autism 'coded' characters

[SpaceGamer]

Matilda taught me that if you autism’d hard enough, you could move things with your mind

[angelbyte]

Vanellope definitely was made to have tourettes in video game character form. Her glitches always acted up when she was in a stress inducing situation or an exciting one.

[Staysimple]

Vanelopee always reminded of stuttering. It's nice that there are so many perspectives of what her glitches mean.

[melatoninLemon]

Matilda taught us all a very important lesson in life: If you intensify your autism enough, you get telekinesis powers.

[karlab]

Seeing Anne interact with Matthew is seeing two neurodivergent people connecting and that made me SO happy. It's just adorable.

[quesooclock]

I hate the autistic coded characters that are never confirmed to be autistic but were made to be very stereotypical. I love the characters that weren’t intentionally make to be autistic and collectively all autistic people decided that they’re one of us


Edit: ok to clear everything I said up: I hate the characters that are only made very stereotypical and have been given very neuro divergent traits and are made to be a weirdo or outcast. Even if they are canonically ND (Sheldon cooper, The good doctor etc). Yes, these characters represent and I’m happy to have representation. However I would more diversity on the spectrum, because many people see these characters and have no other knowledge of autism and so assume everyone with autism acts the way they do. A way I will compare it so it makes sense to some of you if I’m every TV show they made the girls blonde, shoe obsessed, pink loving, make up obsessed and an hour glass figure. Sure, some girls are like that, wonderful. But girls (like those with autism) are human beings and they can have a personality other than bimbo. And ND people can have a personality other than extremely smart but socially awkward. I love the character that show the diversity of autism but weren’t purposefully meant to (tangleds Rapunzel). Those of us with autism appreciate seeing the similarities and being able to relate to a character.

[CreatErn]

Lilo from Lilo and Stitch most definitely falls into this category.

- She has rituals (feeding pudge the fish a peanut butter sandwich on Wednesdays)

- socialization difficulties (mertil & co)

- trouble reading social cues (she told the social worker far more than she should have and didn't understand why Nani was trying to stop her)

- Elvis and collecting photos of tourists are her special interests.

- she connects more with animals than people (Stitch),

- emotional irregularities (biting mertil & dramatically playing music/describing how sad she was when Nani didn't allow her to get her way)

Nani saying "they won't understand her" as her defense as to why Lilo should stay in her custody when the social worker was taking her away also hit home. As her primary caretaker, Nani knows how Lilo operates. Others will likely get frustrated and treat Lilo poorly if they are unaware or unwilling to support her needs.

Ugh, such a great movie

[barryliker]

the realest and most legitimately autism coded character is abed nadir

[hannahw]

I think autism coded is fine, tbh, so long as they aren't stereotypes. You don't need a character to explicitly talk about/confirm being autistic for the audience to understand that they are meant to be autistic, and the character can still be relatable and enjoyable while still being coded.

I remember people loved RotTMNT's Donatello because he was so well-written and such a realistic portrayal of autism, even before it was confirmed that he was autistic.

[Random_Potterhead_]

YouTube is getting a little too comfortable with the zero comments glitch

[inthegrass]

honestly I love characters that can be read as autistic, but aren't necessarily written with that intention. makes me feel like the traits are becoming much more normalised

[LeonardoLiketheninjaturtle]

Donatello was actually confirmed autistic after rise of the tmnt was cancelled, but he was a good example of autistic coding while the show ran

[cambryn]

I never saw Anna as autistic coded but rather c-ptsd, which has major overlap with symptoms of autism and is definitely a kind neurodivergency. The overlap between ptsd autism and adhd symptoms is fascinating to me, especially as someone who has 2 of them

[elfi]

Accidental autism coding is often a lot better than intentional when the media is made by an allistic bc when they intentionally code the characters as autistic it’s usually really badly done but when they just add traits to a character that happen to be autistic traits but the creator doesn’t know that, the character gets to be an actual person and not just a stereotype

[fox_in_michigan]

literally begging people to understand that just because a character has certain attributes that are associated with autism, doesnt automatically mean they're "autism coded" some people are just socially anxious and weird, it doesnt mean theyre neurodivergent

[nancyschaltenbrand]

as someone with autism, someone today said " no offense, but you don't look autistic" I cried 💀✋

[amiavi]

I loved Anne of Green Gables (the book) as a kid, because she was a kid who was just little too precocious for the comfort of the people around her. It made her seem odd to both kids and adults alike, but was trait that (as a precocious kid myself) I really valued. I loved that she was smart and plucky and saw a unique side of every situation. It made her less predictable and more real. I was like her and chose friends who were like her. While I was never diagnosed with autism and don’t think it fits me, many of those great childhood friends of mine were diagnosed later in life. I loved having friends with equally big vocabularies, who could imagine endlessly with me, who understood what was fair and unfair and didn’t play cliquey/mean social games like other kids. We all focused on the bigger things in life and felt mistreated when we got in trouble for small rules we broke while daydreaming about something more important and meaningful.

I love that the character of Anne is so similar in the show to myself and my friends, and the actress does a fantastic job. Whether a kid is neurodivergent or just extremely precocious, it really isn’t easy. Smart kids, imaginative kids, dreamy kids, etc. deal with a lot of harshness from peers and teachers. It’s beautiful to see that journey represented so accurately.

There is a scene in the book in which Anne’s friend’s mother thinks she is being made fun of because Anne uses a bunch of big words all in a row. That scene hit me like a ton of bricks as a kid. Some of my most painful memories are of watching my friends get reprimanded cruelly by teachers or other adults who were too frustrated with their quirks to see the wonderful intentions behind their actions. Witnessing that ruined my respect for authority and the school system really early on. A lot of people long to be the smart kid, but even adults end up jealous of, resentful of, and threatened by the intelligence of children. Characters like Anne and Matilda make me cry now as adult because the pain of suffering abuse due to what are honestly your talents is so brutal, so real, and yet so rarely talked about. There are usually only a few kids per school or grade that deal with that and they may never find each other to commiserate with. These characters are some of the best ever. ❤

[Coffee-veub]

I think it’s somewhat realistic to have characters show several signs of autism or other disorders and never have it confirmed or have it confirmed later in the story or after the time their story is set to end because in real life people don’t always know of their own disorders and don’t have diagnosis or don’t get diagnosed until later in life, or someone may have a diagnosis but not be open about it to everyone they talk to or work with so others around them might notice their neurodivergent signs but be unaware of any actual diagnosis

[Jane-ozpp]

The exceptions aren't autism coded, they're unlabelled but autistic, for sure. Autism coding makes a caricature.

[horehoundbasedcandy]

If “i HaVe ThE aUtISm” is their only character trait, that just a poorly written character and most likely a poorly written movie altogether.😂