It’s a long one folks. The @mightyoctopus and I are both autistic, and the other day we were discussing and concluded that Toph is also autistic. Here’s some canon evidence to prove it.
It has been said before that bending is a metaphor for neurodivergence. An innate, often unconscious extension of the person, connected to emotions.
Toph is the best earthbender in the world, and this didn’t happen by chance. She took to bending incredibly naturally. Here’s how it links to her being autistic.
Special interest - Toph knows everything about earthbending, more than most people as she learned from the badgermoles. She is truly an expert, and it’s her favourite thing to talk about, and the topic she knows the most about.
[ID: Toph at Earth Rumble holding up her Championship Belt, a serious expression on her face. /End ID]
Heightened senses - Many autistic people are more sensitive to sensory inputs than non-autistic people. Toph is incredibly in tune with the world around her, constantly aware of everything through her earthbending. This saves people on multiple occasions: hearing Azula in The Chase, and saving the pregnant lady’s husband in The Serpent’s Pass are two examples
[ID: Image 1: Toph lays on her front on the ground in an earthbent tent, her head tilted as though listening, one palm flat to the floor. Image 2: On the Serpent’s path, the man falls off the cliff. Toph, somewhat far ahead, has instantly turned and bent out a rock ledge to catch him.Momo sits on her shoulder. /End ID]
Stimming - Self-stimulatory behaviour is defined as “the repetition of physical movements, sounds, words, or moving objects”. Toph is almost constantly bending. This is partially due to using it to ‘see’, but through the lense of bending being neurodivergence, we know benders need to bend, and to deprive them of their element makes them depressed (See: Hama, or the LoK).
[ID: Toph in greyscale, white beams traveling along the ground and over her to show the waves of sound and movement she uses to earthbend. /End ID]
It is not uncommon for adults, usually parents or teaches, to try and stop an autistic child from stimming, (very harmful for the kid’s mental health).
Toph’s parents and teacher discouraged her from bending, wanting to keep her only to the basics. It’s no wonder baby Toph ran away, overwhelmed and confused. The freedom she found through earth bending and Earth Rumble is what helped her be comfortable and confident, much like when autistic teens and adults allow themselves the freedom to stim and it benefits their mental health.
[ID: Image 1: Toph sits quietly in a chair at her parents’ house. In focus is her earthbending teacher, talking. Image 2: Baby Toph has her eyes closed and sniffs at the nose of a badgermole. Image 3: Toph at Earth Rumble, she is pointing and laughing. /End ID]
Moving away from bending to other general autistic traits
Shoes - Toph doesn’t like shoes as they restrict her sight. Consider also: it’s very common for ND people to hate the sensory hell that is shoes and socks. Toph is the poster girl for shoe-hating autistic people
[ID: Toph wearing Fire NAtion clothes and her Earth Kingdom head band. She is pushing one foot into a shoe, the bottom of which is straining against its seems as though about to break. /End ID]
Sensory - Toph hates the sensation of shoes and loves the texture of earth to the point of always being dirty
Toph: “You call it dirt, I call it a healthy coating of Earth”:
[ID: Toph in her underclothes having just woken up in Ba Sing Se. Her hair is a large messy mane around her head, and she is speaking. Katara is out of focus in the foreground, looking at Toph. /End ID]
Blunt - Toph is blunt often to the point of insult, and sees no reason to pointlessly soften her words, which is a very common trait of autistic people.
Toph: You blew it. You had a perfect stance, and perfect form. But when it came right down to it, you didn’t have the guts.
[ID: Toph poking Aang in the chest and shouting at him. He looks sad. /End ID]
Theory of Mind - this is understanding someone else’s thought process and perspective, which is harder for most autistic people. In Bitter Work when Toph starts training Aang, she gives him one set of instructions, then gets frustrated when he can’t grasp them. It isn’t until Katara suggests that “He responds well to positive teaching” that Toph tries again, and even then she doesn’t compromise her brash teaching style, just occasionally adding in a small nod of approval
[ID: Image 1: Toph stands looking slightly cross. Katara is next to her, talking brightly and gesturing back towards Aang, who sits on the ground urther behind them. Image 2: Aang high in the air with his feet on 2 different pillars, holding a weight in both hands, he is smiling big and bright. Toph stands on her own pillar, hands behind her back. /End ID]
Masking - This is something autistic people learn to try fit in. When we see Toph around her parents, she is soft and quiet, nothing like her usual self. When a change in routine occurs (the avatar visits), she gets overwhelmed and angry by Aang’s threat and lashes out.
[ID: Image 1: A close-up of Toph at her parents’ house, hair tied back, smiling serenly with an open expression. Image 2: Toph at her parents’ house, hair tied back wearing a fancy dress. She is stood up at the table, leaning forward on her hands and yelling. On the wall behind her and her mother’s face is smeared food from where bowls have flown. /End ID]
Inflexibility - Autistic people love routine, and we struggle when things go differently to how we expected. This is part of why Katara and Toph clash so much. As the lovely @rolandtowen made a couple of great (and correct) posts and is working on a masterpost for, Katara is also autistic
They initially clash in The Chase, as Katara has an expectation of how to set up camp (divide tasks among the group), whereas Toph had a different expectation of travelling (carrying her own weight). When faced with a routine different to the usual or expected one, both girls get overwhelmed, frustrated and constantly argue
In The Runaway, they keep fighting.
[ID:Image 1: It is night, Katara is angry with her hands on her hips. Toph is angry with one fist up and clenched. They are in the middle of an argument. Image 2: Toph and Katara wearing Fire Nation clothes, both stood in mud, hands braced against the other’s hands as they are fighting. /End ID]
Autistic people often have a very strong moral compass, as seen many times throughout the show in Katara. It’s also common for autistic people to reject or ignore social rules they see as pointless, as seen through Toph having no qualms against stealing.
Part of why they fight is a clash of morals, which also links back to Theory of Mind, neither girl fully understanding the other one’s thought process or behaviour reasoning, nor do they take the time to talk.
[ID: Sokka, Toph and Aang in Fire Nation clothes, carrying baskets of supplies and laughing brightl.y /End ID]
Jokes - Despite finding many things funny, Toph doesn’t always pick up on jokes
Toph: Zuko needs to go back to whatever the original source of firebending is
Sokka: So, is he jumping into a volcano?
Toph: I don’t know. For earthbending the original benders were badgermoles
Here Sokka is trying to set up a joke, and knows Toph has a dark sense of humour. But she doesn’t interpret his statement as a joke, she’s too focused on talking about her special interest: earthbending.
[ID: Toph sits holding a bowl, staring straight ahead. Sokka sits next to her, smiling and looking at Toph. They are lit by a campfire’s light /End ID]
Boundaries - Toph struggles to know other people’s boundaries, and assumes them to be the same as her own. This results in her punching her friends harder than they’re expecting, and throwing around the gaang with earthbending.
[ID: Image 1: An image of a large rock potruding out the ground as though just earthbent. Image 2: Sokka in his sleeping bag flying through the air, screaming. Image 3: Katara with her arms out, angry. Toph in front of her, back to the viewer, one arm to the side. Following this arm’s motion Aang is flying through the air towards Appa, having just been thrown by an earthbent rock. Image 4: Toph and Katara walking away from the viewer, Toph punching Katara’s arm, Katara stumbling slightly from the impact /End ID]
Gender - There is a high comorbidity between autistic and trans and non-binary people. Some think this is because autistic people are more likely to know their gender and not care about societal roles and expectations, thus more likely to transition. We’re also more likely to be gender non-conforming, as we want to be ourselves and be comfortable, rather than bother with gender roles.
Toph is not just happy at being played by a man at the Ember Island Players, she is exstatic. She doesn’t care about hwo society percieves her, and potentially prefers being percieved by others as more masculine. Her relationship with gender is different to what is expected of most cis girls
[ID: Toph holding the box railings at the theatre, beaming excitedly. Katara lounges next to her, looking disappointed. /End ID]
This concludes my masterpost on why Toph is autistic. If you made it this far, thank you for reading. If you have any thoughts or additional points, please let me know.
Have some happy baby Toph as thanks for making it this far
[ID: Baby Toph kneeling on the ground laughing as a badgermole licks the side of her face. /End ID] @atladescribed
