What fictional characters do you suspect of being autistic?

[AGXStarseed]

I always suspected Ghidorah's 3rd head was on the spectrum. I thought he had more difficulty then the others with social interactions and generally would be the one to have a meltdown and initiate the destruction of a earth city.

View attachment 46886

ROFL That's hilarious!

 

[Daydreamer]

Bart Simpson possibly has ADHD or ADD, and it's been touched upon in certain Simpsons episodes.

Yeah, a counsellor at the school has said that Bart has ADHD, and in a few episodes they have mentioned him taking medication for it (although in one episode there's a joke about him giving it to the dog instead, in another Bart has to stop taking it because it made him paranoid), so I would say that's fairly canon.

As for ASD, I have wondered about Ruby Sparks from the BBC show "Casualty". She is quite literal (at times she misses sarcastic jokes), and has a very detailed memory for medical related information (isn't fully sure on how much detail she should give, sometimes overdoes it).

I would also say that she doesn't seem to pick up on subtlety and could possibly be a bit naive ( the last one to pick up on the fact that a patient shows signs of being homeless, only does so when the patient directly tells her that's she's homeless.

Also, Ruby doesn't think to mention to her fellow colleagues about a lock being broken on the inside of a door because she wasn't directly asked about it, doesn't seem to realise that it could indicate abuse in that context).

Ruby finds it difficult to go against the standard procedure, and is fairly insistent that the proper routine is always followed even if it doesn't seem appropriate. Her colleagues find it hard to get on along with her at first, especially when she bins some food because she misinterprets what one of them wants.

 

[Nervous Rex]

Also Grace Makutsi from the Number One Ladies Detective Agency books. She's always either following rules or making rules. If someone else isn't following the rules, she calls their attention to it, social norms be darned.

 

[DCA]

I've not read much fiction since finding out myself what it is to be an aspie, I was unaware of what it meant two years ago. It's possible that I'm now ascribing aspieness inappropriately with the enthusiasm of a recent convert. I'd appreciate comments from anyone familiar with Moorcock's eternal warrior.

I haven't read Moorcock since High School (I was obsessively into his Eternal Champion series back then: Elric, Corum, Hawkmoon & Erekose...), but now that you mention this, I'm going to look at the series again with new eyes. I had been planning on re-collecting the books in hardback (because I love books & love hardbacks the most) to replace the softcovers I had (with the wonderful Robert Gould colored pencil illustrations...)

 

[Aeolienne]

William Dobbin in Vanity Fair; possibly Amelia too.

 

[Sloth]

One that definitely comes to mind is the main character from the show Bones. I think it is uncommon for there to be any official recognition of autism by authors of fiction although oftentimes it can be implied.

To be honest, I think almost every show tends to have at least one character that is more socially awkward/introverted than the others and can have autism-like traits (can also be more than one). I think that is because there is classically supposed to be such a niche character so that viewers/readers that are like that have something they can relate to.

I have also thought about whenever androids get represented in fiction that they seem to have aspie-like traits. They struggle to understand others and especially emotions and tend to default to being over-logical and have black-and-white thinking. It is a bit unfortunate since "being robotic" is one of the stereotypes about people on the Spectrum which isn't actually true and I don't know how to feel about it, but I can't deny that I can be accurately described as at least appearing and acting as such.

 

[Aeolienne]

Mr Logic in Viz comic.

 

[Thinx]

Data in New Generation and Spock of course. Brian Lane in New Tricks and maybe his wife Esther too.

 

[Mr Allen]

Data in New Generation and Spock of course. Brian Lane in New Tricks and maybe his wife Esther too.

Just because they had no emotions doesn't mean their were on the spectrum, Data was an Android, Spock was Vulcan.

 

[Nervous Rex]

C) Steris from Brandon Sanderson's Wax and Wayne books. Tells her fiance a joke about how she obsessively plans everything, then reveals that she planned that joke.

A bit more from that book:

Wax sighed and leaned back. "Have you ever been somewhere you didn't fit in? A place where everyone else seems to get it immediately? They know what to do. They know what to say. But you have to work to untangle it all?"

"That describes my entire life," Steris said softly.

 

[Mr Allen]

I'm not sure, but I half suspect Brendan "Mrs Brown" O'Carroll might be, well he's famous for dressing like a woman and swearing a lot lol.

And Roy "Chubby" Brown, he's just famous for swearing a lot, and he just ain't funny IMO, I mean OK yeah in certain context, such as the Mrs Brown show, gratuitous bad words can be riotously funny, but he just does it for effect.

 

[Aeolienne]

Elliot in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

 

[DiverseWonderland]

Ruby Rose from RWBY cause she does show some signs and Peridot from Steven Universe for same reason as well as Papyrus and maybe even Frisk from Undertale and pepole can argue that they are or are not but them having Autism/Aspergers is just my Personal fun headcanon.

 

[Aeolienne]

Matthew Cuthbert in Anne of Green Gables. I don't think Anne Shirley herself was on the spectrum, although she would make a great sympathetic NT friend. There are a number of minor characters in the books who have a (possibly autism-related) reputation for being difficult to get on with - Mr Harrison in Anne of Avonlea, Katherine Brooke in Anne of Windy Willows and Leslie Moore in Anne's House of Dreams - and Anne has this uncanny ability to win them over.

 

[Nightingale121]

I know that the writers of the characters probably didn't intend these characters to be autistic. Autism wasn't even known in Doyle's time.

As with Sheldon, it seems to me that this does not mean that the character does not have autism, or is not intended to have autism. Someone who is extremely ignorant of cars might still include a car in a novel, and be unaware that the car needs a battery. The author may not include a battery in his concept of a car, however this does not mean that he has written about an advanced car which somehow obviates the need for a battery, those of us who do know this much about cars may assume that the battery is indeed there, whether directly intended by the author or not.

If Doyle knew a person who would today be recognized as having Asperger's and used those aspie traits that would be beneficial to an investigator to build his character with, it follows that he did intentionally make Holmes an aspie whether he was aware of the label or not. His personality is no accident.

I really like this explanation with the car, @MrSpock.

I think it can be applied to Sherlock Holmes as well.
Doyle might not have known that the battery was the feature he described in his car that made it so beneficial for his stories, but he included the useful "effects" of the battery (what he could see, i. e. the aspie traits he saw in the person(s) he based Sherlock Holmes on) anyway.

So the personality wasn't an accident because he knew the effects and what he saw, but I don't think that he actually intended to write about a battery, no matter whether he knew the term or not. He probably only had some vague general ideas about this in my opinion. He picked the effects and traits he needed for his stories and some of them happened to be the beneficial aspie traits.

Another interesting point about this is that later people can say "Of course he wrote about a battery!" (autism) and even mention this in their version of the canon.
Applied to Sherlock Holmes this is basically possible when two conditions are fulfilled:
1. The adaption is produced nowadays (or not too long ago) when autism is recognized and rather well-known.
2. The adaption takes place in modern times as well, so there is no anachronism in the adaption itself.

For example, there are quite literal hints about Sherlock being autistic in both Sherlock (episode The Hounds of Baskerville) and Elementary (episode Murder Ex Machina (though this might be up to one's interpretation of Fiona's statement regarding Sherlock's neurotype when she says "I'm not sure what you are.", i. e. neurotypical or neuroatypical)).
Both conditions are fulfilled for these shows.

However, they can't do anything like this in the movies with Robert Downey Jr., for example, as they take place in the Victorian canon era. In this case you might work with your knowledge of autism and maybe include it in the characterization, but of course you can't say that he is autistic in the movie iteself despite possibly knowing about it or interpreting the character like this as an author.

 

[Joshua the Writer]

How about Mashiro (the girl with the white hair) from The Pet Girl Of Sakurasou? She speaks in a monotone tone, and sometimes acts inappropriately.

 

[Theta.G]

Never really thought about it...
I'll agree with @DiverseWonderland and @Joshua Aaron.

Adding:

Jasper from the 100
Maud pie from MLP
Most anime MC's
Mayuri Kurotsuchi from bleach
Gir from Invader Zim

Since there is a lot of diversity in what can be classified as autism, and the personalities / quirks of characters are exaggerated in fiction many could be painted with that brush.

 

[Joshua the Writer]

Most anime MC's

As an anime fan, this made me laugh really hard. MCs are EXTREMELY dense. And usually way OP. But mostly dense. This is especially true if it is a guy. Ash Ketchup is a prime example of this.

 

[Joshua the Writer]

Ruby Rose from RWBY cause she does show some signs and Peridot from Steven Universe for same reason as well as Papyrus and maybe even Frisk from Undertale and pepole can argue that they are or are not but them having Autism/Aspergers is just my Personal fun headcanon.

I get all of the other characters, but not so much Ruby Rose. I just thought she was basically every socially awkward 15-year-old ever. Can you explain in further detail? Also, isn't Frisk just something for the player to project their personality onto? Also, I thought Steven would be more likely to have autism than Peridot, heck, he even shows it all through season 1, episode 1.

 

[Aeolienne]

I don't think Anne Shirley herself was on the spectrum

Although I wonder if she might have been demisexual, given her problems with marriage proposals in Anne of the Island.

There are a number of minor characters in the books who have a (possibly autism-related) reputation for being difficult to get on with - Mr Harrison in Anne of Avonlea, Katherine Brooke in Anne of Windy Willows and Leslie Moore in Anne's House of Dreams - and Anne has this uncanny ability to win them over.

Add to that list Diana Barry's Aunt Josephine.