Thread by @polyanthem, Thread of autistic traits that may appear in characters who are autistic [...]

Thread of autistic traits that may appear in characters who are autistic coded, but not explicitly stated as autistic/accidentally written as autistic.

So allistics can be more informed and be more careful of how they talk about characters with common autistic characteristics!

FLAT EFFECT: when a persons face and voice don’t reflect what they feel. Their face may appear blank, their voice monotonous/robotic. People often see characters like this as “unfeeling” or “cold” or “psychopathic” or “creepy and weird” or “boring and with no personality.” Ouch.

Infodumping/overexplaining. When we get really into a convo we can talk nonstop, especially if it’s related to our special interest but it can happen in any discussion bcuz we tend to go on and on and make several points until we feel like we’ve gotten our point across. +

(Cont) and we can’t necessarily tell when we’re boring or annoying people and they want us to stop. Oops! This can also make us come off as idk....narcissistic? “Loving the sound of our own voice”? It can come off like we don’t care to hear what the other person has to say.

Social inappropriateness/awkwardness. We may accidentally offend by saying something we don’t realize could be perceived as an insult, like pointing something out that shouldn’t be pointed out or being too honest not answering questions/making small talk the “right” way.

Imperfect hygiene, we may forget to brush our teeth, our hair, check for stains and wrinkles, or wear the same clothes again and again, because we get easily distracted and don’t give a lot of thought to our appearance because we’re so focused on other things.

We may come off as “too formal” or “insensitive” because of our vocabulary and how we word things. We have an extremely difficult time with words and are so often vilified for it because people misunderstand what we’re trying to convey. +

(cont) Remember the “are you in the right headspace” template discourse? Many of us use templates like that, with VERY similar language, when we’re having trouble voicing our thoughts/feelings and we’re seen as “robotic” and “psychopathic” due to this:///

Not being able to read people or “read the room.” Autistic ppl often have a hard time telling what others are feeling/assessing people’s emotions based on their face/body lang. We‘re therefore seen as lacking empathy or “heartless” when it’s simply a matter of lack of skill.

Just lacking “social skills” in general because everyone is expected to just KNOW what’s appropriate and what’s not, and we have different views of what’s appropriate based on how we see the world and experience it.

Playing off that last one: not showing strong emotions and reacting the “right” way. We may seem like we don’t care about something because we don’t cry or look sad or jump for joy. That’s not true, we just have a hard time with self expression and “appropriate” reactions.

Strictness surrounding rules, we may come off as “annoying and bossy” and “rigid.” A lot of us have a hard time breaking rules because of how much we rely on structure and guidelines.

Not understanding jokes or being unable to “take a joke”, being “stuck up” bcuz we take things literally and expect people to mean what they say. Sarcasm can throw us off guard if it’s said in way that sounds serious. This can make us seem naive too, like we’ll believe anything.

Constantly correcting mistakes/pointing out errors. We may come off as “anal”, “pretentious”, “arrogant know it all” because we tend to focus on details & facts & have a hard time with inconsistencies. This can play off the last one, “not being able to take a joke, too serious”+

(Cont.) Straightforwardness/getting right to the point can make us seem boring and bitchy because we don’t express/experience humor the same way. We may interrupt someone to correct something they said because we don’t see that as rude and people hate us for that.

Not being believed when we‘re questioned and being seen as “suspicious” may happen because of stimming, avoiding eye contact, going nonverbal. Sometimes we shut down when things become too much, even if we’ve done nothing wrong.

MELTDOWNS. These are often mislabeled as “tantrums” but they’re different in that we don’t control them and they’re the result of sensory overload or distress due to our autistic traits, and not because we want something. We may be called “brats” or “problem children.”

Inability/unwillingness to engage in small talk. We may not respond with “how are you” when asked first, or pick up on cues that someone wants to engage in small talk bcuz we don’t see the point/don’t realize that’s “socially appropriate.” We often come off as rude due to this.

Picky eating due to sensory stuff. The protagonist is not being rude or burdensome or boring because they’re extremely selective and wary of what foods they’ll try, and what restaurants they’ll go to, especially when it comes to foreign foods they’ve never heard of.

Hating spontaneity and last minute changes. Say we decide to go see a particular movie. We get there, some of the group see another movie is playing and say “we should see that instead!” The autistic person had planned on seeing the other movie and will NOT deal with this well.

Having “weird” or random or “childish” interests that we know way too much about and may appear to “be way too obsessed with.” Can be a game, an actor, an historical era, planes, literally anything.

And that concludes this thread....for now. I wanna add that a lot of these traits may also be used as evidence a character is as “stupid” or “a dumbass” and even if it’s said in a lovable way I’m ALWAYS wary a character is being called dumb due to autistic traits. BE WARY PLS.

And check out this: https://twitter.com/polyanthem/status/1228499035868188672

https://twitter.com/polyanthem/status/1228499035868188672

While you’re here, help free Matthew Rushin, a 19 year old who has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for being Black and autistic.

More info: https://themighty.com/2020/07/matthew-rushin-black-autistic-racism-ableism/

Petition: https://www.change.org/p/ralph-s-northam-matthew-rushin-autistic-college-student-odu?recruiter=295142305&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_abi&utm_term=psf_combo_share_abi&recruited_&fbclid=IwAR1MpgfgZUC-C7TA5CPMS_ATAC-nHCSJ-xECquf472a_wB2RurZPLHBq1Yg

Gofundme:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/SAVING-MATTHEW-RUSHIN

Who to call/contact:

It’s not 100% known whether Elijah McClain was autistic but he did have autistic traits and his death likely had something to do with that. Regardless, he deserves justice.

Petition: http://chng.it/MZzQNFKDVy

Who to contact:

Ok I’m muting this wtf. If this gets a little too popular the ableists are gonna find me

1 last thing: I’m getting a lot of “not all autistic ppl” comments. Yea I know....that’s why I said “MAY do this” in like...every tweet. A lot of these don’t apply to all of us or the opposite does. The point is these are common traits that r specifically seen as character flaws.

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