At the moment, there's a lot of discourse about Hermione from Harry Potter being autistic coded because someone called her an obnoxious know-it-all. I'm not gonna link to the offending parties, but I'm going to explain what's going on and why autistic people are upset.

I'm going to paraphrase because I'm not interested in piling on anyone and the OP did block me, so keep in mind this is a summary, not verbatim and there is my observation bias at play here.

Now that the boilerplate is out of the way...

Someone tweeted that Hermione would have been able to get so much more done if she wasn't such an irritating know-it-all and had some friends. A few autistic people gently pointed out that's a common bit of anti-autism ableism, and as often happens, it became a twitter maelstrom.

Look, I've been dying to use the word maelstrom in casual conversation for ages.

To the OP's defense, I understand how overwhelming it can be and that they were not thinking, "Too bad Hermione is autistic-coded," or anything about autism in their tweet.

And yeah when you get dogpiled, it's hard to sift through that and realize that some people are in fact hurt by your words, and I get the desire to be defensive.

However they handled this situation very poorly in my opinion, and I'm not upset about being blocked.

So why are autistic people upset?

Know-it-all is a common slight against young autistics who didn't know they were autistic growing up.

Hermione in particular has been adopted by many autistic people as an autistic coded character.

Before realizing they were autistic (and the book's author hadn't destroyed all goodwill by going full TERF), many young autistic people read those books and saw themselves in Hermione. This is why we say autistic coded.

There's very few explicitly autistic characters in pop culture who aren't charicatures, so we say certain characters are autistic coded because they act in ways that we can identify with.

For me, Commander Data was one character I identified with.

Data is not autistic, he's a synthetic life form built to mimic humans but having a unique neurology that means he can absorb a lot of information but his emotional expression is not something he can learn due to his innate...

Okay he's an autistic character.

Brent Spiner himself has commented on how autistic fans of Star Trek have come to him to thank him for his performance as a positive example of an autistic coded character.

Data was valued for his ability to rapidly absorb and connect information, and even though he had no emotional expression (he sounds more autistic with every word), he was still a very compassionate person that people cared about.

But if you said, "My god Data is annoying because he'll drone on about a topic," you are saying he is annoying because of a specific autism trait.

"How is he so smart but doesn't understand why Miles O'Brien would be happy Keiko called off the wedding what the fuck?"

I've made similar social faux pas that baffle everyone because I was always very smart.

I know Hermione is the subject but I never read Harry Potter, though I love Star Trek. But the same arguments apply so I can get a lot more specific here.

So I'm a kid who's made similar social faux pas to assuming the groom would be happy the wedding is called off because he wants his bride to be happy, calling it off would make her happy. It tracks.

If I heard, "OMG what the fuck is wrong with him," you're describing me.

You're reacting to a character I identify with doing something that autistic people like me might do (I had no idea I'm autistic) and saying there is something wrong with anyone who thinks that way and it's baffling from someone as smart as Data.

How can I not internalize that?

In that moment, you're not saying, "There's something wrong with autistic people because they'd do this." You're not even thinking about autism.

But you're singling out autistic traits and saying they're wrong.

A few days ago, @autistictic tweeted that autism isn't actually an invisible disability, it's very visible and people react to the visible parts. People just don't know what autism looks like.

People see it all the time and dismiss it as being weird or obnoxious.

By the way, the TNG episode I'm referencing is Data's Day, Season 4. If you want to see it, the scene is right before the opening credits.

O'Brien was understandably miffed and Geordi was a bit passive-aggressive. "Next time I should deliver the good news."

But they were extremely kind compared to the reactions I'd get if I made that exact faux-pas.

Wow, I really got caught up in establishing some context with a character from a completely different canon. Anyway...

So why is "annoying know-it-all" an ableist phrase?

Again, nobody says, "You're autistic? So you must be an obnoxious know-it-all with no friends!" No, bullies would call out autistic traits and refer to you as a know-it-all.

The OP did call Hermione an annoying know-it-all with no friends besides Ron and Harry who barely tolerated her.

Autistic people tend to love information gathering and sharing, and keep a small circle of friends since a lot of people find that annoying.

People around you stating facts confidently while being completely wrong tends to be really irritating for autistic people, and the urge to correct is strong.

It takes a lot of masking effort to suppress that instinct.

And again, everything I know about Hermione is through cultural osmosis, so I'll let someone who actually read the books explain why she's autistic. https://medium.com/@AlexGabriel/hermione-is-autistic-2682485aa4bf

A mutual with four times my following polled autistics asking if they've ever been called a know-it-all. They are currently locked so I won't name them or link it, but the the majority of people heard that.

They got dozens of replies of autistics explaining how that hurt.

That's how pejoratives form and how bigotry spreads. Insulting phrases are applied to one specific group.

When visible autistic traits are frequently described as obnoxious knowing-it-all, it reinforces that autistic info-dumping is something nobody likes.

So you suppress that trait because of the bullying.

And then you reach adulthood and see an adult with a huge platform roll their eyes and use the same pejorative about a character you and a lot of people like you identify with, calling out specific autism traits, well...

For the record, I didn't get much bullying for being an obnoxious know-it-all. Someone did once tell me memorizing facts was very fake though.

I'm honestly more upset that people are ignoring what other autistic people are saying and finding ways to dismiss them.

"I'm neurodivergent non-autistic and I got called that and I don't care."

Okay, you're not autistic and your experience doesn't invalidate someone else's.

"I am autistic and I think we're making a mountain out of a molehill."

Autistic people aren't monolithic. There's a lot of COMMONLY shared traits and experiences, but there's a reason commonly is in all caps. Your experience doesn't invalidate others'.

And the people calling the tweet out? They've heard it a lot over the years, and have a lot of trauma around that, and yeah whether intended or not, using a common autistic slight on a character a lot of autistic people identify with is a form of anti-autism ableism.

Like I said, for my personal experience, the reaction to this backlash is far more distressing than the OP's tweet. Other autistic people feel differently.

We are both correct.

The backlash bugs me because again, people are arguing with autistic people that we are wrong about our own experiences and feelings, which is a common line pushed by ABA advocates and reinforced by medical "experts."

Autistic people can't self advocate.

The OP is honestly the worst offender here because all they had to do was say, "Hey I didn't realize what this might imply and I apologize."

It's a crappy apology I through together in five seconds, but it would have meant a lot.

Instead, they're defending themselves using the examples I gave. "I'm ADHD, I've been called that, my partner is on the spectrum and has never felt this, you're all looking to dogpile and harass me and it's racist,"

I mean, it's a great lesson in what not to do.

You don't have to agree or understand, but when a lot of people from one group say, "Hey I don't think you realize what your words are suggesting," you should try and listen.

And yeah, people dismissing autistic folk cause we don't know ourselves just made things worse.

One person said to them, "A lot of people from one group are hurt and it's good to apologize and listen." The OP QT'd that and said, "They can apologize to me anytime," and blocked the person, and accused them of whitesplaining prejudice to a black person.

I mean, I could have given the OP the benefit of the doubt for not realizing and even understood why they might not take that seriously, but their reaction just makes me think the ableism wasn't as unintentional as everyone claims.

Anyway, I hope that explained what was going on. I know that was a long thread, but I try and be thorough and specific.

So after factoring in the, "Not Autistic, show results," the poll is just shy of 2,000 autistic votes, and 91 percent said they've been pejoratively called an annoying know-it-all growing up.

So... yeah. https://twitter.com/MaxieMoosie/status/1390483319293288451?s=20

By the way, there are people, including the OP, who are assuming that we mean "being annoying is an autism related trait," and we're taking umbrage.

That's such a laughable misread I don't know where to begin. No, annoying isn't an autistic trait. It's how people describe them.

I'm also hearing, "That's not actually what coding means! Coding implies intent!"

I'd call that a semantics squabble that is kinda dismissive honestly. I mean, autistic people see themselves in the character and you're saying it's wrong because of our word choice? Fuck you.

More thoughts on Hermione discourse. https://twitter.com/emraup/status/1390675389240905735

Since this thread is resonating, I have some more thoughts and want to clarify some things. Gonna use the Data example because again, familiar and is applicable to Hermione.

People are misconstruing that we're calling it ableism because OP said Hermione is annoying. False.

If you don't like Data and your reason is, "I find him annoying and that's pretty much it," that's not ableism.

If your reason is, "He's annoying because he doesn't know how to stop sharing facts," that is. What's the difference?

In the first example, the character isn't to your taste. That's not ableism. If you're guilty of anything, it's having poor taste. Hardly a crime.

In the second example, you're singling out a trait as to why autistics see themselves in Data.

You're not engaging with why Data shares facts. He has a perfect memory with computer precision and no emotions to sense when it might or might not be appropriate, he has to do that analytically.

But rather than see that struggle, you're writing that trait off as annoying.

So what you're saying is, "Sharing facts when I don't want you to is why Data sucks. This implies that people who do that suck." There is no awareness that it's a common autistic trait.

That's why it's ableism.

Ableism does not require intent. Everyone pushing for a straw ban is not thinking, "Hey let's screw over disabled people!" No it's ableist because you're ignorant to how it's screwing over disabled people.

And you should see how defensive people get when you point it out.

If you hate Data because you just don't like him and you don't care to think about why, that's not ableist.

If you find it incredulous that he is super intelligent but doesn't get why the bride calling off the wedding would upset the groom, that is ableist.

Autistic people are often bullied because we know a lot allistics don't and appear smart (the concept of intelligence is problematic and whole other discussion). But we don't always understand the social rules and get bullied for it.

Hating Data for that reason is that.

The fact you didn't intend it is irrelevant, you're singling out autistic traits specifically and using language that is familiar to many autistics for bad reasons. You reinforce the idea that not getting social cues when you're smart is terrible.

I hope that clears stuff up.

And for people saying that we're deliberately misreading,

The point of this thread is to explain where the feelings are coming from. You don't have to agree but don't argue. Instead, read the many replies of autistic and other NDs talking about how this hurts them.

Keep in mind that telling autistics how we should feel and that we're wrong is a form of ableism as well.

Part of the autistic experience is people deciding what you intended and reacting, ignoring your stated intent and telling you what you're actually feeling.

Part of it is because we present emotions differently than allistics so when we say we like something but appear neutral, a common response is, "Oh really? No you don't."

And I see that playing out here.

So for everyone who thinks we're wrong, I have a hundred replies and QTs, some of which I shared (I can't reply to everyone sorry) confirming this is a common autistic experience.

And your dismissal is ableist.

If you say, "I don't understand this but I'm sympathetic to the OP," I wouldn't call that ableism. And yes, there are autistic people who think this discourse is absurd.

But people are saying our reaction is wrong, which is ableist. See the difference?

FYI this user is going through my mentions now to argue with people who replied to the tweet. Please preemptively block them and untag me if you wish to engage. Thanks. https://twitter.com/bread732/status/1390709520981057540?s=20

So I’m finally getting some dissenting replies to be generous. Shocked it took this long.

To address common complaints, I specifically avoided naming the OP or using direct quotes or any identifying information other than them being black to negate any additional dogpiling.

I limited the quotes to summarizing what happened to paraphrase so you’d have to put effort into searching. The only people who’d know immediately are the ones who’ve seen the initial thread anyway.

I’m immediately blocking people who clearly didn’t read the thread. There’s a lot of responses that would be cleared up if they read and responded in good faith. You are boring and blocked.

I’m not blocking but ignoring people who seem to be misreading and getting annoyed.

I did not speak to the radial aspect much because the point was to explain why autistic people were upset, and frankly that’s a separate issue.

If someone more qualified has discussed the racism that isn’t saying it’s racist to call out the ableism, link it and I’ll boost.

For people saying she’s not autistic cause Rowling hates autistic people (probably apt), or she was never intended, then you missed the entire point of the thread and can shut up.

If you read it and disagree, I’m fine with that, but I probably won’t engage. Won’t block either.

If you’re autistic and disagree with me completely, that’s cool. You’re not wrong.

But I would suggest anyone who thinks this is patently absurd to read the replies I’m getting. There’s a ton of people whom this resonates with, and they ain’t wrong either.

If you’re not autistic and disagree with me, that’s cool. I wrote this thread to help you understand the perspective people who aren’t you!

The fact it resonates with many other autistic people is gratifying but ultimately secondary to my goal.

Oh, and I’m gonna block anyone posing an obvious bad-faith argument, and my block hand is a bit quick these days.

So if this is your first time interacting with me, maybe play it a bit safe for the time being.

Apparently they found my tweet and are doing the very thing they're accusing autistics of doing - arguing a marginalization doesn't matter and deliberately misrepresenting what was said.

I still have the decency to blank out their name.

This is the only part they screen capped.

I think any pretense they are acting in good faith is shot.

Maybe there is racism at play, but they're definitely amping up the ableism. Certainly taking one part of my thread and misconstruing it, which as established, is common autistic bullying.

I'd go point by point, but we're all capable of reading. You can figure out how every word said was erroneous.

Though I appreciate them blanking my name.

Why bother with autistic precision when they're just gonna make shit up anyway?

Well, I'm confident writing them off as an ableist sack of shit.

May their life be cursed with a never ending series of long supermarket lines. May they always forget which side the gas tank is on.