Okay, I haven’t watched it myself because I’m ill and stuff like this takes up spoons, but it looks like Atypical isn’t good.
So, I thought I would make a list of my favourite games/shows/movies/books with autistic characters for people to read/watch instead.
1. Power Rangers (2017)
Making the blue ranger autistic was possibly the most obvious thing for any Power Rangers reboot to do, and yet I still can’t believe that they did it. Billy is truly the heart of this movie, but not in the patronising way NTs say that about autistic characters. The film uses the idea that the suits are powered by friendship and Billy is the first one to activate his. It’s truly amazing to watch an autistic character portrayed like this in a blockbuster movie.
On the Edge of Gone uses the end of the world to ask, Who gets to decide who is worth saving? When so much post-apocalyptic fiction treats throwing away disabled people as a given, On the Edge of Gone takes a look at the end of the world through an autistic girl’s eyes and has her ask “But why?” I would highly recommend reading.
No, seriously. A bittersweet tale about a man – Johnny – whose dying wish is to visit the moon, To The Moon follows two doctors who specialise in creating artificial memories as they go back through his life to give him that lunar journey. The man’s wife, River, is autistic, as is his best friend’s wife, Isabelle, and as I have said a thousand times, having more than one autistic character can mean the world for making them seem real. You might expect that, as we are seeing the world through Johnny’s memories, the depiction of River would be incredibly one-sided, but by having Isabelle there as well, it adds a character who can stand up for River.
I won’t say much more about the game’s plot to avoid spoilers, but I will say that if someone had told me before I played this that they wanted to use an autistic person’s different communication style as a way to add heartbreak to a story, I wouldn’t have believed that it could be done in a non-gross way. This game manages it and I cannot listen to the soundtrack without crying.
4. Queens of Geek
NOTE: I still haven’t read the final version of this book, just the pre-release one, so some changes might have occurred in editing.
Another YA book, Queens of Geek is a story about a group of friends going to a convention together. One of the main characters, Taylor, is autistic and her story revolves around how she manages her anxiety when it comes to putting herself out in the world, both in new experiences and relationships. It’s a really sweet story and I would definitely give it a read.
Community is hit and miss, I will admit, but when it’s good, it’s good. A comedy following a Spanish study group in a community college, every character in this show is amazing, including Abed Nadir, who is also autistic. While later seasons can get patchy about representing Abed, I would definitely at least give the first one a watch.
I haven’t actually finished these books, I’m only about halfway through the prologue, but I already love them so much that they have to make the list.
One of my favourite things is having autistic characters in sci-fi and fantasy and really doing something with how their traits interact with the world. The main character of these books – Xandri Corelel – is autistic and, as such, doesn’t bring the same assumptions to communication that allistics bring, allowing her to better communicate with alien species.
Again, I need to finish reading, but so far, I would highly recommend it!
7. The IT Crowd
A British comedy following two autistic IT support workers at a large company, their clueless boss, and a random goth who lives in the server room. A really funny show that once again proves that having multiple autistic characters really helps to round out representation.
NOTE: This show has some really dodgy/outright offensive bits, including a rape joke and an episode-long transphobic joke. It’s good when it’s not doing this, but yeah, it has not aged well.
*cough* So, is this the part where I admit to reading sci-fi romance books unironically?
I actually read the Mandrake Company series of books before the hero of the second book – Gregor Thatcher – was confirmed as autistic by the author, and I cannot stress how awesome it feels to have a headcanon become canon.
Gregor is the head pilot of a galactic mercenary company and the book follows him and a new recruit he used to know getting reacquainted and learning to communicate. If you want a realistic yet optimistic romance with an autistic lead, this is the book for you.
Honourable Mention: Archer
Archer has not been confirmed or denied as autistic by his creators, but Lana speculates that he might be in the show, and that’s good enough for me.
Whether it is for you or not is another question, but looking at Archer through an autistic lens definitely makes for good TV.
Okay, friends, let’s talk about going to protests and weaponizing our whiteness, if in fact we are white.
You know what the protesters who marched with Dr. King wore? Their best. Their clergy stoles, their suits. If you’re a doctor or a nurse? Wear your scrubs. If you’re a parent? Wear your PTA shirt if it’s too hot for a suit. If you’re a student? Dress like you’re going to go volunteer somewhere nice, or wear a t-shirt that proclaims you a member of your high school band, your drama group, your church youth group. Whatever it is, make sure it’s right there with your white face.
This is literally the tactic of the people who marched with King in the 60s, and we need to bring it back, and bring it back HARD.
I do this all the time when I go to marches. I wear my cutest, least-offensive geeky t-shirt, crocs and black pants, or I wear my t-shirt that mentions my kid’s school district, or now I’ll wear the pink t-shirt that says I’m part of the Sisterhood at my shul. If it’s cold enough, I wear a cardigan and jeans and sit my ass in my wheelchair. (I need to anyway.) I put signs on my wheelchair that say things like ‘I love my trans daughter’ and ‘love for all trans children’ or something else that applies to the event. Dress like you are going to an interview if you can, or make yourself look like a parent going to pick up a gallon of milk at the corner store. Make yourself “respectable.” Use respectability politics and whiteness AS A WEAPON.
Fuck yes I will weaponize the fact that I look like a white soccer mom. And you should do this too if you can. Weaponize the fuck out of your whiteness. If you are disabled and comfortable with doing so, turn ableism on its head and weaponize it. Make it so that the cameras that WILL be pointed at you see your whiteness, see your status as a parent, see your status as a community member. See you in your wheelchair or with your cane. If you have privilege or a status that allows you to use it as a weapon or a shield, use it as a shield to defend others or a weapon to break through the bullshit.
I am a citizen of Charlottesville, Virginia. Today (August 12th, 2017) and yesterday (August 11th, 2017) our city saw violent and chaotic rallies by Nazis and white supremacists. Counter-protesters, many of them students of the University of Virginia, which is here in this city, met the Nazi rallies bravely. People have been injured and arressted. People threw bottles filled with cement or urine, and mace and tear gas filled the air. A state of emergency was declared, and store owners nearby cited having police in riot gear blocking the doors of their buildings.
If you wish to donate to directly support protesters, citizens, and minority students at the University of Virginia, here are four links for you.
These are all links in which the money is guaranteed to directly go towards helping Charlottesville citizens specifically, whether through legal fees, or through raising support and awareness for the minority members of our community. I especially recommend choosing either the Solidarity Cville Fund or the Black Student Alliance’s donation page.
Thank you for all the support being sent our city’s way. #DEFENDCVILLE
also please consider donating to the hillel at uva – the brody jewish center. it’s also worth contacting congregation beth israel, which is the only synagogue in charottesville. and let me know if anyone else knows of any other jewish community centers or groups in the area!
So my situation is somewhat different now than it was, say, ten years ago, because now writing is my sole means of supporting myself and my mother. I have two housemates, in part because knowing that people with Reliable Day Jobs are chipping in for approximately ½ the mortgage and bills helps me a lot with keeping the creeping panic from taking me out, but that’s only ½. Everything could go to shit in a hurry if I stopped writing.
TL;DR on the first paragraph alone: I write when I’m low on spoons because if I don’t write, I can’t afford to buy food. The only days I will reliably allow myself to skip are days when I’m on an airplane (zoom!) and days when I’ve just had dental work and am thus too stoned to spell.
But before that…
If you need to be writing–if it’s your path to less depression, or you have a deadline, or you need to feel like you’ve accomplished something for the sake of your sanity–figure out where the lines of “need” are. Now break it into as many pieces as you feel is necessary. Do you need to write 1,000 words? That’s ten units of 100. Maybe you can’t sit down and write 1,000 words, no problem, but I bet you can do 100.
Now do it again. Now do it again. Count it off however you like–pennies in a pile, or a d10 that you turn, or Magic health tokens–and keep doing it, until you have that 1,000. It’ll come faster than you think, and having little goals makes the big one seem less distant and terrifying.
Remember that first drafts are allowed and expected to suck. You’re not writing for publication, you’re writing for productivity. You can revise your first draft into awesomeness, but that comes later. Keep moving forward. Go back only when you absolutely must.
Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t accomplish as much as you wanted to! If you don’t hit 1,000, but you hit 400, you still met four goals! Be proud of yourself for making it that far.
This is quite an interesting YouTube channel concept, and it shows that … Asian chicks kick ass! JESSICA CHOU is a young Asian American woman who has a YouTube channel which basically teaches other girls and women about how to fix their car.
“I think we don’t see as many female mechanics because the industry is still so heavily dominated by men. When we think of a mechanic, we think of men. When we see ads or posters of mechanics, we see men. When we see shows about cars, we see men. It will take a long time to change all of this, but in the 10 short months that I’ve been on this journey, I’ve met so many incredible people who are out to change the game.”
I wish that ao3 had an option to filter warnings (and tbh certain authors) out like I will never ever want to read it and just seeing it puts me off so much that often I end up closing my browser because that content upsets me so much lmao
There is a way to do this but I can’t recall how to do it. it’s something you type into the box for “other filters” or something, I don’t remember. who knows??
It’s not a great option, and I don’t know if you can sort out authors that way, but it’s better than nothing if someone can reblog this with how to do it!
Alrighty friends! It takes some specificity, but you can do this. Let me show you how!
So I started with going to the Sherlock (TV) section of Ao3. On the right we find this lovely section! ((I know I’m going over things you already probably know, but I figure this post may go to new Ao3 users, so bear with me.))
Underneath this, I chose sort by Kudos, because that’s a quick way to find most popular fics, for the sake of this demonstration.
With those filters on, we end up with this being our first two results:
As you can see, we have Nature and Nurture by earlgreytea68, and The Internet Is Not Just For Porn by cyerus. So what if I am utterly sick of seeing earlgreytea68 on my list? Let’s pretend I’ve read all their fics, or that I just don’t like her, or whatever. I want this author out. I go to this section on the right:
In “Search within results” I type earlgreytea68 into the bar, with a minus sign in front. This gives me the following page, upon hitting the sort and filter button:
There goes earlgreytea68! But now I’ve decided that Crack is just not my thing, I’m sick of that, too, for heaven’s sake, I want something reasonable in my gay slash fanfiction about detectives that solve crimes about glowing dogs and irish megalomaniacs. Heaven forbid this get ridiculous.
Well, then I add this to my search:
Which gets rid of everything with that tag. My results are now:
Performance in a Leading Role is now my first result!
You can do this as many times as you want; the biggest problem I have is trying to filter out multi-worded tags. For example, “Secret Relationship” is hard to filter. Better to go with authors you dislike or with words like “DubCon”.
I hope this helps! Also remember that googling site:archiveofourown.org and then adding search terms will mean google searches Ao3 for you, and sometimes that works far better.
Good luck!
An excellent in-depth guide! Thank you!!
omg changed my whole ao3 rarepair game
An excellent guide to filtering on AO3!
You can filter out phrases by enclosing them in quotes. For example, if ABO and Hydra Trash Party are not your things, try:
-“alpha/beta/omega dynamics” -”hydra trash party”
I have more advice!
Say, you’re in your random fandom- I went with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, since I’ve been reading Iron Man stuff recently. Tony Stark is awesome.
But anyway, you’re on the page, and you see that there are 174,774 works! That is way too many for a casual afternoon’s browsing.
And you see that the first one is Peter Parker/Tony Stark and that is not your jam. It doesn’t work for you, or it squicks you, whatever. Wouldn’t life be easier if you could browse without seeing that pairing (or whatever pairing you don’t like)? You can!
First, click on that pairing tag(You may want to open this in another tab, actually.):
and it’ll take you to the page for that pairing tag. Click this button:
and then look at the address bar! The actual page is unimportant. Copy the numbers located here:
and go back to the original search page! Down on the side, in the same place you can get rid of other tags, type -relationship_ids:”the number you just copied”
Then hit ‘sort and filter’ annnd… magic!
The fics with that pairing are gone! You can also do multiple pairings, get rid of any tags you don’t like, and sort it by date or length or kudos, or whatever.
i know a lot of you don’t give a fuck about latinos issues, but venezuela may or may not be entering in a TOTAL dictatorship tomorrow, and i’m so fucking angry, i’m so sad…i’m not venezuelan i’m argentinian and i’m so angry because we can’t do shit to help our venezuelan friends we can do nothing to help the people from venezuela we can just PRAY that everything will okay and venezuela can kick maduro’s ass out of their country, so CAN YOU [THE REST OF THE WORLD] JUST HELP US, LATINOAMERICA, PRAYING FOR VENEZUELA??? please, i’m losing my shit out here because i don’t have not a single way to contact my venezuelan friend and i’m fucking worried. sorry for swearing i’m really freaking out
Fifteen people died in riots yesterday (July 30, 207) alone. People are literally starving to death, not because they don’t have any money, but because there simply isn’t any food in supermarkets across the country. The shelves are completely bare – no food, no water, no toilet paper, no nothing.
This isn’t a political crisis anymore. It’s a humanitarian crisis. And it pisses me off that people don’t care about it as much as they would if this wasn’t happening in a Latinamerican country. You KNOW this wouldn’t have gotten this far if it was France, or the UK, or Canada. But because the people suffering are Latinos, the global community doesn’t give a shit, and that directly leads to people dying.
do you know of anything those of us living in north america or elsewhere can do to help? if not that’s totally fine it’s not your responsibility at all, just wondering since you are a lot closer geographically to what’s happening than i am.
Santuario Luna – Organization dedicating to helping and saving stray animals caught in the midst of the violence. I could only find the website in Spanish, but you can find the donate button at the bottom of the page
If you have sewing skills, you can make and send vests designed to protect against high-impact blows for the protestors with this pattern here. Again, it´s in Spanish but there´s very helpful images
Comparte por una vida (Sharing for Life) feeds malnourished Venezuelan children victims of food scarcity and extreme inflation that causes what little food there is to be basically unattainable (instagram)
if you give me a task with no deadline i will literally never do it but if you give me a deadline i will get it done exactly 1 hour before the deadline even if the deadline is in six years
god dammit my tags got cut off AGAIN I’m hitting the tag limit on like every post lately, I really need to work on that
Anyway I went on to say that there are 5 major executive functions of the human brain. These are the ‘higher functions’ that really distinguish between a human brain and that of any other animal. We have added intelligence on top of that, but these are the functional abilities our brains have that the rest of the animal kingdom does not have on a a structural level. There are 5 of them. ADHD affects all 5. And none of them are actually ‘attention’ (the closest function to anything that can reasonably be called ‘attention’ is what’s called Working Memory, which is your brain’s ability to hold a specific task in mind to come back to it; distractions are inevitable, but a healthy brain will hear a phone ring, look up, and remember to go back to what it was doing before. An ADHD brain will hear the phone riBANG ALL MEMORY OF THE CURRENT TASK IS GONE. ADHD brain looks up, sees the name on the caller id, oh it’s an unknown number, oh it’s probably some political pollster, oh man this year’s election is just awful I can’t believe people are supporting that angry cheeto. Oh cheetos I’m hungry I should go make a snack. What kind of snacks do we have? Did I remember to buy cereal at the store the other day? What about dog food? Oh my god I forgot to let the dog back in the house this is why I should have gotten a cat. Oh my friend sent me a great cat video earlier I should watch that. AND GUESS WHAT YOU NEVER GO BACK TO WHAT YOU WERE DOING BECAUSE THE STRUCTURE IN YOUR BRAIN THAT SUPPORTS RETURNING TO A PARTIALLY COMPETED TASK DOES NOT EXIST THE WAY IT DOES FOR A NORMAL HEALTHY BRAIN. This is why even if you start a task well before a deadline you can’t keep to it until it’s been completed; the consequences of it being done MUST be more compelling than everything else in the immediate environment for the brain to see it. No matter how much time you give yourself to complete the task, if you have ADHD it will take you 100% of that time, every time, which is why having ADHD actually TEACHES YOU to put things off, because it’s the only way to shorten the total time actually spent completing the task – the disorder rewards you for self-destructive behavior because it’s the only way you can get things done at all, and you end up living in a permanent state of extreme stress, hopping from one emergency deadline to the next even though you hate yourself for it every single time). The disorder has been horribly named in a way that trivializes just how serious and life-ruining it actually is.
ADHD is a very, very serious disorder and the pop psych/common understanding of it makes it seem HORRIBLY trivial compared to the real damage it actually does to people’s lives.
…
…
…ohhh…
This is both fascinating and… possibly slightly alarming.
Make sure you pick up the latest editions since our understanding of ADHD/ADD has changed a lot since those were first published.
If anyone needs further books recs or help finding specific resources, feel free to IM me or send me an ask. I’m not totally up to date on current stuff, but I’ve had my diagnoses for almost 30 years and totally count as experienced old fart now. XD
I'm a defeatist but I don't have to be 