strong emotions, like when he gets excited and pumped up about his classmates or heroes, and starts muttering and sometimes flapping his arms.

Along with that, he has strong empathy for other people and can "feel" the energy and emotions of others when they're particularly strong. He also has more empathy and compassion for the villains than most people, insisting he must save Shigaraki rather than just kill him like everyone suggested. Irregular emotions and empathy levels are yet another trait of autism that he possess.

Other traits

Like I said in the start of this post, some of these things aren't necessarily indicative of autism or anythin', but they make so much more sense when looked at through the lens of autism, and combined with all the other traits he has, only add to his likelihood of being Autistic!!

One thing I've seen Midoriya do quite often is doing raptor arms! Heres some examples of that:

here are also some examples of Midoriya sitting in peculiar ways as well! Not a trait of autism particularly, but I've seen odd sitting common in many autistic people!

Conclusion!!

So all that is pretty much to say Midoriya is a pretty autistic character! Whether it was intentional or not he's super autism coded and I think it's very neat. I also think it's neat we have essentially the same spins (all might!). All the info from here comes from research I've done, along with referencing my own experience as an autistic boy.

Happy birthday to him as well!! :] ty for reading all that

(also @animaatra since you wanted to be tagged :] )

[bokunokamijirou]

MHA Guys x Autistic!Reader Headcanons

ft. Bakugou, Midoriya, Kaminari, Kirishima, Sero, Monoma, and Shinsou!

Katsuki Bakugou

always has all your sensory tools on him!

will shut anyone up who tries to talk to you during a meltdown or when you’re overstimulated

gives you space when u need it but always keeps an eye on you anyways

when you’re ready for affection he is ON IT!!! Cuddles, kisses, doesn’t matter. But he waits for the signals first.

keeps an AAC app for your nonspeaking moments, it’s on his phone.

he actually has a whole section of apps just for you, sensory stuff, soothing music, you name it

he will protect you from yourself if you start to try and hurt yourself. he will hold you so tightly while you cry.

Izuku Midoriya

now he’s one to notice the MINUTE you get overstimulated! And he will make up any excuse to get you out of wherever you guys are!!

he talks to you when you want to be distracted! And he’ll infodump about anything

on that note, he LOVES when you infodump. He thinks it’s the cutest thing you do, especially when you start to lose track of time as you go on.

he will comfort you when you need it! He has a hard time sitting in silence, so he brings fidgets for himself too!

knows where all your sensory tools are in your room, brings his own noise cancelling headphones (he bought you yours! He has the same ones)

Denki Kaminari

oh he’s HORRIBLE at silence! But he will literally zip his mouth shut if he sees you need quiet

he owns a lot of fidgets already and all kinds of flexible seating options (his favorite is one of those exercise balls)

he will play with your hair and draw circles over your skin to meet your physical sensory needs! He’ll also do yoga with you without asking (:

has all your doctors’ names and numbers memorized just in case you have a really bad meltdown

will go dummy mode as a distraction so you can slip away if you get overwhelmed :’)

never gets mad if you snap on accident, will hold you while you cry about how you feel bad you snapped :((

Eijirou Kirishima

LOVES comforting you no matter what happened, but especially if you’ve had a meltdown that you got embarrassed about so you didn’t tell him :/

he loves to touch you, to hug you, and gives you the pressure you need to regulate

he reads books about autism to try and understand your needs better

always wants to make sure you’re okay at parties or gatherings, checks in frequently

defends you ALWAYS especially if someone is talking about how you’ve shut down. He makes it personal.

forehead kisses and back rubs when you’ve had a hard day. He will often tuck you in with your weighted blanket that he bought you for your birthday.

Hanta Sero

oh if you need a place to relax he’s got you! He knows how to set an atmosphere fr

he makes sure to only ever use scents that don’t overwhelm you when he cleans his room or lights incense

tells you you’re perfect the way you are and reassures you CONSTANTLY without you asking.

plays games with you because you love them and you said nobody ever wanted to play them with you growing up (he’d never let you feel alone)

genuinely asks how you are, but especially after a hard day. He goes out of his way constantly to check in

makes sure that you’re regulated before bed and as soon as you wake up too! Always meets those sensory needs, but doesn’t realize he’s doing it. It just comes naturally to him.

Neito Monoma

he has no problem being a distraction from any and everything you need, he kinda thrives that way actually!

he would entirely kidnap the moon for you. you told him once that the moon helped you feel grounded and less alone, and he almost went on that impossible mission (he didn't because he wouldn't get to see your face if things went south)

always has your favorite movies ready along with favorite snacks!

will never ever make you feel bad for having a harder day than usual. in fact, he will fight you if you even try to apologize

has no problem telling off anyone who tries to give you a hard time when you're already feeling anxious or overstimulated

Hitoshi Shinsou

you are his most important person and he will not let you ever think otherwise

if you even think of apologizing for being too much, he will immediately put his hand over your mouth and hug you

he rubs your shoulders and gives you pressure when you need it, without even asking. he just knows you that well

he IS the human fidget! If you don't have any sensory tools, he's quick to guide your hand to his fingers, his hair, even his face if you really need to ground.

his voice stays low and he guides you through meltdowns, always holding you when you need that, and giving you space when you don't. but he always stays with you.

Hope you enjoyed!!! I think I'm gonna do another headcanon part with other characters too! thoughts?

[stilt-stall]

Au where Rody moves to Japan with his siblings after happenings of world heros mission and joins the business course at ua and he’s gay with deku

[mirstrikesbacks-unofficial]

Cringetober Day 21! Closet Cosplay!

Commission Open!

[dippable]

autism and media. spoilers for criminal minds, my hero academia, and dungeon meshi.

okay so, i'm an autistic person, and i've seen portrayals of autism (both implied and explicit) and they've had.. a range of quality overall.

in explicit examples, i've seen only a few. spencer reid comes to mind first- the autistic savant with an eidetic memory and a penchant for seeming robotic. i, personally, was heavily influenced by this guy- i did (and kind of still do) enjoy criminal minds after all. however, spencer's existence as one of the first explicitly autistic characters that was seen by a wider audience. the show was insanely popular, but in the later seasons (mainly after he was sent to prison) many of his autistic traits seem to fade away. of course, he is a traumatized man who was on high alert for a WHILE, but one would expect he wouldn't lose many of his core personality traits. personally, i think these were written out since his traits weren't seen as "popular", since autistic people can offend those they love or say the wrong thing on accident and it seemed too weird.

second, my hero academia. i don't think any of these characters are explicitly autistic, but i haven't watched in a while. mainly, i see deku and tamaki as autistic (although bakugo, aizawa, and shigaraki are.... suspicious) and i believe my views on these two are mainly influenced by the rest of the fandom, so here goes. overall, i think the characterization of these two lends itself directly to their emotional or anxious nature. most media i see with one or both of them severely dumbs them down to these traits, with tamaki getting the brunt of this treatment. most don't seem to remember that both of them are strong for their age, smart, and have faith in their quirks. even if tamaki might seem pessimistic about fights, he's just that- pessimistic. he's much more inclined to believe he'll lose because if he does, he's prepared to do what he can to help whoever comes after. deku is emotional, yes, but who wouldn't be? he's a teenager who's been told over and over again that he's a failure and he'll never achieve his dream, and suddenly, he's being helped by the #1 hero to become the person that he thought was unattainable. i think horikoshi's representation of them is alright, it's just mainly the fandom that compresses them into "uwu anxious cinnamon rolls too sweet for this earth" instead of remembering they're multifaceted characters, and damaging their own interpretations of real people in the process.

in dungeon meshi, i don't know if they're explicitly autistic (however laios and falin are HEAVILY HINTED AT so.) but the representation of autism here is incredible. in the series, we see laios fuck up with shuro (and, notably, we see the fandom sweep it under the rug because laios is white) while he has real, genuinely close relationships with others (marcille is like a sister to him, and chilchuck's his best friend) so we know he is a multifaceted character. he's also tied to the tendency of autistic people to be interested in fringe interests, or alterhuman circles. he thinks (like many others) that he's weird enough to people, so he throws all caution to the wind and goes all-in on being weird. i know that when i realized i was "too weird" for others, i just stopped caring, and that's how i got into many of my favorite things- like OFF, house of leaves, etc etc. if they thought i was weird then, i don't really want to know what they think i am now, especially since i'm out here playing obscure meta rpgs or reading books that require me to flip them around.

overall, i think the representations of autistic people in media have a long way to go. there is still a critical shortage of autistic poc in media, and many representations of autism are still influenced by the savant stereotype we see with spencer reid (see: the good doctor) and there's still a variety of symptoms that haven't been shown accurately yet. i'm very proud of where we've come, though- now, i can see an incredibly accurate portrayal of myself in laios, but there's still many autistic people who haven't seen someone they can relate to on the silver screen.

[do-u-know-this-autisticcharacter]

Do You Know This (Non-canon) Autistic Character?

No cut, evidence is this Tumblr post!

[sleeping-at-sea]

Imagine if Izuku Midoriya actually had a quirk and it was called autism

It caused him to hyperfixate on hero's and their every little movement, causing him to pick up on the tiniest of details. then the second he wrote down every detail and information he learned about hero's behavior and just anything he would forever remember unless the page was ruined then it'd get a bit blurry

[outlawssweetheart]

I'm just a girl pondering my favorite autistic-coded characters. 😌 (And the characters who aren't exactly "coded," but I can see the vision. 😌)

[damn-it-sammie]

thinking about izuku (wow sam that’s a shocker) taking you on a museum date. my interests like to peak at random times and ive always loved dinosaurs and i just think that going to a dinosaur museum with him even though he’s not very knowledgeable about them but you are and he obviously wants to do what makes you happy so he goes and you’re just so excited that you literally start dragging his poor self around the place like a wild dog on a leash. he has to hold you by your wrists while you drag him otherwise he knows you’ll wander off :((( he knows he can’t lose you or he might not ever find you again in the sea of statues and dinosaur skeletons. you get to yap to him all you want about the useless facts you know and he’ll sit there and listen with that little eye smile he does..,,,gAh i love him.

[heinz-means-headcanons]

Your Class 1-A Faves Are Autistic!!!

Iida Tenya:

very strong sense of justice (the whole Stain incident)

rule enthusiast + loves routines

physical stims (choppy hands)

struggles with tone and volume (doesn't realise he's shouting)

Kōda Kōji:

mostly non-verbal

special interest in animals - prefers to be around animals than humans

struggles with social settings and often avoids them

Todoroki Shōto:

strong sense of justice (will break rules to do the "right" thing)

struggles with social cues/tone (genuinely thinks his smile will kill)

flat tone + expressions

specific safe foods (cold soba!)

Bakugō Katsuki:

severe emotional dysregulation

follows strict routines (same bedtime)

special interest in Heroes (specifically All Might)

low empathy + struggles with social cues

Midoriya Izuku:

special interest in Heroes (keeps extensive notes)

struggles with social cues (infodumps when people are Not Interested)

unusual way of speaking (talks very quickly + mumbles)

high empathy

physical stims (rocking back and forth)

Yaoyorozu Momo:

black and white thinking (any loss = complete failure)

struggles with social cues (trusts Mineta when he is up to no good)

special interest in science/chemistry (memorises formula (yes this is linked to her quirk but. come on.))

detail focused

Asui Tsuyu:

vocal stims (ribbiting) + physical stims (raptor hands)

blunt communication style

special interest in frogs

flat expressions

[dogwaterdish]

Hi omg!! I just wanted to say your post on izuku being autistic was so amazing!! Im a special educator and it makes me so happy to see other people recognise these traits and advocate for them!!! Youre so amazing please keep talking about your amazing headcannons (and genuinely just your recognition and respect for autistic characters!) youre amazing!!! I cant say it enough!!

I'm glad you appreciated the post!! Sorry for responding a bit late lol, its reassuring to hear that other people who knows abt autism think that what I said was good - and again sorry for responding so late ! I have gotten a little sidetracked and keep forgetting to respond to this :^|

I'm so happy to hear that multiple people thought this analysis was real good and such !!!! its very reassuring to know I wasn't alone in thinking about how midoriya has autism traits

[ur-fav-is-autistic]

Izuku Midoriya AKA Deku from My Hero Academia is Autistic!

[pridewishes]

♔ || IZUKU MIDORIYA ICONS

250x250 || autistic || bordered circle

like / rb + credit + read dni if using

requested by anon !!

[mha-polls]

[wholelottatransbians]

Surprised I don't have a pure IzuReiko AU, I'm a huge fan of the ship.

[weeb-polls-with-pip]

Autistic Anime Boys Side A Round 1 Match 31

Propaganda:

Shintarou -

"YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND. He is so autistic. He is so so autistic. He can’t make eye contact with people, can’t read social cues, can come off as very blunt, his best friend is Hatsune Miku. His special interest is Coca-Cola. He cried when talking to a middle school girl because she looked at him wrong!! But he’s also very kind and brave and would take a bullet for his friends and family!! He is the best autistic anime lad."

Deku -

"Can and will ramble for HOURS about quirks and gets so excited about new ones. That excitement also helps people who are treated badly for their powers to feel better about what they can do. Also, he's a ray of sunshine and his smile lights up the world."