Imagine wanting to relate to fictional characters but not being able to

bdt2002

Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs superfan
is a Pre-Contributor
I have a confession to make. I like to sympathize with neurodiverse-coded characters in mainstream media (books, TV, movies, video games, etc.). Which is a problem because I can't seem to actually find any of them. For some background information, neurodiversity- primarily autism awareness, but also other things too- is arguably the most influential part of my life, and I'm in a phase now where I'm grown up and am starting to recognize my beliefs as a human being. This is a problem because I'm still heavily attached to my special interests I've had growing up, and for a while now I've wondered what kinds of things would be able to keep me interested in those topics since my interests have started to wane.

Why did I want to make this a whole thread of its own? To be honest... I don't really know. I just kind of felt like I should for some reason, so I did. It's come to my attention that, while representation is an area companies and brands have to be extremely careful with, the developers of these things properly trying to recognize different kinds of people within the product itself may have a lasting impact on fans who might otherwise feel neglected outside of their own special interests.

Again, I don't really know why I made this into its own thread, but I'd like to think we can use this as a space to both ask and answer other users about questions we might have.
 

Fishy

tits McGee (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)
hmmm you watched season 1 of pokémon and thought ash wasn't neurodiverse?? :bat: kid compulsively travels the world HELL BENT on becoming "the very best" (???) and he literally fights anyone who makes eye contact w/ him !!!wt!!f!

he's also very dumb about social cues, like continually thinking sabrina's dad was a photographer who happened to be around her entire life :worrywhirl::worrywhirl::worrywhirl:

also this is blatant team rocket erasure, they were weird af from the start and have NEVER let up
 

bdt2002

Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs superfan
is a Pre-Contributor
hmmm you watched season 1 of pokémon and thought ash wasn't neurodiverse?? :bat: kid compulsively travels the world HELL BENT on becoming "the very best" (???) and he literally fights anyone who makes eye contact w/ him !!!wt!!f!

he's also very dumb about social cues, like continually thinking sabrina's dad was a photographer who happened to be around her entire life :worrywhirl::worrywhirl::worrywhirl:

also this is blatant team rocket erasure, they were weird af from the start and have NEVER let up
Honestly... yeah, you could be onto something here. To be fair, I think Ash's situation comes more so from the fact that the culture of interacting with other people in the show is very, very different from what we see in most of the games. I see what you're getting at, definitely. I think we're both partially right in his case- maybe some OCD symptoms showing up? There is one thing that could stunt proper neurological development, that of course being all the shocks from Pikachu. But really, what this confusion comes down to is the fact that really haven't ever watched Season 1 in full.

One thing I will mention is that Ash's character development in the original series was partially based off of Satoshi Tajiri himself, hence Ash's Japanese name. Ash's (and to a lesser extent, Team Rocket's) behaviors could technically serve as anecdotal evidence for the whole "Satoshi Tajiri autism" theory, but none of this has ever been confirmed by an official source. What could have happened with Team Rocket though, is that this is how someone like Ash interprets someone who isn't like himself (neurodiverse vs. neurotypical from the perspective of a 10-year old kid).
 
Look, I can readily accept comparisons between Pokemon as a whole and autism. But please, leave the anime version of Ash out of it.

I'm autistic, and gaming saved my social life. You know why? Because games have clearly defined rules. I don't need to constantly figure out how exactly to interact with every person I encounter, because I can spend several hours operating within a strict ruleset. Pokemon was naturally a big part of this as I was growing up.

I cannot stand Ash, because he violates the rules. I need that stability to build interactions upon, and he flaunts it. I could never have just Pokemon in general as a special interest because the face of the series was a pair of goddamn cheaters. I refuse to associate with him.
 

bdt2002

Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs superfan
is a Pre-Contributor
Look, I can readily accept comparisons between Pokemon as a whole and autism. But please, leave the anime version of Ash out of it.

I'm autistic, and gaming saved my social life. You know why? Because games have clearly defined rules. I don't need to constantly figure out how exactly to interact with every person I encounter, because I can spend several hours operating within a strict ruleset. Pokemon was naturally a big part of this as I was growing up.

I cannot stand Ash, because he violates the rules. I need that stability to build interactions upon, and he flaunts it. I could never have just Pokemon in general as a special interest because the face of the series was a pair of goddamn cheaters. I refuse to associate with him.
This right here is pretty much why I’m not sure if Ash’s situation is one that I could perceive as “accurate” despite Fishy potentially being onto some form of neurodiverse tendency. The issue here should be obvious- Ash’s behaviors and his own social cues, while unique, don’t quite match up with what is protrayed in the games for one, but they also don’t show off a good example of representation either. Not all of us, admittedly, but most of us do still enjoy having those more structured rules you were talking about, and I think that a video game’s tendency of letting the player have control benefits the quote “average” neurodiverse child growing up with Pokémon than the show ever could.
 

Choice Specs Heracross

Banned deucer.
When trying to relate to anyone fictional or otherwise, try to look past things like gender, race, sexuality and whether they’re neurotypical or not. You’re more than just those things, there’s other common ground you can find. Western Society has a really bad problem today with the emphasis it places on these things.
 
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bdt2002

Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs superfan
is a Pre-Contributor
When trying to relate to anyone fictional or otherwise, try to look past things like gender, race, sexuality and whether they’re neurotypical or not. You’re more than just those things, there’s other common ground you can find. Western Society has a really bad problem today with the emphasis it places on these things.
You're not kidding about that last part. I think what I may have been trying to get at here was that I don't really understand what else I would have in common with people just because I'm such a unique person. I've never really felt in touch with my own generation, and I often have a hard time trying to understand why said generation tends to interpret information differently than I do in regards to neurodiverse accommodation.
 

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