Therianthropy & The Autism Spectrum - A Dissection
This is a topic that gets thrown around a lot but is usually dismissed because of the hordes of people who stumble into therianthropy and immediately go “this is absurd, you’re all just autistic”, usually meaning it as an insult (joke’s on them, autistic people are awesome). The fact of the matter, however, is that therianthropy and the autism spectrum can look pretty similar on the surface so I’m gonna straighten some things out and maybe people will finally stop confusing the two.
There are a plethora of behaviors common with both therianthropy and autism, but though they manifest in the same way the distinction is the motivation for those behaviors. Let’s look at some examples:
Sally likes to make cat sounds and may meow at random times, either voluntarily or involuntarily, because doing so comforts her. She will sometimes meow at people instead of speaking because it is easier for her to express herself that way. Sally may have grown up with cats and learned to meow by mimicking them. Sally is autistic.
Sam has the urge to growl when she feels angry or threatened. She does not feel the need to growl at other times, and the physical sensation of growling is not her motivation for doing it. Sam growls because of instinct and did not learn to do it by watching dogs. Sam is a therian.
Jeremy likes to sit in strange positions. He does this because it puts pressure on certain parts of his body in ways that feel good and sitting this way helps him stay calm and focused. Jeremy is autistic.
George likes to sit in strange positions. He does this because it feels more natural to him to act as though he has four legs and sitting this way reduces the dysphoria he usually experiences when sitting normally. George is a therian.
Amy likes to sit in small, enclosed spaces. She does this because she is easily overwhelmed and having sensory input come from only one entrance is much easier for her to manage. Amy is autistic.
April likes to sit in small, enclosed spaces. She does this because she has the instinct to build a den and sitting in a den-like space feels “right”. April is a therian.
Henry has difficulty socializing. This is because he is unable to subconsciously learn the “rules” of social interaction, such as when and how loud to speak. Henry is autistic.
Harold has difficulty socializing. This is because he subconsciously expects people to follow a set of social “rules” for a different species. Harold is a therian.
Karen has an urge to eat grass. This is because she imagines the sensation of biting and chewing it will be very pleasant. Karen is autistic.
Carol has an urge to eat grass. This is because she has a grazing instinct and her subconscious tells her that grass is food. Carol is a therian.
Isaac feels like he was born on the wrong planet. This is because the way people interact with one another and the expectations of society feel completely foreign to him. Isaac is autistic.
Leroy feels as though he was born as the wrong species. This is because he often does not feel comfortable having a human body or living a human life. Leroy is a therian.
There are also plenty of behaviors that clearly fit into only one category or the other which makes it pretty easy to separate people on the spectrum from therians. For example:
Sally often does things like rock back and forth and bounce her leg when she is sitting. These are stims she uses to regulate herself.
Sam often has a strong urge to chase small animals. This is because she has predatory instincts.
Jeremy has difficulty starting and stopping tasks. This is because of executive dysfunction.
George sometimes feels like he has a tail. His tail is a phantom/astral limb.
Another important distinction is that autism is a constant, while therianthropy is generally inconsistent (because of shifting). People who are autistic have the same needs/traits/etc at all times, while a therian may feel completely human one day and dysfunctionally nonhuman the next.
The most important difference, however, is pretty obvious: therians identify as a nonhuman animal. An autistic person may identify with an animal but not as one. I wrote a detailed post about that difference a while back.
There is, of course, a glaring exception: a lot of people are both therians and on the autism spectrum! In fact, the number of people who identify themselves as on the spectrum is much higher among therians than in the rest of society. That doesn’t necessarily mean that therians are more likely to be autistic, however. My theory is that it’s simply easier to realize and accept that you’re not exactly human when you’re not wired to conform to society. A disproportionate number of people in the trans community are autistic for the same reason.
Discussion is very welcome, and as always please let me know if I need to correct anything!
Putting this on here, too, because it’s very relevant to the subject matter of this blog ~