r/TopCharacterTropes • u/MeepMan324 • 5d ago
Hated Tropes (Hated Trope) Autism is the best thing ever
Because of her autism, music's worldview is really innocent and positive with bright colours and these stupid dances whilst in real life she gets chocked out by her "caretaker" (Music)
Most videos Dhar Mann has on autism have them being these really smart people that solve a test or a spelling bee or win a competition
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u/Apprehensive-Ear2461 5d ago
This isn’t a trope but I hate how I see people online say things like ‘Autistic people are one of the smartest, kindest, and the most happiest people you’ll ever meet’. Just feels very infantilizing in a way
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u/FlipOzzy 5d ago
they're complimenting autistic people like how Western tourists compliment foreigners from third world countries
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u/hey_free_rats 5d ago
"they have so little, but they're so happy!"
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u/supreme_hammy 5d ago edited 5d ago
Or the agonising, antagonistic "you're so well spoken!"
News flash to the morons: we are all people too. Not everybody has a severe enough Spectrum Disorder to render them mute or incapable of communication. Infantilizing everybody like that is just a sure-fire way to show what a moron you are.
Corrected from Nonce. I had been using this term as interchangeable with moron.
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u/Mouse_Named_Ash 5d ago
I once had a substitute drum teacher who was told I was autistic because it was relevant for how to teach me. He was talking to me like a child the entire lesson. On the bright side he did accidentally give me an opportunity to infodump about the entire Trojan War so joke’s on him lmao
I’m sure he meant well and I don’t hold it against him but it was uncomfortable </3
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u/MKBRD 5d ago
I had a student a while ago who was autistic, but an autistic fucking arsehole. He would regularly and deliberately cross boundaries with people because he knew he could use his autism as a "get out of jail free" card. We knew full well this was what he was doing, and when I started calling it out, he magically stopped - as though he had the power to do so the entire time...
I had other autistic students who were great, incidentally, and just demonstrated further that he was an outlier and very much aware of his behaviour towards people.
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u/solrua 5d ago
And it's super othering. They're not meaning harm by saying that, but it sets autistic people apart from everyone else. They're saying that there's People, with a whole range of personalities, and then there's Autistic People, who are something else.
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u/unholy_hotdog 5d ago
That, and every variation of AITA posts where people ask, "is this heinous asshole actually autistic and therefore shouldn't be held accountable?" Not how any of that works.
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u/Stucklikegluetomyfry 5d ago
Yeah I remember seeing a post on mademesmile and it was a video someone made of their autistic dad. The comments were all “oh he is so precious!” and “protect him at all costs” and “oh he’s a heckin little cinnamon roll uwu”
It’s like….you’re talking about a grown man who is old enough to have a teenage or a young adult child, not a toddler or a puppy. It was so infantilising.
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u/Left_Maize816 5d ago
Like, isn’t there a thing with a bunch of autists where they have anger issues? Isn’t depression fairly common?
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u/ElmosBigRedSchlong 5d ago
When I was younger I'd say that was true for me, but as I've gotten older I've become jaded and guarded around people even ones I would consider a friend (or even family). Only my wife and a few close friends do I let my defenses down for.
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u/Silent_Biscotti_9832 5d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/SFKgPnTy4rcv73qFFX
I am a surgeon
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u/MadotsukiInTheNexus 5d ago
It's one of the most annoying depictions that I've ever seen, because what he's saying is relatable (being a highly educated, experienced professional and being treated like a child anyway sucks ass). How he behaves, on the other hand, is exactly the sort of stereotype that leads people to treat Autistic adults like children.
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u/thefirdblu 5d ago
I finally checked this show out a few weeks ago and, for what it's worth, it definitely doesn't treat his autism as a superpower and they go out of their way to say explain he's autistic with savant syndrome. The first episode is basically just 30 minutes of "is he more autistic than savant or more savant than autistic?" But all that being said, I don't know how far they deviate from that premise because I didn't really care enough to watch more than a few episodes.
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u/Barl3000 5d ago
Its really only in the first season they try to potray his autism with anything close to realism. As the show goes on it increasingly is just a magic power he has that can solve any medical mystery.
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u/CompleteJinx 5d ago
I saw a random episode where a guy with a gun got into the hospital and they harvested his organs.
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u/Human_Personface 5d ago
I don't know how this actually played out, but the way you've phrased this has me picturing a guy bursting into a hospital waving a gun around telling everyone to get down, but then a mob of doctors just rush him and he disappears in a cartoonish flail of limbs wielding scalpels and blood spurts while he screams. Then they all calmly disperse--each holding an organ-- and the gunman is just laying gutted on the ground right by the hospital entrance.
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u/DiksieNormus 5d ago
Thats because its a remake of a Korean drama which is better in almost every way.
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u/WoodpeckerEmotional 5d ago
Funfact in Japanese dub of the Good Doctor this guy VA is the same one that did Floyd Leech from Twisted Wonderland. And I find that kind of funny.
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u/Blackmore_Vale 5d ago
I’m autistic and I hate how autism is portrayed as this quirky superpower. It’s really not it’s debilitating and makes my life so much harder.
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u/AlpineFluffhead 5d ago
I remember when I was in grade school in the '90s, ADHD was just sorta becoming this thing that teachers and school counselors were starting to actually take seriously but it came from a very incorrect understanding of how or what ADHD actually is.
I remember being tested for it and the counselor told me that ADHD is like a hidden "superpower" because it means my mind is "doing multiple tasks at once" and even 7 y/o me was like, I literally can't retain focus enough to complete a single task which is why I'm failing math and English. I also have a giant stack of unfinished homework assignments crammed in my desk because it's too daunting to start, I DO NOT FEEL LIKE THIS IS A SUPERPOWER!
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u/zatenael 5d ago
yeah I can definitely do multiple tasks at once in my head
those tasks being 20 other random thoughts that lead on to other random thoughts. What main task? Did you mean 10 other random things that only impedes that main task?
It is genuinely disheartening that I have to resort to sticky notes or alarms/reminders to even remember things. It's even worse when family members believe that I'm weaponizing my forgetfulness to specifically harm them
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u/Specific_Ad_2533 5d ago
That last part hits home so hard rn...
Like I dont *want* to forget things I dont *want* to just drift off during a conversation (this shit is so e,baressimg for me, what do you even say? Oh sorry can you repeat I just saw a bird and somehow it was wildly more interesting...)
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u/ChiefsHat 5d ago
I feel you. I have autism and ADHD so organization is very, very difficult, but it also helps me see things from other perspectives. I do like having a very strong attention to detail when I work, and planning for a day can be fun. I just wish I can someday an ADHD planner kit.
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u/FireDragon737 5d ago
ADHD brain being geared for multitasking is great. So long as there are multiple tasks to be done at the same time. If I am not doing multiple tasks at once, my brain will be constantly searching for another task to do, which ends up distracting me from the main task. I can only focus when I have something to ignore, like music or YouTube in the background. I literally have to give my whole ass brain a damn fidget spinner to keep it from wandering off so I can do stuff I actually need to do! This is not a superpower, it sucks!
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u/Strange-Bee5626 5d ago
I wasn't diagnosed until I was an adult because I was a kid in the 90s and a lot of doctors still believed that it was mostly only something that boys had. I'm also not hyperactive at all.
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u/Accurate-Mine-6000 5d ago
Wait, you mean you can't count a box of toothpicks spilled on the floor in a split second and use that to bankrupt a casino? My whole life has been a lie!
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u/CrazyCoKids 5d ago edited 5d ago
It also doesn't show the reality of what it is like.
You're always at fault.
You're frequently used as a slash toy.
Nobody understands you.
Extra rules exist for you but not everyone else.
And to the person who responded that got removed... Thank you for not only proving my point but writing my argument for me and delivering it gift wrapped to my front step first class.
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u/Namesnowtaken 5d ago
For me, I hate that my autism actually is like the "uwu so quirky" type people on the internet think of for about 85% of the time. So when the 15% of actually problematic autism comes up it becomes even more of a shit show.
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u/Blackmore_Vale 5d ago
I know that feeling. I mask about 90% of the day so when I get home I just want to decompress. But people don’t understand that
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u/polystarlight 5d ago
As someone who's also autistic, I can agree. I may be a quirky person but I'm a quirky person who happens to be on the spectrum. People sometimes write off the struggles we have. For me I'm treated more like a child than an equal, people assume that I need help with everything, and there's times where I don't feel like I'm normal. There's moments where I wish I wasn't autistic at all and could've just been born the "right way", that's my journey of loving myself and accepting myself for who I am.
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u/Blackmore_Vale 5d ago
I know the feeling I normally keep my diagnosis close to my chest because the moment people find out that is all they see. And honestly if they offered me the cure I’d seriously consider taking it. As some days can be so hard and mentally draining.
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u/DecoyOne 5d ago
I’m autistic and so is my kid. So many people I don’t even know have pointed to some autistic or autism-coded character who’s super smart and is really good at math and remembers everything or whatever, and I’ll just be like “okay but my child mostly can’t talk.”
So few representations out there that are worth a damn. So many more are actively harmful.
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u/DessieScissorhands 5d ago
I wish my world view could be bright and happy and innocent like Music's but sometimes I feel like I was handed a slow excruciating death sentence and I'm as cynical as they come. On the flip side I picked up flight simming disturbingly quickly.
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u/Ok-Classroom5548 5d ago
I think people forget that you can have autism and be smart, or be dumb, or be outgoing, or be introverted.
We’ve more recently learned that there isn’t one way to autism.
There are patterns, though, which aid in diagnosis. I love me some patterns and pattern recognition….
There is a range for sure. There are also mean people who are autistic and really nice autistic people.
Being autistic doesn’t remove environmental, genetic, and life factors with development, it’s just that we interpret differently than the average expectations established for a person.
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u/YourOtherWaifu69 5d ago
It's always felt so infantalizing, I don't see the world through the eyes of a child on mushrooms, I'm just different. A neutral, factual different.
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u/Discussionpending 5d ago
They either infantilize autistic people or turn them into savants, likes there’s no in-between.
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u/ProfessionalFloor981 5d ago
When I was a Walmart janny a new manager learned I'm autistic and had no idea how to treat me. She kept talking to me like I was 4 years old, saying stuff like "You get to help me do (task X)" and "I am not saying anything wrong. I am speaking clearly and not using dirty words."
I think she assumed I'd be some kind of sweet-tempered, childlike oaf instead of a grown woman making her own choices. Worse still, I begged her to stop ("You sound like a children's show host!") and she would not do so until I had a screaming meltdown and our boss threatened to fire her.
This was her FIRST DAY. I didn't realize it then, but she must have been absolutely terrified when reality set in. The janitorial meltdown alone was clearly not something she was used to seeing. She never did warm up to me after that.
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u/DropoutRedMage 5d ago
My brother was low functioning and typically would kind of force his voice into a baby like tone. Kid had a super deep voice, but he'd talk like a little kid.
Some lady at the DMV insisted he "use his big boy voice" and stop talking like a baby. As if she was the mystery cure that we'd been waiting for all of this time.
It gets so annoying when these people assume they know everything about someone because "They're autistic". Each person is different, you can't just treat them all one way.
Like a buddy of mine was high functioning, and the only thing I noticed was that he had some issues understanding other people's behavior, and that made him mad. Just a simple explanation of the logic behind something and he'd cool off. But otherwise? Most people never knew he was autistic. Because "he was so normal".
Even my brother, someone who might have been receptive to that kind of talk, probably would get annoyed with her after a while. I don't know why it's so hard for these people to just... talk to autistic people like people?
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u/KnownAd8350 5d ago
as somebody who also has autism, im just mad that its always 2 different extremes. all media portrays autism as either the worst or best thing ever!!! is there any media that's like "yo autism exists n shit" without going to those extremes?
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u/fizzydusk 5d ago
I hate how that’s how the public perception of autism is. It’s either the worst thing ever and completely debilitating and if you’re doing too well then you’re lying about your autism, or it’s a gift and amazing and wonderful and you’re not allowed to be upset about it.
Most days I feel neutral about my autism. For all of its downsides, it also shaped me almost completely as a person, and I like who I am.
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u/YouKnowEd 5d ago
I think age plays a huge factor in perception, simply because of how it was treated/diagnosed previously. I was born in the 90s, and my school had one kid who was known to be autistic. He would have frequent meltdowns, some of which involved shitting on the floor. That was my only exposure to it growing up, so it was seen as this extreme thing.
But as I was reaching adulthood, things were changing. The idea of a spectrum became prevalent among laypeople, and diagnosis was happening for those who are less severe. I was exposed to people on the milder end and it updated my view. Even my older brother now realises he is on the spectrum, and that realisation has helped him navigate his career better.
Bit Generations above us? They will have already had solid perceptions set in place a long time ago, and those can be harder to shift.
Looking back I'm sure there were plenty of other people with autism in my school, but it just wasn't treated or identified the same then as it is now.
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u/GonzoRouge 5d ago
Yeah, Abed from Community. He just likes movies and TV shows.
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u/Whiteguy1x 5d ago
The pitt? Its fairly realistic about autism. One woman is a doctor with some difficulties and her sister is having a harder time with it.
The show isnt about autism nor is the main character autistic which probably helps
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u/Luxury-Problems 5d ago
I think it helps that character never once verbalizes her autism. No speeches, no one liners, no super power shit. It's something that viewers picked up on.
In fact there is a scene in which her character is feeling down and thinks she doesn't have a special sauce. This would be the time for someone to even imply her autism but the other character tells her that her gift is her empathy and sensitivity to other patients. That she's excellent with patients, something that "autistic" characters are often portrayed as the opposite of.
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u/jancl0 5d ago
The funny part is that there's actually a 3rd extreme. They're so "yo autism exists n shit" and are so normal about it that there's never a chance for them being autistic to come up naturally, and the writers don't even bother to try, leading the fan base to argue endlessly about whether it's actually autistic representation or not
That's the thing, you can't be too normal about it, or you wouldn't actually see it. It's very hard to find the balance between good representation and representation that exists without beating the audience over the head with your lack of subtext
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u/Amaskingrey 5d ago
To be fair, all good representation i've ever seen (bar potentially one, where it might have been intended but is never outright stated) was accidental, with the best in mainstream media and just in general with camus's l'etranger having been written before we even knew autism was a thing
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u/Neurospicy_Nightowl 5d ago
The problem is that stories about autistic people are almost never made for us. They are made for neurotypical people that want to feel ✨inspired✨ by how ✨special✨ we are. We are not the intended audience, we're a carnival attraction.
They like to celebrate the upsides of our condition but they don't want to have a genuine conversation about the downsides.
About how "going goblin-mode" means we spend a week afterwards feeling like our brains are sunburned. About how frequently we are being taken advantage off by employers. About how the second our issues are actual issues and not ✨quirks✨, people accuse us of not trying hard enough and/or downplay our experiences. About being surrounded by people that think we can't tell they are being condescending. About living in a world made for other people
One of the nain things autistic people tend to be good at is questioning norms and conventions. Which we are punished and harassed for. Severely.
But most media with autistic characters seems to think we don't notice how people treat us like garbage, which makes it fine, apparently.
Also, not enough media dares to acknowledge that we have distinct personalities, including flaws. Not everything we do wrong needs to be contextualised into our disabillity, sometimes we are just assholes. And that doesn't mean we are actually faking being autistic, either, it just means we actually happen to be human beings, not cartoon characters.
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u/Cerrida82 5d ago
Or using a disability as virtue signaling to show how great the parents are for getting through the hard times. Looking at you, The Unbreakable Boy.
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u/extremelyloudandfast 5d ago
Also not everyone has the quirky, cool, or “rainman” autism. Sometimes all these neuro divergent traits lead to an awkward mess that has to mask everyday of their life. But I’m not talking from experience or anything
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u/Neurospicy_Nightowl 5d ago
Yeah.
I am bad at math and computers. I think that means I get a bad grade at autism and being trans.
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u/That_Boysenberry4501 5d ago
Yeah same. I had the english/language/arts autism but not the science/math/computer kind. So I was just a weird writing/art nerd or whatever. Also being a girl it’s written off as so many other things.
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u/CommanderFuzzy 5d ago
I find that the jokes are almost never made for us too. Sometimes TV shows make jokes about autistic traits, but the vibes can vary.
Some of the shows have jokes that are intended for non-autistic people to laugh at us, not with us. Reality TV is quite guilty of this.
There are a couple of characters where it feels the audience are encouraged to laugh with rather than at, but they're not common
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u/Neurospicy_Nightowl 5d ago
The best autistic characters are often the ones that result in the writer getting diagnosed because they were writing from their own experience.
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u/no-kangarooreborn 5d ago
The Predator movie where the Predator invades earth in order to get this one kid's autism DNA
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u/WeltyFern 5d ago
Alternate ending: the Yautja is successful, but has suddenly gained a hyper fixation on Deadlock
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u/LexiTheLesbo 5d ago
Bro could be the greatest hunter ever but he’s too busy trying yo optimize is spaceship
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u/Left_Maize816 5d ago
He’s hunting people so that he can info dump about the lore of Sonic and how the Archie comics continuity still fits with the IDW continuity. And how Charmy is such a terrible character, but you can’t have the chaotic, which is the greatest team, without him. He’s so terrible, but Yautja loves him. And also they’re adding NGE to Sonic Crossworlds, but Yautja really only wants to play as Shinji.
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u/Joe-guy-dude 5d ago
My autism (and adhd) is disabling, but I'm not intellectually disabled so people act like me being autistic shouldn't effect me at all because I'm "smart".
It's so shitty.
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u/Stuffed_Unicorn 5d ago
Yeah for real. I manage to hold a full time job. I’m good at my job. But I can’t do anything else with my life. I’m constantly burned out. My room is a mess. I have tasks piled up. It sucks.
I get often dismissed because I’m “so smart”. Yeah but I’m tired 24/7.
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u/raging_pixie 5d ago edited 5d ago
“You can drive, feed yourself, and keep down a job. You’re fine.”
So anyway I use paper plates and plastic utensils (minus my favorite spoon) because I often struggle with keeping up with dishes, I have crippling general anxiety because I find it hard to understand others, I mask so hard most people know NOTHING about me including my parents, I have a special interest that would take days to completely go into, I have to hold a pillow while I’m sitting to stop from fidgeting, I have multiples of my favorite keyboard so when it dies I can have the exact one ALWAYS. Don’t get me started on micro fiber and shirt tags.
But sure. I don’t have autism 😒
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u/Ponchorello7 5d ago
I'm autistic enough that I have had trouble making connections with people as far back as I can remember, and at this point I'm more mask than man. I hate it.
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u/HarleyArchibaldLeon 5d ago
The worst thing is that Autism in fiction is often paired with Savant Syndrome like both of those things come in a package (they don't), so the "Autist" just ended up a genius with communication problems and not an actual autist.
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u/DigitalPrincess234 5d ago
Being autistic myself I do wish autistic people were allowed to be just… people. Sure, give me an autistic person with super intellect but don’t attribute ALL of her intellect to autism. Maybe science is her special interest but she also had to work for it, and it took her longer to get her degree, or she could only study with accommodations. Give me an autistic character who DOES need a carer but they have a good relationship and are totally gossiping about you behind your back. Like god we’re people and there’s no need to make it either “autism is a disability that only causes pain to the autistic and the people around them” or “autism is a superpower that RULES.” Both have roots in a value judgement about how much the person can “contribute” or how inconvenient they are.
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u/DangleenChordOfLife 5d ago
Didn't SIA get her Carreer almost cancelled because of this distasteful and uneducated movie, tho?
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u/Relative_Estate6828 5d ago
Yeah, she casted Music as a neurotypical person instead of an autist, as well as that one scene where she gets restrained whilst in a meltdown.
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u/teeno731 5d ago
No bc she initially cast an autistic actor, but she got overwhelmed by the set that was not even slightly made to accommodate autistic people and left the production. So, Sia pressured her favourite NT girl into playing Good Doctor.
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u/pitifulproduce137 5d ago
Her favorite grooming victim, who reportedly broke down in tears on set because she knew the direction she was given was awful. She was worried about upsetting or offending people because she knew this was fucked up.
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u/fandrus 5d ago
It really feels like the only socially acceptable autism is the kind where you can contribute to society to "make up for your flaws"
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u/Top-Examination3151 5d ago
The autistic person being abused by the caretaker is a common thing.
I'm a 43m and am separated. Believe it or not, my wife systematically isolated and controlled me over the 12 year marriage.
Autistic people & Cluster B Narcissists are a common pair. We get comfort in their social certainty. The relationship can be warped really fast.
She did things to me that I just can't discuss. She warped my mind in ways that are hard to express easily.
Ultimately, when I demanded things change, she used my autism to get me arrested. She knew I was easy to "rile up," and she did that, and then called police.
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u/Z0kstone 5d ago
This sounds very similar to my story. I'm sorry that happened to you.
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u/Top-Examination3151 5d ago
Thanks, with autism they blame you.
"You shouldn't have acted that way."
All I did was raise my voice to my wife in front of a cop. I went "why the fuck did you call police?"
Boom. Thats probable cause to them.
Social rule: do not raise your voice in front of police. Means your guilty.
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u/Cautious_Fondant3146 5d ago
Not just this but people online calling it "neurospicy" like bro just call me a slur already
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u/bigtiddyhimbo 5d ago
One time I got told by a former online friend that refusing to use “neurospicy” was anti black and I just kinda stared at the screen
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u/dawnmountain 5d ago
I had a therapist call herself neurospicy and I never went back because it gave me the biggest ick. If someone called me neurospicy I'd be so pissed. No bitch, I'm depressed and have bad adhd. Go away
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u/MysteriousB 5d ago
No other place to put it but I was watching TP and thought how autistic Dale Cooper is (to me, an autistic person). Probably not written explicitly as autistic but has common shared symptoms:
- rigid routine, both in terms of schedule, eating habits and clothing
- strong sense of justice
- uses a blunt tone most of the time
- special interest in coffee
- great at pattern recognition
- is sexy
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u/Troolr_the_gaemr 5d ago
not a franchise but might be on-topic: that 1 stereotype where autistic people like sonic, trains and dinosaurs that i HATE soooo much!!!
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u/GayisGaywhenGay 5d ago
When people expect me to list off cool train facts because I’m autistic but I just tell the same ‘Dave Mustaine got kicked out of Metallica’ story.
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u/justthatmom875 5d ago
I’m autistic and I hate trains. Too loud and you have to sit next to strangers.
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u/SarryK 5d ago edited 5d ago
I love trains, though I‘m always wearing my ANC headphones and a cap. I also try to take this one particular train type that has a specific luggage rack I can sit in cross-legged where nobody can sit next to you.
(this felt more normal before typing it out)
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u/Recapitulated_ 5d ago edited 5d ago
Im autistic and people expected me to like things like mario because i own a switch
...there's other nintendo game series that arent mario people, I can think for myself COME ON
edit: i'm a dumbass sorry gang
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u/Rabdomtroll69 5d ago
To be fair the general public pretends Mario and Pokemon are the only thing Nintendo makes
Where my Golden Sun homies at?
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u/TactlessTortoise 5d ago
Yeah yeah, sure thing buddy. Let me see how many hours your steam library has under farming simulator (doesn't count if you're german. Those mfs love simulators by default (I do too, but I'm not german (neither autistic (I think (autistic I mean, I know I'm not german)))))
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u/SpiritNo6626 5d ago
Nesting and correctly closing that many parentheses... yeah, sure you aren't autistic
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u/ChiefsHat 5d ago
…Hi. I have autism, and I really like dinosaurs.
I also think trains are kind of cool for long journeys.
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u/NegativeMammoth2137 5d ago edited 5d ago
It’s also really funny how people always assume people with autism are good at math and engineering and natural sciences and such, while I, as a diagnosed autist really fucking suck at math and all my special interests are about the humanities like history, philosophy, religious studies, etc
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u/loosesocksup 5d ago edited 5d ago
I'm autistic. I spend my time crocheting, spinning yarn, and belly dancing. All specifically chosen because they are quiet, portable, and de-escalating (as long as the pattern is accurate).
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u/Jolly-Fruit2293 5d ago
Rain Main (1988)
Comment section is too young to remember that this was THE autistic stereotype for a long time.
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u/Jellyto2008 5d ago
It still kind of is, I believe. I blame this movie passionately for misrepresenting people with autism as savant syndrome geniuses.
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u/AsstacularSpiderman 5d ago
Dungeon Soup's Adventures of the Chaotic Good Barbarian
This blade was forged by dwarves, with autism!
So you know its good 👌
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u/Existing-Sweet-19 5d ago edited 5d ago
Edit: Like I said, I played it a few months back, so I definitely got some things wrong, people replying to this added/corrected things I did not remember.
There is a Mass Effect 2 side-quest that is all about how a character with autism is portrayed as "The next step in human evolution" for how he gets treated, and can, as far as I remember—I haven't played in a while—talk to/understand an alien no one else could.
Anyway, this is how he ends up;
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u/ThroughTheSeaOfTime 5d ago
As somebody who's autistic, I actually don't really mind it too much in ME2 Overlord.
It's definitely bad in few ways, but the entirety of the 'autism makes you math savant and is the next stage in human evolution' entirely comes from Gavin Archer, who is unequivocally the villain and Shepard genuinely seems to hate him even more than they hate any single other NPC in the trilogy.
The fact that Gavin Archer is only ever portrayed as a monster, whilst Shepard never talks about autism at all and is very kind to David (the autistic character) when they meet again in Mass Effect 3.
I also liked that David is one of the few autistic characters who is shown to be really, REALLY averse to loud noises and associates loudness with negative emotions. That's something that personally affects me alot too and makes many things a struggle.
Overall it's still not a good depiction of autism because it leans heavily into the low functioning savant sterotype, but I think the aspects I mentioned help alot with Overlord's overall depiction, even if they feel kind of accidental.
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u/Mannheimblack 5d ago edited 5d ago
As I recall, they in no way portrayed him as a Next Step.
His specific neurodiverse traits meant that he was more able to communicate directly with the synthetic Geth species, which does lean rather hard into the 'super special gift' thing.
But it is absolutely not portrayed as him being evolutionarily advanced; just different; and his treatment in this way is portrayed as an appalling abuse.
The image above is not in fact how he ends up, unless you go a very evil route. It's how he is when the protagonist finds him, due to the aforementioned abuse. He in fact ends up as a student at a respected school, albeit one who has to flee it when the bad guys du jour show up and try to abduct the students for nefarious purposes.
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u/sparklingdinoturd 5d ago
I hate when people say it's their "superpower". Such toxic positivity. It's a freaking struggle is what it is.
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u/Stuffed_Unicorn 5d ago
I’m incredibly good at deduction and figuring shit out. But I also have OCD so it’s my superpower and my kryptonite.
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u/Accurate_Mongoose_20 5d ago
as person on autism spectrum i say, you get more cons with autism that pros but hey at least you can get one that helps in maths, i got hyperfixation on animals and nature and stuff
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u/Individual-Sweet3400 5d ago
unfortunately mine is useless in this life. werewolves
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u/Left_Maize816 5d ago
You ever notice license plates or phone numbers when you’re just going down the road, and you playfully start adding the numbers together to see what the smallest single digit you can make is, then try to figure out if the number itself can make a math problem? Then after you’ve thought about that for a couple miles, you try to factor it, see what prime numbers make up that number? Then, fuck there’s another phone number and another one and a license plate that is all numbers, you can’t stop seeing numbers on everything, and the license plates are random, but they have an obvious pattern if you look at enough of them, you try to tell your partner about the license plate pattern, but they don’t understand it. That person must have just liked the letter A for some reason.
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u/Major-Material7231 5d ago
As someone also on the spectrum there are 2 sides of the extreme people that act like autism is the worst thing ever and people that act like it’s a blessing
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u/Ok_University_6641 5d ago
This trope hurt my mindset a lot in my childhood. My mom saw these insanely intelligent autistic people on TV and gave me all the same expectations, all for me to just be a normal, not-particularly-intelligent person with a lot of the downsides of autism.
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u/rachelevil 5d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/3o7TKDHrTOfFA44x8I
The Accountant
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u/TerraTechy 5d ago
I didn't mind this one as much since he does get fucked up by disruptions to his work and routine.
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u/bclynch30 5d ago
I can view autism as a super power but in the way of Spider-Man. Yes his gifts are great but it also comes with faults like not being able to have a stable relationship without fear of someone harming them. I can be very empathetic towards others but it sucks when I don’t see it in others. I can be good with following directions but I’ll overthink shit
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u/kulupu_kasi_seli 5d ago
“[Disability] is actually a superpower” is so fucking infuriating. It might even be worse than “[disability] makes you into a monster”.
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u/Wise-General-3838 5d ago edited 5d ago
"autism is a superpower"
My superpower is feeling like a toddler in a group of people my age
Being sent to an underfunded behavioral school for seven years
Getting looping thoughts and dissociating for years I can't remember
And writing yaoi out of a humanized Cartoon network
Call me wonder woman because I never felt wonder out of any of it, besides the last one
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u/Darkbert550 5d ago
Agreed. I have autism, and I most definitely do like it and would rather be autistic than neurotypical… but there are BIG struggles. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows for us.
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u/kulupu_kasi_seli 5d ago
Agreed. I think it actively worsens my life, but I couldn’t imagine living a fulfilling life without it.
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u/MatthewQ999 5d ago
Ive thought about it (autistic too). It’s a social media site that is primarily based on well defined, interest-based communities and you have the total freedom to build your own feed. Do they recommend weird subs I’m not interested in? Yes, but sometimes I’ll be recommended a sub related to my interests and subscribe. All other social media sites work differently. It’s creator-focused. Yes, this can attract autistic people as well and does (ive been a huge vsauce fan since I found him through barelypolitical, and followed other YouTubers for years), but I think Reddit attracts more autistic people for the reason I stated.
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u/rice-a-rohno 5d ago
I mean... it's a post about it.
It's a bit like going to a bread-baking fair and being like "Wow I never realized that everyone who comes to this park is a professional baker!"
(Also... I don't think a bread-baking fair is even a real thing, so I don't know where I got that as an analogy, but now I kinda want to go to one.)
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u/UnknovvnMike 5d ago
Going to a bread-baking fair sure would get a rise out of me.
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u/CaptainSlutNipples 5d ago
A friend of mine with autism was bullied relentlessly at school to the point he almost killed himself.
I don't think he thought autism was the best thing ever....
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u/NinjaOfOnion 5d ago edited 5d ago
I feel like I’ve seen this one before though specifically now about autism
Edit: it is
Edit: it’s similar but not the same
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u/ultron15real 5d ago
autism is NOT a superpower dawg ts is more like mechamaru's heavenly restriction 😭
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u/Krylla_ 5d ago
Who the FUCK gives a damn about Dhar Mann in 2026?
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u/kyngslinn 5d ago
He's somehow still popular despite the 'stories' getting worse every day. Also he finally achieved his ultimate goal of being bought by disney
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u/TelevisionPutrid8394 5d ago
Memes like this.
I genuinely despise these memes so much.
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u/Ok-Bicycle8103 5d ago
To be fair, dino nuggies are delicious, no matter your neurotype.
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u/Antique_Loss_1168 5d ago
Arfid literally won't let me eat them. I am irony autist.
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u/zo0ombot 5d ago
This isn't portraying autism as the best thing ever? It's just joking about ARFID lightheartedly, which many people with autism have and relate to.
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u/Sea_Chipmunk3999 5d ago
I don't mind them, let us have a little fun with it. This may not apply to every autistic person and that's okay. But if we can't find joy in humor in our lived experience, what's the point?
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u/MevNav 5d ago
Every day I'm glad I didn't get the "can only eat five types of food" flavor of autism. But that always surprises people because it's kind of assumed being a picky eater is, like, part of the package.
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u/ShrimplyKrilliant 5d ago
...Is it bad that, as an autistic person, I would consider this an almost perfect meal? (Besides it not being nutritional)
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u/Affectionate_Air3668 5d ago
Forgo the spaghetti hoops and get a thinner pizza and maybe it'll be ok
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u/Sagnarel 5d ago
Not really this trope, but I think there was an aquaman were he « cured » black mantas autism and (huge surprise), he was still an asshole.
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u/NXDIAZ1 5d ago
You see, me and my family were under the delusion this was the case for a good while before I graduated high school with literally no irl friends because of the crippling anxiety caused by high school and high schoolers being the loudest things ever. It’s actually incredible how this feeds into the larger “gifted kid” problem in the public perception the world has of autism
And that’s why my autistic characters will be deconstructing this trope
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u/calmweekend1 5d ago
The Predator (2018). Treats the kid’s autism as the next stage of human evolution, to the point that the Predator wants his DNA. Somehow a movie about alien trophy hunters decided autism needed a power-scaling tier.