cosmic--light--love - Tumblr blog

cosmic--light--love · 6 years

Text

A Simple Twist of Canon

I have a headcanon that I’ve been using for a while when writing MCU fanfiction. Because of reasons, I’ve decided to share so that maybe someone else can enjoy the same idea/concept/thing that I’ve been playing with.

Tony Stark is an undiagnosed Autistic.

That’s it. That’s my headcanon.

Now I will explain.

Undiagnosed: Because of the combination of Howard Stark’s pride and how quickly Tony progressed through his education, most of his diagnostic traits were either missed entirely or attributed to his prodigious intellect. Since money buys accommodation like it’s going out of business, there was no reason to push for a formal diagnosis if anyone even suspected the condition (which was considerably underdiagnosed & underdiscussed in the years where Tony would have been a kid).

Another issue would likely have been Howard Stark himself and the hubris of perfection. If someone (other than him) had suggested that his son had a mental condition of any sort, they would have been met with angry denial if not anything more violent/drastic.

At the same time, a lot of the internalized ableistic behaviors/traits that Tony demonstrates is likely from Howard hammering home his belief of what Stark men are supposed to be. Not a few of those “lessons” from Howard have their basis in someone commenting on Tony having a visibly neurodivergent trait.

Verbose: Through the constant use of practiced & prepared scripts, Tony is capable of maintaining the ability to verbalize while under stress for a period. When his own words run away, he has a ready supply of old scripts from watching Howard interact with necessary associates to fall back onto.

He got into the habit of speaking over people because they kept messing up the script. The talking over allows him to maintain control over the conversation/interaction.

Socialization has also seen him developing the habit of trying to push through when the stress begins reaching the point of driving him nonverbal.

He also reuses scripts developed from previous interactions with people similar to who he’s with currently, even if they really don’t fit the current group/interaction. This leads to him coming across as rude or inappropriate or otherwise having not paid attention to the mood of the room.

Socialization has also see him developing the habit of deliberately avoiding info dumps, either by declaring from the start that whatever is boring and the listener wouldn’t understand anyway or cutting himself of when he realizes that he’s doing it with a similar comment.

Hypersensitivity: Sight (prone to noticing details of things quickly even in low light conditions; wears sunglasses to offset potential overstimulation); Touch (specifically on his palms and fingers; practices avoidance tactics, including inventing/refining holographic tech)

Hyposensitivity: Hearing (must have noise; loud is best/constant a must); Taste (bitter is favorite for stimulating; tart/sour is a secondary); Nociception (tends to not notice injuries; might be socialized behavior rather than naturally occurring); Interoception (tends to not notice when hungry/thirsty/tired)

Special Interests: SCIENCE (especially engineering & coding); numbers; Classic Cars; Rhodey; charity

Stim Favorites: Music; Tapping things (especially in patterns); Chewing/grinding his teeth (constantly snacking or using his teeth to hold stuff); Dancing (especially moves that focus on arms)

Hyperempathic: He’s hyperaware of the emotional displays of those around him, even though he may attribute the displays incorrectly for various reasons. He makes assumptions of the reasons behind things based upon prior experience unless explicitly told a different reason.

Part of his responses are mixed up with a less than pleasant childhood & like many survivors of childhood abuse, defaults to the assumption that whatever it is must be his fault, even when logic would dictate otherwise. (Takes very little prompting to encourage this thought process to continue.)

He also misremembers what caused an emotional reaction, making wrong connections between bits of personal data, because of how they presented originally. (Ex. remember that there was something important about Pepper & strawberries, something vital, but not necessarily what.)

Facial agnosia: He’s really not good with faces, though he’s great with names and subjects discussed (if he’s sober). This is not helped by the habit of minimizing looking at anyone’s face in order to minimize the chance of making eye contact.

The best part, in my mind, of this headcanon is that it takes minimal deviation from the behaviors displayed in canon to adopt.

541 notes · View notes

cosmic--light--love · 6 years

Text

I am a Puzzle

I am a puzzle: a person, made of many pieces.

I am a puzzle: only complete with all of my pieces.

I am a puzzle. Being autistic is part of all my pieces.

I am a puzzle: non-existent without my autistic pieces.

I really vibe with the idea of being a puzzle, something beautiful that exists only because so many different pieces, that on their own don’t look like much, make up so much more together. I wanna reclaim the puzzle piece for myself.

I am a puzzle. I’m autistic. Discovering that, it filled in the missing pieces of myself. It made everything make sense.

I am a puzzle, and I’m taking back my pieces.

Autism $peaks can shut up because the Autistics are Speaking.

202 notes · View notes

cosmic--light--love · 6 years

Note

Hi there! I'm not sure if you've answered something similar to this, but I'm wanting to write an autistic character. She's very severe, and has trouble communicating (slurred speech), her personality is also very spacey and oblivious. Any tips, or things to learn about writing an autistic character when I myself am not autistic? Thank you! Take your time!

Thanks for your question, love! I apologize for the wait, but I’m happy to finally get to answer this :)

So first, I’ve got a a note on what you’ve described about your character. For one thing, it’s preferred among most autistic people that there be no “sliding scale” of severity – because there are so many different symptoms and combinations of symptoms, and “severity” seems to only relate to symptoms that bother allistic people most. Here’s a masterpost on how to handle this topic.

So now that this is out of the way, here are my official tips for writing autistic characters!

How to Write Autistic Characters

So it took me some time to prepare for this question, primarily because I saw so little information out there for writing about autism! And that’s understandable, since it’s such a complex topic – after all, no two autistic people have exactly the same symptoms and coping mechanisms. Plus, since autism is basically a top-to-bottom different living experience, it’s difficult for allistics to identify with.

But I’m going to discuss this in a few different parts: symptoms, coping mechanisms, positive qualities, and stereotypes to avoid. I’ll try to keep it as brief as possible without sparing any information :)

Symptoms of Autism

There are many different symptoms of autism, although the mental/emotional aspects of the disorder is most often overlooked by the general public. It’s important to recognize that every autistic person’s experience and symptoms are different. Some people have few social problems but they can’t handle the sensory experience of a restaurant; some have few physical problems, but they struggle with OCD and can’t maintain a conversation. The only difference between symptoms is that some are talked about and some are not, which makes them seem “uncommon.”

Physical Symptoms

Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) – SPD is defined as the struggle to process different sensory input – visual, auditory, tactile, taste, olfactory, proprioception, vestibular and interoception. SPD causes hyper- or hyposentitivities to certain sensory stimuli (e.g. certain clothing textures, food textures, scents, and lighting – especially fluorescent lighting. Ugh.)

Dyspraxia – A result of SPD, dyspraxia makes it difficult to control one’s physical movement. It creates problems with planning and executing actions, as well as speaking or judging spacial proximity.

Sleep Disorder – Many autistic people struggle with sleeping for various reasons – hypersensitivity seems to be the greatest cause. Offensive sheet fabric, noises, or lighting can cause sleep problems, as well as racing thoughts or anxiety.

Lack of Energy (or Spoons) – Often caused by sleep problems or SPD, a lack of energy intensifies normal symptoms. Understand that when an autistic person engages in a stressful or energy-consuming experience (prolonged socialization, insomnia, bad sensory environments, anxiety, etc.)

Nonverbal Communication – This type of communication is used by nearly one-third of autistic people, either because they aren’t able to use language in a meaningful way, because it requires an excessive amount of mental/social energy, or because they suffer from a learning disability. Some people go temporarily nonverbal in times of stress to conserve energy. Most nonverbal autistic people learn other means of communication, like writing, sign language, or scripting/echolalia.

Mental Symptoms

Executive Dysfunction – This dysfunction makes it difficult for some autistic people to start, finish, and quit tasks; to make decisions and switch activities; and/or create, organize, and follow through with plans. This should not be confused with procrastination, as it is not a decision – it’s a result of low energy.

Alexithymia – Alexithymia can cause autistic people to struggle to identify their own emotions, or separate physical feelings from emotional feelings. It’s closely tied with lowered interoception, which is defined as the struggle (or inability) to define and assess physical sensations like hunger, thirst, tension, etc.

Meltdowns – Meltdowns are an emotional response to overstimulation and stress, causing some autistic people to “lose control” of visceral emotional responses (e.g. shaking, kicking, crying, shouting, etc.). There is another type of meltdown called a shutdown, which causes an opposite reaction: dissociation and lack of external response. It’s a flight reaction rather than a fight reaction.

Increased Likelihood for Other Mental Disorders – Since the world isn’t exactly built for autistic people, there are plenty of everyday challenges and stressors (as well as difficulty maintaining supportive relationships) that can cause other comorbid disorders, such as OCD, anxiety, and depression.

Learning Disability and Late Childhood Development – While autism itself is not classified as a learning disability, it’s often comorbid with different types of learning disabilities. Autism can also cause late development of speech and motor skills, among other things.

Social Symptoms

Hyperempathy or Low Empathy – On two ends of the spectrum, autistic people often struggle with the “right balance” of empathy – being either unable to identify, express, and empathize with emotions, or unable to shut off or control their own emotions as well as to separate themselves from other people’s emotions.

Impulsive Behavior – Because of a (sometimes) weak understanding of social rules and/or imbalanced empathy, an autistic person may struggle to stop and think before they say or do something impulsively. This can cause interpersonal issues, as impulsive speech may offend or hurt others, while impulsive actions may feel too “out-of-control” or “hard to manage” for loved ones.

Difficulty Interpreting or Expressing Social Cues – Autistic people often struggle to understand facial expressions, body language, tone of voice, sarcasm, flirting, or figures of speech – and because of this, they can often come off as “oblivious” or “simple” (although this is inaccurate and contributes to a lot of misrepresentation). It can also be difficult to express social cues, which is why some autistic people can appear to be awkward, clingy, aloof, or uninterested in friendship/romance.

Social Anxiety – Social situations can be especially stressful for autistic people, due to the amount of thinking it requires – to interpret cues, to “pass” as allistic, to express themselves clearly, to curb impulses, to handle sensory challenges – and this leads to social anxiety.

Social Isolation – As a result of social anxiety, some autistic people experience isolation, as they may feel more comfortable in their own environment, alone. This is an unfortunate result of ableist culture, and may be worsened by executive dysfunction which can make it difficult to reach out to others.

Struggle with Change – Whether in routine, environment, appearance, or the natural changes of life (such as graduation, moving, marriage, death in the family, new job, etc.), change can cause great stress for some autistic people. This is why many autistic people enjoy comfort objects, old music, childhood memories/interests, or specific, consistent colors, styles, or textures for their belongings.

Coping Mechanisms for Autistic People

There are many methods of coping with the negative aspects of autism, but there are a few that are most popular:

Behavioral & Occupational Therapy – Therapy (often combined with medication) is a continuous process of reducing symptoms, coping with stressors, and learning how to function in an allistic world. (The most common method of behavioral therapy, ABA, has reports of being abusive, so be mindful of this if you’re researching/writing about therapy!)

Stimming – “Stimming” or self-stimulating is a physical coping mechanism for sensory overload and similar stress. Stimming can be healthy or unhealthy depending on the action involved (some unhealthy stims include skin-peeling or hitting one’s head), and it can be conscious or subconscious. It’s often seen as “weird” or “bad” by allistics (especially parents), so some autistic people train themselves out of the habit from a young age.

Special Interests – Special interests are half a coping mechanism and half a natural part of autistic people’s lifestyles. It’s defined as a devoted interest to one or two subjects or activities – special interests can reduce stress, help focus, and provide motivation against executive dysfunction.

Positive Qualities of Autism

Now that we’ve gotten all the bad stuff out of the way, I’m gonna list a few common positive qualities of autistic people. Remember that these do not apply to all autistic people, but may be a natural consequence of autistic traits:

Determination

Dedication

Divergence (from trends and social expectations)

Passion

Honesty

Uncritical nature

Attention to detail

Good memory

Logical reasoning

Active imagination

Integrity

Understanding of what it’s like to be judged or left out

Skilled with children

Autistic people, of course, have many other great qualities, and may struggle with many of the above. Creating a character with all these qualities will yield you a stereotype, so be mindful!

Stereotypes of Autistic People

Finally, there are a few popular stereotypes of autistic characters, which should be avoided at all costs:

Autistic People are Psychic – We get this courtesy of shows like Touch, where the (usually nonverbal) autistic child suddenly starts speaking because they see ghosts or are somehow connected to “another world”. Autistic people joke about themselves being “aliens”… but allistic people really shouldn’t.

Autistic People Need Caretakers – While some autistic people do struggle to manage their lives alone, it’s a pretty harmful stereotype in media considering the lack of positive representation autistic people get. Plenty of autistic people (whether you consider them high- or low-functioning) lead successful lives on their own, and they deserve representation.

Autistic People are Burdens – The most stereotypical portrayal of autistic people is that they are the weight pulling on their parents’ ankles – that they destroy parents’ sex lives and make teachers crazy and their friends need a “night off” from their autistic friends.

Autistic People are Childlike – While many autistic people enjoy activities geared toward children, and while meltdowns can resemble an allistic child’s temper tantrum, autistic people are not childish or unintelligent. Autistic adults are adults, no matter their struggles.

Autistic People Look Different – Autistic people don’t all look a certain way from birth – this is a myth that has been debunked time and time again, the same way that the Vaccines Cause Autism myth has been debunked, time and time again. Don’t perpetuate these myths in your writing.

Autistic People are Like Robots – Autistic people may not express their feelings well, but they have feelings. Being nonverbal, being dissociative, being aloof or awkward – none of these things make an autistic person unfeeling or non-human. Be mindful to show the emotional side of your autistic character, even if they struggle to express it to others.

Resources for Researching Autism

A lot of these are courtesy of @anonymusauthorin, whom I thank very much for her information and deep connection to the autistic community!

Ballastexistenz’s blog (on her personal experience with multiple disabilities and autism). [NSFW language]

Yes, That Too (blog on the personal experience of an autistic person with other neurodivergencies).

Aspects of Aspergers (specifically about Asperger’s, which is now called Autism Spectrum Disorder).

Disability in Kid Lit (discussions of disability representation in children’s/YA literature).

@scriptautistic is an active advice blog for writing about autism.

@autism-asks is an active blog that takes questions about autism.

@undiagnosedautismfeels is an active blog that receives submitted anecdotes about autistic struggles, some specific to being undiagnosed/self-diagnosed.

@autisticheadcanons is an active blog that receives submissions of characters that actual autistic people headcanon as autistic. You can find some common submissions (e.g. Lilo Pelekai, Newt Scamander, Sherlock Holmes) and check them out for examples!

Final Note: You may notice that none of these links are affiliated with Autism Speaks, which is for a purpose. Autism Speaks has a long history of promoting eugenics, abusing autistic children and adolescents, silencing the voice of actual autistics, and promoting a “find a cure” narrative that’s harmful to the minds of both autistic people and potential parents of autistic children. When doing research, I’d advise you to refrain from using their resources.

Anyway, this was hugely long but I wanted to really go into it, since I didn’t see many other extensive guides on writing about autism. Note that while I, myself, am autistic, this is only the perspective of one autistic person. Either way, I hope this helps you with your character! If you have any further questions, my inbox is open and waiting :)

Good luck!

If you need advice on general writing or fanfiction, you should maybe ask me!

2K notes · View notes

cosmic--light--love · 6 years

Text

So you want to write an autistic character.

Wait, what? Why would I do that?

I have two main answers to that question.

We exist! We’re part of natural human diversity! It is estimated that around 1% of people are autistic (and the number may be even higher). That may not sound like a lot, but 1% of 7.5 billion people is 75 million people! Which means that there are more autistic people than there are French people in the world. So if you want to write diverse characters, an autistic character is something to consider seriously!

Good, accurate representation of autistic people in media helps autism become more well-known by the general public. If people see us as humans when they read about good autistic characters in books, they are more likely to see us as humans when they come across one of us in the real world, and to treat us accordingly. So by writing an autistic character, you’re helping autistic people everywhere, in your own way.

OK, I’m convinced. But what is autism anyway?

Let’s start with what it is not! Autism is not a mental illness. This means this is not something you can somehow get later in life: you can start having depression at any stage in your life, but you are born autistic. Moreover, while depression and some other mental illness can be cured or be temporary, you are autistic for your whole life.

So what is it? It is considered a developmental disorder. This means that you born autistic, and that every stage of your development (baby-> toddler->child->teenager->adult->elderly person) is affected by autism, and will happen differently than that of a non-autistic person.

It is also considered a disability: there are things in of life that non-autistic people can do that are difficult or impossible for autistic people.

Finally, it is what we call a neurodivergence: this means that our brain is wired in a way that is different to that of most people. While it can make life harder for us in some regards, we are in no way lesser to non-autistic people, just different. We also have abilities and positive traits that others lack. And most the problems we encounter in our daily life are not because of autism per se, but because of a lack of awareness, understanding, and accommodations from others.

It is important to note here that autism is something that is still being researched, and not everyone agrees with all of the above definitions, but we’ll get into this discussion in another post!

So tell me, what are autistic people like?

First of all, there is a very important thing to keep in mind: We are all different. We are all our own person, and we are just as diverse (or maybe even more so) than non-autistic people are. We all have a mix-and-match assortment of autistic traits, traits that are not typically autistic, and personal quirks. All of these can have different expressions, different intensities and different triggers depending on the person, but also on the context and on the moment. So there is not one way to be autistic, but as many ways as there are autistic people (that is, a lot.)

With that in mind, I will list here some common autistic traits that we will be expanding on in future posts: this may serve as a table of contents of sorts.

Difficulties with everything social: understanding social rules, understanding non-verbal cues and conversational rules, and using them correctly is very difficult for most of us. We often struggle with making friends and finding romantic partners.

Difficulties with typical communication: a lot of autistic people have trouble with communicating verbally (this includes sign language), and some are sometimes or always non-verbal. A lot of us prefer alternative means of communication such as typing. Even when we do talk, we may do so oddly.

Sensory differences: We can be hyper- or hypo-sensitive to different sensory inputs. This translates to a lot of us as struggling with things like loud noises, bright lights or being touched.

Stimming: You may often find us flapping our hands, rocking back and forth, twirling our fingers, playing with our hair, pacing… or even things like hitting our heads or biting ourselves.

Meltdowns and shutdowns: When we are very overwhelmed, we can have violent meltdowns which can include shouting, crying, and self-harming stims, or shutdowns in which we completely stop reacting and responding to our environment.

Special interests: Most of us have one or several topics which we are very, very interested in. They can change with time or be lifelong. We can spend hours researching such topics and talking about them. A special interest can look obsessive to outside observers.

Need for routine: We often need to have our days planned in advance following a routine, and we can be very upset if there is a sudden change to that routine or if something unplanned happens.

Executive dysfunction: Getting started on an activity, figuring out and following all the steps which it involves, switching activities and making decisions can all be difficult things for us.

There are other common autistic traits which we’ll talk about later, but these are the main ones.

This will be all for an introductory post. If you have any question, our ask-box is open!

7K notes · View notes

cosmic--light--love · 6 years

Text

Advice and a Pep-Talk from one Autistic Writer to Another

I’ve seen enough “how to write autistic characters” directed at allistics but I’m not sure I’ve really seen any posts directed at autistics written by other autistics that’s just general writing advice. So here’s some tips and tricks and a pep talk.

1. Write as many autistic characters as you want. It’s totally ok for every single one of your characters to be autistic. If other people can write stories without any autistic characters, you can write ones without any allistic characters. (After all, how can you write an autistic allistic character if you’re not autistic allistic. /s)

2. Let your characters stim! It’s a great way to include body language in a way that feels natural for us.

On the topic of stimming, try and vary the stims your characters use. This is something I generally take care of in editing. Everyone would run their hands through their hair, but when they did that, it just became a filler description, so I cut the action from most of the characters and left it for a few. At that point, the stim became theirs. (I also then got to have lines like “Den ran his hand through his hair to calm his thoughts, a motion more like his brother than him.” which is like Look, characterization!)

3. Body language and facial expressions are hard. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve described the body language or facial expression without actually saying what the character was feeling while writing, and then in editing have no idea what they were feeling.

It’s totally OK to write something like “their eyebrows jumped up in surprise as their jaw dropped towards the floor.” It’s descriptive enough to follow the “show, don’t tell” rule, but still names the emotion the character is feeling. It also lets you use non-standard body language (aka autistic body language and stimming) in a way that allistic readers can pick up on.

Reference sheets are a great way to have some standard allistic ways of expressing emotions via body language. This is a great way to make sure that if a character is expressing an emotion but it’s not something you can state in the story (or that your character is unaware of), that it’ll still be something your audience can pick up on.

4. It can take a while to really get a feel for your characters. I tend to only really have their characterization solid enough to keep them consistent after I’ve written the initial rough draft. This is one of the reasons my first step after completing my initial draft is to rewrite everything. It’s just the easiest way I’ve found to make sure all the characters are in character - because if I tried to go through every single line and figure out what wasn’t in character, I’d be lost.

If you’re confused about why a character is doing something because you forgot what you were thinking and are having trouble figuring it out from context, it’s ok to take that bit out and rewrite it. Sometimes it might be because a character is acting out of character, and in that case it’s a good thing you’re fixing it.

5. The details you include in your writing because you’re so detail oriented really makes the story come alive. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten told it feels like my world exists beyond the story and that my characters have lives beyond what’s mentioned on the page because I think about every little detail and make mentions of them.

Our attention to detail also tends to let us do unintentional symbolism and foreshadowing really well. We try and make every little thing relevant and tied into everything else, which is something that comes naturally to us and I’ve seen so many writers struggle with.

6. Infodump in the rough draft as much as you want. If it keeps you writing, go for it.

You can remove (or better integrate) infodumps (because they tend to not be all that interesting to readers since they stop the story in their tracks) and any inconsistent details when you edit.

If you want to avoid just infodumping in the story itself, write down EVERYTHING about your characters, your world, your plot, everything you want to explain and anything that is relevant to know for the story in a separate document(s). For me, it gets the urge to explain EVERYTHING out of my system and helps me include only what’s needed when I’m writing. (Plus it makes a GREAT reference material for when you’re writing.)

7. If you don’t explain something well enough, that can also be fixed in editing. This is where beta readers are useful since they can let you know where they’re confused and where more information is useful. This is also where taking a break between writing and editing can help, since if you’re confused it’s likely a spot where you need to include more information

(Again, this is advice for autistic writers from an autistic writer. Allistics and Writing blogs are encouraged to reblog this since this is writing advice, but unless you are autistic, please do not comment.)

914 notes · View notes

cosmic--light--love · 6 years

Text

Spectrum

When you are autistic you have fixations, and when you have fixations, people become irritated.

Because they will not care about why pigeons were just so important in World War I, and they will not care about why it is important to never, ever release little white doves at little white weddings, because there is a good chance that they will be eaten by little white cats.

And they will not ever care about the little homing pigeon named Cher Ami, or how she flew twenty-five miles in sixty-five minutes with a bullet in her chest, and they will not care about how she delivered her message with a leg hanging from a tendon and blind in one eye, and they will not understand that little white doves are not little white homing pigeons that know how to find their way home after release.

And they will not care that Cher Ami means “dear friend” in French, and they will not care that it is masculine, and they will not care that her name should have been Chère Amie, with e’s at the ends and an accent grave because she was a hen.

And you can certainly forget about them caring about your very own little white homing pigeon named Chère Amie, with e’s at the ends and an accent grave because she is also a hen.

And they will not care if you are in love with these animals, because it is strange to always be talking about the life of a little white bird that sits in a little white cage.

And it is excruciating, because it almost seems like they do not care that your little white bird that sits in a little white cage keeps you waking up every single day.

Because when little white birds do not get out of their little white cages for several hours every single day, those little white feathers turn a really shitty brown, and the fox said that you are responsible forever, because you tamed her, and forever does not end when you die, so if you have to remain fixated forever to remain tame, to keep that tie, then it is worth it to be the only one who cares.

763 notes · View notes

cosmic--light--love · 6 years

Text

Have I ever mentioned that I love the idea of urban fantasy autistic people being awesome ambassadors towards the fae? Cause you know those old stories about children being abducted by the fae being replaced with ‘changelings’, aka what we’re pretty sure these days are autistic children? What if urban fantasy stories worked with that?

The Fair Folk refuse to work with anyone but ‘changelings’ when it comes to matters with humans. It’s nothing personal (well, it kinda is, but whatever), they just relate to autistic people more, so they’re more willing to talk with them about stuff like deals and arrangements. ‘Ambassador to the Fae’ is a highly important job, especially in rural communities, and a lot of cities will pay to keep you on staff for that alone.

I mean, they’ll work with anybody in theory, but you’ll actually manage to get places with an Ambassador on your side. The fae will be a lot more friendly, and a lot less likely to cause trouble.

Very little scientific research has been done in it yet, but there’s a common belief that autistic folks have their own bit of fae magic, meaning they can do the cool things that most humans can’t do. Some swear up and down this is true, while others think it’s just pleasant thinking.

How the fae see autistic people varies. Some think they’re oddballs, some think they’re the only good humans out there. Some see them as a nice in-between, having all the strengths of one of the Fair Folk but none of the weaknesses. (Juries still out on cool magic tricks, but here’s to hoping.) They also tend to call them changelings even though scientific vocabulary has evolved past that for a good while now. They’re stubborn little things.

Just don’t actually say that to their face. Please.

If you’re thinking about signing a contract with a fae (in which case, good luck), it’s always a good idea to have an autistic friend look it over to see if the terms are acceptable. There’s a common belief that autistic peeps can spot a fae trick a mile away, though like a lot of these rumors, it’s arguable how true it is.

Despite not usually being known for wanting to socialize (see: at all typically), it’s not unheard of to hear of an autistic person who managed to befriend a fae. It’s a pretty odd friendship, as most fae don’t exactly have the same views we do on right/wrong, polite/rude, ect., but it’s always a pleasant surprise when it happens. These are life-or-death sorts of friendships, but be aware that the fae expects the same devotion in return.

The Fair Folk are known to use glamours to stop normal humans from being able to see what they don’t want them to. These don’t really work on autistic folk, for reasons nobody is quite sure of. Whatever the case, it’s really helpful when you’re worried you may be getting too close to fae territory and want to keep an eye out.

I know there’s a lot more I could think of here, but I honestly don’t know too much about fairies. If anybody can think of more, why not add some ideas~? I personally love this idea, and would love to see it more in works! It seems very cool to me.

3K notes · View notes

cosmic--light--love · 6 years

Text

call me biased,,, but we need more stimmy sanders sides headcanons!! like:

Patton!! Excitedly flapping!! All the time!! He just saw a cute animal: flap! He ate a really good cookie: flap! Roman showed him something he was working on: flap! If he gets really excited he stomps and wiggles!! It’s like his whole body is vibrating. And he surrounds himself with soft things! He likes rubbing them between his fingers and against his face cause they’re just so soft!! He has 50 blankets and they’re all his children. If things are Too Much he’ll just bundle up in them and roll around on the ground in a big pile of Soft.

Roman’s stims are all Big! He leaps! He bounces! He twirls! He’s the most likely to just vault himself over the couch in a moment of particular excitement. But also he sings! He sings all the time to calm himself down or cause he’s excited or cause he’s sad. When he can’t sing, he hums! He can’t listen to music without tapping, clicking or generally waving his hands about. You can’t shut him up. Also,,, doodling, obviously. He has so many sketchbooks, but any piece of paper you leave around him is in danger of being doodled on - Logan has learned this the hard way.

Virgil chews on his fingers or the inside of his mouth when he’s concentrating so one of the sides buy him a chewy stim necklace so he can chew Safely. When he’s not using his phone he’ll open and close the flip-case, even though Logan has told him the magnet will decrease in strength over time if he keeps doing it. If he’s excited he’ll tap really quickly on his body somewhere, but if he’s anxious he’ll rub his closed fist against the back of his head over and over. And he walks on his toes and doesn’t even always notice he’s doing it. Also, he actually used a fidget cube in a video so don’t think I’ve forgotten about that.

Logan’s stims are subtle! He bounces his leg when he’s sitting and rocks up onto his toes and back down when he’s standing. When he’s stressed or working on a difficult problem, he paces; sometimes just around his room, sometimes in a particular pattern around the mindscape (and he gets really agitated if you get in his way, even by accident). He chews all his pens, even though he’s tried to leave gum around to replace them. He just obliterates anything he leaves in his hands when he’s thinking - he’s deconstructed so many pens and torn up so many marginally important pieces of paper, it’s ridiculous.

Just!!! Stimmy sides!!!!!

3K notes · View notes

cosmic--light--love · 6 years

Text

OKAY RULE1 for writing autistic characters: The labels of “High-functioning” and “low-functioning” are. Well to put it plainly, they are actively and absolutely harmful. They are used to silence autistic people. If you are deemed low-functioning, you are therefore unable to make any decisions for yourself, thus, you are put in the control of others. If you are deemed high-functioning, it is also used to silence you, because you aren’t “really” autistic. Do not use these labels unless it is specifically the bad guys using them, or if the characters are very obviously uninformed and ignorant of what they are contributing to by using these labels.

Rule 2: Aspergers is the same thing as autism. Aspergers is usually just applied to “”High-functioning”” autistics because it sounds nicer than autism. They are the exact same thing.

Rule 3: This should be obvious. But autistic people do not “suffer” from autism. And we are not people with autism. We are autistic people. Believe it or not there is a difference, and it is important. If I hadn’t been born autistic, I would not be me. You can’t separate the brain from the mind. You can’t separate autism from the soul.

Rule 4: Being diagnosed with autism doesn’t suddenly make you an entirely new person. Someone you know being diagnosed doesn’t mean that they are an entirely new person. Autism is like gravity—even before we gave it a name, even before we acknowledged it and realizing that “hey, this is a thing!” It was still there. Still making apples fall out of trees. Just because you find out that someone is autistic doesn’t mean your entire perception of them needs to change. They’re still the same person you’ve always known. Just like you know that gravity exists before you’re taught about it in school. Just because you don’t have a word for something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

Rule 5: We are not sick. Autism is not an illness. I don’t care if you have a kid that’s autistic and you’re sad that they’ll never say to you “I love you” or hold your hand. There are more ways to express affection than hand-holding and verbal declarations. We are not sick. We do not need to be cured. I don’t care if you think we’re sad miserable things that will never meet arbitrary life goals. We are people. We just happen to be different.

Rule 6: Do not write an autistic character just because you want a gold star. Do not write an autistic character because you want to be able to say your story is diverse. Do not write an autistic character so that you can get some imaginary trophy. If you’re going to write an autistic character, it should be because you really care about the subject. It should be because you want to learn as much as you want to teach. Do not write autistic characters so that you can pat yourself on the back and give yourself brownie points. Write an autistic character because you really, genuinely, care.

Rule 7: Don’t tag something as involving autism if it’s literally just a background character that shows up for 0.2 seconds and doesn’t even have a major impact on the story or any real role at all. Not only is that obnoxious for people trying to find fics about autistic characters, it’s insulting. We are not objects you take off a shelf to show off, and then stick back when you don’t want us anymore. Either go all the way or don’t do anything at all.

Rule 8: We are not children. We do not “have the mind of an X year old”. If an autistic person is twelve, they do not “have the mind of a three year old.” They have the mind of an autistic twelve year old. Do not infantize us. Do not treat us like children.

Rule 9: DO. NOT. USE. THE. R-WORD. AS. A. DESCRIPTOR. DO NOT DO IT. IT IS A SLUR. DO NOT USE IT IN CASUAL CONTEXT UNLESS SOMEONE IS GOING TO REACT TO IT LIKE THE SLUR IT IS.

Rule 10: Do not make “high-functioning” autistics look down on “low-functioning” autistics unless this behavior is explicitly shown to be in the wrong and completely misguided.

Rule 11: I don’t know what it’s called but that thing? Where people “teach” autistic people to be more normal? Where they force autistic people to make eye contact and not stim or walk on their toes and stuff? Yeah. That’s not a good thing. At all. Do not make it out to be a good thing unless this is later proven absolutely and disastrously damaging and wrong.

If you are autistic and have something to add, PLEASE FEEL FREE.

Allistics, please feel free to reblog. No, having an autistic family member does not give you free reign to add your own rules. This is meant to be a list of rules written BY AUTISTIC PEOPLE for the benefit of allistic writers so that we can read things without wanting to die of brain implosion.

4K notes · View notes