Voltron headcanons - disability
- Ok, we know Shiro has PTSD and a prosthetic hand, but if you asked him whether he IDed as disabled, he would say no and then he would say yes, but he would be thinking of the PTSD. Most of what actually causes a problem with the hand thing is the PTSD, not the impairment, and since he has a working hand and it just doesn’t happen to be his, he’s not sure that counts.
- Pidge was diagnosed with Bipolar II as a kid, but also has undiagnosed ADHD. She’s looked up to Carrie Fisher since she got her diagnosis and is gonna be gutted when she finds out Carrie’s gone. Fun ADHD fact! Women and girls tend to have slightly different symptoms than men and boys, and their ADHD tends to manifest more in struggles at home than at school or work. Like many disorders that are strongly associated with men, women tend to be under-diagnosed and are often diagnosed later in life than their male counterparts! Oh wait. That’s not fun.
- Lance has ADHD and dyslexia. Both were diagnosed early and he’s always had a support system in place to help. Hunk already has a habit of reading for him or correcting him when he misreads, and he’s had an effective medication regime for the ADHD for years. He had his meds on him when he left earth, so just before he ran out he went to Coran to ask if he could somehow make or find more. It turned into a whole thing, and Lance had to explain ADHD and then Coran said, “Oh, yeah, that could be connected to some of the things I noticed in your brain scan. I thought that was just a normal human variation, ‘cause Pidge has got ‘em too.” Cue record-scratch moment.
- Post record-scratch moment, Pidge is not about to monkey around with her brain trying to take Lance’s ADHD meds, ‘cause she tries not to poke her bipolar, but it helps having Lance around to talk to as she processes learning more about herself and decides that yeah, she probably does have ADHD. It’s also good to know that Coran is open to trying to get them medications.
- Hunk has Generalized Anxiety Disorder. His parents don’t believe in psychotropic medications, but were otherwise super supportive of him, so he had a lot of talk therapy and CBT as a kid and has a lot of coping strategies like baking and yoga and has typically always exercised regularly. He’s also color blind, which in his opinion doesn’t count. He’d red-green colorblind and mostly functions just fine, thanks. He’s super glad that Yellow is so big and Green is so small, though, because that definitely cuts down on the confusion.
- Keith is on the spectrum. Technically, his diagnosis is probably still Aspberger’s, at least on his paperwork, because he hasn’t been to a doctor for a while. Here’s where things get sad; his birth family was super supportive and loving, but several of his foster parents were very stifling and controlling. His most natural stims were handwringing and rocking, but he had a foster family that would punish him for both and now suppressing those impulses is such a reflexive thing that he often doesn’t even realize that’s why he’s so stressed out and upset. He’s developed a habit of curling his toes super tightly inside his shoes so that he doesn’t rock, because nobody can see that he’s doing it. This also makes him reluctant to take his shoes off around other people, because then he’s even more restricted. He’s mostly gotten past his childhood clumsiness through all his sword training, and he’s learned how to make retreating to his room when he feels overstimulated look like just being a loner.
- The most surprising thing about his new team is that when he literally can’t repress those parts of himself any more and his autistic traits start bursting out, they’re actually?? supportive?? Hunk is, understandably, freaked out when he comes to tell Keith dinner is ready and finds him in his room, rocking frantically, but Hunk won’t let him apologize or act guilty or talk bad about himself? People keep telling him it’s ok? He absentmindedly wrings his hands and no one slaps them apart? He accidentally rambles about sword construction for literally an hour and a half without stopping and Shiro just?? listens?? without getting annoyed/mad?? His friends get very upset every time they realize they’ve surprised him by not being shitty, and he gets lots of hugs, if he’s in a hugging mood.
- Allura has the Altean equivalent of diabetes. Her body just doesn’t always process sugars well. It’s well-managed, but Coran’s known her her whole life, including back when it wasn’t, so part of why he overreacts to her getting sick sometimes and has a hard time letting anyone else be in charge of cooking is that he doesn’t want her to get out of balance. She’s also at risk for several chronic illnesses that run in her family, so she and Coran are mostly just very attentive about her health. Well, Coran is. Allura has Life To Live and won’t let a little total exhaustion get in her way.
- Coran had a severe speech impediment as a kid and every once in a while, when he’s very tired, it comes back in spite of all those years of Altean speech therapy. Allura can usually understand him anyway.
