Hello! I'm an artist currently creating an Aspergers character (as a character designer I tend to focus on neuro-diversity) and I really want to do the correct research to make sure that the character genuinely represents the community. I have ADHD so I do understand some aspects and I have first-hand experience with some Asperger symptoms, but I'll never 100% understand the entire spectrum of it. Do you have any suggestions for what the community would really want in this character?
Oh goodness, hmm. It’s really difficult to speak for the community as a whole, because everyone’s experience is different? Myself and some others have had complaints about people on the spectrum as characters being used as a punch line; ie, personally I dislike big bang theory for that exact reason, as it amps up the “look haha he can’t understand social cues and comes off as really selfish hahaha”… I just recall an episode I saw where he was insisting someone drive him around at times that were really inconvenient and asking her to do ridiculous things for him. In Bones they’ve really played up like “haha she’s so painfully blunt”… to the point she hurts people constantly and argues like “well why are they hurt by that it’s just sense.” Which I admit happens sometimes, but I associate this more with adolescents than adults, because adolescents are still legitimately trying to learn this, if that’s an issue… and usually care a LOT like “oh god I hurt someone but WHY?” in a “I don’t want to do it again” way not a “they should get over it” way.I’ve always liked series where they mention it once or twice, tops. They did it in bob’s burgers with Tina, like first season they threw a few jokes in “You’re the worst kind of autistic” which was… ehhh, bordering on kind of offensive, but never brought it up again. The series really mellowed out later too, I tried to show this one to my parents and was like oh god season one has so much cursing… I digress.I really like Reid in criminal minds, it comes up now and again but usually from outside characters. In the main cast he’s just Reid. I’m trying to think of defining characters that make him “autistic”… struggling a bit. I think it’s really subtle cues like the pauses he makes. Just small hesitations as his brain processes something and then he catches up. He’s also fairly logical, but when something gets to him emotionally it really gets to him and he seems to have trouble processing it and sharing that experience and just works on handling it internally. http://criminalminds.wikia.com/wiki/Spencer_Reid#PersonalityI liked the kid in Jurrasic World, I had a rant about it at one point when the movie first came out… they never said he was on the spectrum, but he displayed a lot of behaviors I associate with it, and identified with. http://fuckyeahaspiebot.tumblr.com/post/121547676957/im-sorry-but-im-really-confused-are-you-saying here it is!Another one is CSI las vegas’ Gil Grissom. Again, mentioned only once or twice throughout several seasons, very smart, great leader, he’s got his quirks but they’re useful and relevant to the career he chose and he’s more than happy to share and teach… he seems to have trouble switching tasks and hates being interrupted, again like Reid when there’s something going wrong in his life he retreats inwards, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil_Grissom#Characterization
So I think… the “good” characteristics; people on the spectrum, in my opinion are smart, really attentive to details, goal oriented, highly motivated, humorous, enjoy having others smile, are passionate, and when they care about something they care really REALLY intensely. Sometimes to the point of being overwhelmed by the emotion, which can be too much to process at once and results in people “shutting down.” (I had a client of mine die on the 3rd, I got home and sat on the floor staring blankly for like 30 minutes while my friends tried to coax me out of it, then cried for an hour)… and then more neutral characteristics, tend to stick to people they’re familiar with, and look to those people in social situations, can get distracted by cool textures and patterns, tend to enjoy structure and routines… some of the “bad” characteristics, getting overwhelmed by too much stimuli (ie, loud crowded rooms with lots of talking), trouble making eye contact, but may learn other ways around this like briefly looking at someone, staring at their mouth… fidgeting, sometimes, people like to stim but most of us know how to do it subtly, talking too much about something they enjoy (don’t do this too much though, like, Reid it’s usually someone he knows goes “hey,” and he catches himself in a snap and stops immediately.) Not great at picking up subtle nonverbal cues, but oh my god people can learn what crying and frowning mean we’re not idiots 8U I think if you have the character not recognize a nonverbal cue and it turns into a problem, make sure they remember it and tries really hard not to do it again. Most of us are super anxious and depressed because we’re all constantly trying to compensate for what gets missed… From personal experience, at this point I’m actually one of the best non-verbal cue readers in my group of colleagues (I work in Mental health) because I’m doing it from my knowledge that I’ve actively learned, not gut feelings. :0 Anyone got some things for this artist-anon that they want to add in? I’m sure everyone has something they’d love to see represented, or not represented, or represented THE RIGHT WAY or characters they like, SEND THEM IN. 8D I’ll tag them all as artist-anon. Also feel free to contradict something I’ve said! My personal experience and likes is no where near all encompassing of the community.
