Oh, and well, I'm pretty convinced myself that Sherlock is autistic, but I'm curious to know what was Conan Doyle inspiration for his character (as autism wasn't a thing back in his time). Thx again!
Autism wasn’t really a diagnosis until about 1938, and as far as I know wasn’t widely diagnosed until much later (although autistic people definitely existed before the label was invented). So one of the things I find interesting about reading Holmes as autistic is the fact that Doyle couldn’t have intended to write him as autistic or allistic. He just wrote him as a person.
As for what inspired him, besides Dr. Joseph Bell I don’t know. It’s something of a controversy, and apparently people have been trying to find “the real Sherlock Holmes” for years. Personally I think it’s kind of a waste of time, because the character himself will always be more important to me than whoever might have inspired him.
