I wonder if part of the reason I have a lot of issues with rhetoric of supernatural/monstrous creatures having a ~residual human core~ is…

Let’s talk about neurodevelopmental disorders

Given a character with features that would be almost self-evidently related to a neurodevelopmental disorder if present in a real-world human intelligence, you’d think I’d have common cause with the “love them back into humanity ” audience set.

After all, the elements in that case that are interesting me are arguably fundamentally human. I should see more to like in a ‘reverted’ ‘good’ ‘human’ version than is my default.

But—generally speaking, as in I’m surprised and happy at exceptions—people alter away neurodevelopmental disorder features at the same time as they’re supposedly chipping off monstrosity to create a person. The humanization process comes for both to sweep them away.

So there’s a non-obvious conflict of interest there, to go with all the others when we’re fighting about redemption and recovery and what sufficiently advanced character development is or isn’t promising you.

It’s in play for other mental health disabilities, of course; but mood, anxiety, and even psychotic disorders one can make an argument for sufficient changes in environment making them a non-issue, even if the argument is “well this AU means he never got PTSD at all okay”.

So it seems best to do my proof of concept with always-on brain architecture as opposed to acquired or activated conditions.

Anyway, it may have taken me over a year and a half to say this, but: Peter Lukas is autistic, go fuck yourself. https://twitter.com/chrysopoetics/status/1221867559747612679