I’m on a roll so tHINGS TO REMEMBER WHEN WRITING AN AUTISTIC CHARACTER LETS GO!

BIGGEST POINT IM GOING TO MAKE: write a character before writing a minority status! This may seem a little complicated at first, but flesh out who your character really is Bedford you add all the actual traits to them. What motivates them? What’s their point in this story?

2nd: do not write autism as a main conflict. Atypical did this and the main character had to become less autistic to “get the girl”. This makes autism look like a bad thing, or something to be ashamed of. Rather than use autism as a motivating point to change, make it its own +

Character, have your conflict be disconnected from the character's autism.

Do not give them some amazing ability that “cures” or “cancels out” the affects of their autism! This is a very common stereotype (ie: good doctor) don’t por autism like a bad or great thing, potray it as it is. A developmental disorder that causes changes in the way the brain

I think it's ok to make your autistic character super skilled at math or science or whatever, but have them learn and earn it, just like anyone else would.

Functions. Your character can still be a superhero! But don’t make their superhero-ness cancel out their autism. Their superpowers can go hand in hand with their neurodivergency.

Remember AFAB present very differently to AMAB (and as a result, many AFAB go undiagnosed until much later in life). Your character should be presented in a way that correlates with their assigned gender at birth.

If you’ve met one autistic person, you’ve met one Autistic person. Just one. Neurodivergency is SOOOO different. It changes up all the time. Make your character unique! dont fall for the stereotypical tropes that befall autistic people. That’s why it’s a spectrum!

Meltdowns are not temper tantrums! They are so much more, meltdowns can result from over stimulation, a wrong texture so on and so forth. Don’t treat them like a hiccup. They’re actually quiet a lot of the times. Resarch what an autistic meltdown is if you wanna write one

remember that autistic people are not just their condition. Their condition may help shape their character, but it doesn't define them.
Also, not everyone has all of the symptoms of autism. I'm rarely ever bothered by loud noises, usually get humor/sarcasm, and so on.

going back to my other point, neurodivergency presents itself in so many different ways! It’s quite interesting to learn about, you should dig through articles on it before writing a ND character, by the way. This thread is only scraping the surface.

Many autistic folks are transgender or gender-fluid and sexually fluid. Autistic people of color also exist. Please don’t forget them.

Overstimulation needs more representation!! Write your autistic characters getting overstimulated by things, it happens to us! (But not all of us)

The main reason autistic folks have trouble with specific stimuli is that they're wired in a way that those stimuli either affect them more or affect them differently: example: sirens make me forget what I was talking about, not freak out off worry about the person

Remember that some autistic people fall on an empathy spectrum. Some of us experience little to no empathy and others feel hyper empathy. Once again, do research on that and remember that your character can still feel compassion if not empathy!

Now some DONTS

Don’t: listen to Jack shit from autism speaks, just don’t do it. Their board of directors have 2 autistic people, and I could go on a whole rant about why they’re shitty but I’ll save it for later. But to summarize: they’re not here for autistic people they’re here for

The families of autistic people. They couldn’t care less about anyone whos not allistic

Dont : use high-functioning/low-functioning labels. A common way that allistic people conceptualize autistic people is by attaching the labels “high-functioning” or “low-functioning” to our experiences.

The point of this, in theory, is to separate autistic people who need a lot of help from autistic people who need less help.

Dont: portray autistic people as emotionless.... should I even go on? We feel shit, man.

Don’t: infantilize autistic people. yes, adult autistic people are going to have child like traits but thats for them to point out, not an allistic persons’.

Don’t: refrain from “people first” language. “People first” language means that you put the person before the disability — e.g. a “person with autism” instead of “an autistic person”. Allistic people will insist that this is a good thing because, they insist, “autistic person”

belittles and dehumanizes autistic people. But, I have to ask: what is is about seeing the word “autistic” that makes you start to dehumanize that person in your head?

I’m actually tired as fuck so just fill the comments with suggestions and I’ll add them to this thread thank u