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vincent-g-writer · 4 years ago

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The Silver Screen Savant: Thoughts on Hollywood Autism, Pt. 1

When I was a child, I didn’t fit in.

A common statement, many people empathize with. However, to say “I didn’t fit in,” is a gross understatement. I stuck out like a sore thumb, and at times, still do. Now, why was this, you may ask? Well, there are things I could name. A banal little checklist of traits and characteristics would probably do the trick. But I’m not sure that would do it justice. So I’ll tell you what it felt like:

I had trouble reading facial expressions, because people’s face, and hands, and body would say one thing, while their words said another. Smiles that didn’t reach the eyes. Laughs that were a little too hearty, or loud, or hollow. Disingenuous conversations and actions frustrated me. If lying was wrong, why were, as my mother used to call them “little white lies” acceptable? Why did we smile and thank our new neighbors for their homemade casserole dish, before promptly throwing it away when they left? These things, and many others, puzzled me. But the thing that puzzled me the most, was interacting with my peers. I didn’t understand the sensation of a hundred million bees, pricking me with electric anxiety when I went to school, or played with children in the neighborhood. I didn’t understand why they weren’t constantly talking, wondering, asking- about everything. I didn’t understand how their minds worked. Most of all, I didn’t understand why it physically hurt me to look into people’s eyes, child and adult alike. On the other hand, I did notice they didn’t like me very much. “You’re weird,” they would sneer. Or “you talk too much.” And, they were right. I knew they were. Even as I would wax poetic about all sorts of nonsense, like the difference between a cocoon and a chrysalis. I knew. But I couldn’t…I couldn’t shut myself off.

And that’s just one tiny example, of a lifetime.

Back then, if you’d asked what was “wrong” with me, on a good day, I would have shrugged. Other times, when I despised every fiber of my being, I’d parrot back the sentiments of my peers. “Freak,” “loser,” and “r*tard” were words I heard often. And for a long time, I believed them.

Today, I know differently. Not to say the above struggles no longer apply. If anything, some of them are worse. But now, I now longer blame or hate myself for being different. Now, I understand.

The Lightbulb Moment

In 2014, my daughter began speaking. She was four years old. Before then, she could say “dada,” “juice,” “two,” and “go.” The rest was garbled noises, when and if she made a sound. Most of the time, she didn’t. My wife and I were concerned, to say the least. But it wasn’t exactly a new worry. My princess never crawled, never pointed to get people’s attention, or show them things, and did not play with toys. Plus a host of other concerns. So we hopped on Google, and after about, oh, half an hour of research, got in touch with a doctor. Now, I feel like I must add the caveat here that we wanted to have her seen before then. However, many issues (including a bout of homelessness) prevented that. So we were a bit…late, in that regard. No matter. Her doc sent her to a local play therapist, and after about fifteen minutes of interaction, the therapist knew exactly what was going on: Our little Princess was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

But wait! There’s more-

Once this became clear, my wife started looking into other things. Her own independent research, as it were. She kept it to herself for a month or three, then avalanched it all into my lap . Our Princess wasn’t the only one, as it turned out. And really, had I ever bothered to look…it was obvious. But I was in denial. I couldn’t possibly be autistic. So, like the stubborn Taurus I am, I dug my heels in. I refused to discuss it, for almost year. But, my beloved wife, who is much smarter and wiser than I am, knew what to do. In the name of “research for Princess,” she had me read a list of common autistic traits/symptoms. And it all came crashing down. I couldn’t deny it anymore. I was, without a doubt, also on the spectrum.

The gift of the Media: Fear, self hatred, stigma…superpowers?

Now, you might be asking, why exactly did I doubt myself? Cultural association, of course. And by “cultural association,” what I really mean is “the media.” Mostly, anyway. See, I’ve noticed a trend. In movies, tv and books, autism is usually presented in one of two ways: The Rainman, or the Idiot Perma-child, who cannot care for themselves. And I’m neither.

On the one hand, I was a straight A student. I could sleep through classes and make 100%. I was reading by the age of three or four, and I graduated highschool at fifteen. On the other, I have been known to go a full forty-eight hours without eating, because I “didn’t think about it.”

But I’m not the autistic person you see on tv. Now, that isn’t to say those people don’t exist. They do. For example, my daughter deals with much more noticable struggles than I ever have, while I have another member of my family (also on the spectrum) who is a certifiable genius. And I’ve known many others who are “obviously” autistic, whereas I pass as allistic* (see footnotes below) easily. Which is a sad discourse altogether, really. One the one hand, an “obviously” autistic person, what one might call “Low Functioning” (I could write a whole other post about why “low/high functioning” labels are harmful, however, for the sake of brevity, there’s some here, here and here) are often boiled down only to their struggles, where as people such as myself are relegated to “Not autistic enough to be my problem” or “well, you don’t look autistic.”

To quote-

“The difference between high-functioning autism and low functioning is that high-functioning means your deficits are ignored, and low-functioning means your assets are ignored.” -Laura Tisoncik

Why is this? As you might have guessed from the title of this post- I put a lot of it on the shoulders of the entertainment we consume. Nevermind certain hate organizations who swath themselves in the cloak of “advocacy” such as Autism Speaks, and Anti-Vaxcers, who think it’s better to have a dead child than an autistic one.*

I could go on. At length. However, I’m going to try and stay on track, just this once. To put it plainly, Hollywood Autism often works exactly like “high” and “low” functioning labels: We’re either uplifted to inhuman portrayals of superpowered savants, or downgraded to an “inspirational” invalid. In these stories, we’re props. The “Magical Disabled person!” as Tv Tropes puts it, there to uplift the neurotypical character from their adversity. After all, if this poor dumb sod (i.e- me) can be happy with their burdensome life, surely the pretty white able-bodied protagonist can! We’re “funny,” “scary,” or “sympathetic,” characters, who lack dimension, and nuance. We’re “inhuman.” We’re the lesser. Or at least, that’s one way it’s written. The other is the hyper intelligent, almost “superhuman,” and definitely super jackass genius, who’s much too smart™, and logical© to ever have feelings, friends or empathy. That’s it folks! That’s the show!

That’s what books, tv and movies told me, anyway. And what I truly believed for a long time. It’s why I cringed away in terror and shame when my spectrum issues were finally noticed. And why it took me so long to come to terms with it.

So, there you have it. Part 1. On the next episode, I’ll give some examples, both good and bad, and maybe even a little “what not to do,” or at least a “please consider real hard before doing this in your own work.”

If you like writing, talking about bad tropes and even worse marginalized representation, you can follow me at wordpress or at my “still has that new car smell” twitter. For now- thanks for reading.

-Your loving Vincent

*allistic= Non autistic.

*Vaccines do NOT cause Autism, however, if they DID, it would still be better to have an autistic child than one who died at the ripe old age of “easily preventable but deadly communicable disease.”

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secretlyatargaryen · 5 years ago

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Watching Elementary and thinking about autism and abuse

As a preface I need to add that any attempt to diagnose Sherlock Holmes with anything is dubious since this is a character who was created in the 1880s, and attempts often run into the stereotype of the quirky autistic savant, but I do think that Elementary presents a version of the character that could be headcanoned as autistic, partially because of the physicality that Johnny Lee Miller brings to the character, the way he moves, his hand gestures, and what look like stimming motions. I also am continually impressed by the way this show focuses on Sherlock as someone who is in recovery, not just with the addiction storyline but with the focus on mental health and how Sherlock’s lack of social graces is 1) not the same thing as deliberately being an asshole, and 2) something he recognizes and actively tries to work on. Sure, there are moments where he gets frustrated and decides to actively ignore the needs of others / falls back on the “this is just the way I am, deal with it” thing that is part of the character in a lot of adaptations. But a lot of times the show actually calls him out on that or portrays it as a defense mechanism. There are many times in the show where other characters state that Sherlock is incapable of changing or growing or learning or forming meaningful connections with other people and the show continually proves that this is not true and that not only is Sherlock capable of growth and making connections with others, but that it’s something he strives towards and something he needs, both for his recovery and as a person. Something I rarely see acknowledged in this kind of setup is that meaningful connection is not impossible, but hard. It’s something you have to work at. I think about this from the perspective of a teacher who has both been trained to work with and had experience with autistic kids, and especially with kids who are on the spectrum a lot of people act like they can’t or don’t want friends. I mean, it can be true that autistic kids might be happier being by themselves than other kids, but it doesn’t mean they never want friends or care about other people and what other people think of them. Sometimes it’s just harder for them to make friends, or they might think about friendship differently than other people do.

I also think this show does a good job of portraying how relationships can be hard for a neurodivergent person not through any fault of their own, but because of societal ableism and the way that can lead to gaslighting. Autistic people are already told that they can’t trust their own judgments in social interactions and as a teacher I have seen that used to manipulate, by kids and teachers, sadly. I wish that Sherlock’s relationship with Moriarty was explored more (although I feel like the reason it’s not is because Natalie Dormer had other obligations) because this is a good example. In season one when he figures out that she has been lying to him about who she is, he becomes emotionally overwhelmed and she immediately tells him that he is overreacting and that he always gets like this, blaming his feelings about being betrayed by her on him and the way he thinks. Both Mycroft and Morland do something similar and constantly invalidate his feelings because of the way he is, even while telling him that they care about him, and watching these conversations unfold is sometimes infuriating. I don’t think the Joan/Mycroft thing was well handled in season 3 and admittedly it lost my interest so I didn’t pay that much attention to it. I’m on season 4 now and I see echoes of that with the introduction of Morland Holmes, who from everything we’ve heard about him from Sherlock, seems like a terrible parent. Like with Mycroft, the narrative is trying to humanize him, but it comes somewhat at the cost of invalidating Sherlock’s feelings. Not entirely, because I think the show knows that this is emotional abuse. But like, given the context of Joan’s (baffling) relationship with Mycroft in the previous season, when Joan meets Morland for the first time and Sherlock asks her what she thinks and her reply is that he is not what she expects, you can kind of see him waiting for his feelings to be invalidated and that hurts. He asks her to elaborate and she says “well, he doesn’t have horns” and he physically leans away from her. That’s a nice subtle bit of physical acting.

There’s also a scene where Sherlock confronts his father with what a terrible parent he is and Morland’s reply is something like “could you imagine anyone being a good parent to you” which made me leave my chair and ascend up to the ceiling of my apartment with hatred for this character. That's an incredibly terrible thing to say to anybody but it's especially terrible if we consider Sherlock to be neurodivergent and given the gaslighting that autistic people are often subject to and the general shittiness of the conversation around parenting autistic kids.

The issue of gaslighting and mental health also goes for Sherlock as a recovering heroine addict and how he is often treated dismissively because of this and his shame and guilt over it, which other characters sometimes use to manipulate him and which was used to get him to relapse in the season three finale. I did like that even Gregson acknowledged that he had been manipulated, "you're acting like you did something when something was done to you."

#jenny watches elementary #ableism cw #mental health cw #abuse cw

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matildaisautisticandproud · 5 years ago

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April 8th - 30 Days of Autism Acceptance

April 8: What are some misconceptions/stereotypes about autism that you hate?

1. People with autism don’t want friends. Albeit this might be true to some, this isn’t true to all. Most autistics, I’ve found, want to have more friends, but either don’t know how to go about befriending people and/or people don’t want to spend time with them. Personally, for years, I always longed to have a friend who got me and that I could be open with. (I struggled to actually be myself around people my whole life and still do.) My roommate, Missy, is that friend now, but you don’t know how lonely it is going through grade school without a best friend.

Lots of other girls had besties and many of my friends had friends that they shared their most darkest secrets with; they were super close to each other. Since I didn’t know how to go about forming that connection and I am generally a reserved person, I never had that friend and it was painful. I wanted a best friend, but I didn’t know how to establish a strong connection, maintain it, and most people thought I was “weird” and didn’t really want to be my friend.

I don’t mean to throw my own pity party by saying this, but I was the person who others would one day make me feel on top of the world by including me, but then, would distance themselves once they were done with me and make me feel terrible. This constant cycle of inclusion and exclusion, interest and disinterest, was really damaging to younger me. It frustrated me and made me think the reason I couldn’t have a close, good friend was because there was something wrong with me. (There’s never something wrong with you (unless you’re a murderer or that of the like). It’s society who is in the wrong for tossing aside such a beautiful human being.)

2. People with autism can’t feel or express emotion. This statement is 100% false. By saying this, people are invalidating the emotions of autistics, which is never okay. It is true that many on the spectrum have the inability to recognize their own emotions and/or don’t express their emotions as “normal” people do, but we still have feelings. Just recently, I have gotten better at identifying what I’m feeling, but I’m still not adroit with it. Also, I think that I feel a lot more deeply that those not on the spectrum, as do many autistics. Because I don’t really express my emotions, I’ve had people say that I seem “emotionless” and “robotic” all throughout my life. I never did and still don’t think much of it; it’s just how I am.

I get scared, sad, furious, elated, and more. Just because I don’t express my emotions in a way you can understand doesn’t mean I don’t have them. My body language is just different. (Also, I’ve learned to internalize all my emotions and grievances so, no body really knows what’s going on in my head.)

3. All autistics are just like [insert name here]. As I’ve stated numerous times before, the nature of ASD is that no two manifestations of it are exactly the same. Two autistic people may share similar experiences and struggles, but autism still affects them at least slightly differently.

4. Autistics can’t understand the emotions of others and are apathetic. Many autistics actually experience “too” much empathy. Some are apathetic, but as are some people who aren’t on the spectrum. Everyone is susceptible to being apathetic.

5. An autistic person has only struggles; they’re just their autism. Yes, autism is a key part of every autistic’s life, but it is not the only aspect of who we are. I think people should focus more on what a child can do than what they can’t, overall. Sure, Mark may not be able to handle going to the mall due to overstimulation, but he is especially skilled in painting. People should focus less on faults and flaws. Just focusing on such things will make life drab and miserable; plus, people as a whole are more than just their struggles.

6. People can grow out of autism, and it is only present in children. I, along with many others, are proof that this is false. I dislike how the struggles of adults (with and without autism, ADHD, and other disorders) are ignored in society. Not all problems go away with adulthood; it isn’t some cure all.

7. “There wasn’t all this autism/ADHD/etc. stuff back in my day so, it can’t be real.” These disorders are very much real. Perhaps the numbers have been increasing, but maybe there has just been a decrease in ignorance and an increase in compassion and acceptance. Also, diagnosing has gotten much easier, and since there is more knowledge available (i.e. the Internet) than ever before, people can self-screen and then determine whether or not to be tested. The only reason I am diagnosed is because I took the time to research different disorders via the Internet and decided to get professionally evaluated.

8. “Autism is caused by one thing.” Whether this “thing” be vaccines, a gene mutation, bad parenting, trauma, etc., this statement has been proven false by science. When studying the cause of autism, scientists have found that in one person, one gene could be the contributor to the person’s autism while in another, it’s a combination of several genes. The cause is unknown, but bad parenting has been debunked. However, there is evidence to suggest that the presence of heavy metals within a person’s system may be a possible cause. (Numerous children with autism have been found to have high levels of heavy metals within their body.)

As for the vaccine statement, it is unknown whether or not they do or don’t cause autism. There was a study carried out with the goal of proving or disproving the claim, but since the data was skewed, the results are invalid. I don’t necessarily support the claim, but there is not enough evidence for either side of the argument for me to take a side. I am a neutral in this debate. Though, I don’t believe that one should risk the death of their child just because they’d rather not have an autistic child. We’re not that bad; several parents love having an autistic child.

9. Autism only affects the brain. Again, I and many others are living proof that this claim is false. Many people with autism have co-occurring conditions like allergies, food sensitivities, gastrointestinal disorders, and epilepsy. Personally, I have numerous food sensitivities and gastrointestinal issues. I haven’t gotten a name as to what is wrong with my digestive system, but I do know there is a problem given what I experience on a daily basis.

10. All autistics are intellectually disabled. All statements that start with “all autistics” are automatically false. Even if the claim doesn’t pertain to autism itself (i.e. a political belief), autistics, like other people, have their own sets of beliefs and their own lifestyles. We’re human just like you; all that’s different is how our brains are wired and the struggles we endure.

To combat this claim, many autistics have a normal to high IQ level and can excel in school. There are those who have lower IQs, but they still can excel. One’s potential to be great isn’t dictated by IQ or a disability (or an ability and/or advantage for that matter).

11. Autistic people are great at STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) classes. No. Although I especially excel with math and loved Algebra and Calculus, not everyone does. Some of us are great when it comes to STEM courses, but others of us struggle. Not all of us are even remotely interested in STEM, as well. Some of us prefer the arts, labor-intensive activities (i.e. construction), et cetera. We all have our different strong suits.

12. All autistics are savants. Some are, some aren’t. Although we all have special interests, most aren’t savants, actually. I don’t know where I fall when it comes to being a savant or not, but I’m not some super-genius. I didn’t invent some new scientific thing when I was 12 nor did I make a groundbreaking discovery. I do want to do something great with my future career, but I don’t know if I’ll ever be worthy of stardom and fame or be labeled as a savant.

The one thing I dislike is how people dismiss the existence of savants because they hate the stereotype. Autistic savants do exist, as do non-autistic savants, and saying that they don’t is harmful. Stereotypes come from somewhere, right? Savants exist and they deserve representation and appreciation too.

13. Autistic people don’t have relationships and moments of intimacy. Yes, they do. I personally don’t want a relationship right now nor do I want to engage in such intimate acts, but others do.

14. Autism kills marriages. This myth was made widespread by the infamous organization Autism $peaks. Sure, it may end some marriages, but why marry someone who is autistic then? If you truly loved the person then, you would accept them, autism and all.

15. Nonverbal autistics are all intellectually disabled. Although some are, not all are. A handful are highly intelligent. Autism isn’t a one size fits all thing.

16. Autistic people can’t do anything on their own/will never be independent. Some autistics won’t be able to be independent, but not all. Others don’t need any support while some, like me, need minimal support. People with all sorts of aid requirements exist on the autism spectrum. Each of us needs differing levels of support; also, especially so if one also has a chronic illness, some days I will be able to be completely independent, but the next day I may need lots of external support.

17. Having an autistic child is a tragedy. Yes, autism does make things more challenging, but there’s a silver lining in it. Like every other child, autistics are capable of great things and have talents. If people would just look past the struggles, label, and faults then, they’ll see an amazing person who isn’t just a diagnosis, but a fully fledged human being.

18. Autistic people are just rude. On honesty, we are not trying to be rude when saying the truth. In our brains, it is something that is acceptable to say. Many of us thrive on being honest as our brains tend to rely on logic more than anything else. By pointing out the size of your nose, we’re not trying to be rude. Personally, I don’t really struggle with being too honest, but sometimes I do say things aloud that shouldn’t be said. I just think of it as uttering an observation; I have no rude intents. When I am trying to be rude, you will know XD.

On conversational difficulties, it’s not that we don’t want to talk to you, it’s that we don’t know how to continue and/or initiate conversations. Not all autistics struggle a lot when it comes to social communication, but some do. Those who do, we just don’t know how to go about conversing “as normal”. We can’t help it. We’re not being rude. I struggle to continue and start conversations, which has led to many people thinking that I don’t like them. If you want to have a proper, lengthy conversation with me then, you have to start it and be able to keep it going.

On eye contact, we don’t mean to seem rude by not looking you in the eye when talking. For me, maintaining eye contact is distracting, which means that my focus is being directed away from what you’re saying, making me not able to adequately listen to you. Some autistics have little to no problems with eye contact.

19. “You don’t have to stim. Therefore, you’re just doing it to annoy me.” For me, it takes a lot of courage for me to feel comfortable with stimming around you. So, by ridiculing me for doing something that soothes me, you’re furthering my insecurity about it and hurting me. People who stim do it to self-soothe and to regulate themselves. Would you rather I shutdown (go nonverbal), experience sensory overload, or even have a meltdown? I don’t think so. Let people stim. Some of us don’t stim, but it is a lifeline for some of us.

20. “You don’t look autistic.” Well, riddle me this: What does autism look like to you? Apparently, we have completely different views on what an autistic person looks like. For me, an autistic person is anyone (a friend, neighbor, family member, student, teacher etc.) from any walk of life of any religion, lifestyle, culture, etc. The “autism look” is the generic person to me. Is there a specific way we should look, though? Please tell me more about your vision of how an autistic person outwardly appears.

I could go on about this subject for hours, but I’ll stop myself here. If you want me to debunk more myths and/or react to certain common sayings/stereotypes then, please leave a message in my ask box. I really, really, really! want to write more about this topic.

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mytwitterisdogtoast1 · 4 years ago

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Pokemon unite, All the rage of League of Legends in only just 10 minutes!

Anyone who plays a multiplayer game knows just how infuriating it is to play with team mates. Everyone knows they are the best player in the game and if you would let them have their preferred lane they will guide you to victory cause they scale so just don't feed and farm under tower. First off you can fuck yourself with the biggest of dicks in the smallest of your holes (like your anus) unless you are into that sort of thing and if you are then no dick for you. You don't deserve it. Secondly there is no second just go fuck yourself (metaphorically). I've been playing league for a long time and have currently taken a shine to Pokemon Unite which has been a varied experience in how it goes. When it's with friends and people who are "like minded" and I can communicate with the game goes much better but with randoms the game is a pile of ass with a large pile of dicks on the side. Most people like to think themselves a savant in games they play assuming they know what they are doing and I wanna tell you not everyone is amazing at every game they pick a controller up for. Some people are fucking ass and you might be in this same situation. Am I just coming off a rager of a game where a team mate never connected after a rager of a game where 2 team mates left top solo while the jungler never ganked and then came down to 3 v 2 bot and then after I left went and followed top? Yeah. Shit's bad sometimes in this crazy world of mobas but sometimes it's really bad. Also just because I'm not a ball of sunshine doesn't mean I think the game is bad and personally I don't think I'm better than everyone else and I don't assume I deserve to be in a better placement than I am. I also don't think my feelings are invalid just because I'm livid. So a little background, I'm the type of person who can get really mad at the game, I don't throw controllers nor do I throw any matches or even just sit there and say hateful shit. That is I will say that shit out loud to myself and it might be some hurtful angry stuff but that's only to me. Most arguing I do is call someone a butt lord or something along those lines. And to be honest it is really fair to call the guy who watches you die while trying to save them and then they last hit the guy who you fought to save them and died trying a turd muncher. That guy probably in real life on the side munches turds or something. (This is not a disparaging comment on the persons mental acuity so much as they are a dingus and a butthole and are not a team player and thus they munch turds). I do like anyone else get discouraged if time after time I get matched with people who are all trying to get kills EVEN AS THE SUPPORT AND THE TANK and run into the jungle and leave you behind. The game has issues and it's a frustrating game to play. Everyone wants to win but no one wants to work together. People run out of battle and don't try and do anything. I think the game needs choices based on the types of characters you can choose and needs, not a ban system, but a system that makes whoever you get random with trades and so on. It also needs a harsher system for you to actually get banned and stuff and be "less" forgiving as well. What's really good is the account is bound to your actual account and you can't just be a jerk and screw everyone over because there is no smurfing in this game. Let's look at an ideal situation. We have better matchmaking. We get 5 random people who all play solo and are playing something like a ranked game. All people are the same tier even if they are different levels of the same tier. Master with master and beginner with beginner. I'm currently in the equivalent of gold as in expert tier. I did a lot of games to get there and played some with friends. I got to "silver" on my own before I scrounged up 2 other friends who play and grinded out games. We did well. So as I was saying before I went on a little tangent. We got 5 people who are all random tier and each person is in say "gold". They are match made into a game where all enemy team members are also "gold". The teams are

assigned roles randomly and can be traded. You get given a choice of either the pokemon in the role you own such as a blue or a red or a green or the randomly chosen one for the week. So everyone can play that role because there will always be at least one of it available and still allow later on for people to play a pokemon they are not familiar with. Now you have each person who is in the same tier level of skill as you all trying to help when they are a helper and a more aggressive person to do the attacking. Each person as you rise in tiers knows more and more how to play the game or at least should theoretically know what they are doing. If a person does poorly and looks like they aren't caring you can get more reports thrown at them and they could be something that in general is able to be explained instead of just "stayed in base". Lastly on the note of team work, some times you get into a stomp of a game. When it comes to the choice of forfeiture I think it should come down to 3 people where majority wins. Having 4 people out of 5 say they wanna quit should not be the main way to do it. I'm hoping this game gets better because I've just been getting angry at it when I try so danged hard. It just really is in general the same as league bur condensed into 10 minutes. You would think it wouldn't be that bad, but until we get a score tracker, it's hard to know if you can pull it out of your ass or not because BEING TOLD YOU ARE LOSING IS NOT A FUCKING INDICATION OF HOW WELL YOU ARE DOING.

#pokemon unite #pokemon #unite #pokemonunite #league of legends #league #tencent

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dannyphannypack · 8 years ago

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Hey I've always enjoyed danny phantom (i even bought the complete series) but i was never in the fandom on tumblr. Do you think you could explain a few things for me? (If you have the time) can you explain the hate butch gets, trans danny, why everyone hates lost planet, and this war people talk about (i think it was within the fandom and a few years back, people talk about how it was the worst thing). I started getting into the fandom and I'm hella lost and maybe you can clear this up for me.

hoy boy, my friend, i had to pull out my laptop for this one. let’s see if i can help ease your confusion without typing ten pages of text.

- the phandom war/the hate butch getsbutch hartman has always had a hard time leaving his fans alone to discuss their headcanons and ships in peace. he’s a conservative christian, and therefore makes a lot of people angry when he invalidates/discredits their gay ships or trans headcanons. he’s very “this is my show and i’d like it if you didn’t stain it with your LGBT+ bullshit,” though he’d never say that out loud. so anyways, a little while ago (i don’t know the exact year) butch started talking to the phandom, discrediting their headcanons and ships, etc etc. it created a sort of rift in the phandom, with one side believing that whatever the creator says goes and the other side just really angry that butch stuck his foot out and tried to maneuver the phandom where he wanted them to go. fighting pursued. not sure how it ended, though. i do know, however, that a large reason why danny phantom fanfiction is largely angst/torture is because it was a nice inbetween for those that didn’t want to get involved with the fighting or for those who had their fluffy ship invalidated. fortunately, i wasn’t there for that whole escapade. recently, channelfrederator on youtube posted this video, and in it he goes out of his way to state that danny is the only boy wearing a tanktop in the pool scene in one episode because he burns easily, even though his shoulders and a bit of his chest are still showing, once again invalidating the trans danny headcanon (many of the people who consider trans danny as almost canon use that specific scene as proof, so you can understand the frustration that followed). everyone is just kinda generally mad at butch for a) supporting trump, b) discrediting headcanons, and c) not being a very good creator. the episodes that butch worked on for the show (namely season three) weren’t that good, and frankly, people think that danny phantom would be better off without butch. i kinda agree with them.

- trans dannyi kinda covered it in the above paragraph, but i’ll offer some more explanation here. basically, there’s many scenes that could be envisioned as proof of danny fenton being transgender. in the pool scene that i mentioned above, where he’s the only one wearing a tanktop, and in the same episode when he accidentally runs into the girl’s room, and in THE SAME EPISODE when paulina says “i’d tell you to go to the boy’s room, but i don’t think you’d qualify.” there’s another scene that sticks out specifically to me (and that i see floating around tumblr a lot) where danny tells desiree to get lost and she says something along the lines of “are you sure there is nothing you desire?” and reaches for his chest. immediately following that, danny gets suPer defensive, shouts “hey, get away!” and discovers he can shoot ectoplasmic blasts from his hands. there’s more proof, but i don’t think i need to get into it more. you’ll see tons of it here and there.

- phantom planetpoorly made. that’s all i can say about it. the show had so much more potential and the ending was, admittedly, a huge letdown. here’s a few things that i, personally, don’t like about the finale.

- when it starts, vlad’s ship or whatever blows up. and there’s fire. in space. there can’t be fire without oxygen that is not how science works oh no.

- hOW DANNY BECOMES HUMAN AGAIN MAKES NO SENSE WHATSOEVER ??? HE SHOULD BE FULL DEAD ??? also why did he give up so fast like “o shoot no one likes me let me just gET RID OF MY SUPER AWESOME GHOST POWERS!!! ok.

- why does vlad need more money he’s already the richest person in the world and like ,,, third world countries don’t have that much money to give calm down vladdy

- i can’t believe vlad liTERALLY launched himself off of a podium like “henlo i’m a ghost follow me” and people just went with it. what.

- hOW DANNY BECAME HALF GHOST AGAIN ALSO MAKES NO SENSE ??? also where’d his suit come from. was he wearing that under his clothes what. what.

there’s so much more, and for the full run-down on the disappointments of phantom planet, i’m going to point you toward my friend’s powerpoint. abby did a really good job explaining my frustrations.

- ship namesyou didn’t ask for this to be cleared up, but when i first joined the phandom, i was confused about the ship names. i’m going to list a few of the more popular ones below, but just ask if you have any confusions or would like to know a specific one ^.^- amethyst ocean // danny and sam- gray ghost // valerie and danny- pitch pearl // danny fenton and danny phantom- pompous pep // vlad and danny- savant par // tucker and danny

yeah, this kinda became an essay. it’s a large task, explaining the ins and outs of the phandom. if you have any more questions or would like to know more about any of the things i answered above, please feel free to ask (or message me, whichever you prefer)! i’m going to head off to bed now, but i hope i helped clear some things up for you. the phandom is, quite frankly, a confusing place.

(unedited)

#danny phantom #phanpost #tayscreams

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autism-asks · 8 years ago

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I agree completely with Sabrina and had a similar experience.

I’ve actually spoken to several people including former elementary school teachers, trying to figure out if my autistic traits were obvious. The consensus is that, yes, they were obvious. I didn’t socialize well, I was awkward, I was withdrawn and nervous, but I was extremely “gifted” and so well behaved. The well behaved part is also an issue, because “well behaved” gets used to justify not checking for autism (or adhd) in children. When I first started into heavy autism research, back around 2008 or so, many of the articles I read were about how “well behaved” autistic children (especially girls) were overlooked and never diagnosed. It’s an issue with diagnosing from presentation of traits rather than the traits themselves.

This is true of any neurodivergency, as well. Intelligence gets used to excuse things and sort of depathologize behaviors. You see it a lot with autistic headcanons, as well, where allistics will claim, “he’s not autistic, he’s just a genius.”

Unfortunately, the opposite sometimes occurs too, where autistic people get idealized as genius savants, invalidating all those with either low “intelligence quotients” or alternative intelligence (considering intelligence itself is a misleading concept and can mean a lot of things, and the concept of intelligence is overly conflated with IQ, attempting to make it quantifiable).

- palp

I saw your response to being labelled as "too smart to fit in" or "too smart to be autistic". And so I was wondering what your stance is on the widely accepted notion that people identified as profoundly gifted (iq >160-180 say) have extreme social difficulties (abnormal interests, difficultly communicating with age peers etc) that only resemble autism? Do you think that very often these people are simply autistic and autism can be linked with high iq scores? Or that it's not autism?

Personally, I think that many people with high IQs who are labelled as having autistic traits are, in fact, autistic, but that, due to societal ableism, they are denied a diagnose because many people cannot comprehend the idea of an intelligent autistic person.

I think this is one of the main reasons I wasn’t diagnosed as a kid. I am exceptionally intelligent and was considered one of the gifted students in school. I was advanced enough that classes were created for me throughout elementary school because I was beyond the material we were covering. No one ever questioned my social difficulties. They were considered an aspect of being so smart. Thus, I was never evaluated for autism or ADHD (both of which are now clinically diagnosed). Sure, I had plenty of autistic traits as a kid, but I was smart so why would they question anything?

I think that autistic people can have very high IQ scores or very low IQ scores or anywhere in between. However, I think that for those of us with high IQ scores, our social difficulties and other traits of autism are written off as simply being an aspect of being so intelligent. I think this derives both from the ableist idea that autistic people can’t be that intelligent, but also the idea that most people cannot relate to someone who is so intelligent and thus assume there Must be social difficulties because how could this intelligent person relate to less intelligent people.

Basically, it’s a whole bunch of ableism surrounding the idea that people with high IQs show autistic traits but aren’t autistic. I would argue that the majority of people who have been labelled as such are, in fact, autistic. There may be some highly intelligent people who have some autistic traits but not enough for diagnosis, but I think that the majority of us have simply had our struggles ignored because we excel so much in one or more fields.

That’s my personal take on the matter.

-Sabrina

#intelligence #high IQ #autism #misdiagnosis #ableism #anonymous #mod palp

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