Fictional Characters With Undiagnosed Aspergers or Autism

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the Pangle boy in Cold Mountain. He definitely sounds like severe autism with Savant abilities

No, they were just brats.



Huey? Seriously? He's just highly intelligent and has strong views.
However, there was an autistic kid in one episode.

This thread, just from the title, strikes me as "I like this character, so I'm going to look for parts of myself in him."

I agree. Just because you can kind of identify with a character doesn't mean they're on the spectrum. I can identify with Sookie Stackhouse and River Tam, but neither of them have Asperger's. River has PTSD and was basically a government experiment gone wrong, and Sookie is a telepath.

Amuro Ray from Mobile Suit Gundam. Otaku with very poor social skills and generally insensitve.

So what? Just let them have their fun. I find the thread interesting.

Yeah this is more of a fun thread. Remember these are fictional or potrayed charcters - nobody can be serious about a "diagnosis" of someone who does not exist. Some people like speculating is all.

SkippyJon Jones
http://www.judithbyronschachner.com/skippyjonjones/

Dexter is a classic Sociopath- he doesn't FEEL Empathy. Aspies FEEL Empathy quite often, they just have issues expressing it. The 2 are VERY different.

Saw another thread like this a while back. I mentioned Kim Ross from Dresden Kodak. Still applies.
http://dresdencodak.com/2007/12/17/no-side/

Doug Funnie from Doug. He always imagines the worst case scenario of every little thing.


Chowder- his case is more ADHD than anything but he has a super short attention span and an obsession with food and he's really socially awkward. Also, in an early episode they imply that he's dyslexic.

I was actually thinking about this last night, and I believe Mersault from Camus's "The Stranger" is actually a clear example of a crypto-Aspie...it just wasn't obvious to me before because, like a lot of people, I sought some sort of philosophy in the details of his personality. I think Camus used an Aspie character to keep Mersault's personality out of the way, to demonstrate philosophical points about chance and society. I don't think Camus knew anymore about autism than anybody else did back then, but maybe he knew an Aspie or had some traits himself.

Consider -- throughout the book, Mersault reacts much more to sensory stimuli than to the people around him. In fact, the entire narrative up until his arrest is focused on sensory details like sunlight or wetness or hunger. Whenever he interacts with someone, he is very passive, almost never initiating a conversation, and his reactions to people often strike others as odd. He comes across as so unemotional that his jury and the press will sentence him to death for it, but he clearly has an emotional life, as when he yells at the prison chaplain, or when he gets so overwhelmed by the sunlight that he shoots the Arab. He also displays empathy in trying to help his "friend" (Mersault is so unaware of social cues that he does not realize the guy is just using him and is a total creep), and in agreeing to marry a girl because it seems like she would be pleased, but it's an empathy that the larger society will not recognize. He is perfectly logical in not getting upset at his mother's funeral, but he still has feelings and misses her.

He also doesn't seem to get sarcasm sometimes.

"Wow, you are some kind of genius"
"Thanks, That's really nice of you to say"

I know these were already mentioned, but Robert Goren from Law and Order: Criminal Intent displays numerous AS traits. He is highly analytical, has numerous idiosyncratic interrogation and investigative techniques and his partner Eames even compares a suspect who does have Asperger's to him by saying "He's like your older, geekier brother". L from Death Note with high intelligence, disregard for societal norms, apparent lack of empathy, disregard for his appearance and emotional immaturity. Sheldon Cooper from the Big Bang Theory, as well as Temperance Brennan and Zack Addy from Bones all have aspects of AS, but I believe they were placed there specifically with reference to the stereotyped characterization of Asperger's as presented to the general public. Doctors Brennan and Addy's characterizations are particularly overdone IMO. (I like that they are exploring it, but loathe when it is depicted in a blunt, obvious way while not acknowledging it).

Someone I thought of is the dorky girl from The Vicar of Dibley.

For one thing, at the end of the show when she and the vicar are chatting, the vicar will tell a joke and she'll just stare of into space not getting it. And then the vicar might try to explain it before just giving up.

She also seemed to have a fascination with fictional TV characters called The Wombles. In fact, when she married a similary odd man from her village she had a Wombles theme.

She was very odd in her demeanor...not mildly or slightly, but OBVIOUSLY so. She appeared to be slow, but I think she just perceived the world differently that "everyone else."

In fact, everyone in that village where the show took place seemed a bit odd - each in his or her own way. But SHE stood out!

I love how you had to explain that they were fictional. I heard that loads of kids went to Wimbledon common to Womble hunt when they were on TV.