#autistic ayda

[lightning-system]

Hey.

I really wish Ayda was in Season 3.

And yes ofc because she wonderful and smart and cool and a fun character. But mostly, mostly because she's autistic.

She's the only confirmed character to be autistic, and she's the second character who's disability we've seen actually impact them. And honestly I'm a little disappointed not to see more disability visibility in a show that's know for their representation.

I miss Ayda.

I thought when season 3 was announced we'd finally get to see Ayda being openly, knowledgeably autistic after a discovery at the end of season 2, but we haven't gotten that.

And there's lots of good reasons Ayda isn't on this season! She's a powerful wizard and can disrupt the flow, Brennan was intentionally trying to remove NPCs to see the characters without them, a ton of NPCs clutters the board and battle. And honestly, there doesn't need to be a reason. Brennan can remove and add NPCs as he sees fit.

The problem only occurs when you're effectively moving 50% of your active disability representation off the table. The problem isn't removing Ayda (as much as I love her). The problem is that you can't remove Ayda without removing half your disability representation.

So what can you do?

Simple- add more actively disabled characters. This wouldn't be a problem if Ayda and Lydia were the only representation on the playing field. I've seen Dimension 20 add more disability rep over the seasons, and I really hope they step it up a notch and keep working on that, because I'm getting really tired of waiting for Ayda to pop up just to see someone like me on TV.

Also please don't come at me with things like: 'well Fabian is disabled he only has one eye.' Because okay yes but this is never acknowledged as impacting his life in any way, as a disability does. Or things like 'I headcanon this character as disabled because xyz' Because yeah, me too! But it's never actually said and we need active disability rep. We deserve to actively say the words disabled and see ourselves exist.

TLDR; Dimension 20, you don't have to bring Ayda back, but could you please bring more disability representation to your table?

[midnightfox450]

Ayda asking Adaine if she's "hard to be around" in ep 7 of fhsy is such a heartwrenching look into her character that I'm shocked we got it within the first episode she's introduced in.

Like that entire episode you can tell she wasn't meant to be that deep of a character beyond "she's kooky just like her dad! 🤪". Her antisocial nature is amplified to a pretty stereotypical/dehumanized extent, to the point where she's uncharacteristically mean to the bad kids (& they're uncharacteristically mean to her back).

But then Adaine offers her some kindness. And there's that little exchange that says so much.

Ayda thinks of herself as hard to be around.

She says it so matter-of-factly, almost as if she's used to hearing it from other people. She is not the same as her father. This is not the case of a person who is unapologetically "weird" and doesn't even realize it. Ayda is aware that she is not normal socially. She doesn't have the words to articulate why that is just yet, so she blames herself. She's insecure. And she's just so lonely.

Ayda gets a lot more depth and development as the series goes on. But the core of her character has always been an autistic teen girl who doesn't know yet what a treasure it is to be around her.

[foursidecity]

Their so silly and cute

[countv0ncunt]

MY DAUGHTER Ayda Aguefort.

Move along Arthur 😠

[dandelion-roots]

[ID: a digital sketch of ayda and fig from fantasy high dancing. they're holding hands and smiling, eyes closed. one of ayda's wings is wrapped around fig and one of her hands is on fig's waist. behind them is a falling star. End ID]

[gods-favorite-autistic]

Happy lesbian visibility week and autism acceptance month to Ayda Aguefort by the way

[tomurakii]

Also of course Kipperlily lost her shit about Kristen not taking the campaign seriously. She's a kid who gets passionate about shit and her "friends" use it to take the piss and make her mad on purpose. It reminds me of my own childhood or the treatment of other neurodivergent kids in primary school, where you'd say you don't like being touched or that you want your stuff organised a certain way or bring a fidget toy or something to school with you and some kid would come and harrass you and move stuff and take things out of your hands just to get you to have a meltdown or give them a reaction they can laugh at you about.

She cares about the presidency, and thinks Kristen is taking it to fuck with her on purpose just like Ruben did with their party name and countless shithead kids probably did in the past.

[thelongestwalk]

Wip of Ayda stimming with magic ✨✨✨

[my-clerical-gnomance]

WAIT OK . last season we had ayda learning that she was autistic at the very end

that means this season we could have fully realized autistic ayda on the screen . understanding her own needs and not tampering herself for others , having friends and a girlfriend who love and support all of her . imagine her infodumping unashamedly ! imagine her learning that she’s not just there to be useful , and it’s ok for her to need help ! imagine her stimming !!! ( dimension 20 cast if you don’t let that girl stim i swear to corn god )

[talesandfluff]

You see there’s one day that Ayda is just weeping tears of joy, and she’s got a whole stack of books that Jawbone has given for her about autism and about the autism spectrum and you see that she goes "This is… normal. This is normal. This is normal." And you see Jawbone shrugs and pats and rubs her head.

[thespoonisvictory]

strong disagree on takes that are saying that the intrepid heroes just disliked rapunzel because her design was offputting or because of her social mannerisms. 2 of the first things we learn about rapunzel are that:

1. a nat20 insight check doesn’t reveal any of her inner thoughts and feelings, just gives them the knowledge that she is an incredibly fake person who could be hiding anything. usually, a check that high means brennan gives you the whole story, meaning she was incredibly good at hiding

2. her hair is snaking throughout the entire castle, and can be used to watch them at any turn

those two things to me are the differentiator for why they were frightened of rapunzel, because she was learning everything about them while they could learn nothing about her

[lightning-system]

Pain

Fig slams a final note down in her guitar, a sound that goes ricocheting through the arena as everyone cheers and Fig almost collapses right then and there. But she doesn't. Instead she breathes and bellows out “thank you Bastion City,” and exits stage left, Gorgug right in front of her.

The moment they're behind scenes, Fig collapses into a chair, heaving breaths. A water bottle is pushed into her hands and she takes it, swallowing deep gulps as her legs shake and tremble. She pants, exhales, and wipes the sweat out of her eyes. She puts everything into her performances, and her body knows it. She shifts her position and her hip protests at the movement, flaring pain across her side. She winces, and someone else slides her some ibuprofen.

Or: After a Sig Figs show, Fig hurts.

[haltraveler]

I'm watching through Fantasy High Sophomore Year for the first time and Ayda Aguefort is such a special character.

I find that with most media depictions of autistic people, even ones I tend to enjoy, the storyteller takes an outside-in approach, where they start with what they, as an allistic observer, see autistic people doing and make inferences about what that means about our thoughts and emotions. And this means that even when the portrayal is done sensitively it still clearly a story about how autistic people seem to the world.

By contrast, what makes Ayda so unique to me is that she is an autistic character who is portrayed from the inside out. By that I mean that it feels like Brennan started his characterization by looking at how autistic people describe our own experiences. So there's this focus in his portrayal of Ayda on how the world seems to her. And that's a kind of empathy that I do not see in other portrayals of autistic characters.

[autisticgirliesbracket]

Autistic Girlies Bracket: Round 2, Side B

Matchup 6

Only your vote can determine which of these autistic girlies will move on to the next round.

MARCY WU MASTERPOST MARINA MASTERPOST AYDA AGUEFORT MASTERPOST

[Image ID. Image with a purple to pink gradient background that is split into thirds by two jagged white lines. There is a purple 'VS' symbol in the centre of each line. On the left of the image is Marcy Wu from Amphibia. In the centre of the image is Marina from Splatoon. On the right of the image is Ayda Aguefort from Dimension 20: Fantasy High. End ID.]

[lily-valley-hyperfixates]

Ok so I thought I was fine with my Ayda withdrawl but the SECOND she showed up in the finale I immediately realized how dearly I loved her and how much I missed her

[fuzzycheesecakenightmare]

What if I hc Fabian Aramais Seacaster as autistic and wrote a fic about him and Ayda bonding over them both not fitting in to the pirate steryotype what then what would you do