Asperger characters in fiction?

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Are you familiar with any fictional characters that you think might have asperger syndrome?

I'll start with Inoue Orihime from Bleach - and this is just my personal opinion.


Clumsy at times, socially awkward, has emotional meltdowns sometimes. Yes, she's able to think in absract ways but she also has the emotional maturity of- well, a child; but in a way that it's very pure and innocent. Also, let's just say she doesn't always follow social norms.. For example when she [spoiler alert] sneaked into Ichigos room at night, next to his bed to watch him sleep and say goodbye. She's pretty much obsessed with Ichigo, sometimes almost to an unhealthy level, a pattern at times recognized with aspergers in love.
Or when she stood behind the main group and just gazed at Ichigo with a neutral smile, in the middle of a road. Sure it was a neutral gaze, but there was a lot of inner emotions in Orihime at that moment. [/spoiler]
These are not the only things though that remind me of her being an asperger.

And I'm not to give any generalizations here, this is a fictional show after all and whether Orihime is asperger or not, is simply speculation.

Edit;

Also,

- Ulquiorra Cifer from Bleach. Emotionally stilted, you can barely get an emotional reaction from him, but he has a a brilliant mind.

- Usagi Tsukino from Sailor Moon. See Orihime from above but increase the frequency of meltdowns.

- Fluttershy from MLP (yeah, I watched the show for around half years a few years ago at NaturesFury's Youtube channel. Then she disappeared from the internet and I stopped watching the show at that point).
I can regocnize many of the challenges Fluttershy has in myself too. She kinda is one of the fictional female characters I can most relate to.

Anyways, let's hear your suggestions!

Maybe Ami Mizuno from Sailor Moon?

-LegoMaster2149 (Written on January 18, 2018)

Yes, I've heard mentions that she might be asperger.

Just happened to stumble upon the Ruryichio arc at Bleach and I have to say she really resembles an asperger child. Of course, the series here seems to point out that many of the properties here are simply of her being of royalty and being accustomed to these kind of things, but while watching an episode it suddenly dawned upon me. "Wow.. She must be asperger, there's no doubt about it!"


- Being an "small adult"

I've often read that asperger children tend to behave like small adults. They enjoy the company of adults just as, if not even more than their own age peers. She's also extremely bright and doesn't want to be treated as a small child but instead wants to be treated as an equal to the adults and doesn't want things to be kept a secret from her. But of course adult problems shouldn't be concerned by children, it's understandably still hard for her to see this.

- Sensory sensitivity and strictness

She hates carrots (sensory sensitivity in taste or just a normal thing?) and is overall very strict about certain things. However she was explained in detail where carrots come from and how it is such a long process to grow them. Being a bright child, once she learns this she decides to start to try and enjoy them more, as not eating them would be "an insult to the farmers".

This is something I can relate to when I was a child with aspergers. Yes, I was very strict about some things. I often liked to eat with a spoon because fork felt weird and spiky in my mouth. Also, things used to drop from the fork and this made me frustrated. Why not use the much wider and so-much-easier-to-use spoon? I was also very strict about the texture of the food.
I remember how one day my father had gone to hunting and brought a catch from the forest. My mother made a meal of it but my brother, for reason that I don't remember anymore, decided to refuse to eat it (I think he probably felt it was wrong for my father to have shot the the prey). I however felt bad about him not eating, because I knew how hard my father had worked to get this prey to our table.


It's interesting to watch things in fiction from an asperger perspective.

I heard that Dean Koontz wrote Odd Thomas to be an aspie or at least autistic but I hope that's not the case because if so then he did a terrible job of it. Couldn't get more than a couple chapters in before quitting.

Have any of you guys seen the new Power Rangers movie that just came out last year? One of the main characters, Billy Cranston (Blue Ranger), was on the spectrum and I personally enjoyed seeing a positive character like that represented there as well as the other diversity of the group. Aside from him, the only other character I can think of who you know for certain is on the spectrum is Shawn Murphy from The Good Doctor (which I seriously need to catch up on).

I know next to nothing about anime, but this is my own analysis - as far as I've seen, Abed from Community and Spencer Reid from Criminal Minds are the only two realistic characterisation of what is clearly some form of ASD for each character.

Some others I've heard tossed around that I think are ridiculous:
-Sheldon Cooper (he's obtuse and a social idiot, as well as highly intelligent, but doesn't strike me as someone you'd find IRL)

-Dwight Shrute. He was raised by ex-Amish parents in near social isolation. Next.

-Any Belcher child. I love BB, but neither Tina nor Gene have ASD. They are cartoon characters.

I'm sure there's more but meh.

Commoner the Vagabond. It's a novel about a homeless ex-airman with Asperger's who gets into frequent trouble with the law.

https://www.amazon.com/Commoner-Vagabon ... B01FCMA5AU

It's available in paperback, ebook and audiobook.

I just finished it.

Actually....a pretty darn good novel.

Lisbeth Salander of "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo"

As someone who's hoping to be a screenwriter, I've noticed that most (or at least a lot of) characters on sitcoms/cartoons have some autistic traits for the sake of comedy. Like how characters will very obviously lie to appease another character, but in a very over-the-top way to tell the audience that's not really how they feel, only said character won't pick up on the lie because that would hurt their plot. Idk if this makes any sense, but basically I've noticed that characters won't pick up on social cues (that are exaggerated for comedy and for the audience to get) for the sake of comedy and moving the plot forward.

That and literal comedy/people who are "weird" are funny. As someone who learned how to "pass" due to my desires to be an actor/writer, I wonder if that has anything to do with how my autism manifests- I think I act like a sitcom character most of the time.

I do think it's fair to recognize the potential autistic traits in cartoon and sitcom characters, especially for the sake of relating to them, but I think we also have to acknowledge how those traits are treated and manifested differently in those "universes," if that makes sense?

I'm really interested in talking about this more in this kind of meta-way! Or a general discussion about autism and sitcom/cartoon humor!

Okay, I know a lot of people will genuinely, maybe even vehemently, disagree with this, but I absolutely believe Batman and the current Robin (Damian Wayne) are autistic.

Bruce Wayne:
Great a mirroring, masking, and BS-ing. I'm very similar. He's able to use scripting and his study of body language/facial cues to his advantage when playing the "billionaire playboy philanthropist" role and can schmooze at galas and whatnot. But with his loved ones and those close to him? When he's in those situations he can let his guard down, doesn't have to BS, and shows how bad he is wont to socialize. He notoriously struggles with showing his sons and friends affection- two good examples that come to mind are the fact that he didn't even tell his kids or his best friend (Superman) that he was engaged, and in an old Gotham Knights issue, when Dick Grayson (his first son/ward, Robin #1, then Nightwing) told him that he and Barabara Gordon (Batgirl #1, then Oracle, Commissioner Gordon's daughter) were dating, he was just kinda like "hn" and Dick was really upset at his presumed lack of a reaction. He isn't good at finding the right things to say with his loved ones. Part of why I think he had such a good relationship with Cassandra Cain before the reboot is because she knows how he feels without him saying it (due to her body language reading capabilities) and she doesn't doubt that he cares for her, whereas Dick doesn't "get" Bruce in a lot of ways, and Bruce's struggles showing his affection and his avoidance of having tough emotional conversations remind me of myself and the struggle with showing NTs that you care.
Some other reasons:
-He recently told Gordon "I don't change my routine" and had a whole panel about the importance of routine to him- he basically does the same ritual every night
-He's monotone and usually relatively "Expressionless," but he's clearly very passionate to do all of the things he does, it's just that he doesn't show them in typical ways (and like I mentioned above, it causes conflict with people like Superman and Dick Grayson)
-His obsession. He delves completely into Batman. Batman is Batman's special interest. He has that strong sense of justice that a lot of us have, and is largely self-taught.
-Sensory things: His parents got shot in that alley, in many stories, to "avoid the crowds" (which to be fair could also mean paparazzi or something considering their status but could also mean something sensory). He prefers to patrol at night. His cape is so heavy (pressure stimming?) that when Dick took over as Batman he complained a lot and had to have it made lighter. SUPER high pain tolerance.

Now for his bio son, Damian:
To be fair, Damian had a super strange upbringing, so there really is the question: is he autistic, or did he adapt "typically" to the surroundings he was raised in? But on the other hand, considering that 1. There may be a genetic component to autism (my dad and I both are, for example) and 2. Talia (his mom) basically genetically engineered him and picked Bruce because she believed they'd make the perfect son, I think he may have been bred to be autistic. Okay, I know how weird that sounds, but hear me out:
-If Bruce is autistic, and if the above is true, then it manifested in ways that helped his crime-fighting. The high pain tolerance (that Damian also has), the obsession, the kind of savant-like talents, all help him be Batman. Of course Talia would want these traits in her son. So what if he's not neurotypical? It's not like Talia and the League of Assassins play by our anti-autistic society's rules.
-On the other hand, it's no secret that Damian's upbringing was abusive. Talia probably beat a lot of things out of him, or he felt the need to cover them, mask them, or have a shutdown. Basically, she fostered the traits that could be "useful," and probably basically "abused out" lots of other ones that gave him unhealthy neuroses. On that note:
-When Damian first arrived at Wayne Manor, the writers were probably intending to show him having tantrums. However, I think it's a more interesting interpretation to say that he was having meltdowns and shutdowns at the huge life change. He was demanding things like a laptop, and I don't think he suddenly would have stopped being upset after getting these things (a big difference between tantrums and meltdowns). Batman terrified him at one point during a "tantrum" (meltdown) before leaving, and Damian suddenly got super quiet. Shutdown.
-Damian was then following the social codes he was taught very intensely and had trouble adjusting to the new rules (like "don't kill" and "don't almost beat your brother to death oh my god"). To be fair, so would any child, but Damian has a very interesting mix of obedience and rebellion that reminds me of myself.
-When Damian was being a "brat" with "tantrums" he insulted Alfred's cooking. Picky eating due to autism?
-There's so much in his first few issues that just reminds me so much of autism, but even in more recent issues, it's there. He's extremely blunt, at Christmas dinner with the Kents saying something about "let's get the holiday pretenses out of the way and do presents" and will tell Jon (Superman's son) exactly how he feels about things, even if it's "rude."
-When Bruce springs big life changes on him (his engagement to Catwoman, his idea to send Damian to school in Metropolis) Damian has huge difficulties with them.
-He uses big and antiquated words (apparently that's a thing we do, I love antiquated slang).
-He struggles to make friends (he literally kidnapped the teen titans to start them up again. Damian no).
-He loves animals (Titus, Afred the Cat, Batcow, Goliath)

I can see why people might find this interpretation problematic, but as someone who grew up not knowing I was autistic, I was frequently branded a "troubled child" and people thought I was just throwing tantrums or being a brat when really there was so much more going on, and I think that Damian being autistic gives so much more nuance to his character and his actions and makes his struggle to "be good" so much more compelling.

The funny thing is, I know it sounds like I'm projecting (and perhaps I am), but aside from the similarities I mentioned, I'm very different than these characters. I'm one of your much more sensitive and expressive autistics, and I would suck at crime fighting (I also have a super low pain tolerance so). Maybe this is all wishful thinking! I'm sure it's unintentional, but I find it to be a much more interesting interpretation of the characters. And of course, with different writers comes different characterizations- there's some versions of Batman that are "more" autistic than others, for sure. But if I were writing Bruce and Damian Wayne, I'd definitely make them (or code them as) autistic because 1. it explains a lot, imho and 2. it's just a much more fascinating interpretation to me.

Sorry if this is super long, I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts, Batman's a bit of a special interest to me haha

Laszlo Kreizler, from The Alienist. While he is much more intuitive when it comes to his patients than someone typically with Asperger's would be, he also lacks the social niceties, such as asking a female colleague felt how she had gotten over her father's suicide, causing her to run out of the room in tears. He seems incapable of understanding how his behavior offends and hurts other people.

Christopher, of the novel “The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-time.”
It’s not confirmed, but here are some things to consider..
1.) He goes to a special needs school, and calls everyone there “stupid.”
I don’t agree with his use of words here, but Christopher doesn’t acknowledge his reasons for attending the school. He doesn’t agree with actions of other children, and is the only A-level maths student there.
2.) His special interest is math. Christopher knows the distance of each of the walls in his room, and does equations to calm himself down.
3.) Christopher dislikes others touching him, and his parents “spread their hands out like a fan and touch fingers” with him to show love and affection.
4.) Christopher stims. His stimming under stressful situations include, groaning, screaming, curling up in a ball. He is sensitive to light, and strangers.
5.) Christopher has a “secret place.” He curls up in a closet upstairs and sits there for hours.
6.) Christopher is obsessed with knowing the time and enjoys being alone.
7.) I believe Christopher is a savant, in maths, dates, and memories. He recalls specific moments, and can tell people the exact dates on which they’ve happened.
There’s more, too.
Shaun Murphy, “The Good Doctor.”
He’s a positive role model for anyone on the spectrum, and the show teaches people that anyone can do anything.

Christopher Wolf (played by Ben Affleck) in The Accountant.

Simon Lynch in Murcury Rising.
Most of the characters in Mozart And The Whale.
Jake Bohm in Touch.
Michael Taylor in The Darkness.

Arthur from A Serious Man.