"we Don't Have Girl Talk, We Have Creature Talk," My Roommate Julia Just Said While Rolling On The Floor,

As a kid, I wasn't taught any concept that there's a difference between wanting to do something, and enjoying it. I was a largely unsupervised kid with undiagnosed ADHD and parents who expected their kids to just raise themselves on their own. So when I was capable of spending hours drawing or reading a fun book, but couldn't even remember that I had homework, ever, I was told that I simply didn't want to do well in school. And who was I to question that, I'm eight years old.

Enjoyment and passion were the only forms of motivation I knew, and if I couldn't make myself either love doing boring math homework as much as I loved my hobbies, or force myself to push through things I hated with sheer willpower alone because I want to succeed so bad, then clearly I was simply not as good as all the other kids, who could do that. And that attitude carried onto adulthood. Every time I struggled to muster genuine love and passion into something, I thought that I just don't want it badly enough. Not to enough to love it, or to suffer through it.

Being medicated for the first time was a game changer. Like holy shit, so this is your brain on dopamine. And suddenly I wanted to do things, turned my life around, took up the passion career I had never dared to try. And when the first "honeymoon phase" of the meds wore down, the same fear came back - I don't like this anymore, do I not want it bad enough? What else could I possibly want?

And I shit you not I was literally 30 years old when I understood that life isn't just either loving every minute of pursuing a passion that you love, or joylessly dragging yourself through things that you don't even want to do. I can just tell myself "just because I don't like doing this doesn't mean I don't want to be doing it." It's not a mark of failure, weakness or lack of motivation, if sometimes the career you want to be doing just feels like having a job.

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I wish octopus could learn how to read. They could be pen pals with middle schoolers.

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Messages from the otherside 🌱

she's already dead what do you mean

Anyway I was in an Autism evaluation last week bc I don’t have my original diagnosis on paper and they were asking me “common knowledge” questions and one of them was “who wrote Hamlet” and for some godforsaken reason I heard “Hamilton” so I said, “the book or the musical?” And the doctor said “there’s….a musical?” And we both stared at each other for forty-five seconds while I opened up my “past dialogue” log in my brain and loaded in “Hamlet”

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non-autistic authors write autistic characters all the time. they just don’t realize it. they’d rather not admit it most of the time, either.

the thing is, non-autistic people have met autistic people more than enough times. however, due to their stereotypes about autism, they often can’t identify it as autism. they see something is up, but they can’t put their finger on just what is up.

so they see people like us and they know the ‘archetype’ which is autistic people. they write us all the time: airheaded professors, awkward nerds, pent up geniuses, etc.

when autistic people point out how strikingly obvious it is that this character is autistic, they usually deny it, or at best, they say the character is ‘if anything, extremely high functioning’, which is more of a kick in the gut than a confirmation. we hardly get those, either.

so, here’s the thing: there are some characters that are very obviously autistic to actual autistic people. pearl from steven universe and papyrus from undertale are two of the most agreed upon examples that i’ve seen. nearly ever autistic fan of steven universe i met says, “yeah, she’s autistic”, and the same goes for papyrus. 

when we, as a community, bring this up, however, we are shot down. “oh, he’s not autistic.” i once was told that - ironic as it was - my headcanoning papyrus as autistic offended autistic people or hurt autistic people. but i’m autistic and they weren’t. 

two autistic people were both agreeing - damn, this character is blatantly autistic - but non-autistic people felt the need to but in and say how horrible it was to “project” onto characters with such a horrible thing.

listen, if you aren’t autistic and you’re reading this -

if an autistic person says a character is autistic, can you just shut up about it?

because if you’ve watched any amount of tv, read any amount of books, whatever - if you’ve consumed stories, there are tons of autistic characters in them.

just because neither you nor the media’s creators knows shit about autism doesn’t mean that the character can’t be autistic.

either way, it’s none of your business.

we have little to none confirmed representation that isn’t terrible and inconsiderately offensively written. 

find something better to do with your time.

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“omg you’re so creative. how do you get your ideas” i hallucinate a single scene in the taco bell drive thru and then spend 13 months trying to write it

I’m rewatching Phineas and Ferb (it’s my fav comfort show) and it’s SO full of autism. SO FULL

Ferb is autistic

Phineas is autistic and ADHD

Candace is autistic

Dr. Doofenshmirtz is autistic and ADHD and has CPTSD

Their dad is autistic

Their mom has ADHD

I will not be taking criticism. My qualifications are that I'm autistic XD

I can go into detail AND I WILL

Ferb

Nonverbal!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Non!!!!! Verbal!!!!!

In the episode where they make an animal translator Phineas talks about how Ferb has a lot of thoughts, he just can’t say them out loud

Special interest in engineering and building and such

Incredible imagination

He can’t show emotions on his face

He doesn’t respond to social cues

He and Phineas are each others special interest person

In the Aglet episode when Candace is making fun of their dad for not looking up “aglet” on the computer Phineas explains to Ferb that “removing prepositions makes it more condescending”

“The cartilaginous fibers from the bovine patella structure that gelatin’s extracted from gives it that fun, bouncy quality.”

When he does speak, it’s monotone and often a fun fact- perhaps because he doesn’t know how else to connect to people through his words

He’s nonverbal!!!!! 😄😄😄😄😄😄

Same routine every day. They do the same things at the same time (different inventions but same routine) and even have their alarms set to 7 in the summer

In the bully breakup episode he has trouble with the routine change. He tells Phineas he felt like he would scream if he couldn't build something

In the episode where they all try to figure out where their inventions go every day, at the end of the episode Candace is really upset because it disappeared and she doesn't know why. Ferb realized she's upset but isn't sure how to help so he says a science fact "Well, we were all watching it. And quantum theory states that the mere observation of an experiment changes its outcome."

He's nonverbal / semi-verbal and it makes me so happy

Phineas

Hyper verbal

Candace’s busting attempts go completely over his head

Special interest in engineering and building things

Incredible imagination

He talks over other people a lot and doesn’t notice

He and Ferb are each others special interest person

Special relationship with animals, specifically Perry

He repeats the same phrases every episode

Has trouble recognizing sarcasm

He doesn’t really have social awareness

His voice is very often monotone

He hyperfocuses on the inventions

Same routine every day. They do the same things at the same time (different inventions but same routine) and even have their alarms set to 7 in the summer

In the bully breakup episode he has trouble with the routine change. He keeps suggesting things to build to get back to their routine

But despite the routine he doesn't know what they're building until the day of because he also needs spontaneity

Candace

Has trouble focusing except when focusing on busting

Can't focus on other things when focused on busting

Special interest in busting Phineas and Ferb

Other special interest Ducky MoMo and collects items for it

Hyper verbal

Very focused on routine

In the episode where she’s sick and she tries to get Stacy to bust Phineas and Ferb, but she isn’t able to let Stacy take the lead and ends up getting out of bed when she isn’t really well enough to do the busting

VERY black and white thinking

Candace stims a lot!!!!!

She has trouble learning to drive (which is very common in neurodivergent people)

Has trouble making friends

She scripts conversations

Repeats the same phrases every day

Overanalyzes social situations because she has trouble understanding them

She’s obsessed with being cool and fitting in because she doesn’t naturally understand social cues

“I calculate that soon must mean first thing in the morning, since ‘soon’ can’t refer to a period in excess of or equal to 24 hours give or take a 59 minute cushion of time on either side of the event in question.”

Has a lot of childhood toys that she refuses to get rid of

She mentions in one episode that she feels like her room is too childish and she isn’t as mature as others her age (difference in maturity to neurotypical peers)

She doesn’t join in when her friends play with Phineas and Ferb because of her rigid thinking that she has to bust them. Even when they want her to play or hang out with them, she often doesn't realize it and can't let herself

When she reads Sherlock Holmes she copies his personality and phrases

Hyperfixated on the book series and read the whole thing in a single night

She plays every instrument that starts with B

Grilled cheese safe food

Goes into the panic room when overwhelmed or something is outside routine

Dr. Doofenshmirtz

Special interest in making evil scemes

He monologues to Perry every day about his special interest

Bad posture (common in autistic people)

Stims a lot

Repetitive thinking (inators)

Echolalia

In one episode Vanessa is trying to talk to him about something and he keeps getting distracted by echolalia and stim-speaking his words

He only interacts with animals on a regular basis and when he has to talk to people he is very socially awkward

Inattentive, forgetful, unorganized

A lot of his inators have to do with his childhood trauma

Norm the robot helps him with home tasks

Face blindness- he can’t recognize Perry unless he’s wearing his hat

Dad

Vocal stimming!

“Fossils! Bum bum bum.” (fun fact this is a vocal stim of mine!!!!!)

Special interest in antiques and gladiator movies

He has a huge collection of gladiator movies

In the lake nose monster episode he’s telling phineas and ferb stories and completely unaware of anything else happening while he’s talking (infodumping)

Hyperfixated on buying stars and buys a TON in one day

Also gives someone a star as a tip and doesn't realize why that might not be appreciated

Mom

Different interest/activity every episode

She gets hyperfixated on the activity and has trouble leaving it to come home or answer Candace's calls

Oblivious to the boys' antics

I’m gonna keep coming back to update this as I rewatch so it will eventually be the Ultimate List of Autism ™.

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prettybadco