Also if you note the few times we see bakugo not in his rage state/ being maladaptive he is either very black and white thinking (deku is weak I am strong, Iām a hero youāre a villain ect.) has communication issues because his only learned method of relating is aggressive ( If they canāt handle weaklings / oh youāre believing in them ) or flat out not willing to break the rules (smoking? Thatās not allowed and it will fuck in my chances at u.a.). More so heās actually good at logical thinking and strategy which allows him to āfunctionā pretty well even when heās out of his depth.
Warning ā ļø rant . Tl; dr: op is right , hereās my thoughts.
Now that being said it can put him in a light where, while his actions arenāt right, we can understand them. As someone who was āgiftedā but also was neurodivergant I had a similar path. During childhood Bakugoās gifted a true was was encouraged, but that gift masked his n.d nature which was either not noticed or Ignored in favor of focus on his power.
But hereās the thing: ignoring N.D. is a recipe for disaster. Not because being N.D is wrong but because it can cause communication issues and maladaptive behavior if not noticed early and addressed. This by extension can cause suffering down the line.
Imagine if you will neurodivergences in the context of communication. Those who are N.D. Speak one language and those who arenāt speak another. So if you toss one or the other of them into a group of opposite languages speakers itās gonna be tough on them.
No problem! Both sides can of course just learn to communicate with eachother and a sharing of ideas and culture can flow. Education is key, especially when dealing with those who misunderstand what N.D. is.
But there does need to be a learning experience to do so. Just as no one can understand a full on different language without either being immersed in it or taking a course both N.D and non N.D students have to be given the opportunity to grasp these things early on.
For now we are going to focus on the process involving N.D students but I want to make this clear that it is a two way street.
Most n.d. Students are identified early, usually through testing or comparisons to their peers. They are then, ideally , allowed to learn the ālanguage ā of society through courses. This process , though often poorly handled, is intended to give them the āgrammar and vocabulariesā needed to communicate their wants, needs and ideas to the large community. Itās been shown that refusing to give aid to N.D individuals often results in what are called maladaptive emotional behaviors. Which here is a fancy word meaning āthey havenāt got the tools or words to process the issues going on so they lash out and cause harm to themselves or othersā.
That last part is key. Non harmful behavioral differences (I.e non harmful stimming, vocalizations etc.) are just part of N.D but when the behavior becomes distressing or harmful to themselves and others the ideal is to intervene and give the person the tools to correct the issue. And because we are working in two different languages thereās a lot of challenges to this process.
One challenge that comes with equipping neurodivergence students properly is some have āinvisible issuesā that they mask either intentionally or by some quality of themselves . There is a very real bias against those who are both traditionally āgifted ā or āfunctionalā but are also also N.D. At best people ignore our issues because we have a good quality, and we are seen as eccentric, at worse our struggles are seen as completely invalid because we have āgiftsā. Or are ānormal.ā
This leads most often to incomplete education in the tools we need to thrive , since we are expected to be just as good if not better at speaking the language of non-N.D because we have the gifts or ability that we do. Consequently when we fail we are subjected to no empathy for our position or are seen as making excuses. We donāt get to apply our labels and be seen as āneeding helpā with these things because our issues are invisible.
An example from my own life is I am easily distracted and have focus issues. Because I get sensory overload lots of noises at once drive me to distraction. In a quiet room, or a room with music , I am fine, but put me in the middle of a busy city and will often go into panic attacks. Kicking biting and screaming were common issues I had as a child because of this. I was acting out because I didnāt have the tools to calm myself, nor the normal function to do so. Iāve gotten better but even today if my husband listens to more than one thing at a time (his own form of Neurodivergance stimming) I canāt stand it.
Once I was identified my school and family could adjust. Specifically one of my adjustments was I could leave my class room during tests because 20 people writing was like nails on a chalkboard to me. Because of this I would fail test I could score flawlessly on in a quiet room. So leaving was reasonable accommodation.
But More than once during my schooling had a teacher publicly humiliate me in class becuase āyou are too smart to have a disability ā and āyou are just cheating the system.
Let me tell you that fed some real damaging complexes and self loathing I still struggle with. I still have to convince myself that asking for help isnāt a moral failing on my part, and I often get in over my head because I am unwilling to ācheatā .
So what does this have to do with Bakugo?
Bakugo is similar. As op stated he has clear signs of N.D but is also gifted with a strong quirk. As such the larger society praises him for his good qualities and and heās told he going to be a great hero. Yet his maladaptive behaviors are ignore as part of his gift rather than symptoms of a larger issue internally. People think they are being kind but they arenāt. Going back to the language metaphor: they are expecting him to read war and peace in Russian but refusing to teach him Russian and when he cries out for the skills heās told he so smart he should just know it.
And I will tell you kids /absorb that shit/ and thatās not the case. It doesnāt matter how smart a person is they canāt just fucking spontaneously learn shit.
bakugo is a n.d language speaker by nature. He has, by just existing in the world acquired basic skills in non -n.d. And furthermore can speak a few non basic phrases, mostly through the lenses of power and āheroicsā. This allows him to mask his deficiencies through his aggression, and self assurance. But he isnāt fluent enough to communicate his larger issues and needs properly to get them addressed , such as his feelings of inadequacy , his lonesomeness and the feeling of pressure heās cracking under. Because no one is willing to give him advance lessons and correct his behaviors he cannot progress beyond the very basics and the skills heās been made to parrot.
In desperation Heās taken the language he does have and can sort of Remixed it into other ideas . An excellent example is him using insults as a form of care. Heās more aggressive the more he noticed you. Heās callus because heās not worried about his classmates during the usj. Heās aggressive at pushing the BakuSqaud to be stronger. Even his pep-talks are worded harshly , such as calling kirishima āstupidly strongā. He uses the only language heās known to solve situations that need other words.
And heās in this mode because he was failed by the adults in his life during elementary and middle school. He spent years being told that because he was born with a strong quirk he has to be aggressive and powerful and a āheroā but was never told what that entails. Because of that and the focus on his aggressive quirk he had to just Intuit what a hero meant. It meant āalways winningā and being a pillar of society . It meant taking the world on your shoulders and never breaking. Again He was taught to read his abcs in his non native language and then given a philosophy text book to translate and act on with no guidance except that of aggression . Even for non-n.d speakers this is insane. So of course he got a bullshit power dynamic view of the world. And then the world told him ādonāt screw this up, you are on your own and everyone is counting on you.ā
And they knew they were doing it too. His parents knew something was wrong but rather than put their foot down and guide him they either hit him, engraving violence as a language further into his soul, or they just ... quietly tried to make him stop. No attempts at addressing his emotional issues, nothing that could give him tools to work on his needs . Just punishment or soft words he could shoot down or scream over. If they had learned the tools and then given him even a little time at home he might have been able to adapt and adopt the tools to trive.
Meanwhile the entirety of school and larger society sat there praising him. Outside of the home His strength was made an excuse for his behaviors. He didnāt have anyone who challenged his actions and their validity. So why should he stop ? Who cares if people get hurt. Heās the strong one, heās the hero. Everyone else is just extras. He doesnāt need to learn their language if he can just shout them down.
Heās wrong but no one cares enough or is strong enough to tell him.
Within less than a semester of starting school Bakugo is known for what he is: a N.D Who has turned bully to cope . When he pulls his little stunt with deku in the hallway during the first ācapture the flagā exercise everyone in the class recognizes heās got issues. Even Kirishima calls him out for being āunmanlyā in almost killing deku. When the are on their way to USJ Denki calls him out for having a shitty personality. Iida scolds him for being a Jack ass and generally disrespectful person. Even his over the top violent hero name is laughed at. His little speech about winning is booed at the sports festival.
Then Heās called a monster for respecting Uravity enough to face her head on, and when he feels cheated of a proper win because Shoto just flopped over sideways and gave up his rage is demonized.
By the people who told him this was how to act.
Why? Because that doesnāt fit the narrative of him being a āgeniusā. They expect his strength to translate into not having needs beyond the normal . And when he proves that view false they donāt ask why, they just demonize and criminalize him.
And still world needed him to be a hero so bad they chained him up like a dog and forced the prize on him. Heās been taught his entire life that anger, aggression and power are what heros are. So he acts that way, and when heās rejected ? heās confused. This is how he was told to act , but now heās too angry, too powerful to aggressive. He is scary. Heās wrong.
Of course our little blonde gremlin is gonna fucking crack under that pressure and try to adapt. And of course heās gonna lash out. It isnāt right, being a bully never is, but heās never been taught other tools and strategies to cope. Heās been told he should know this new language, everyone else does, and heās wrong for not knowing it.
And thatās why heās just started to change now: u.a is filled to the brink with people who are strong and have strong quirks. His talent, despite getting stronger and more focused, can no longer mask his lack of ālanguage skillsā and instead now enhances the visibility of them. Heās no longer able to ignore the issue and has to break down the maladaptive behaviors or risk social issues. And since no one in his class is afraid of him, except for perhaps deku, he canāt snarl and get them to shut up. He now has to learn the language.
And he has teachers who value his neurodiveristy. All Might? See potential in his brave and bold attitude. Aizawl sees that he has a different way of respecting people and is willing to defend him. Both have saved him from those who seek to harm him. And even best jeanest, in his own weird way, sees the man Bakugo could be. Everyone in his life now is willing to help him reach towards his best self.
But none of them will tolerate his actions. If he acts out, they call him on it. If he breaks curfew to brawl with his rival he gets trash duty. If he fails because heās an ass to the victims in training he gets remedial course work. Between the teachers and his classmates bakugo is getting a crash course in the tools he needs to interact positivity with people and make up for his past actions. He learning the language so that he can take his leadership, strength and charisma and use it to strengthen others ra to er than tear them down.
jacobvanloon
snowghoul
kaledo-art
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turnnoffyourmind
