TRIGGER WARNING FOR SUICIDE ATTEMPT
Being autistic can mean that you feel alone about 90% of the time. Especially in this world, where it's practically considered a death sentence.
Why? Because television often depicts autism as being something everyone suffers from, and when you'd think this is the worst, the children are often times the product of spiteful beings who don't understand their children's needs. It's hard to relate to a character in popular media when they are 100% completely different than you. It's easier to make the character non-canonically autistic (ex: Groot, Luna Lovegood...etc), but some people are up in arms about this. They think it's unfair to the fictional character and the author. As a budding author, I'd actually be flattered that someone was taking one of my (already quirky) characters, and doing such, because it is important that people feel like they belong.
It baffles me when people take this away from an already unappreciated, overly ostracized minority. We are bullied, made fun of, abandoned, told we are better off dead, and worse. I was physically assaulted as a teen, was manipulated by an abusive ex-boyfriend, and told by multiple people in my high school that I should just kill myself and make everyone's lives around me, easier. I was an undiagnosed autistic who felt entirely alone. I had no fictional character to hold onto and think "if they can make it through this, then so can I!" or "If they can battle a dragon, without a weapon, and win then I can face the bullies tomorrow!" Instead, I had to forge my own way. And I attempted suicide 3 times before my 18th birthday. Then I met my husband online. He was my beacon of hope after my most recent, and last attempt. Most people aren't as fortunate as me, and have that in their lives. Some people are constantly told by their loved ones that they're worthless, disgusting, annoying, or worse.
What's worse than having no one to relate to? Having people try to force you to identify with characters like Sheldon Cooper from the Big Bang Theory. He's blatantly inconsiderate of other's feelings, and isn't well liked. I've never once been told that I am rude and uncaring, in fact, I've been told that I'm overly sensitive of other people's feelings. I try to always be courteous, because that's how I was raised, and there are many people just like me. I've met so many autistic people who hate the Sheldon Cooper image.
Being a woman on the spectrum, means you're in a sea of testosterone in the media. Sex jokes, fart jokes, sexist comments, misogyny. More men are depicted as being relatable autistics than women, and that again, is because the standards for diagnosis was forged off of boy's symptoms. I am not a genius, which means I'm not Temperance Brennan. Differentiating between right and wrong is not a commonly lacked skill (but I'm not speaking for other people in this, it's just a simple observation), which means we are not Suzanne "Crazy Eyes". Yes, these characters are adored, and cherished (especially by me and my husband) but they're not always accurate depictions of real autism.
Living life on the spectrum is hard because of other people, please, if someone wants to non-canonically apply autism to one of their favorite characters, let them. It helps them cope, it gets them through their daily lives, and often gives them hope. Taking that away is a form of silencing, which happens more frequently than anyone ever wants to admit. Let us have this one. We get nothing else, it seems.
(And if you don't have something, don't depict a character with it, it's unfair to the community of people you're trying to portray, since you likely won't have a proper understanding of the diagnosis.)
Thank you FlavorWire for putting together a list of possibly ASD characters! Much love.
