I think the most difficult thing about being an autistic person really is just going through life in a society that was not intended to aid those with neurodivergencies of any kind, I remember having meltdowns in classes and not being able to deal with them properly because not only did I not know how to solve the problem, nobody who worked with me did either, probably just assuming I was fussy and ill-tempered, never knowing what spurred the meltdown, never knowing how to control it, going through school like this was probably a big contributor to why I hated myself in later years. What made it harder was that it really felt like I was the only one going through these experiences, none of my friends or classmates were like me, if any of them were autistic they masked really well, and I didn't have many fictional characters that I could escape from reality with. It felt like I was alone, and it wasn't until I met my friends in Art College that I truly believed that I wasn't alone, and it was around that time that I started to really understand what autism really was, and how to better control myself, and identifying it in my favourite characters.
In recent years, I'd like to say we have been getting better. Social media has allowed people to share their experiences and that can help many people recognize neurodivergent behaviors in others, but social progress is only as fast as people are, and there is still a lot of progress to be made.
Autism is media has never been portrayed very well in my opinion, at least, not with characters that are actually stated to be neurodivergent. Rain Man is a movie I refuse to watch because of how I feel the portrayal of neurodivergent people is, Forrest Gump is another movie that, while I do like, is kind of in the same category. Then we have the stereotypical side of it, the non-verbal people, the obsessive compulsive, always making some noise and ridiculously intelligent to the point of being almost silly, and that's the better side of the stereotype. I'm not saying that people like this don't exist, but they aren't the autistic characters I want to see, honestly, I actually think the best Autism representation in media, actually comes from characters who are not even confirmed to be neurodivergent and are just heavily implied or coded to be.
For this post, I wanted to list off some characters in media that I really did relate to, even if they were never stated to be autistic or even implied to be. Feeling like there wasn't anyone else like me in the world was hard for a kid and teenager, and when you couldn't really explain those feelings because you never knew you had those feelings, it makes it harder, and I hope this post can reach out to others, to look into their favourite characters. Here are six characters, that I have found I've gelled with a lot, and have found traits of autism within them.
1. SpongeBob SquarePants
I'm gonna start with one that, most people already know is probably autistic. SpongeBob has been seen as autistic for many people, even Tom Kenny has made comments about it. I think a large reason that SpongeBob has been such a beloved icon is because so many kids related to him, and still do. SpongeBob is the Pee-Wee Herman of the 2000s, playful, childish, just loves to have fun. I think SpongeBob was also a lot of kids first exposure to autistic coded characters, I mean, SpongeBob has very defined special interests, hyperactivity, and doesn't always get social cues. I think it's partially because of SpongeBob that autism is becoming less stigmatized, lots of kids identifying with SpongeBob and learning that what they thought autism looked like, wasn't entirely accurate. When I was a kid, SpongeBob was one of my favourite characters because he was silly and full of nautical nonsense, but as an adult, he is still my favourite because I see a part of me in him, that part of him that can name every Jellyfish and knows the Krusty Krab employee guide front to back is not that different from the part of me that can name all the Muppets and knows some songs so well I can sing them without the music. SpongeBob is a reminder that it's okay to be silly with the things we love, and to that I drop on the deck, and flop like a fish.
2. Boober Fraggle and Wembley Fraggle
Really any member of the Fraggle Five can be on this list, and while I love all the characters equally, when it comes to relating to them, I find myself relating a lot to the timid Boober and the indecisive Wembley. Boober is someone who very clearly has sensory issues, disliking excessive noise, and loves the calm repetition of monotonous tasks, like doing the laundry. He too also has special interests, notably in medicine, superstitions and cooking. For a lot of autistic people, it can be tough to really come out of their shell, I know it was tough for me for a long while. Thankfully, Boober has a couple really close friends that can show him that it's not so bad outside of the comfort zone, friends like Wembley.
Wembley is almost the exact opposite of Boober, while Boober loves the quiet, it is implied the Wembley likes noise more, often singing to himself, which I also do a lot, and he's even the siren for the Fraggle Rock volunteer fire department. Wembley is a lot more active than Boober is, and it can come off like he is stimming. Where it's tough for some autistic people to come out of their shell, for others it's a bit easier, and I think having both Boober and Wembley be very autistic coded, but both very different kinds of autistic it important. Actually, Boober and Wembley remind me a lot of my friend and myself, with my friend dragging me to new experiences and pushing me to exit my comfort zone, and I much preferring to stay in calmer, quieter spaces, but also loving to share my niche interests. I also very much relate to Wembley's indecisiveness, sometimes I am just a Wembelin' fool.
3. Pretty much everyone from DuckTales 2017
I can't quite remember at what point I watched DuckTales and thought to myself "Webby is very clearly autistic", but that little thought led me to a very important realization; practically every major character in DuckTales is autistic. It was actually a fun little thing my family and I did while watching the show to ascribe character traits from the show to each other. Throughout the whole show, little things are shown that don't necessarily state the characters are autistic, but do hint at it. Pretty much everyone in the Duck family stims one way or another, Dewey does his little dance, Scrooge twirls his cane, Donald used to sing, it's all right there and all real ways that people often self-stimulate.
As an aside, I know terms like stimming and self-stimulate sound a little dirty, let us please be adult about this.
If I had to pick the characters I relate to the most, Webby is probably up there, her board of McDuck family connections is honestly not to dissimilar to a Duck Family Tree I made and posted on Tumblr. Huey is also up there, his love for learning things, and his tendency to put things in his mouth when he's stressed or angry (I have bite marks on my 3DS), Dewey does a lot of physical stimming which I also do a lot of, Donald has emotional outbursts, which I'm sure many autistic people can relate to and also relate to it getting them in trouble. Some of the side characters can be a little on the stereotype side, Violet's first impression does give off the "Emotionless and intelligent" stereotype, but as the series goes on she is shown to be a lot more excitable. Boyd is also kind of a take on character types like Data or Spock, the non-human autism representation, which I personally don't have much issue with, especially in Star Trek, but I get why others do take umbrage with the trope, however DuckTales gets away with it with the episode Astro-B.O.Y.D., which pretty much gets this story type down perfectly. One of my favourite bits is in the season one finale where, to distract Magica De Spell, Huey asks her how her magic works, and Magica does actually seem eager to explain for a little bit.
I think DuckTales was not just the show that got me into comics, but it was also the show that made me really learn to identify autistic and neurodivergent traits in my favourite characters. Frankly, I can't thank the crew behind this show enough.
4. Dr. Julian Bashir
Star Trek and Neurodivergence representation has been... rocky, in fact most people would argue that Star Trek's disability representation has always been rough. I already talked about the trope of the non-human character being the most Autistic coded, and on some level, Dr. Bashir does fall slightly into that category. If you are not familiar with Deep Space Nine, I will give you a spoiler warning now, I am going to spoil Dr. Bashir's backstory and a some of his character arc. Honestly, if nothing else, you should take this as a sign to watch Deep Space Nine, it is arguably the best Star Trek series, The Original Series and Next Generation are the most popular, but the writing and acting of Deep Space Nine is just top notch.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Dr. Bashir is a human, but not entirely so, he was genetically engineered as a child, this enhanced his physical and mental prowess. As he himself claims, "Everything but my name was altered in some way". This gave Julian some baggage, and not just emotional either. I feel like a lot of autistic kids can relate to feeling like they're not good enough for their parents, like they're a disappointment, I think that is ultimately what I relate to the most with Bashir, but there are some other traits of his that do code him as autistic. At the start of the series, it's clear he doesn't quite get social cues, except maybe for Garak's, but that may just be wishful thinking for me (Garashir OTP), and he is very excitable. Later in the series, it's even revealed he still has his childhood teddy bear, pretty much a comfort item. A lot of his arc is about his relationships with his friends, Miles, Garak, Dax, and it does feel like this is a natural arc for this character to have.
I should mention the... other augmented characters that appear in Deep Space Nine, honestly I think Steve Shives discussed why they don't work quite as well. I don't hate them personally, but I have to admit my experiences are different from other peoples, so I can't really say much more. Though maybe most of it was the episodes they were in and not necessarily the characters themselves.
Bashir is probably the weakest representation on this list, remember this show was made in the late 90s, but I still think he is an important one for me, and if nothing else, I got to talk about my favourite Star Trek series, so win-win in my book.
SPOILERS END
5. Basil of Baker Street
Well, I should end with another very recognizably neurodivergent character. I really should get into the classic Sherlock Holmes stories, but The Great Mouse Detective is a fairly good substitution. Basil is excitable, eager to share his observations, very much not entirely comfortable with physical stimuli, and gets quite emotional, and when I say that, I want to emphasize that I don't mean he has emotional outbursts, I mean that when he feels and emotion, he feels that emotion. When he feels Ratigan has in fact got the better of him, he's not just sad, he is destroyed, when he's mad, he's enraged, when he's happy, he's practically overjoyed. I did hint at this in my original review of The Great Mouse Detective, but it does bear repeating that a lot of the way that Basil acts are heavily autistic-coded.
To add to that, I'm hearing a lot that other people are identifying autistic traits in Sherlock Holmes himself, which makes me curious, did Sir Arthur Conan Doyle know what he was doing when writing the character? When writing the original Uncle Scrooge comics, did Carl Barks know that Scrooge's hyperfixation on money gives him some autism coding? I wonder if a lot of this coding is intentional, or if they just pick character traits they associate with these kinds of characters.
To wrap this up, I want to give quick shout-outs to Ray Stantz from Ghostbusters, and Nimona. Ray Stantz would have made this list, a lot of his character is just Dan Aykroyd, but I got lazy. I also would have loved to put Nimona on this list, but Nimona is arguably more trans coded than autistic-coded, so I'm not going to argue who should have the rights to identify with Nimona. Frankly we should all stan the Gender Fluid Neurodivergent Monarch, and I hate using the word "stan".
I don't want this blog to come off like "You must identify with these characters, because I do", because I don't think all neurodivergent people need to identify with the same characters. Frankly, I don't even think they need to identify with solely neurodivergent and neurodivergent-coded characters. Having a whole spectrum of characters we like, can relate to and inspire us is a good thing to have, even if we don't look or sound or even act like the characters, but I digress. I wanted to highlight some characters I could identify with, and hopefully this will help someone identify these traits in them, and their favourite characters.
With how more widely accepted and known neurodivergencies are becoming in this world, on the one hand I am kind of bitter that I never really got a lot of the acceptance that other people now are getting, but on the other, much bigger hand, I am very happy that we are becoming more educated on this topic. We still have a long way to go, don't misunderstand me, but the fact that we're even getting there at all is amazing, and I hope I can help others on their journey in some way.
This is the part when I say that Autism Speaks is a terrible organization and you should not donate to them.
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