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scriptautistic · 7 years

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Masterpost: On calling characters autistic

Part 2: What if “autistic” isn’t a term that exists in my story?

Part of the calling characters autistic series

Part 1, “Whether you should explicitly call your character autistic, and how you should go about it” can be found here

So, you’ve read the first post of the series, but it doesn’t quite work with your story.

Maybe your story is set before the diagnosis of “autism” was invented. Maybe your story is set in the distant future and it doesn’t seem realistic for people to still refer to autism with the same vocabulary. Maybe your story is set in a completely different universe or another world. Maybe your character is in another situation where they wouldn’t realistically have access to language about autism.

Suffice to say, your character is still autistic and autism still exists, but the place and time your story takes place in means that either diagnosis is unlikely or the terminology used is unlikely to be the same that we use now. So… what can you do? We have already spoken about why representation is important, and this is true even if your story is set in a different place and time, so here are some ideas (many of which have been adapted from this post by scriptshrink).

General strategies

Here are a few things that can be used in your story, whether the setting is the distant future or the ancient past.

Just call ’em autistic anyway Ok, maybe it is not completely realistic, but it’s your story and your choice. It’s up to you whether you think that this is something that will break your audience’s willing suspension of disbelief.

Call ’em autistic, but only on a meta/narrator level This option has the benefit of allowing you to make it explicit that the character is autistic, but can sound a little clumsy, and can be a bit jarring for readers. Some people can pull it off better than others - it depends on your writing style. Mod Aira previously suggested writing something along the lines of:

“In another time, he would have been called ‘autistic’, but that word hadn’t been invented yet. Lacking such a precise term, he was left with a pervasive feeling of being different from others, but no easy way to describe it…”

Don’t explicitly call them autistic, but make it as clear as possible without using the word in the main text Mod Cat has previously suggested:

“Another way you might make clear your character is autistic without using the word is having the narrator or character explain how he’s always felt different because (autistic traits), and how he’s come to realize he works differently than most people because (autistic traits).”

We’ll go into more detail about making clear “hints” that the character is autistic in our next post in this series.

If you do choose this method, make their autism explicit when discussing the character. Calling your character autistic in the description/summary is a good way of making it clear outside the story itself, and you can also discuss it in comments and interviews.

Using author’s notes Whatever your decision about which terminology to use, adding an author’s note at the beginning of the story gives you the chance to explain your reasoning. It can also be an opportunity to explain some of the history behind the terms that have been used to describe autism. Some authors choose to include a glossary to give a similar result.

Stories set in the past

Autism has only really been recognised relatively recently, and in the early days of it being recognised very few people would have been in a position to be able to access diagnosis. This means that most historical fiction with autistic characters can’t call the characters autistic if you want to use language that is accurate to the period.

Try out the general strategies we suggested. The third post in this series will have more suggestions about how to strongly imply your character is autistic, which may be useful if you choose not to use the word “autistic” in the story itself. Remember that you can combine this with explicitly calling the character autistic when you discuss them outside the story!

Stories set in the future

Aiming for “realistic” use of language in a future setting is tricky – language in general changes very quickly, but the language related to mental diagnoses develops particularly quickly. To give you an idea of the extent of change that we’ve seen in language in general, here is a two-and-a-half minute video about how English has changed in the last 1000 years.

So, this means that you have a lot of creative freedom about your choice of language! Most writers, however, choose to mostly use contemporary language, and only change a few words.

So, what can you try? Here are the ideas we discussed in this post:

You might begin with an author’s note in the introduction about your choice of language relating to autism and other diagnoses - whether this is to keep it the same as in the present day, or to adapt it.

Maybe in your society they do not usually call it autism, but they acknowledge that this is something that used to be called autism, even though it is now called silfran.

Or, if you want it to still be called autism in-universe, there are some other options:

They refer to the “old texts” which tell them about the diagnoses

The term “autistic” has remained in the public consciousness because Sten Illiad, (the inventor of the replicator/founder of the Syndian religion/author of a treatise on economics and philosophy/whatever suits your world building best), was famously autistic

The term autistic is slightly modified to show that the language has changed (“he is autistish”, “she thinks autiswise”)

There was a period of time when the naming of different neurotypes was taboo, so the old names were revived relatively recently

Fantasy settings

As well as the strategies we have already suggested, being set in another world means that you can try some of the following (some of these might also work well for stories set in the future):

Use fancier-sounding existing names “Young Æthelred’s words will not be returning. The thane tells me that his son has dementia infantilis - the merfolk call it childhood disintegration”

Use or adapt other diagnostic terms You could choose to use or adapt other diagnostic terms related to the autism spectrum: pervasive developmental disorder, nonverbal learning disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder, etc.

Modify the word “autism” to better suit your setting This could be making small changes (like the “autistish” and “autiswise” examples we used earlier), or you could borrow terms from other languages.

Borrow terms from other languages This could be taking translations which are similar but spelt and pronounced a little differently, like “outisme” (Afrikaans) and “otîzm” (Kurdish) or using less familiar translations like “uathachas” (Gaelic).

Create new words to describe autism This could be as simple as calling something X’s syndrome, but defining in the same way that you would describe autism. Alternatively, you could create your own term for “autism” based on the etymology of the English word:

autism (n.) 1912, from German Autismus, coined 1912 by Swiss psychiatrist Paul Bleuler (1857-1939) from Greek autos “self” (see auto-) + -ismos suffix of action or of state. [via etymonline]

Here are some other prefixes which mean “self” (although you might choose to create a completely new word that doesn’t basically mean “self absorbed”):

Ipse- (Latin) (which is where we get the word “ipseity”)

Selv- (Norwegian/Danish)

If you do create new words to describe autism, make sure that you make the link to today’s terms clear - either within the story, or using a glossary or author’s note.

That’s it for now! Of course, we haven’t been able to cover every possible situation and setting, but hopefully we have given you ideas that you can adapt to suit your story.

Next time on On calling characters autistic:

Part 3 - hinting We discuss ways to strongly imply that your character is autistic (techniques that you will ideally combine with explicitly calling them autistic)

#masterpost #wording #calling characters autistic #fantasy

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