Autistic representation in fiction

From ActuallyAutistic Wiki
Revision as of 22:52, 3 November 2022 by Jpt (talk | contribs) (→‎Television: Added Zach from Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; fixed italic formatting on Rufus Whedon)

I think this could be better organized by media type --Fire Eider (talk) 13:18, 24 August 2022 (UTC)

General Discussion

Animation

  • Entrapta - She-Ra and the Princesses of Power - (confirmed by showrunner ND Stevenson)
  • Marcy Wu - Amphibia - (semi-canon? When a fan brought it up to the show creator, with the supporting opinion of psychologist friends, he said he would “default to you and your trained colleagues on this one.”)
  • Max Jerry Horowitz - Mary and Max - (canon)

Books

  • Blackwolf - "Soon I Will Be Invincible" - (canon)
  • Christopher Boone - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (canon)

Plays

  • Christopher Boone - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (canon)

Movies

  • Elle Woods - Legally Blonde - (fan theory [1])
  • Raymond Babbitt - Rain Man - (canon)
  • Wendy - Please Stand By - (canon)

Television

  • Abed Nadir - Community - (canon)
  • Charles Hayden-Savage - Only Murders in the Building - (coded)
  • Daria - Daria - (coded)
  • Drea - Everything's Gonna Be Okay - (canon)
  • Dr. Temperance Brennan - Bones - (never said in canon, but creator said she was based off someone they knew irl who is Autistic)
  • Fiona Helbron - Elementary - (canon)
  • Gary Bell - Alphas - (canon)
  • Julia - Sesame Street - (canon)
  • Kevin Blake - Eureka - (canon - He was "cured" when an alternate timeline was created. Autistic people... were not thrilled with that outcome)
  • Lieutenant Commander Data - Star Trek: The Next Generation - (Probably best classified as "accidentally autistic". He has autistic traits and many autistic people see themselves represented in Data, but it seems that the writers of the show did not intentionally write him as autistic. Brent Spiner, the actor who plays Data, said in an interview that he was glad that he didn't know Data to be autistic, because he was afraid that he would have pushed the writers to write him in a certain way, which "could have ruined the entire thing".[2])
  • Lieutenant Commander Spock - Star Trek: The Original Series (and more) - (Another character that is probably best classified as "accidentally autistic". While not explicitly written as such Template:Citation needed, many autistic people see themselves represented by Spock.)
  • Matilda Moss - Everything's Gonna Be Okay - (canon)
  • Nicholas Moss - Everything's Gonna Be Okay - (canon)
  • Rufus Whedon - Locke & Key
  • Sam Gardner - Atypical - (canon)
  • Spencer Reid - Criminal Minds - (not confirmed canon aside from actor who plays him)
  • Will Graham - Hannibal - (in the first episode, he is said to be somewhere on the Autism Spectrum)
  • Woo Young Woo - Extraordinary Attorney Woo
  • Zach - Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Games

  • Ibushi Gin - Your Turn to Die (canon)

Some of my favourite autistic-coded fictional queer women

  • Robin Buckley - Stranger Things (coded but not officially canon)
  • Jillian Holtzmann - Ghostbusters (coded but not officially canon)
  • Janine Kishi - The Baby-sitters Club (coded but not officially canon)

References