Autistic Hedgehog

Since We’re on the Topic of Autistic Characters Anyway

As we’re talking about this as it is, I thought I’d ask y'all something.

For the past few weeks I’ve been working pretty hard, doing world and foundation building for a science fiction novel starring an autistic main character. Though I do want to address the nature of the way society treats neurodivergence, it’s not meant to be a novel just about the Issues of being autistic, and is in fact supposed to be entertaining space opera. Because it really gets tiresome only seeing canonically autistic characters when it’s all about Issues (and/or stereotypes).

It’s meant for an adult audience (because fuck the idea that autism only occurs in children) and while I’m hoping to keep it from being too magic-tech (like Star Wars) I want to keep the science light enough to appeal to readers who don’t normally enjoy science fiction. Though at the same time I want it to have enough science that only the nerdiest of nerdcore will think there’s not enough. But I’m digressing.

My point is, seeing some of the views of autistic characters and representation in media, how do y'all feel about this? My character is female and actually has a job I don’t think would be, stereotypically, expected of an autistic character. Do some of you still feel uncomfortable with the idea of her being explicitly autistic, or would it bother you less since I am, myself, autistic?

Posted 2 years ago

25 notes

autism, actually autistic, actuallyautistic, autistic characters, autism in media, science fiction, writing, writer, novels,

Re: autistic characters, I prefer them when the writers didn't write them as autistic, because usually characters written to be autistic are very stereotypical (and also mostly male characters).

msemmaclair

Posted 2 years ago

3 notes

autism, actually autistic, actuallyautistic, autistic characters, autism in media, stereotypes, ask, asks,

I prefer characters that are obliquely autistic -- where the medium doesn't say it explicitly and leaves the viewer to their own conclusions. I get anxious when a character is described as autistic, because so many of those portrayals are all about *how hard it is to deal with autistics* or about *magic autistics* instead of being interesting stories about interesting people.

ms-glik

I think that’s a little bit of a double-edged sword, as it often is with a character of any kind of minority status. Because people will make assumptions, like how if a character of color isn’t in some way explicitly stated as such, white readers will assume the character is white.

At the same time, there are stereotypes and other problems to deal with when a character is explicitly autistic. Currently I think media representation is largely a lose-lose situation; either the representation is loaded with stereotypes, or it’s not explicit and therefore it’s questionable whether it truly counts as representation.

Posted 2 years ago

5 notes

autism, actually autistic, actuallyautistic, autistic characters, media representation, autism in media, ask, asks,

Thanks for responding to me earlier. I'm really glad I found your blog -- made me feel like "coming out" on my tumblr. I just wanted to say that the autistic self-advocate blogs I read years ago helped answer the question I kept asking myself with first kid's dx: "you hear about autistic kids all the time, but where are the all autistic adults?" Autistic self-advocates let people know there is a future. Keep on keeping on.

ms-glik

Posted 2 years ago

2 notes

So, I'm following your blog for two reasons. One, you seem to do a lot of awareness stuff, (I'm trying to realize that I'm not alone in autism), and because of the hedgehog (I have my own, her name is Berry, and she is amazing). But thanks... Sorry if it doesn't make sense, it's two weeks to finals, and I'm in the freak out mode.

opalhonors

Finals. Ick. I suggest lots of cuddles with your hedgehog. Assuming of course she likes cuddles. :)

Posted 2 years ago

1 note

Do you or any of your lovely hedgehogs have a problem with a person without autism following this blog? I'd hate to upset or offend anyone and I certainly don't want to come off using my able-bodied privilege.

captain-kale

Generally, anyone is welcome at AH, and a few people who don’t have autism have told me it’s been very informative, following this blog. The only rule is that allistic people don’t come in and try to police us and how we express ourselves here. It is, above all else, a safe space for us. Respect that and you’re more than welcome to follow.

Posted 2 years ago

4 notes

autism, actually autistic, actuallyautistic, autistic hedgehog,

[“I’m raising a child with autism. What’s your superpower?”

Resisting the urge to strange every person who thinks they’re Captain Good Parent for raising an autistic child.]

Could we please just stop acting like raising an autistic child is something that requires being bitten by a radioactive spider or being a bulletproof alien from the planet Krypton? Please? Because it’s really fucking insulting to have people say things that imply that the very act of raising you requires greater than human ability.

P.S. Before any allistics try to crawl into my inbox to gaslight me with how I don’t understand what’s really being said here, I’d like to make it abundantly clear that I have no fucks to give. If your intentions are really so good, fucking think harder next time about how you sound when you say this shit!

Posted 2 years ago

303 notes

autism, actually autistic, actuallyautistic, allistics, allistic parents, ableism, my superpowers let me show you them, autistic hedgehog,

Thank you for running this amazing blog! It gives me a lot of relief to know other people on the spectrum feel the same way I do about issues like the whole April awareness month. It's good to escape from the ignorance and be around some fellow hedgehogs.

Anonymous

I think this calls for Cactihog!

Posted 2 years ago

12 notes

autism, actually autistic, actuallyautistic, cactihog, Autism Acceptance, autism acceptance month,

I'm not your last anon. I just wanted to say thank you for being open to sharing your experiences; I know it's not particularly easy. This part I connected with especially: "But my gift, my talent, is words, communication. I don’t communicate well in spite of my autism, but because of it." I'm a writer too (specifically poetry), and your experiences with reading/writing are similar to mine. Reading was my solace, and I starting writing when I found ways to describe my emotions. Again, thank you.

bendingthewillow

Aw, y’all are just so great. I’ve been so moved by all the support I’ve gotten since that post. I haven’t gotten to all of my mail—my neck and back pain have flared up and there’s some things I need a little time to consider my answer to—but I’m honestly touched. A little saddened, also, to know that so many of us have dealt with similar, horrible circumstances, but glad we have each other.

Posted 2 years ago

5 notes

ask, asks,

Re: autistic characters - To be honest, I quite like seeing autistic characters (although obviously I get annoyed if they're just perpetuating stereotypes). I don't know, I guess I like being able to relate to them. :)

originofsorry

Posted 2 years ago

9 notes

autism, actually autistic, actuallyautistic, autism in media, autistic characters, ask, asks,