Autism and Fandom

Autistic fans are extremely common in some fandoms and have made notable contributions. Autism has also been portrayed in various ways in fanworks and media.
==Special Interests==
Autistic people are known for having intense, specialized, and sometimes limited interests which are known as "hyperfocus". The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network (ASAN) describes these as "very strong interests in things other people don’t understand or seem to care about." Autistic fans may have an entire fandom as a special interest, or their interest may be in a specific character or actor, or a self-developed OC or AU; or they may focus on technical aspects of production, set design, etc. 
In addition to hyperfocus, some autistic people, because they have a unique acquaintance with a certain fandom, can often express it excessively, which some call "infodump", however, this act is not exclusive to autistic people, with other neurodivergent or neurotypical people involved in its meaning of this term.
Autistic people can be quite prolific in documenting canon or creating fanworks involving a special interest:
===Curatorial Fandom===
Autistic fans may enjoy collecting and memorizing facts about canon, such as cataloguing Pokémon types or learning the extensive lore of the Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, or ASoIaF/Game of Thrones universes. This tendency may lend itself to participation in curatorial fandom. However, some autistic fans have objected to or outright rejected the "curatorial fan" label, as they find it inaccurate, limiting, or disparaging. Others point out that it is possible to belong to both the curatorial and transformative "sides" of fandom, and that having a detailed knowledge of canon may allow a fan to deeply engage with a fictional world, helping them to create varied, imaginative, or canon-faithful fanworks.
In 2018, in response to the Tumblr post Not to be petty but the divide between “curatorial” and “transformative” fandom is completely arbitrary by patrexes, some autistic fans wrote: 
==Stimming==
===Repeated Consumption of Media===
Stimming (short for "self-stimulation") is known as stereotypy in clinical parlance. It refers to repetitive or ritualized behaviours that autistics engage in because they feel pleasant, calming, or help deal with sensory overload. The term was originally a deliberate takeoff on masturbation, coined by Dr. Ivar Lovaas, who used shock and other brutal means to "extinguish" behaviors associated with autism, including these repeated motions or actions. He believed he could train autistic children to choose (or at least mimic) normality through reward and punishment.Don Moser, "Screams, Slaps and Love: A surprising, shocking treatment helps far-gone mental cripples". Life, May 7, 1965, photographs by Allen Grant. This horrible extremely graphic article is available in some places on-line along with criticism and analyses from autistic writers and professionals. Aversive "therapy" is also discussed in Donald R. Katz's “The Kids With the Faraway Eyes: the Strange Secret World of Autism", Rolling Stone, March 8, 1979. As LGBT people have reclaimed "queer", many autistics have reclaimed "stimming" in a positive sense.
Some non-autistic neurodivergent people, including variable attention stimulus (ADHD), also engage in stimming behaviours. In a fannish context, this may cause autistics and people with ADHD to enjoy watching the same movie, episode, or scene repeatedly, or to enjoy re-reading a favourite book or re-playing a favourite video game.
As October 2018, a post on Pillowfort explained:
Other autistics and fans with ADHD echoed qwertynerd97's thoughts in the comments:
===Stim Content===
"Stims" are a form of fan-generated content that has emerged within autistic and ADHD circles of fandom. They generally consist of images, gifs, and other visual content designed to elicit a soothing or pleasant feeling, similar to ASMR content. Moodboards created for stimming purposes are referred to as stimboards.
An entire subculture of stim content creators has emerged on Tumblr. Blogs dedicated to stim content are known as stimblogs, and may be considered a form of aesthetic blog. Some stimblogs seek to appeal to specific fannish interests, creating and curating stim content inspired by fandoms such as Pokémon,Bulbasaur stimboard by stimmypokemon on Tumblr"Galarian Ponyta stimboard for anon" from soft-stims on TumblrShiny Wooloo stimboard by chewynecklace on Tumblr Harry Potter,superhogwartsstims blog on Tumblr and Game of Thrones."Sansa Stark stimboard for anon" from stimmywombat on Tumblr Others seek to evoke specific moods, themes, or aesthetics, such as "winter stims"winter-calm blog on Tumblr or "80s-core stims."earth-stim-and-fire blog on Tumblr Others seek to appeal to specific groups, such as "witchy stims" for witches and those interested in the occult,raenwitch-stims blog on Tumblr or "trans stims" for transgender people and their allies.bluepinkwhite blog on Tumblr
There is also a mascot - Tbh (aka Yippee Yippee) - used especially on Tumblr, but which has also gained prominence on Twitter.
Stim images are also collected on Pinterest.
==Autistic Characters==
===Explicit and Implied Representations===
Explicit representations of autism are still relatively uncommon in mainstream media. While there are more explicitly autistic characters than many people realize, very few have achieved mainstream recognition or substantive amounts of associated fan activity. The work the character appears in being little-known, the character itself occupying a minor role within the work, the character being considered poor representation, and the work the character appears in being of a type that just generally tends to have smaller or non-existent fandoms can all contribute to the relative lack of fan activity related to these characters—though often it is a combination of many different factors. 
In some cases, characters have been implied in canon to be on the spectrum, but the creators have declined to confirm or deny fan speculations. One example is Temperance Brennan of Bones, whose creator, Hart Hanson, has stated that he based the character on an autistic friend, and that if the show had been on cable "we would have said from the beginning that [she] has Asperger’s," but because it got picked up by network television, they "decided not to label a main character, for good or for bad."
Many high-profile representations have drawn criticism from autistic fans. They view them as perpetuating harmful myths and stereotypes about autism, such that it always makes a person rude, immature, or totally devoid of empathy. Characters that have been widely criticized by autistic fans include Sam Gardner of Atypical and Sheldon Cooper of The Big Bang Theory. The show's creators have stated that they chose not to "diagnose" Sheldon because they feared doing so would require them to accurately depict autism and that this would be too difficult on a sitcom.
Other implied representations come from characterization documents. For example, the internal bio of Cyrus from Pokémon Diamond and Pearl was leaked online in the 2024 hack of Game Freak. This document described him with "自閉的," which could mean "tendency to be socially withdrawn and self focused" or "Autistic tendencies" depending on context. 自閉 is how "Autism" is written in Japanese, but it does not in it of itself mean a diagnosis or even a reference to Autism. Soon afterwards, a Twitter post from a well-known Pokémon leaker stating that "Cyrus is canonically autistic" alongside an image of a machine translation of "自閉的" went viral, eventually garnering over 4 million views. Many fans took this literally, especially after a Twitter Community Note saying that it did not was removed around a day after it was first posted. Fans had been headcanoning Cyrus was Autistic for years before this and few were surprised by the idea, but the leak did not make his representation explicit.
====Canonically Autistic Characters====
The total number of canonically autistic characters (regardless of media form, publication date, country of origin, quality of the portrayal, popularity, or associated fan activity) is in the many hundreds. Examples of canonically autistic characters, confirmed either within the text or by creator Word of God, that have attained some level of mainstream recognition include:
* Richard Carmody of All Creatures Great and Small ‘All Creatures Great And Small’ Season 4: Richard Carmody makes bow ties and neurodivergence cool ; archive llink (March 2024) 
*Rebecca Blithely of Strange Empire
*Billy Cranston of the 2017 film Power Rangers
*Entrapta of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
*Abed Nadir of CommunityMatthew Rosza, "These Are The TV Characters Getting Asperger's Wrong, From Someone Who Has It", Mic
*Saga Norén of the The BridgeRosemary Collins "Saga Noren, the Autistic Superwoman of 'The Bridge'", The Toast 
* Spencer Reid of Criminal MindsJason Wiese, "7 Great TV Characters Who Are On The Spectrum", Cinema Blend
*Symmetra of OverwatchAllegra Frank, "Overwatch fan theory about Symmetra finally confirmed by Blizzard", Polygon, March 9, 2017
* Tommy Westphall from St. Elsewhere
===Fan Interpretations===
Due to the relative rarity of canon examples, some fans interpret characters as autistic-coded, or personally view them as autistic. They may write meta articles explaining their perspective, sometimes citing detailed canonical evidence. There are blogs entirely devoted to autistic headcanons.autisticheadcanons blog on Tumblrautismheadcanons blog on Tumblrautism-headcanons blog on Tumblr Some fans also write fics focusing on their autistic interpretations/headcanons. As of 2023, there are 40,073 works in the "Autism" tag on Archive of Our Own."Autism" tag on Archive of Our Own while wider fan speculation circulates.
For example, author Barbara Jacobs has suggested that Spock serves as a possible role model for those with Asperger’s SyndromeBarbara Jacobs, Loving Mr Spock: The Story of A Different Kind of Love, London: Michael Joseph/Penguin, 2003, p. 39., while manny0101 has asked why "everyone" seems to ignore Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory being on the Autism spectrum.manny0101, "Sheldon is on the Autism spectrum. Why does everyone ignore it?", Reddit, 1st November 2021. Similarly, it might be questioned whether antisocial Austin James from the short-lived science fiction series Probe (1988) was displaying behaviours possibly associated with autism.
Such interpretations and headcanons haven't been met with universal support within fandom. Some autistic fans object to labelling specific characters as autistic because they see it as reinforcing negative stereotypes. Other fans have emphasized the importance of maintaining a distinction between canon and personal interpretations/headcanons. Misunderstandings and frustrations may occur between people who do maintain this distinction and people who don't, because these factions give different interpretations to the term "autistic character" (those who do maintain the distinction tend to only use "autistic character" for those characters autism is canon, whereas those who do not tend to use "autistic character" for both canon representations and headcanon). In 2021, controversy arose when writer Gita Jackson characterized Hermione Granger as "annoying" and a "know-it-all" on Twitter, leading autistic Harry Potter fans to accuse her of perpetuating ableist stereotypes on the basis that they see Hermione as autistic-coded.Reuban Baron, "'Autistic Hermione' & 'Queer POC Snape' Show Potter Fandom Misunderstands Coding", CBR This sparked debate in fandom about the line between between intentional coding and personal interpretations.
Sometimes acafans have waded into discourse to voice concerns about autistic character interpretations. In 2012 and 2013, medical student wellingtongoose released a series of controversial meta, arguing against autistic interpretations of Sherlock of the eponymous BBC series from a clinical perspective."Walking Nightmares For Medical Student - In Defence Of Mycroft And Sherlock's Normalcy" by wellingtongoose on LiveJournal"Sherlock, Himself and His Asperger's" by wellingtongoose on LiveJournal"Sherlock Does not Have Asperger's or Autism - Thanks, From 4 Psychiatrists" by wellingtonboots on AO3 In the earliest meta, she argued that Sherlock could not be on the spectrum because he displayed an understanding of human emotion and empathy for other characters, claiming that autistic people are "physically unable to experience empathy as evidenced by brain scans" and that "One of the defining features of autism is below average IQ." Wellingtongoose also asserted that "diagnosing" fictional characters was harmful, but subsequently proposed that he fit the criteria for schizoid personality disorder."Diagnosing Sherlock - Schizoid not Asperger’s" by wellingtongoose on Tumblr The metas were roundly called out by autistic fans for propagating ableist myths and talking over autistic voices. Autistics have long spoken of "feeling too much" and experiencing others' perceived emotional pain as intensely as their own (affective empathy), but may have difficulty describing what they are feeling (alexithymia).Marga Vicedo, "Between Happy and Sad Lie Partly Cloudy; Jessica Park's Loving Intelligence." Beacon Press, May 25, 2021. Artist Jessica Park, who was considered "profoundly autistic" as a child, synthesized personal terminology using mathematics and weather to communicate feeling "too good" as well as "hate" and nuanced emotions in between extreme states.Rebecca Brewer & Jennifer Murphy, "People with Autism Can Read Emotions, Feel Empathy". Scientific American, July 13, 2016.Maia Szalavitz, "Asperger's theory does about-face". The Toronto Star, May 14, 2009.Steve Silberman, It’s time we dispelled these myths about autism. BBC, October 6, 2015. Neurological research has shown that the amygdala, a part of the brain associated with the regulation of emotion, is hyperactive in autistics.Jared Wadley, "Overactive brain keeps teens with autism from adjusting to social situations", Michigan NewsSarah Deweerdt, "Amygdala, the brain’s threat detector, has broad roles in autism", Spectrum News Thus, autistics may appear to be remote or nonreactive in intense situations in order to avoid being emotionally overwhelmed. 
Creators have occasionally commented on autistic interpretations of characters. Hannibal (TV series) creator Bryan Fuller has repeatedly refuted the idea that Will Graham is autistic. In one interview, he stated that Will has an "empathy disorder where he feels way too much," and in another he described Will's empathy as "the opposite of" autism.Denis Faye, "It's a Matter of Taste", Writer's Guild of America Autistic Fannibals have criticized these statements as perpetuating ableist myths.
====Characters Frequently Interpreted As Autistic====
*6 of the 2009 film 9
*Tiffany Aching from Discworld
*Tina Belcher of Bob's Burgers
*Stede Bonnet from Our Flag Means Death
*Cole of Dragon Age
*Will Graham of Hannibal
*Beth Harmon of The Queen's Gambit
*Sherlock Holmes of Sherlock
* L of Death Note, posted by lacunarity 1 October 2004, and , posted by drworm 4 October 2004 in death_note on LiveJournal
* Lan Wangji from Mo Dao Zu Shi/The Untamed 
*Luna Lovegood of Harry Potter
* Ami Mizuno from Sailor Moon
*Peridot of the cartoon Steven Universe
*Newt Scamander of Fantastic Beasts
* Pidge from Voltron: Legendary Defender
* Helaena Targaryen of House of the Dragon"Is Helaena on the spectrum?" thread on r/houseofthedragon on Reddit"Analyzing Helaena Targaryen's words" thread r/houseofthedragon on Reddit
*Many, if not most of the cast of characters in Parks and Recreation can be seen as autistic or otherwise neurodivergent: Leslie, Ben, April, Andy, Ron, Chris, Gary, and Perd Hapley
*Numerous characters from My Hero Academia, including Midoriya Izuku, Uraraka Ochako, Iida Tenya, Tsuyu Asui, Todoroki Shouto, Bakugou Katsuki, Hadou Nejire, Koji Koda, and several others. 
====Fanworks Focused on Autistic Characters====
*and the dreams that you're dreaming will surely come true one day by eggheadwizard (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
* hold on hope (it's the last thing that's holding me) by orphan_account (BuzzFeed Unsolved)
*old errors by dhe20 (SPOP)
* soft shimmers by TheQuietWings (Supernatural)
*Sprig on the Spectrum by CaptainJZH (Amphibia)
* Stop being so picky by Fangirl_In_Gray (Sherlock)
*The Sun Will Come Up, and the Seasons Will Change by Juliko or SaoirseParisa (Infinity Train)
==Meta==
* We Are Not Like the Other Kids by Merlin Missy (October 2013)
==Further Reading==
*Paul Collins, Not Even Wrong: Adventures in Autism. Bloomsbury, 2008.
*Steve Silberman, NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity. Avery, 2015.
*NOS Magazine, a news and commentary source for thought and analysis about neurodiversity culture and representation. Folded in 2018 due to lack of funding but according to @NOSEditorial on twitter they will "...figure out the $$$. Patreon has been put on hold until we get a new funding stream".
*Autism Is Me, published in Disability and Society 37 (2022, Issue 3). A study in which autistics were asked to explain and describe autism as an identity rather than a disease or disorder, and discussed the effect that medical and popular stereotypes have on them and how they manage and correct them in everyday life. "Such methods included reframing to more positive understandings of autism, the reclamation of language, and using concealment and disclosure strategically."
*Autistic Community & the Neurodiversity Movement Website
*From Disorders of Affect to Mindblindness: Framing the History of Autism Spectrum Disorders, Autism and Representation, Chloe Silverman -- Cornell University (28-30 October 2005)
*The Autism History Project, created and is maintained by Ellen Herman in the Department of History at the University of Oregon.
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Disability