Autistic people who grew up undiagnosed may act in ways that seem nonsensical for an autistic person. They aren't any less autistic.
Autistic people who grew up undiagnosed may give advice that's completely useless for autistic people because it's the same advice that's been given to them and they never figured out why it's useless.
Autistic people who grew up undiagnosed may refuse to take things literally and instead insist on finding hidden meanings in everything because they grew up being expected to pick up on hidden meanings and never figured out why that's unreasonable.
Autistic people who grew up undiagnosed may judge people for acting visibly autistic because they grew up being judged for acting the same way. And since they never acknowledged it as an autistic trait and instead were taught that it's misbehavior, they played along.
being autistic is like using google translate for emotions. like, yeah, its right sometimes, but a lot of the time its a little bit off and sometimes its completely fucking wrong
The way most autism literature describes "literal interpretation" is often not at all similar to how I experience it. Teenage me even thought I couldn't be autistic because I've always been able to learn metaphors easily.
In fact, I love wordplay of all kinds. Teenage me was fascinated to learn all the types of figurative language there are in poetry and literature.
But paperwork and questionnaires are hard, because there's so much they don't state clearly. Or they don't leave room for enough nuance.
"List all the jobs you've had, with start and end dates." What if I don't remember the exact day or month? Is the year enough?
"Have you been suffering from blurred vision?" Well, if I take off my glasses the whole world is blurred, but I'm fairly sure that's not what the intake form at the optometrist is asking.
Or the infamous (and infuriatingly stereotypical) "Would you rather go to a library or a party?" What sort of party? Where? Who's there? I work at a library. Am I currently at the library for work or pleasure? Does it have a good collection?
It's not common figures of speech that confound me. It's ambiguity, in situations that aren't supposed to be ambiguous.
Here's my hot take on The Bad Batch as an AuDHD person: I do not quite like the fact that people are calling Tech neurodivergent. It's not like he can't be — he absolutely can. It's about the trope that annoys me. I am tired of autistic people being portrayed and/or seen as an ingenious man who just happen to lack social skills.
Why doesn't anybody say that, idk, Crosshair might be neurodivergent instead? For example, he has a hard time fitting in, he doesn't seem to like it when someone touches him, he demonstrates rigid thinking and he also stims (which, I must underline, does not mean that he's definitely ND).
Because he isn't as nice as Tech, I guess. Because of the said stereotypical trope. People are used to it because it's everywhere — "The Good doctor", "Young Sheldon", whatever. While calling Tech neurodivergent is not an inherently bad thing, it still perpetuates the abovementioned stereotype. And perpetuating it certainly doesn't not help anybody to take a step to true acceptance of neurodivergency.
It's okay when neurodivergent people write posts along the lines "Tech is sooo ND", but when it's the neurotypicals doing it, it kinda feels like seeing people call a villain mentally ill just because he's a villain. But that's a whole different topic.
Once again, I'm not against the idea of Tech being ND, I'm against the stereotype that just can't die.
Also ND and honestly, I see the whole batch as ND. But I definitely do also hate the typical trope we get for ND people. It’s just the exact same thing over and over again.
I've had this in the back of my head for a while and finaly took the time to write it down. It's a mix of observtions and headcanons I guess? On how I feel like the 4 original members of the Bad Batch are all autistic af!
Tech
The obvious one. He said it himself, his brain doesn’t process thoughts and moments the way most people do.
He has a hard time identifying his feelings and therefore tends to push them away and rely on logic and rational thoughts, which always come easy and loud in his mind.
Very gifted, he’s too smart to care about social rules and never bothered to learn cues and small talk. He was created to solve problems, people shouldn’t expect anything else from him. He comes off as cold and obnoxious to most people, always speaks bluntly without thinking of the effect of his words on the person opposite him. Simply because it doesn’t occur naturally to him that some truth might need sugarcoating.
He’s a self-taught everything, with infinite curiosity and thirst for knowledge. He gets bored fast though and will skip from one subject to another as soon as he feels like he’s mastered it. He’ll get REALLY excited if you ask him questions about anything.
He doesn’t care about his looks, as long as it’s practical, he’s good with any outfits. Although, he’ll wear comfy clothes whenever he can. His hair is kept just long enough so that he can slick them back with gel and get them stuck with his goggles’ headband.
To self-sooth, he relies on his sound databank—he can listen to a record on a loop for hours—and mental games such as counting backward from 1 million with only prime numbers. Tapping on his datapad is probably also a sort of stimming.
Outside of his brothers, he has a hard time maintaining a relationship, may they be platonic or not. To start, he doesn’t really understand the concept of different types of relationships. He’s oblivious to most hints of interest and needs someone—Wrecker—to point it out. He’ll panic, be really awkward about it, overshare to hide his fluster…until he figures out what makes you tick and weaponizes it!
Crosshair
In case there were any doubt, he’s a neat freak. He NEEDS his stuff to be in the right place, as much as he needs routine and discipline to control his stress level. Even though his military training has taught him how to deal with the unexpected, he has a hard time dealing with change.
If given the choice, he’d only wear his blacks. The tightness of the fabric is comforting and he doesn’t have to think about assembling an outfit or whatever. He cuts his hair every week, the same exact way, from left to right, then the backside of his head.
He won’t eat new food unless his hunger is life threatening, not because of sensory issues but because his transit is a bigger drama queen than he is!
He’s the most emotionally immature of the squad and used to have the wildest mood swings. He became good at keeping a stern straight face once he realized people would use it as a way to arm him. He’s also the most stubborn: good luck trying to change his mind on anything.
On a general basis, he hates people. Especially the one that wants to touch him! The only person allowed to hug him is Wrecker, because there’s no stopping him anyway. He may go mute when overwhelmed, hence the number of fights he got himself into rather than have a talk. With time and around the right people, he might get better at dealing with his feelings, but for now it’s easier to just avoid people, since they’re the one causing said feelings.
Maintaining any sort of relationship is close to impossible outside of his brothers. It takes a very special person—like Echo—to get his affection and respect. Romantic feeling are out of his bucket list, he finds the concept of flirting ridiculous anyway. If you want to be with him, just say it! He’ll probably reject you, the man has some heavy attachment/abandonment issues to sort out first. Trust Omega to help with that, so maybe one day…
Wrecker
THE emotionally mature one of the squad! Feelings are always intense for him and he wears them on his face. He’ll cry for anything, but since he can break your spine with his bare hands, people usually don’t make fun of him out loud.
He has huge difficulties in learning practical stuff—he was the last to speak clearly and read—and won’t do anything good with verbal instructions if they go longer than 5 to 10 words. He’s good with his hands, though, and once Tech got him into the marvelous world of explosives, he became unstoppable. Even Tech will admit Wrecker is the expert in the matter.
Another thing he was quick to learn, thanks to his emotional awareness and Hunter’s help, was how to read people. If only to stop being played! It might also be the secret to their squad sticking together despite their differences and hot temper.
He’s very open about needing "autistic joy", such as eating his favorite snack, listening to a song on a loop and watching things blow up. It tends to make him look childish. His brothers are very protective over this and make sure nothing prevents Wrecker to enjoying his sweet nothings.
He loves to isolates for an hour or two, to watch his favorite holovids, but is otherwise very touchy feely. Hugs sooth him a lot when he’s stressed out. If he can’t get one, he’ll rely on singing his favorite tune or repeating a word in his head. He used to do it out loud when he was a kid but it drove his brothers mad so he internalized it.
He can handle a flirt, although he has a hard time catching a hint. It’s easier to notice someone’s interest on others than himself, probably because of his lack of self-esteem. He’d most likely be a very clingy partner.
Hunter
AKA the king of masking. He may look as close to normal as a defective clone can be, in control of himself, but take a step into his mind and you’ll be surprised.
First of all, he has HUGE sensory issues, no doubt worsened by his genetic enhancement. He has learned to tough it out and ignore the strong reaction some textures or smell or sounds causes him to experience. But they tend to turn into stress. He’s constantly devoured by anxiety and fear—of anything from touching that one thing that will overstimulate him so much he won’t be able to function, to making a bad call that cause one of his brother’s death—and there’s no amount of spinning his knife that can sooth it.
He relies on rules and discipline to get a sense of control, even though one might argue his sense of both those concepts is not exactly by the book. It tends to help with tuning down his emotions as well. Just like every sensory input is loud to him, his feeling can be deafening and mastering them was mandatory to become the squad leader.
It was with that in mind that he became an expert in social behaviors. Mostly unconsciously, he studied everyone around him to learn how to hold himself and how to read the room. Despite him being naturally introverted, you’ll often find him chatting with the various captains his squad was assigned to work with. Told you, he’s a king of masking.
On the rare occasions he failed to contain his emotions—bursts of anger on the battlefield aside—it came out loud and violent. Took Wrecker to squeeze him in his arms for Hunter to calm down.
One thing he couldn’t learn this way is flirting. He can’t do it for his life, despite being the receiver of numerous attempts from various species. Maybe it’s because of his sensory issues, but the idea of sex is of no appeal to him and he has never felt something strong enough to be called romantic love. That stuff is just not for him, he feels contempt with his brothers and Omega.
Oh, and the bandana is just an excuse for no easy hair routine. Give him one reason to get out of his armor and blacks, and he’ll slip into floppy clothes in a heartbeat.
Last but not least, all four of them have a STRONG sens of justice—although sometime missplaced—and prefers staying home rather than being anywhere else, wherever home may be.
Here's my hot take on The Bad Batch as an AuDHD person: I do not quite like the fact that people are calling Tech neurodivergent. It's not like he can't be — he absolutely can. It's about the trope that annoys me. I am tired of autistic people being portrayed and/or seen as an ingenious man who just happen to lack social skills.
Why doesn't anybody say that, idk, Crosshair might be neurodivergent instead? For example, he has a hard time fitting in, he doesn't seem to like it when someone touches him, he demonstrates rigid thinking and he also stims (which, I must underline, does not mean that he's definitely ND).
Because he isn't as nice as Tech, I guess. Because of the said stereotypical trope. People are used to it because it's everywhere — "The Good doctor", "Young Sheldon", whatever. While calling Tech neurodivergent is not an inherently bad thing, it still perpetuates the abovementioned stereotype. And perpetuating it certainly doesn't not help anybody to take a step to true acceptance of neurodivergency.
It's okay when neurodivergent people write posts along the lines "Tech is sooo ND", but when it's the neurotypicals doing it, it kinda feels like seeing people call a villain mentally ill just because he's a villain. But that's a whole different topic.
Once again, I'm not against the idea of Tech being ND, I'm against the stereotype that just can't die.
Personally, I wouldn't trust a neurotypical that refused to acknowledge Tech as ND for a second. Even if 'genius but socially awkward man' is over-represented, Tech is blatantly written as being ND down to having an extended conversation about how he processes differently than others. He's ND and neurotypical people that refuse to acknowledge that tend to take the track of 'well he's cool/tough/cares about his squad so he can't be autistic :/' it's not like they're saying it out of any kind of desire to see a greater diversity of neurodivergent representation.
(Note, I don't even think he's actually all that stereotypical. The biggest issue with the standard Autistic Character is that they're not written as a person but a caricature - their neurodivergence is a joke or a single defining trait, they're not a full character. Tech is a full character, with motivations and traits beyond what neurodivergent characters are typically allowed to have. His love for his squad alone steps outside of what most ND characters written by neurotypicals are permitted to show)
More diverse ND representation is important, and I'd like to see it explored (personally I'm on team 'no one in the batch is neurotypical') but that doesn't require not acknowledging Tech as a neurodivergent character, and one that a lot of NDs do relate to.
Here's a good addition to my original post. Maybe it will help to understand it better.
Reminder: I'm not against the idea of Tech being neurodivergent, I don't like the stereotype.
Also, I like the idea of everyone from the Bad Batch being ND, but I rarely see people who say this. Usually, it's all about Tech, which made me think that stereotypes have some influence here. Once again, maybe I'm looking at it through the prism of my own trauma, but that doesn't make my point any less valid.
As for neurotypicals acknowledging Tech as ND — I'm fine with it and I wish more people did that. But when neurotypicals, who have no experience of being ND, label someone as ND, I am not fine with it. I just believe that this is not their place to do this.
Here's my hot take on The Bad Batch as an AuDHD person: I do not quite like the fact that people are calling Tech neurodivergent. It's not like he can't be — he absolutely can. It's about the trope that annoys me. I am tired of autistic people being portrayed and/or seen as an ingenious man who just happen to lack social skills.
Why doesn't anybody say that, idk, Crosshair might be neurodivergent instead? For example, he has a hard time fitting in, he doesn't seem to like it when someone touches him, he demonstrates rigid thinking and he also stims (which, I must underline, does not mean that he's definitely ND).
Because he isn't as nice as Tech, I guess. Because of the said stereotypical trope. People are used to it because it's everywhere — "The Good doctor", "Young Sheldon", whatever. While calling Tech neurodivergent is not an inherently bad thing, it still perpetuates the abovementioned stereotype. And perpetuating it certainly doesn't not help anybody to take a step to true acceptance of neurodivergency.
It's okay when neurodivergent people write posts along the lines "Tech is sooo ND", but when it's the neurotypicals doing it, it kinda feels like seeing people call a villain mentally ill just because he's a villain. But that's a whole different topic.
Once again, I'm not against the idea of Tech being ND, I'm against the stereotype that just can't die.
First of all, that's my point of view. Maybe I'm looking at it through the prism of my own trauma, and hence use very strong words, but that doesn't make my point any less valid. Second, I didn't say that I'm against the idea of Tech being neurodivergent, I'm against the stereotype, because I feel like it has a lot of influence here as well. However, I did say that I don't quite like seeing him called ND and I elaborated on why exactly.
I also believe that Tech is ND, but I wanted to think about why was I (and many other people) so quick to give him this label. This is my conclusion. You may have a different one.
You don't have to agree with me, but there's certainly no need and excuse for outright bullying or extreme accusations. I get enough of that on daily basis for being autistic, thank you very much.
Here's my hot take on The Bad Batch as an AuDHD person: I do not quite like the fact that people are calling Tech neurodivergent. It's not like he can't be — he absolutely can. It's about the trope that annoys me. I am tired of autistic people being portrayed and/or seen as an ingenious man who just happen to lack social skills.
Why doesn't anybody say that, idk, Crosshair might be neurodivergent instead? For example, he has a hard time fitting in, he doesn't seem to like it when someone touches him, he demonstrates rigid thinking and he also stims (which, I must underline, does not mean that he's definitely ND).
Because he isn't as nice as Tech, I guess. Because of the said stereotypical trope. People are used to it because it's everywhere — "The Good doctor", "Young Sheldon", whatever. While calling Tech neurodivergent is not an inherently bad thing, it still perpetuates the abovementioned stereotype. And perpetuating it certainly doesn't not help anybody to take a step to true acceptance of neurodivergency.
It's okay when neurodivergent people write posts along the lines "Tech is sooo ND", but when it's the neurotypicals doing it, it kinda feels like seeing people call a villain mentally ill just because he's a villain. But that's a whole different topic.
Once again, I'm not against the idea of Tech being ND, I'm against the stereotype that just can't die.
A bit more of my random thoughts. It's been bugging me for a long time, so...
I hate it when neurotypicals, uh, gatekeep (?) mental disorders or neurodivergency. All these posts and videos along the lines 'you aren't actually autistic, you just want attention/clout/feel special/etc' make me so sick and so angry that I can barely find the words.
Why? I'd like to share my background first: I have both autism and ADHD and I didn't get my diagnosis until I was nineteen (and let me tell you, I am quite lucky). I've spent so many goddamn years being a square peg in a round hole, and all this time I couldn't put my finger on what exactly makes me different from the others. And you know what's the most disappointing thing about getting diagnosed? It doesn't give you a sense of relief. Well, okay, it does, but just for a moment. Firstly, you think that you have finally found the bloody answer to all of your 'whys', but then you understand that there is nothing you can do with that information because people usually have little to no understanding about what autism or ADHD are.
For me it has something in common with that terrible 'autism is not a disability it's a different ability'/'autism is a superpower' discourse. What exactly? Discomfort. Some sort of disturbance by the fact that there are people who don't fit in one's perfect world image, people who dare to say that they are different. For me, acting like this is just a way to make someone (not necessarily neurodivergent) shut up. As if people who post all these 'you aren't X, stop seeking attention' are simply attempting to erase those who aren't 'normal' enough to be themselves.
Moreover, this righteousness of theirs is truly annoying. I mean, I wish they asked themselves things like: 'who gave you the right to decide whether it is real or not?', 'what are you basing your judgments on?'. I can't get why do they believe that they have a right to demand some sort of proof than the person they're talking to is actually autistic or whatever. It's so disgusting.
I get this concern about people relying too often on self-diagnosis, but self-diagnosis does not hurt as much as such posts and videos.
I'm tired of hiding. And I'm tired of people who try to make me hide again.
The way "The Mandalorian" from a rather relaxed and funny show about a bounty hunter with a kid turned into the constant political horror, generously sprinkled with depressing things—
