RANKING AUTISTIC CHARACTERS (they don't all suck)

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I’m an autistic adult, so today I decided to make an autistic character tier list. This video covers pretty much all of my thoughts on what autistic representation should look like and how characters with Autism Spectrum Disorder should be portrayed. Including side rants about ableism, Asperger’s Syndrome, and my celebrity crushes.
When representing autistic people, we have to remember that autism is a spectrum and that different people have different experiences. Autistic women and AFAB people, high masking individuals and people with less obvious traits or complicating comorbidities are in need of representation. But high support needs and non-speaking autistics deserve to be represented in tv and movies as well. All types of autistics are important to this community and everyone deserves representation, but that makes representing autism with a single character extremely difficult. So let's talk about how I think these shows and movies did the job.
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I talk about my experiences with mental health and being neurodivergent (ADHD and ASD). And I like to talk about media representation of neurodivergent and mentally ill people, productivity, and my life. I am not a licensed psychologist or medical professional. No content on this channel should be taken as medical advice or used to replace professional treatment.
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Characters:
Sheldon Cooper - Big Bang Theory & Young Sheldon
Renee - Disney’s Loop
Norma Khan - Dead End Paranormal Park
Matilda Moss - Everything’s Gonna Be Okay
Nicholas Moss - Everything’s Gonna Be Okay
Sam Gardner - Atypical
Abed Nadir - Community
Music - Sia’s Music
Isadora Smackle (& Farkle Mincus) - Girl Meets World
Shaun Murphy - The Good Doctor
Quinni Gallagher - Heartbreak High (Chloe Hayden’s character)

[@fosteronthespectrum]

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[@kyobear5453]

Abby from NCIS, and Lisbeth Salander from Girl With The Dragon Tattoo ❤

[@fosteronthespectrum]

@idontknowwhatthisis...7100 I haven't *searched* for any problematic stuff he's done (so sorry if he is secretly problematic) but I agree and actually don't dislike him at all

[@caitie-can4572]

Could you please do Entrapta from She ra and the princesses of power? She is one of my favourite autistic characters and very relatable

[@mama_o4]

Thank you for sharing about Blinkist. I have never heard of it before, I will definitely be trying it.

[@dd-dd]

What about Daria Morgendorffer (tv show "Daria")? Is she just schizoid\avoidant a bit? But in some moments, especially in the series "Boxing Daria" and some other references to the character's childhood, there may be something autistic.

[@basilhidmari]

The most autistic person is the friends we made along the way

[@fosteronthespectrum]

Oooooooh, that's true!

[@Harlequin22]

So true 🤭

[@mae-wr9ht]

The good place was inside the bad place all along /reference

[@Acorn905]

Preach 😌👍

[@TheofficialBellabattle]

​​@@fosteronthespectrum hope this was a joke because nobody is more autistic than another they are just autistic or not sure they may have higher or lower support needs but still and I hope you understand that is kinda abelist if it's not sarcasm or a joke and even if it is a joke some people may still get offended and anyways sorry for writing this paragraph with bad punctuation hope you understand.

[@Bala_Niranna]

my biggest issue with atypical isnt the autism rep but the bisexual rep. the sister finds out shes attracted to women and immediately, remorselessly cheats on her perfect boyfriend??? wtf im so sick of the cheating bisexual trope

[@prod.7aco194]

Yeah that definitely pissed me off a bit. I’m not autistic so I can’t really judge the autism representation in the show but I am bi and I was like bruh why 😭 but I love Casey aside from that she’s funny af but the writers really screwed that one up

[@melissalamensa]

fr, as a bi person I was mad about the fact that she chose Izzie over Evan when Evan WAS THE BEST OPTION and Izzie was toxic af, it felt like it was just an opportunity for the writers to make the bi character a cheater, and that felt sooo stereotypical and disrespectful

[@r.r.4410]

As a fellow bisexual, I actually didn‘t really mind it 😅 Likea yeah, it wasn‘t a great move and I don‘t approve it, but I never felt like Casey was actually in love with Evan … i didn‘t think they had chemistry, so it was at least an understable thing to do and she actually handled it well afterwards without lying or hiding. Not a great trope though, of course, but that case wasn‘t as bad to me

[@petrichor_and_fire]

That trope has been used SO many times to show the "struggles" of bi people like 🙄 Just because you just found out that you are bisexual doesn't mean you get cheat

[@ciaraskeleton]

YES! I liked atypical and then being bi/pan and Autistic I was like 'wait what' at the Bi storyline! Wtf!

[@SquirmieWormington]

Abed is actually how the writer found out he was autistic. He wrote Abed to be like himself so when the fandom was like “Abed is so autism” and the writer was like “well maybe I have autism because Abed is basically me” so he went to get a diagnoses and yeah he’s autistic! That’s part of why Abed is such a good autistic character cause he wasn’t written to be autistic, he was written after and by a real autistic person!

[@rileyackison4495]

I made a character for a role playing game with a learning disability. I went and wrote the whole backstory. I later got diagnosed with ADHD. Looked back at the character and went “oh, well that’s hilarious.” The character just had so much of me and it was all ADHD.

[@rosepuppy1984]

@@rileyackison4495almost all of my favorite characters in stuff are all autistic or have adhd or are at least adhd/autism coded Examples: Abed, Spock, Data, Hunter (from TOH) Peter Parker (Tom Holland’s version who I wouldn’t be surprised if the character has adhd)

[@blank468]

Yes! Came here to say this, but was forgetting the exact facts. Thank you!

[@hihowareyou6195]

@@rosepuppy1984 my favorite character that is autistic is the on good doctor.

[@prehistoricpurple9563]

Same with Josh Thomas in Everything is Going to be OK 😊

[@NithinJune]

The reason that the producers say Sheldon isn’t autistic, is because the whole show is making fun of him and the “wierd, quirky behavior”

[@nemtudom5074]

They are probably thinking that if they dont admit he's autistic then it doesnt count as mockery, which is obviously wrong and everyone other them knows it.

[@hyperhege]

This. I enjoy TBBT (well I used to!) but has anyone watched an episode without the laugh track?? It is just a bunch of people endlessly making fun of / bullying Sheldon- it’s just really sad and cringe, and not even remotely funny 😅

[@squiggles7833]

​@hyperhege it's not like Sheldon is that much of a victim, he himself is constant mocking literally everyone else 😅 Its straight back and forth between the group.

[@finalcountdown3210]

​@hyperhege Yeah, I wanted to like the show because it was like "Ooh, nerdy science dudes! Like me!...Ohh, they're making fun of me."

[@unknown6390]

​@@hyperhegeNot a great take on the show honestly, since every character's flaws and awkwardness gets ripped apart, but I see why you might focus on sheldon if you relate to him in that way. I followed him and Leonard kind of as the protagonists since I did too, but everyone in that show gets shit and they deliver shit, but I agree with others in that his character quirks are questionable because of the way they can be interpreted as autistic behavioral traits.

[@LavenousForever]

Maddie was 18 when Music came out but she was only 14 during filming 😕 There were also reports of her crying on set because she was uncomfortable. Thank you for holding the ADULT in the situation accountable

[@GentlethemJoey]

Yeah, I thought I had heard something about her being really uncomfortable and upset on set because she was afraid she was coming across as mocking autistic people and she didn’t want to do that. Definitely not the responsible party, imo.

[@iamlucifersactualvessel]

@@GentlethemJoey it was very well known that she did not want to do it and I STILL saw people ripping into a 14yo for what she was doing when ultimately that entire thing was on her parents (and Sia but Sia didn't sign the contract for her partaking in it)

[@Suzanne4415]

I didn't see it but take people's word that it was bad. But I do find it interesting that Sia came out as diagnosed autistic recently. I really wonder how she would've done it differently if she'd made it a couple years after realizing this about herself.

[@iamlucifersactualvessel]

@@Suzanne4415 I think it's honestly a 50/50. Generally, being part of something does not immediately mean you won't do things that are actively harmful towards that group. I don't want to say I know what she would be like or is like. I tend to take apologies from celebrities with a grain of salt and given the fact that she had people saying don't do this before the release, the apology really doesn't mean anything to me.

[@Hi-xz5cm]

Yeah exactly she said she wasn’t comfortable/didn’t want to do certain things and was still forced too. She wasn’t in fault in my opinion the grown adult should have taken accountability

[@Kerma]

Abed and Troy is the true ADHD and Autism friendship experience

[@Starmadien2019]

Troy and Abed in the Morning!

[@Chigger]

​@@Starmadien2019_Nights!_

[@eleonoralorenzet6715]

My theory is that Annie is a masking AuADHD and so is Frankie. The both don't feel neurotypical.

[@nat2927]

@@eleonoralorenzet6715 annie and abed are an autistic duo fr

[@LuckayyLucario]

@@eleonoralorenzet6715 yeah ive always thought that about annie is a bonus, when all 3 of them end up living together

[@theresnohandlesavailable]

As an autistic person, Abed is one of my all-time favorite characters. I love that he is obviously autistic, but it's not his only trait. He's allowed to have strengths as well as flaws and he is also able to develop, especially in the first few seasons before the "gas leak year." It's just so refreshing to see an autistic character who is funny and fun to watch, relatable, and is able to make and maintain friendships with neurotypicals without having to wear a mask. Plus, Community is just a good show in general.

[@nemtudom5074]

Its almost as if the minority character being well written, and, you know, *an actual character* is what differentiates between someone like Abed, and Sheldon. Abed is a person, who happens to be autistic. Sheldon is just autistic. He's neither a believable real person, nor a character even, who'd have a personality or an identy, instead, he's just a walking talking stereotype. Him being the stereotypical bad interpretation of what autism is doesnt help either.

[@thelegendarye2430]

I actually think abeds character development was one of the things that wasn’t tarnished by season 4. I think the writing for his character was done really well in it despite it being generally disappointing

[@Lord_Drakostar]

AGREE

[@memoryfoam2285]

The end of the episode where they think someone's a psycho because of Britta's botched psychology tests (where Abed's test is revealed to be the only one that came back as 'sane') always makes me cry.

[@MegaSpideyman]

Why?

[@saltyseadog4719]

Whg

[@saltyseadog4719]

​@@MegaSpideyman yeh why

[@denisedalton9754]

I had the same reaction as op and for me it says that his autism doesn’t make him crazy or insane or anything else neurodivergent people have been labeled as. Also it points to Abed being the best of them. Even with his flaws he is largely the best person in the group.

[@TinyGhosty]

I fully agree that watching non-autistic actors "act" a meltdown is very unsettling. I don't know how it could be done without it seeming like mockery.

[@miau384]

The scene from Heartbreak High for me is good because for once, it shows more of what I'd experience - delayed, and not violent, not depicted sensationalist. *And*, and I love this - the non-autistic main character has a breakdown earlier in the show, also at home, with more violence even. It just shows how Quinnis reaction is justified and similar to other people's breakdowns, how it's not completely unnatural or alien in any way.

[@phoxxy2516]

I believe Chloe had a real meltdown on camera. The scene makes me cry, it's so relatable.

[@cottencandykitten]

I can't remember if Woo has a meltdown in - extraordinary attorney woo - ... she has very understandable reactions to a carcrash and violence .. i only mention cuz shes played by a non autistic actor

[@HasufelyArod]

Makes perfect sense. Now (that I've consumed some cool info on KZbin and social media) I cringe a little at Freddie Highmore's line " I am a surgeon. " in an episode I haven't even watched. And yeah, I feel like this would be a truly better acted by an actually autistic person, then have Freddie Highmore's face added with CGI. It was done with Peter Crushing in Star Wars, so why not in this intance.

[@DS-wp2dj]

I think it's a matter of empathy in the approach. Allistic people can also experience similar levels of traumatic distress leading to temporary disability or loss of certain abilities, when events or situations become too much for them to bear, but the triggers for dramatic allistic "mental breakdowns" in film are treated with much more respectful empathy - instead of using film language and acting to express how different this person's life is (to the assumed viewer) to communicate the point that they have a disability and are experiencing something debilitating as a result, when allistic people in film reach the point of breaking down (behaving disruptively, losing the ability to communicate coherently from distress, etc.), there's almost always been a big build up to that point where pretty much the whole plot of the movie is priming the audience to feel that character's growing distress at their situation and recognise that we'd feel the same way if we were experiencing their life from their perspective. When allistics are working really hard to "realistically" portray an autistic meltdown, they're focusing on making the audience see that character from the outside in way that displays all these tics or behaviours that could be part of a real meltdown, but this focus on the spectacle of how the meltdown looks on the outside, breaks the empathy of the film language by focusing on how that character *looks* to the audience from the gaze of an outside observer rather than how understandable their feelings would be if their perspective was being treated with the same care as an allistic protagonist.

[@eastonburnor4018]

Thank you for not being afraid to say, “autistic”. It’s a correct term.

[@eastonburnor4018]

YO 100 LIKES

[@mrblakeboy1420]

@@eastonburnor4018 truly “pog” as the kids say these days

[@eastonburnor4018]

YO 200 LIKES

[@UPGAX]

Exactly, people have called me retarded thinking that it's better than calling someone autistic

[@miilk.]

@@UPGAXwhat….????? thats awful im sorry

[@Demoxal]

Donnie from rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles is canonically autistic although it's never mentioned in the show. I love how he has autistic traits AND an actual personality and is treated as an actual character and not just a device to make the viewer sympathetic, inspired, etc. AND he is low empathy and made me realize that I might be low empathy myself, so yeah, I love him and would love to see what are your thoughts on him! edit: btw he's canonically autistic because the writers confirmed it, forgot to mention that lol

[@aviansoul__art8286]

Thank you for this comment that blessed me with the greatest show I’ve ever seen

[@user-jl1ue3yw5r]

YESSSS

[@AutisticHazel]

That makes so much sense he's the only turtle g like

[@RandomCerealArt]

As I was reading the comments I read this fun fact: Donnie is one of my biggest special interests, so I'm gonna huddle in my corner and rip paper happily now:D

[@Demoxal]

@@RandomCerealArt wait was shredding paper an autistic behaviour tHIS WHOLE TIME-

[@StinkyAtlas]

There was this girl in my class that often got ignored by our classmates and honestly I ignored her too. I never ignored her cause I thought she was odd or weird but simply cause I never got the chance to speak with her. Eventually I got paired up with her and found out she was a non speaking autistic woman. She usually talked to me through her computer or through head nods, I never found this weird since i hate conversations anyways (social cues are annoying) and always greeted her with a smile. I never wanted her to feel like she was weird cause she didn’t want to talk so I waited patiently as she wrote down all her words…I was always happy that she smiled around me and was very comfortable around me. Only recently am I figuring out that I have adhd and may have autism so maybe that’s what made us such natural friends lol. Wherever she is now I wish her the best life❤️

[@nemtudom5074]

Its a bummer you arent in contact with her now, sounds like you'd have a great time

[@gayhighlighter9160]

a similar thing is happening to me as all my friends have ADHD or autism making me realize I flock to neurodivergent people and they point out I probably have ADHD, autism or both.

[@ryomahoshi4529]

​@@gayhighlighter9160 same here,I naturally go to people who,after months of being friends,I learn they have ADHD/autism and boggles my mind every time because like I would have never guessed it because we are so alike

[@withyoctopus]

School: year 1 - seven years old - 30 years ago, I sat next to a girl who's was diagnosed autistic last week - two years after me. And all my other friends are either ASD or ADHD. Diagnosed in the last 5 years.

[@technobeagle9598]

One of my favorite things about Norma is that in the original comic the creator based her on his own personality and people said “wow what a cool and authentic autistic character” and he said “huh” and then went to go get diagnosed and now it’s cannon for the show.

[@one-onessadhalf3393]

That is AMAZING

[@karameru_xd]

That’s one way to figure that out XD

[@paavohirn3728]

Oh wow!

[@elenafriese891]

I always heard it as "he deliberately wrote her to be autistic when starting the show proper (since she's the exposition source and it didn't feel right to have both characters not interested in the park itself), got an expert so he didn't mess something up, got complimented by that expert for how much research he clearly _must've_ done, then got a diagnosis" Which is slightly funnier to me

[@wizard6029]

Same thing happened with Abed and Dan Harmon lol

[@cashargis6950]

Abed is my favorite character in any series ever. He's NOT antisocial, he has GAME with the ladies, makes friends so easily, has a special interest that ISN'T science or math or something "academic". He isn't even considered that SMART, he is just obsessed with HIS interests. My Autistic partner and I both love Abed.

[@skullzzzy]

abed >>>

[@calebgriffiths1419]

You need to watch more stuff, best character ever?

[@remlewis1111]

I love the way he cares about his friends and the group too maybe more than any other character

[@User-kt8nh]

his smarts are only mentioned once (from what I remember) and that's the Christmas when they kidnapped the history professor and Annie is trying to figure out who is also going for validictorian, she looks at everyone in the group and says "Abed?" and he shrugs a bit, he is smart and he was her first guess, but he never speaks about education. i love it, barely ever see that in autistic characters. hes also just the most relatable person ever.

[@EveleaSolgos]

obsessed with the episode where theyre all trying to help him ask out this girl and they're so concerned for his self-esteem, and he goes "i've got self-esteem falling out of my butt; i'm just more used to ladies approaching me" omg what a king

[@alayairene9842]

my biggest issue with atypical is that almost every character spend half their screen time doing and saying heinous and ableist things and don’t see consequences for it. in one episode sam’s girlfriend paige only allows him to talk about penguins a certain number of times per day. she’s not framed as controlling, and it’s played as funny. like we’re supposed to laugh when sam gets uncomfortable. and his mom is an autism mom and pushes person first language. sam’s so relationship with casey is simply a breath of fresh air. he has a SISTER!

[@no_brain7947]

I have to say that I find Paige so annoying

[@Frostfern94]

@@no_brain7947I’ve never liked Paige or Sams mom.

[@minionsarebae2434]

I think the show did portray her as a very controlling person at least that’s the vibe I got

[@iluvsakuraandsyaoran]

matilda is actually one of my favorite portrayals of autism specifically because of the reasons you didn't like her! i loved that she's a flawed human and not perfect about things, especially because ive had interactions exactly like the one in the show (im amazing at masking!!! too well!!!). and like with my early diagnosed friends i get why she's upset as well, because she's lived such an entirely different experience of being treated as Other. to have someone who appears to get along well and to not struggle claim your thing can suck. it's not the right reaction but it is one that is deeply rooted in reality unfortunately. and just like my friends, i forgive her because she gets better about it and i love her journey.

[@WillowStuart]

what is the show called?

[@withyoctopus]

Matilda. There are two movies and a book by Roald Dahl. You should watch both movies and read all books by Dahl. ​@@WillowStuart

[@celtys1079]

​@@WillowStuarteverything's gonna be ok/okay

[@r.r.4563]

I acc agree, I was bit annoyed when she said she doesn’t like Matilda as representation because she did this one thing that was kinda fucked up/is a bit of an asshole. Last I checked just because you have some sort of disorder does not mean you aren’t still a human being outside of your disorder. People have entire personalities outside of their disorder and as long as that and the behaviors that come from that are not treated as “autistic tendencies” and punished if they’d negative…then they’re not an issue nor badly representing anyone. The reason dudes like penguin man sucks isn’t that they aren’t perfect, it’s that their disgusting behavior is treated like it’s just “part of being autistic” and isn’t punished, nor is any lesson learned. Bro just commits crimes and they expect us to laugh. Matilda is fine if they address her bitterness and let her grow and state it has nothing to do with autism and everything to do with her as a person. Some people are flawed, an autistic person could even straight up be a major antagonist or villain. Not to say Matilda is by any means but it’s possible and it wouldn’t be bad rep. I’d love to see an attempt at a villain with autism.

[@jasonfrancis9262]

Important point about Abed, Dan Harmon was undiagnosed when he started writing the show Abed wasn't intended to be autistic just Harmon's "self insert" and all of the discussion about Abed being autistic led to Dan Harmon getting diagnosed and intentionally adding in more autism content for other people like him who knew they were different but didn't have the word.

[@smileykat2143]

oh there has to be a word adjacent to like trans ppl being an egg but with autism "im not autistic i just REALLY relate with this character being autistic" yk

[@scottlukacovic4600]

Omg, I didn't know that! The funny thing is that's exactly what happened in the show "Everything is Going To Be Okay" the creator of the show, Josh Thomas, who plays Nick, didn't know he was autistic when he wrote the first season. Just like Dan Harmon, he based the character completely on himself, it was fan discussion around his character that led to him getting diagnosed in real life. So he then wrote it into the second season.

[@kittysunlover]

@@smileykat2143 I propose "nugget." Associated with gold, which is a commonly used color in autistic symbology thanks to the latin / scientific symbol for the element being Au. Also commonly paired with "chicken" so you get the sort of same word family as a trans egg. Bonus points, reclaiming the word's sometimes use as an insult.

[@neonnights651]

I just wanna say, and I'm not 100% certain on this but like, community is my special interest. Please don't attack me if I am wrong tho haha. But the story I know is that Dan Harmon wrote Jeff Winger as a self insert and specifically did research to make Abed an accurate autistic character which he thought was important. Through the show he realised that he related more and put more of himself into Abed, who wasn't supposed to be a self insert like Jeff was at the beginning, and that's when he realised he was autistic.

[@greysonholtz]

@@neonnights651you're 100% right here !! TV Shows is one of my special interests so I find myself very seen in Abed and I've done a fair amount of research on his character.

[@briar-rosethecrazy5839]

The meltdown scene in Heartbreak high was real, Chloe sent herself into one because she didn’t feel it felt quite right when she was acting

[@hermionesings]

Woah that's intense

[@wingdingfontbro]

Oh my god. That's uh... committing. I don't know what else to call that.

[@noxdova]

That's amazing!

[@yuhgurt]

that must have sucked.. I'm autistic and I would never willingly have a meltdown

[@asafupps]

That seems excessive

[@Solaris_0]

I’m glad you went over special interests when talking about Abed. A few months ago in school we were in my science class and a kid asked me why I loved space so much but barely understood it other than the usual planets and space explorations. It sent me into a bit of an identity crisis. I didn’t know who I was, if I was a fraud my whole life, or if maybe I wasn’t actually on the spectrum because I wasn’t amazing at that interest or knew so much about it. This sort of helped me calm down enough to realize not everyone who has a special interest has to be good at it or know everything.

[@neveomalley8636]

My special interest is being an idiot!

[@Solaris_0]

@@neveomalley8636 I honestly can’t tell if this was meant to be an insult or just a statement about you

[@neveomalley8636]

@@Solaris_0 definitely not an insult, sorry if it came off that way! I relate a lot to what you said, I overthink everything and question myself all the time, ive been trying to counteract it by acknowledging i can be dumb about things and thats okay because everyone is ignorant about something and theres always more to learn, and you dont need to know everything about something to love it with your whole heart

[@Solaris_0]

@@neveomalley8636 no, you’re totally fine! Misunderstandings happen so it’s fine

[@GussyToYou]

This is interesting because one of the things that is missing for me is my lack of special interest. But that's untrue, I like data and infrastructure/logistics and gadgets or tycoon/management games. But I'm not like really good at any of it, maybe I know a little more than a majority of people about them due to exposure, but you bet I'll talk about it for hours on end, especially if I'm learning.

[@breearbor4275]

another thing that's really cool about Abed in Community: his special interests often play a major role not only in the plot of the show, but in how 'reality' is portrayed. the multiple timelines, that one christmas episode, the 'meta' film references--Abed has his own way of seeing the world, and the show more often that not uses his perspective as the one we are shown. not only is his version of reality treated as equal to anyone else's, but it's also essential to the very heart of the show. this is the best way of portraying a character sympathetically because it takes their perspective seriously. and it works so well because the very thing he uses to understand the world is film & TV & fictional plotlines, allowing them to do a lot of goofy and interesting gags.

[@alexnolastname9557]

Don’t forget how masking can make it hard to get a diagnosis later on! My parents didn’t get me diagnosed as a kid cause they didn’t want me to “identify as autistic” but when we talked to a doctor about the possibility of it recently he just said it was “popular” and that I don’t look autistic

[@Geenpeeg]

Waitwaitwaitwait, how do you LOOK autistic?

[@kurii6201]

that is a fucking terrible doctor please try to see somebody else if possible, if you think you might be autistic and you want/need a diagnosis in my opinion you should keep seeing doctors until one listens.

[@transmasctreachery]

Oml I was told I didn't look autistic too‼️

[@Katiewithdaffodils]

That is a very ignorant doctor, arrogant of him to assume he could just tell at a glance.

[@k1n5h0]

That is an awful doctor.

[@acharris]

"My fear world is the real world" is so relatable

[@fosteronthespectrum]

I know

[@TinyGhosty]

That scene was so so so good. I felt more understood in that scene than the rest of what I would consider "good representation."

[@scrapshappen]

Yes..oh so much.

[@billuraral1870]

That really stung. Too real, man

[@CarlytheQueenofChaos]

12:17 bro "Okay sia" is something I actually used to say to Ableist mofos but I didn't even watch the show yet lol. Wait lemme put it on my Netflix watchlist really quick.

[@diegoanimations9504]

You have to watch it, you're going to love it. I first discovered and consequently binged watched it back in november, and I'm going to again this week for their new season that drops on April 11th

[@rupel190]

21:05 Masking: "Which is just making everything a joke like he doesn't know when to take things seriously and he kind of always makes it seem like you can't tell if he's joking or not. And it's like if I'm never serious then no one can actually know the real me and they'll be laughing at me because I want them to, and not just because people laugh at me." Hits right home. Made me tear up.

[@krbthewitch]

I dunno if you're aware of him, but Donnatello from Rise of the TMNT is one of the best portrayals of low empathy Autism in an animated show in a while. He's brilliant, has his foibles and issues but is never shamed for his way of thinking by his family. When he needs lessons in empathy, his brothers are patient with him, and he's also hilarious in a non offensive way. It's never said outright he's autistic, but I'm pretty sure the writers wrote him with that intention. Best Donnie is Rise Donnie!

[@nbhp4663]

actually one person working on rottmnt said he's autistic !! :D

[@ree5598]

I was just scrolling through the comments looking to see if anybody mentioned Rise Donnie! I loved how openly they'd show him stimming and his aversion to touch and certain textures. So happy to see somebody on the same wavelength as me spreading Donnie supremacy + loving how he's portrayed. He's gotta be one of my favorite characters of all time :))

[@CalicoDarling]

Thank GOD someone said it I was so pissed he wasn't on this list! Literally all my life I thought something was wrong with me for not liking touch and making "weird noises" a lot, and oh my god the relief I felt when I saw him on TV was INSANE

[@ElvenChaos]

Donnie has always been my favorite turtle. It all makes sense, now.

[@ballssenpai7394]

I WAS LOOKING FOR COMMENTS ABOUT HIM YIPPEE!!!!

[@tayzonday]

I think Star Trek had autistic candidates in Spock, Data, and Odo - but gave them in-universe backstories besides autism.

[@fosteronthespectrum]

I was waiting for the first Star Trek comment

[@fosteronthespectrum]

Thank you

[@ijustdocomments6777]

I dunno why but I feel like Worf is a good candidate. He definitely does his own special version of "masking", isn't like the other Klingons (not as emotive), has special interests and feels really strongly and particular about things. Of course this could, and generally is assumed, to be down to having been raised by humans.

[@KGBSpyGeorgeCostanza]

HOLY SHIT IT'S TAY, CHOCLATE RAIN, big fan, you a KZbin OG

[@lettersnstuff]

I swear to god dude you show up under dang near every video I watch, we must have really similar tastes

[@Jgumyjymghjvmhvj]

Entrapta from SHE-RA and the princess of power is autistic coded and she is really really relatable in my situation her special interest is building and engineering I think I haven’t watched the show for a while but she’s definitely a good one to talk about

[@kimbookamerbrown]

I think ND Stevenson confirmed that Entrapta was written as autistic! Definitely a good character to talk about!

[@rosepuppy1984]

I’ve never watched She-Ra. My sister did but never finished it. But there are definitely some Entrapta moments that make me cry

[@andrealevinson1342]

came here to mention Entrapta! love her sm

[@LuscensLunaV]

i think that she is really good rep but she does have her flaws

[@Casterspellproductions]

She-ra is mid, but Entrapta is my comfort character

[@RoxiTheRat]

I think I’m autistic. I’m getting tested for it currently. But honestly, the meltdown in The Good Doctor were he continually yells that he is a surgeon, I could relate to that. Just yesterday I had a whole meltdown because I couldn’t find an AirPod. We were leaving in a second and I started screaming “I need it!” Over and over again. And I wouldn’t stop because I felt like I couldn’t. It wasn’t until I found it that I stopped, but I kept saying it to myself while holding it. Idk, it’s just something I wanted to say. Something I felt like I needed to. To anyone reading this, have a very good day/night :) Edit: Welp, turns out im autistic 😅

[@glacity]

This. When that meme was going around, there were a lot of autistic people saying stuff like "Autistic people don't act like that!" And I was just thinking "Maybe *you* don't." I've melted down way worse over smaller stuff lol. It's not that we want attention, want to break stuff, want to get our way, or to cause harm to ourselves and/or others. Everything is just a LOT, we don't feel in-control. I feel like not an insignificant amount of autistic people deal with meltdowns to some extent, but what those meltdowns look like differs.

[@Mondkreischer]

I did that, too! My phone was broken so I ordered a new one. Because of some mistakes I made (misunderstandigs) I couldn't get it and had a time limit to correct everything before it was send back. When I learned I couldn't rettieve it from the packing station I started "why can't I be a normal adult, I just want my phone" over and over again while crying like a toddler. I couldn't stop. I was told I'm not autistic but my therapist is fighting that.

[@EvanBear]

Congrats on being diagnosed, lol.

[@bibikawa1945]

​@@glacityI think its important to know they were saying this because The Good Doctor IS bad representation, that moment wasn't but overall it is, they literally asked Autism speak for insight. It isn't good representation but it's okay if you relate to him

[@glacity]

@@bibikawa1945 Ah, I see. That is good to know, thank you for telling me!

[@TheStarCrow99]

I honestly think Matilda’s not great reaction to her brother’s diagnosis is actually kinda good. Not because she should’ve reacted that way morally obvs, but because I think it’s *good* to show a character struggling with internalized ableism and how internalized ableism can both hurt those around you and yourself.

[@UnmaskingElysium]

I was gonna like your comment but it's at 69 so....

[@TheStarCrow99]

@@UnmaskingElysium understandable, have a lovely day. Furthermore, thank you for making me aware so I could immortalize this moment via screenshot in case someone else decides to ruin it.

[@UnmaskingElysium]

@@TheStarCrow99 😂😂😂 no problem, I hope you have a lovely day too

[@JaggerG]

I found the comment at 365 likes and thought it neat, but rationalized that 366 likes is just as neat about 1/4 the time. :^3

[@DrewBernstein]

I agree! Felt like that was the point of that scene!!

[@baconmoop]

As someone who’s family constantly said I was “doing a sheldon” before I got diagnosed to explain some of my ‘quirkier’ symptoms, I have a seething, unbridled hatred of the man and the show. The difference between Abed and Sheldon is that you laugh with Abed. You laugh at Sheldon.

[@Nakia11798]

My family and even friends used to call me a Sheldon. I took great offense to that. I was not diagnosed then, and still am not now. Just waiting on my evaluation appointment and hoping for the truth.

[@anapellegrini1764]

I love Abed. My only objection against abed is that I think we, as autistic people, have to take accountability and learn when our behaviour is hurting the ones we love. Not to stop being true to ourselves or to please everyone, but because as an adult theres a certain moment when we can't allow ourselves to not think of others and be selfish. I have learned that it benefit ourselves more at the end. Cause i've had to suvrive on my own on the real world and had to mask a lot, but i also learned to connect with people in a sincere way. So I didn't like the arch where he would fight with Troy or get upset when Troy asked reasonable things. Cause I believe it might not be the most comfortable thing to do, but there's times we need to consider certain protocols and feelings of others, specially if that can save our own skin. I didnn't like that there were no consequences. Outside that, Abed is grat and funny and clever ahahaha

[@greysonholtz]

@@anapellegrini1764 I mean, Abed is a bastard. I kind of love that about his character

[@GentlethemJoey]

Also, people point to Sheldon because he’s hit the heaviest by the stereotype cannon, but ALL of those guys are autistic.

[@wywardmoose]

Wait is that why I don't find the show remotely funny???

[@Jacqueline_Oat]

I really like Entrapta from she-ra:princess of power, i love how when we meet her one of her interests are tiny things which i literally squealed over for like 10 min when i saw her. Like they animated tiny sandwiches and tiny salt and tiny teas and its so cute. Love entrapta and shes actually relevent to the plot.

[@Bdub1112]

Thank you endlessly for explaining the reasoning behind why Aspergers isn't used anymore. I'm 34 & was diagnosed in the early 90's as a child.. which I've since learnt, as a female, that was pretty rare then. I had no issue saying I'm Aspie etc.. because i was diagnosed so long ago, not knowing the information you just told me. Now i understand. The leaps & bounds made in ASD research since i was put against the train spotting, number obsessed mould i didn't quite fit in. About 15yrs ago i read a thing called 'Aspie traits in females'.. me to a tee.. it felt so good to be seen & recognised. Education is always a good thing. Thank you again.

[@paigeshenouda1985]

being half Arab, self diagnosed with autism, an aspiring filmmaker and having a special interest in film I've never seen myself be so well represented than with Abed

[@yeon_berry22]

@@urmomslover1064es, some ppl can't afford to get a diagnosis or some ppl aren't in the position to be able to go to a professional. so many ppl have to self diagnose. 18:04 explains it well

[@Whybotherlifeismeaninglesslol]

@@urmomslover1064 oh hey! How is my mom doing nowadays?

[@urmomslover1064]

@@Whybotherlifeismeaninglesslol bro why r y'all attacking me I js made a mistake and owned up to it and I even deleted the reply after researching more

[@mms598]

@@urmomslover1064i dont think they were attacking i think they were joking about your name idk though

[@Whybotherlifeismeaninglesslol]

@@urmomslover1064 it was a joke around your name, not around you. :)

[@TinyGhosty]

Entrapta from She-Ra is canonically autistic!!! She was my comfort character around the time I was diagnosed so she will forever have a special place in my heart. I love her SO MUCH! Please include her if you do another video.

[@lnourb]

Yesss was just about to add her!

[@TinyGhosty]

@@lnourb My fav autistic traits she has are: 1. Her love for robots and how she views them as friends. Especially Emily, she views her as her closest friend. This is similar to my own love for animals, which is very common for autistic people. Being closer to animals than people. 2. Her insistence for tiny food! I love this one because it is two fold, it can be viewed as her having "same meals" and it is also an interest in tiny versions of things. I also eat "same meals" and also LOVE tiny versions of things. 3. Her difficulties making friends and her journey falling in with the "bad guys" before understanding the original group did not mean to cast her out. I felt really connected to this story line because I also fell in with some "bad people" when I was younger because being accepted by them was better than being accepted by no one. People criticize this story line acting like Entrapta doesn't understand morals or something, but how I view it is trauma around being abandoned and her choosing people that actually show interest in her special interest (being a scientist and building robots.) 4. Her unbridled excitement for things! Autistic joy is BEAUTIFUL! Please let me know if you can think of anything else💜

[@Imjustkendall]

I LOVE her too but I feel like her whole personality is her special interest :( a bit disappointing because I would’ve loved to see more character development and personality, besides just one episode

[@TinyGhosty]

@@Imjustkendall Well she is technically a side character. She had far less screen time than the main three. I disagree with her not having character development, there was a lot of development in her communication skills with both sides, in her ability to adapt to situations (such as on Beast Island), and her ability to show compassion for Hordak and Wrong Hordak when other characters were more likely to judge. Entrapta started out as someone who spent all her time alone working on robots with a small staff to support her, to having a wide group of friends that she literally put her life on the line to protect. She developed her communication skills and even explained that she was having issues with it. I think her character development was wonderful with the time she was given.

[@Noo-My-Only-Weakness-Dying]

I LOVE HER I WAS JUST ABOUT TO SAY

[@vynneve]

Abed's special interest is not film making. It's film/tv shows in general. He does know everything about inspector spacetime, for example

[@thecameltoendallhumans6204]

I just learned that your videos have actual subtitles, not auto generated. Thank you so much, this makes viewing this much easier for me!

[@profileuser5845]

Extraordinary Attorney Woo is one of the best representations of autism I've ever seen and just an all-around good show. Woo Young-Woo has a lot of stims and mannerisms including echolalia and wearing headphones that are shown consistently and not usually as the focus, just how she exists without having to be questioned, her movement is sometimes disorganized and not in a cartoonish way. She has a love interest and is shown as desirable and how she's discriminated against feels realistic. While she's definitely a savant syndrome-type depiction, her struggles are not at all downplayed and you even see how her law interest can cause her problems at times. And her special interest in whales is a big part of how she understands the world, it's so fun seeing her realizing a key part of a case with imagining a whale. Her father is very supportive while sometimes infantilizing and this isn't treated like it's okay but just how any parent worried for their child knowing they live in a crappy world. There's a lot of focus on autonomy and even an episode about a high needs autistic man being persecuted because people refuse to try and communicate with him and an episode about a woman with developmental disability's boyfriend being accused of assault. It's not perfect and this is from an american perspective of it and the actress and creator are not autistic but I'd put it at A tier

[@Jess-ze6md]

I love this show I was hoping it might come up in this video. Thanks for mentioning it :))

[@erosebud123]

I love Woo Young-Woo!!! She and her whales helped me understand what I was going through with autism

[@MayanRose42]

I also really liked the character Moon Sang Tae in It's Okay to Not Be Okay. I felt like he was a good representative of part of the autistic spectrum and also of dealing with childhood trauma deep within adulthood

[@smallgreenflies]

i see myself so much in her, shes a really relatable character

[@AllTheArtsy]

Woo Young Woo is such comfort show. I don't even care that it still falls into the over-representation of savants (with her mom and half-brother also coded as autistic). I also really like that they explored romantic and sexual issues both with her and the legal assistant, and the case with the lover boy volunteer.

[@fightingfaerie]

The fact that they obviously wrote Sheldon based off autistic stereotypes and then insisted on not actually making him autistic, because he’s “been tested”, is one of the reasons I stopped watching. They wanted to use those stereotypes just to make a character to laugh at and make fun of. It’s the same reason I realized it’s not actually a show about geeks for geeks. Being geeks and nerds is the brunt of the joke, not a relatability. The Pop Culture Detective has done some great videos about this.

[@fosteronthespectrum]

I was literally gonna give the Adorkable Misogyny video a shout out but didn't know if it was too old! I loved that video and yep, the reason he isn't cannon is because he is only there to be made fun of

[@resourceress7]

@@fosteronthespectrum I think nothing is too old to reference. If you make the connection, and want to point it out, show the connection. All brains are good. EDIT: fixed dictation typo (dictato?) - "and" not "I"

[@Firegen1]

The initial writers have out and out said they based all the characters on people they knew. They actively made fun of people they worked with intensively and tried to make them as unflattering as possible. Sometimes it makes you wonder who really has empathy issues... I digress. Pop Culture Detective is awesome

[@amandamandamands]

@@Firegen1 Well to be fair the creator that I heard say that said he was autistic and it was the autistic people he was around (just for who does or doesn't have empathy), nice that he is open about where he got the inspiration, not nice that it is the butt of the joke the whole time. One example he gave was that one person said that they never know when to leave a party and another one answered that they had come up with a mathematical formula so that they left when I think it was a third of the original amount of people there. That way you weren't leaving early but you weren't one of the last hangers that annoy people. The part that he was laughing about was that they had come up with a mathematical way to deal with a social situation.

[@Bushwhacker-so4yk]

They actually made him inconclusive, which is totally unrealistic for a cis white guy who’s into physics and *trains*. As someone who was actually inconclusive until I was almost 20, that felt like a slap in the face.

[@alexhamel-snapp5390]

The line about how “if I make everything a joke then everyone willing be laughing because I wanted them to not because I’m me” or whatever it was gave me a full on breakthrough 😂

[@ashlielepek]

I spent a lot of my youth being obsessed with frogs. The other kids thought it and I were strange, they even called me frog girl until I left high-school. I'm working on unmasking after 35+ years of reining in who I actually am to the point of developing fibromyalgia. I find as I am learning to unmask, the fibro-pain is less and less.

[@nicolah.6481]

Fibro is often caused by ehlers-danlos syndrome which is comorbid with autism, I highly recommend looking into it ❤

[@jax_firestorm9689]

My favorite thing about Abed is how similar he is to his peers. So often in the real world, and in media, autistic people are alienated and separated from their peers. But Abed bonds with other people over their shared interests. His best friend doesn’t have autism, but they bond over their shared interests. Abed has a smart, beautiful girlfriend, and their relationship is perfect.

[@bit7404]

I’m not autistic, but my brother I’m pretty sure is, and he acts just like this. He’s super social and doesn’t mask with his peers and friends but only with his family because he feels he has to. I ofc always thought Abed was autistic, but I had no idea it was confirmed until this video, and I think having a character like Abed is great rep

[@skwigit22]

this is so true, i love the way he’s able to make friends and find people he gets along with and it’s not a big deal in the show at all, media with autistic characters will often either make the character completely unable to make friends as a way to make the audience pity the character or, will congratulate the character for “finally” making a friend or being social but with abed that’s never the case and he is treated just like a dude, not disregarding the fact that yes, sometimes he doesn’t do the right thing or has disagreements/arguments with his peers just like everyone else in the show does and i think that’s amazing, i love abed!!

[@falcolf]

Okay, I had NO idea that skill regression was a thing with autism, that explains why I completely lose my ability to talk when I'm scared. Holy crap; thanks Foster!

[@falcolf]

Also your note about undiagnosed/self-diagnosed autism? Hnng. That's me, struggling to get a diagnosis in my province where autism diagnoses aren't readily available.☹️

[@Cinnamonmay-tf7lu]

@@falcolf autism diagnosis also only diagnoses high spectrum people and the system decides who gets to be autistic and who doesn’t, as an autistic person I’m not planning on getting diagnosed because of the system in place set up by neurotypical people. Basically they don’t know what autism is and the people you talk to don’t know who to go to for a diagnosis 😬

[@no1legobatmanfan]

About diagnoses, many people don’t get them due to the ways you can be legally oppressed for it. like not being able to travel to places and not being allowed to adopt

[@illuminaticonfirmed1389]

@@no1legobatmanfanyou can’t travel if you have autism ???????????

[@justarandomgothamite5466]

​@@Cinnamonmay-tf7luin what country?

[@RAJF24]

Hearing him talk about Chloe I was so happy! I’ve met Chloe before and she is my Idol.

[@novaumbra7604]

First time I've ever heard about loop, so I watched it and it made me cry because it was so beautiful. I sometimes go non-verbal when I'm extremely stressed out, so watching Marcus get frustrated through Renee's eyes was really relatable

[@sarahrose4388]

Something so cool about Loop which I don’t think gets talked about enough is how the voice actor for Renee is Madison Bandy who is actually a non-speaking autistic voice actor.

[@jessyca_zander]

I also saw a behind the scenes video where they allowed her to record her lines at home because she was uncomfortable in the studio!

[@thedorkknight9684]

i remember growing up, watching girl meets world as it was coming out, and that episode came out. i've been diagnosed since it was 9, and that episode CRUSHED me. i literally started crying, and it just destroyed me that characters i liked would be so horrified and against autism. i didn't even like Farkle, but just the idea that everyone would be so against the IDEA that he MIGHT have it broke my heart.

[@modestalchemist]

I think their fear and denial about farkle possibly being autistic was a good representation of how people who don't understand it can be afraid of it. And this is true with most mental health things. There is a way it truly is, and a way society sees it. For instance, OCD, isn't obsessing about things being tidy, it's compulsively doing things ritualistically because your brain says you have to, even when you don't want to. And schizophrenic people aren't inherently dangerous, and adhd isn't just hey look at the squirrel.

[@Jgumyjymghjvmhvj]

Awh girl I’m so so sorry that hurts to imagine :(

[@saagabragi6938]

@@cheyannegiles9772 Sheldon was obviously meant to be autistic. Writers just thing that as long as they don't namedrop a diagnosis, they're allowed to be as offensive and inaccurate as possible.

[@saagabragi6938]

@@modestalchemist Autism is not a "mental health thing".

[@cheyannegiles9772]

@@saagabragi6938 No, he was explicitly said by the creators that he wasn't meant to autistic, they just grabbed a bunch of traits they thought were annoying and gave them to him. Obviously it's still ableist but never assume malice when ignorance is more likely, They literally said they didn't want to make him canon autistic because they meant him to be insufferable and weren't trying to say bad things about autistic people.

[@dragonpluscatequalsdrat]

... Donatello from Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I'm not entirely sure whether or not the show's writers have confirmed it, but he is one of my personal favourite autistic characters and I believe he is very well written.

[@LeonardoLiketheninjaturtle]

he is literally the best autistic rep i have ever seen in television

[@AnimatedC9000]

Interested to hear you possibly talk about the title characters of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. All three have been confirmed to be autistic by their creator Maxwell Atoms, who is also autistic. The whole show was definitely one of the darker and weirder cartoons that I watched growing up. As an autistic adult rewatching the series and knowing that context, there's some stuff that just like, hits different. Stuff like Billy's mannerisms, Mandy's struggle to express her emotions to those closest to her, Grim having been a bullied kid when he was in school, and so on. I know you've talked about Gravity Falls before on this channel, so I suggest looking at some eps of this show, if you'd like. Definitely an interesting portrayal of three characters on the spectrum.

[@Senfree]

Sad fact is, there are a handful of autistic men that aren't taught boundaries, or aren't given repercussions for going past boundaries, not because they can't know better, but because no one bothers to enforce it. And some don't care to "learn" it.

[@CarrionCata]

Applies to alot of men in general I think

[@Senfree]

@@CarrionCata True.

[@anapellegrini1764]

Thats why i hate most autistic men so much. It's not autisim but misoginy, they¿re treated like little kids and everything is allowed. I was always in "alternative" or art schools and parents believed it was synonimous weith "special need" sexual assault and harassment is super normalized in neurodivergent men.

[@anapellegrini1764]

@@CarrionCata Yes, but lack of social awareness and also infantilization and lack of boundaries because of pity makes people justify and allow autistic men to act like horny retarded idiots. It's not the autism tho is patriarchy mixed up with lack of social awareness

[@TheMostRandomAussieEver]

Excuse me? im male and im autistic?

[@its_marmieee]

Here's another fun thing about Abed! There's a community episode in which it is stated that one person is normal and everyone else is, like, psychotic and disturbed. In the last scene of that episode, it's shown that Abed is the normal one! The canon autistic character is the normal one :D

[@icantthinkofanything798]

Oh the Halloween episode?

[@its_marmieee]

@@icantthinkofanything798 yeah!!

[@daphthedumbass]

as an autistic person with Community as a special interest, that made me so happy when the episode ended. also cause we all sure as hell knew it wouldn't be Britta xD

[@h3st1aaa]

actually, britta makes everyone take a test, she puts the test in the machine the wrong way, and the results come out that everyone is normal except one person. at the end of the episode, annie looks at the papers, determines that britta put them in wrong, and britta does it correctly. the correct results come out, and turns out everyone is a psychopath except one person. that person is abed :P

[@nyxcat3621]

@@h3st1aaathat is what the original commenter already said I think

[@ariira9331]

headcanon autistic characters pls!!!! to me the entire pines family is literally the spectrum its my current interest and personally i relate to ford the most 💕

[@karak962]

SO REAL. OH MY GOSH

[@karak962]

my brother and I are so similar to Mabel and Dipper, and both autistic. This HC makes so much sense to me and warms my heart. My brother is also trans so the dipper vs manliness episode, the general themes of his struggles with being "manly enough", and the trans headcanon for him are SO REAL to me

[@jereton_ex]

This is a really well made video! I haven't watched a lot of these shows, but I really enjoyed seeing the breakdowns of the characters and the opinions given. The points were concise and easy to understand, the editing is well done and the tone indicators were greatly appreciated! Can't wait to binge the rest of the videos on this channel :D

[@insheraopoku4998]

You saying that you can just be obsessed with something and not be good at it is still a valid fixation has completely validated me :) ALSO ABED IS THE BEST

[@onyourleft4194]

same. i have a special interest in space and various sciences but that doesn't mean i'm good at them, just that i'm really interested in them and they get me excited. having someone validate that makes me so happy :D

[@Maber610]

I always thought my hyperfixation wasnt really real because i wasnt able to really say many facts on the top of my head, i just get really happy when i talk about it generally

[@r4tz4sn4ckz]

​@@Maber610same!!! i used to think i wasnt bc i didnt know everything about my special interests (thought they were just hyperfixations at the time)

[@viinaart]

I always say this, but I honestly genuinely want more representation for autistic people who are just kinda dumb and/or have a bad memory lmao (because I am like that! Autistic people can be like that!!)

[@wooblydooblygod3857]

One of the great things about things is that you're capable of learning about them and getting better. Unless your interest is like running and you're in a wheelchair or something. But don't see your failure at it as you just being bad, it's just more area for you to experience it.

[@puppetmaster8573]

I love the episode of Community - Critical Film Studies (S2 E19) - where Abed acts allistic and Jeff just freaks out. I like how it sorta relates to how Jeff is based on the masked version of Dan Harmon, because when Abed is masking Jeff seems to hate that Abed’s not being genuine and even starts like trauma-dumping to break the masked conversation. It’s almost like Jeff sees himself in Abed or something, and with both of them masking he freaks out and opens up. Though he doesn’t show it usually, Jeff really seems to respect Abed’s genuineness. Cool episode.

[@vadernation1233]

Yeah idk why he said Jeff infantilizes Abed. He does a little at the beginning but he gets over it quick. It kinda dismisses the great dynamic Jeff and Abed have where Jeff really is the one who understands Abed the most, probably even over troy.

[@andrewdorsey1237]

Never forget, Abed is both the first, and last member of the main cast Jeff interacts with in the show. Jeff is an asswipe several times yes, but ultimately the show is about him growing out of that shitty persona he had to develop as a fake lawyer, and a big part of that comes to how he treats Abed through the series... even if seasons 4 and 6 are garbage fires lol

[@ahhh4117]

Whats really interesting is that Jeff fits all the criteria for NPD, and many people w personality disorders end up befriending autistic people because NDs flock together for some reason. There is actually substantial evidence that all of the main cast is ND in some way

[@griffnull8371]

​@@andrewdorsey1237six isn't that bad

[@allieleblanc2369]

Hi! My mom recently told me i had an autism diagnosis at 8. Im watching a lot of videos to get more information about the community, and this one was really helpful!

[@ADHDBeyond]

Not sure if you’ve done another one of these with these characters but I’d love to see: - Komi from “Komi Can’t Communicate” (a Japanese anime show) And - “Woo” from “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” (a Korean lawyer show) Both are (or were previously) on Netflix Thank you 🙏🏻 😊 ❤

[@credendovides20]

And Entrapta from She-Ra.

[@Flxw3rrr.garden]

Wait Komis autistic?? I knew she had social anxiety but I didn't know she had autism lol

[@pleasepicture.me.in.thetrees]

I haven’t watched the whole of Komi Can’t Communicate, but I thought she was a representation of social anxiety/selective mutism, not autism? Or does she find out she’s autistic later on in the show? /nm /genq

[@FruviousTitanic]

Have you seen Extraordinary Attorney Woo? The eponymous character Woo Young-Woo is autistic and …without too many spoilers, she portrays both strength and difficulty in navigating friendships, complex social situations, and romance. Even having an autistic person as a romantic lead is such a rare representation. She is somewhat of a savant and it does at times approach the line of making it a superpower but I think it does a good job keeping short of the line. She has multiple special interests and interacts with them in a way that resonated with my autistic experience. The show is really great at being about her experience and not about her as a spectacle for allistics. Basically everything that the Good Doctor does badly with a character who is only a autistic and a surgeon, Extraordinary Attorney Woo does well with a character who is autistic, an attorney, and an entire fully developed human person. Worth checking out!

[@Wheelyadventures]

My daughter loved this drama. Seeing an autistic woman be successful in her job as well as have loyal friends and a person that loved her really helped when she was struggling with friends, school and crushes. It’s crazy that it took a drama from Korea to provide her with the representation she needs when the UK was so bad at it. Cannot wait for season 2.

[@angelnetworks]

i watched it and the whole time i thought she was so similar to my ex bff who is autistic

[@aSpectreAppears]

To be fair, it can because superpower depending on what version they have. Look at the guy who hacked into government stuff to check out the space stuff. The government got so embarrassed about their bad systems that they tried to imprison him and cause him distress. Personally I like Sheldon as he has a lot of traits such as the obsession over trains and such, the schedule over things. I can see some of his traits in me. A lot of characters in shows fall flat when they are made to be autistic as if that is their entire character. In Power Rangers film and Dr Who recent episodes, they made two autistic characters who had zero emotion like Michael Myers and did very little. When there are characters that were not made to be autistic but have similar traits, I tend to prefer them a lot more. What is with the Michael Myer types for autistic characters? We feel emotion but some of us just do not show it properly.

[@aSpectreAppears]

Woo looks interesting. There is a martial arts film named Chocolate. It is about an autistic girl who learns from being hit and gets back up. It is a decent film.

[@antross6433]

i actually love how they handled youngwoo being a savant because yes, it does help her a lot but there's situations where she's still wrong sometimes, or she points out what difficulties she has and that this is a rare thing that other autistics don't experience a lot so it's not exactly a super power!! also there's another character who's autistic and completely different than her so i think they did an amazing job portraying that!!

[@mslizzieforbes]

One of my favorite things about community and abed and his dynamic with Jeff, is that both of those characters are based on the same real person. Jeff is supposed to be who the writer was trying to be/pretend to to be. Abed is who he really is and became once he truly got into touch with him self and who he learned he was once he found out he was autistic. I found it interesteting that you said Jeff sucks because Jeff is essentially the mask concept itself if that makes sense.

[@xbvm]

and the fact that Abed can pretend to act as Jeff flawlessly is just **chef's kiss**

[@LifesNeverHumDrum]

Oh that’s awesome

[@randomstranger8938]

Same! It's honestly my favorite duo in the show, as abed is the person Jeff treats with the most compassion and care due to being inspired by abed's high self esteem, unlike Jeff. And he also is the only one to acknowledge abed's disadvantages due to autism, and show compassion and advice and not infantile him, Britta would be a more accurate character for that.

[@alexschofield8085]

@@randomstranger8938in Jeff and Abed’s friendship we stan 😌

[@angelalovell5669]

But... Dan Harmon is a sexually harassing piece of shit who shouldn't work in the industry. Jeff is a fucking nightmare character who embodies toxic masculinity and that is at least partially based off Joel McHale's media personality long established before community (Dan wanted to be popular and a star) and Abed doesn't appear to behave, speak ortreat people in any way similar to Dan Harmon, which makes sense because he's likeable and compassionate. I think you're giving way to much credit to a creator who hasn't made up for his bad behaviour and who constantly, purposefully inserted offensive, disgusting tropes and characters into his work for his own entertainment. Maybe just give Danny Pudi all the credit for being a good actor and a decent person, screw Dan Harmon, Joel McHale and Chevy Chase. At least everyone knew Chevy Chase was an asshole, the former two tried to hide it.

[@-dusty_butterfly-]

Came here to see how you ranked Norma, i’m so glad everyone just agrees that she is AMAZING representation, I love Norma she’s great and very relatable.

[@Azquine]

This video is what ended up getting me to watch community, which is my current fixation. So thank you for that from the bottom of my heart! Watching that show, and specifically seeing how Abed as a character is treated when I can see so much of myself in him, makes me very happy!

[@falcolf]

Ignoring the awfulness of JK Rowling, I think Newt Scamander is definitely autistic. The way that he avoids eye contact, prefers his animals (definitely his special interest,) awkward mannerisms, and doesn't have many friends made me see some of myself in him.

[@SomeRandomEcho]

YES I LOVE HIM AHJHHHHHHHHH I READ HIS BOOK SO SO SO SO SO SO SO MUCH

[@scottlukacovic4600]

The Pop Culture Detective has a great video about him and his non-toxic, non-stereotypical masculinity and all of his wonderful qualities as a character, highly recommended.

[@reneebroski]

yes! the actor who played him even said that newt is autistic :)

[@SomeRandomEcho]

@@scottlukacovic4600 :0000000

[@awenrose4765]

One of the other commenters already said this but yes! The actor actually did that intentionally and has said himself that in his opinion, newt is definitely autistic and portrayed him as such on purpose

[@brauchereye5305]

1] The worst part of Atypical is Sam's mother, Elsa. She is an Autism Mom TM who treats everyone in her life terribly, but the show treats her like a Saint. 2] In defense of Girl Meets World, only Maya treats autism like its a bad thing, and gets over it by the end of that episode. Farkle was specifically concerned that he would lose the ability to love his friends, which is almost immediately refuted. Smackle gets promoted to main character status after that, and she is never reduced to "the autistic one." 3] People constantly complain about Sheldon based on early seasons, but he undergoes huge character growth and development over the 12 year run (only Howard gets more), which is why people who watch TBBT all the way through love and root for him.

[@v_bunny]

@@lauracerqueiramachado8979if a writer doesn’t know that asperger’s is a dead term and is literally just autism, then they shouldn’t write an autistic character lol

[@lauracerqueiramachado8979]

@@v_bunnyactually I disagree with it, there is a difference between autism and Asperger´s I heard a psychologist explaining that the brain structure of a high-functional autistic person and the one of a person that fits in Asperger´s syndrome and they are very different (the brain of a high-functional autistic person has much more grey mass than the one of someone with Asperger´s), also Hans Asperger described this condition as being a sort of mix of autism with psychopathy, Asperger´s is a real thing but APA decided to just erase that to make the diagnosis easier which is okay but it can easily be changed again in the future, I heard many famous psychologists were mad at this decision because they don´t think it should be put all together when there is a difference

[@v_bunny]

@@lauracerqueiramachado8979 everything about this is so wrong. high and low functioning labels are outdated. and the reason why psychologists would be mad is because they’re old and don’t like change. it’s literally all just autism, but there’s different subtypes which can be distinguished by support needs. i’d die if someone called me high functioning because really i can barely function, they just assume that because they don’t know me. when actually i’m low/medium support needs, meaning i still need accommodations and help, but not as much as a high support needs autistic person. asperger’s was literally used by han asperger to determine who he wanted to k1ll in the h0l0caust, but they also got rid of the term to make it more accessible for people to get diagnosed for autism because it’s literally all just autism. there’s loads of psychologists who clearly are for this change, you’re just choosing not to look at it. don’t trust every psychologist out there, they still believe afab people can’t be autistic, which again very outdated and very wrong.

[@lauracerqueiramachado8979]

@@v_bunny But autism is not all the same thing, it´s an umbrella term that´s why it´s called a "spectrum", but then again that´s just my opinion (I´m autistic as well) if in the bigger picture it´s better for the ASD community I guess it´s fine

[@v_bunny]

@@lauracerqueiramachado8979 yeah autism is a spectrum but varying degrees of stuff, someone’s just gotta have core traits to classify it as autism, even if, say, their anxiety levels are low but another autistic person’s anxiety is high. still autism. i’m an autistic adult and whilst some people might like to use the term asperger’s still, it’s not the appropriate term and puts a line between autistic people of different support needs, therefore making “asperger’s” (low support needs) seem superior to “autism” (high support needs). there just doesn’t need to be a separation because we all have social struggles, or sensory issues, or stim a lot for several reasons, again to varying levels depending on the person.

[@teaganrp2806]

temperance brennan from Bones has BIG aut energy and i love her for it

[@JustHowItIs]

While the producers of the Big Bang theory show said that the character Sheldon Cooper is not autistic, the actor who plays Sheldon Cooper did say in an interview that he intentionally played the character as autistic. Thank you. I agree with your opinions you gave about most of the characters you mentioned. I am an hard of hearing, autistic person who has ASHD. So, captions help me not only due to my hearing loss, but to help me focus better to whatever I am watching.

[@kittysunlover]

One of my favorite things about Abed and specifically his portrayal as an autistic character, is that the show goes out of its way to remind the audience that Abed has his own inner life beyond what the other characters / his friends see, or what we see on screen even. Which of course this is super important because often disability is portrayed in a very surface level, tokenistic fashion, but instead of combating this by just making Abed a fully realized character, the show goes a step beyond to challenging audience assumptions and making them think about why they have those assumptions in the first place. For instance, there's an episode where the gals in the study group are trying super hard to set Abed up with a girl they think he'd like, and there's all of this back and forth with the stereotypical "nerdy ND guy can't flirt and needs female friends to help him understand women," only to turn the whole thing on its head at the end of the episode and have Abed just offhandedly say something about he does fine with the ladies but he was just trying super hard to make his friends happy. Later in the series he does start to get more solo episodes where we see him just living his best life without the influence of his friends around, but even without that, a very common theme is to take a common assumption or trope and just twist it inside out. Abed, to me, represents far more than just a well-written autistic character, but he's a walking talking how-to on impressive character building. Plus there's the multiple layers of meta awareness that are especially tantalizing to me, an autistic person whose special interest could be described as "things that are more than one thing." Just perfect. 10 stars out of 5.

[@noripapaya]

Abed is my favorite character ever

[@aperson4640]

Not only does Abed have an unusually rich inner life for a television character but the show has the depth to explore how his fierce protection of and dependance on his inner life can sometimes put him in dangerous conflict with the world.

[@EnigmaticGentleman]

Another good one is Marcy Wu from Amphibia (though she was only confirmed after the show ended). As an autistic comic relief she completely puts Sheldon to shame. Also Gus from Owl House is so obviously autistic i have no idea why they havent confirmed it, they literally did an entire episode around him having repeated meltdowns.

[@fosteronthespectrum]

I'd have to rewatch Owl House, I only watched half. But I absolutely loved Marcy

[@EnigmaticGentleman]

@@fosteronthespectrum You absolutely gotta watch the other half, they specifically dive into Luz's mental health and her neurodivergent related trauma and it is actually perfect.

[@riv3rw4ter]

@@EnigmaticGentleman ^ foster this is absolutely real

[@fosteronthespectrum]

Note taken

[@amandahealey2216]

Wait, Matt Bradley actually confirmed this? When? /gen

[@mygenderisyes5771]

Not ven a minute in, I've never heard of you before, and I already know I'm gonna be staying your channel for the next day

[@thenamed1641]

22:50 omg i love this i always feel weird calling things my special interest because i feel like i have to know a lot about it first and i never feel like i could answer every question so this is super refreshing to see!!

[@FeintMotion]

The "S" in tier lists comes from the Japanese fighting game community where it stands for "sugoi" or "shuu". Both superlatives of the highest order and thus these were given to fighting game characters with the highest potential to win matches when used by a skilled player. Tier list grading as a whole was lifted from Japanese academic scoring where teachers would grade work from S for the good stuff down to F for the bad stuff.

[@theunschooledgirl]

Thank you for explaining this, I've been wondering about that for years lol

[@glaceRaven]

Whoa, I'd had no idea that was what the S stood for! I always thought it stood for "special" or something, but "sugoi" and "shuu" make much more sense. Thank you for the information!

[@one-onessadhalf3393]

Oh I thought it meant “star” because I played a lot of Mario Kart DS

[@crumble2000]

I thought it was "super", as in "above the others"

[@luvmeday]

bro i've wondered this for years haha

[@ajstice7194]

Abed was probably my first time seeing a more relatable autistic character for me. It was around that time that I realized, not everyone has a "catchphrase" that your friends are so aware of, that they call it out when it suddenly becomes "cool. cool, cool, cool."

[@user-gf9wg8iw7d]

18:49 YES. I have TS, and before i started taking medication for my symptoms i got accused and harassed for faking CONSTANTLY. Most often by people who have a severe lack of understanding about the disorder. My medication is very effective most of the time, but when it isn't as helpful, and i try to explain to the people around me that i have TS, i feel it's even worse because to them it seems like ive just begun to fake this disorder out of nowhere. Personally, my tics dont even bother me all too much, but the scrutiny i have to deal with from other people is what makes it suck so much.

[@StrangePhoton]

"God, I wish I was an egg... Anyway... something about being creepy to women." This is where I had to stop the video for a few minutes, because I was laughing so hard - literally so hard my cat ran away. OMG, just discovered your channel yesterday, and already binging so many of your videos. Thank you for this channel!

[@ItsAstridEh]

One show that you missed is Bones. Dr. Temperance Brennan is confirmed to be autistic by the showrunners (and also by the fact that she's literally based on an autistic person who was a producer on the show) and it's honestly almost Abed-level good. It does a great job of balancing having characters have to learn and adapt to being around her but also her having to learn and adapt to work better with neurotypicals, and it doesn't shy away from showing the friction it causes with a lot of other characters who initially find her super abrasive but slowly come to understand how she communicates. Also, Angela is very much coded as ADHD sometimes and it's fun watching her be the person who often has to help bridge communication gaps between Bones/Zack and the neurotypicals.

[@NelaDunato]

Yeah, I really enjoyed seeing how everyone in the show was learning, adapting, and growing. Dr. B isn't masking in an unhealthy way, she's simply learned to appreciate the impact her actions have on others, and they in turn appreciate the effort she's making. Angela seems pretty ADHD to me as well. Not just her impulsivity, passion, and high energy, but also the fact she can never get used to death like others do - she's hyper-empathetic, which tracks with a female presentation especially.

[@rattling.casket]

YES!!! She's my mom's favorite autistic representation,, we've watched the show several times together atp!! ((im on the spectrum and suspect her as well,, shes super similar to Bones and Myself as well))

[@teganstea5012]

I grew up watching this show! I couldn’t help but look at her and be like, oh, she acts similar to me! (I only got diagnosed two years ago), and I was like, this is how I used to be at school and around my family, so she’s one of my favorite characters considering she was one of my early introductions to being autistic.

[@forgottenboy9778]

Bones was really my first introduction to autistic rep, and I really liked her! She’s funny, very intelligent, and incredibly good at her job. I grew up with Bones and even though Angela was my favorite character (she’s super empathetic just like me, and into art just like me), Bones inspired my love for anthropology as a whole, and I totally hyperfixated on it as a kid.

[@stickercoveredeverything9690]

Its also important to consider if someone uses Asperger’s instead of Autism is that a lot of people still get diagnosed with the former! My mom was diagnosed with ADD despite her evaluation being after it was grouped into ADHD. Some doctors are just outdated :0

[@ingridkvalheim8106]

Absolutely, and it's also important to remember that in different places in the world they use different names and classifications. Where I'm from, arperger's is still a diagnosis that's widely used for people on the autism spectrum.

[@jyjaeskz]

Yes! I got called a n*zi sympathizer for trying to explain to someone that aspergers was still being diagnosed in many countries, so it's really weird to accuse everyone who says they have aspergers of trying to say they're somehow "better" than other autistic people (Because, you know, I was trying to defend people using the word aspergers when it's based on a n*zi's name)

[@larash6709]

what I loved about atypical was that they included Sams relation to his sister Casey so much. My brother has autism (he got diagnosed ten years ago with Aspergers actually, I didn't even know that the term doesn't exist anymore!) and my own childhood and relation to him was a lot different than my friends with their allistic siblings. The first time I actually saw these special relations between siblings with autism being represented was on atypical and so many times I just cried while watching because I realized that I had experienced similar things as Casey did. but I hated 1) the absolutely weird stuff between sam and his therapist 2) the way the mom treats everyone 3) that Casey cheated on her boyfriend after she realized she's bi.

[@MegaSpideyman]

What's the weird stuff with his therapist?

[@sitcler]

ty for talking about asperger’s being removed from the dsm/combined into asd, i feel like really not enough people know abt that

[@avainspired]

QUINNI is like the autistic representation I've always needed! i relate to her SO MUCH and it was so cool seeing her being played by Chloe too after watching her for so many years

[@Clover_knows_pets]

Same! Also, is still can't get over the fact the she ACTALLY called out sia I'm the film! It's awesome!

[@rosesandmilk]

One that you should check out is Extraordinary attorney Woo. While she is a savant, simply because she has a special interest in law, I think the representation is pretty good besides that. It shows romantic relationships with autistic and allistic people and how sensory issues can affect that. Her boyfriend is so patient and sweet to her without infantilizing her. Plus the people who wrote it clearly did their research. Besides being a savant, I relate to her on a personal level, I personally would put her between A or S.

[@llcllghn]

yesss I love extraordinary attorney woo! :D

[@marystuart933]

I honestly didn’t love the representation in extraordinary attorney Woo, but I agree, it would be interesting to see Woo Young Woo in this tier list.

[@RudeOptics]

I totally connected with her reactions and love that show so much. I a tally cried a few times because I didn't realize some of the fears I have are experienced by other autistic people. I felt seen

[@IceFireofVoid]

The sensory issues were never something I considered until moving in with my boyfriend who is on the spectrum. Was a bit of an adjustment at first but it's become routine to dig through the cutlery drawer to find him the "good" forks, ask for towel texture preferences and be the one to carry cash because he doesn't like the sensation of handling coins.

[@kadeelikescats9545]

I love her 💛💛

[@vwan96]

Some already suggested Extraordinary Attorney Woo but it’s definitely worthy. Love the development of the characters and I’m so excited for next season.

[@samanthasinger7235]

another slamdunk for the S tier is Ayda Aguefort from Dimension 20's Fantasy High: Sophomore Year - she is an excellent portrayal of an autistic person who does not and cannot mask, and I love the way she interacts with the world. her autism isn't her whole identity - in fact, her creator (Brennan Lee Mulligan) didn't initially intend for her to be autistic, but as the show was streamed live every week, he heard feedback in the chat and in the community about autistic fans relating to her, and realized all the people he based her on were autistic. so he did more research on autism so he could thoughtfully and intentionally play an autistic character. she's a black, queer, half-phoenix half-human, librarian wizard on a floating pirate island made of old boats strung together. she is perfection.

[@JamesAlexanderMartin]

I always loved community, especially Abed and Troy. It wasn't until I was diagnosed that I realised the reason I love them so much is because between the two of them they are a perfect representation of both my ASD and ADHD. Plus their friendship is just the sweetest most wholesome thing and I love it.

[@Brandyalla]

Troy and Abed in the Morning!

[@JamesAlexanderMartin]

@@Brandyalla "nights!"

[@daphthedumbass]

Community is my special interest and oh my gosh this made me so happy

[@JamesAlexanderMartin]

@@daphthedumbass I don't think I know enough about the show to call it a special interest, but it is special interest adjacent. It's my comfort show and I have seen it through in its entirety at least 9 times.

[@nickoffscript]

i agree with this so much!! six seasons and a movie ^_^

[@acidben33]

a great autistic character is wooyoung woo from the kdrama extraordinary attorney woo, even though they kinda treat her as a kid sometimes its a good enough character for a korean show since koreas view of autistic people is kinda messed up at times. its great to see her, her special interest whales and her work all go together

[@miguelgonzales1290]

This here. Woo is great. I’m autistic btw

[@CuteCuteJames]

@@miguelgonzales1290 Her friendship with Dong Geu RaMi is SO precious. #goals 😭

[@charlesiiofengland3608]

the fact that wooyoung had such a great love interest made me cry so hard. like what do you mean its possible to be loved not in spite of your autism? the way he engaged with her special interest UGH!!!

[@chiaravadala896]

i ABSOLUTELY LOVE this kdrama

[@noneedtoknowmyname22]

I AGREE and also I want to mention the brother from “it’s okay to not be okay” which I think his name was Sang Tae(?) was also quite a good depiction despite the movie’s flaws in the plot and main characters’ portrayal of romance

[@rottedbug]

Everything's Gonna Be Okay is one of my favorite shows!! and i'm pretty sure every actor playing the Autistic characters (Matilda, Drea, Jeremy, Nicholas) are played by Autistic actors!! Nicholas's actor actually discovered his diagnosis through acting alongside other Autistic actors

[@luyucyycyccuycuy]

I absolutely love community and I immediately gravitated towards Abed as my favorite character watching it. I love how community shows an autistic person living a happy life where he is accepted by his friends and the people around him while still having to deal with the disabling parts of autism. I'm especially a fan of season 3 episode 16, virtual systems analysis where he and Annie (who I also headcanon as being autistic) explore their situation and relate to each other through the dreamatorium which is a large part of Abed's obsession with fiction and movies.

[@plz.ask.]

I love the scene where Matilda thinks she’s calling out her brother. I think it highlights internalized ableism & the self-diagnosis debate /within/ the autistic community really well, especially since she realizes she was in the wrong afterwards. As someone who has a sibling who was diagnosed early in life, while I’m still struggling to find a doctor to get diagnosed, it felt very real for me.

[@sorapokeball]

That was my thought as well.

[@clownvibes3829]

one of my favorite little details of heartbreak high and specifically quinni was when she was really upset about accidentally hurting sasha’s feelings and Amerie not understanding rushed to hug her but Darren held her back saying “no no touching the quinni” because they fully understand her and i just love that small little thing

[@lindseytallent2855]

That was truly beautiful 😍

[@alissalalala]

yess i thought that was such a sweet scene, amerie wanted to make sure her friend was okay but didn't realise that her support could've made it worse. some people just need to be left alone for a bit and that's okay, and i loved how amerie immediately listened to darren and left quinni alone

[@Theospins]

Had to rewind to see if I actually just heard you say "baggels" 🤣🤣🤣regardless of whether you Britta'd it, love the video and sooo glad I found your channel!

[@saladine]

When someone mention Community, I need to see it again. Love Abed and Annie. I wish I knew some adhd characters I can relate to. Sometimes I feel too alien even to other ADHD adults (finally diagnosed this year, 37 years old). Maybe I am on the autism spectrum too? Anyway, love your content 🖤

[@JoeJoeTater]

Extraordinary Attorney Woo is really good. It's hard to say whether she's A-tier or S-tier. The show gives a lot of good examples of how to be compassionate towards ND people, especially autistic people, and her portrayal is pretty good. However, she does follow the savant trope, and the actress isn't autistic.

[@marbleb33s]

I loved that show! It wasn't perfect in the portrail, but they gave her an amazing boyfriend that loves her to the moon and back. Another kdrama that portrayed autism really well in my opinion is Move to Heaven.

[@73frogs]

i was also thinking of EAW while watching this!! would love to see Foster's take on it :-)

[@LambruscoPeter]

How do you feel about It's Okay to not be Okay?

[@JoeJoeTater]

@@marbleb33s @LambruscoPeter I haven't seen those yet. Thanks for the recommendation.

[@Imjustkendall]

I love her so much, and not just because we share the same Special Interest lol But I wish the actress was autistic i found the themes of her learning to mask and hug and be less autistic pretty harmful

[@Vidaluz09]

Im here for Abed appreciation 🥰 the more I rewatch community, the more I see how Abed creates some of the most interesting, creative and imaginative storylines (floor is lava, Troy and Abed, the darkest timeline, most Christmas episodes, ECT). The more I think about it, I suspect Troy may have had ADHD (also undiagnosed) which makes their friendship even more significant

[@ihavenoclueeither]

Honestly the episode with him and Annie in the Dreamatorium is incredible. I don’t know how to explain why but it’s just great

[@douglas2057]

21:21... that awkward moment when one of your autistic traits gets called out, and you only just realized it's one of your autistic traits.... I can't actually count the number of times I've laughed and the person's immediate response is, "I'm being serious". I eventually came up with the rote response, "that's why i'm laughing". I'm going to finish this video, but then I'm going to spend the rest of the night re-evaluating soooo many past conversations.

[@shelbyquinton2264]

So happy you spoke about everything's going to be okay. So much of his character resonated with me and him speaking about how tired he is made me cry.

[@gabriellaberman]

I love that Quinni in Heartbreak High also has ADHD!! Like usually they’ll give characters ONE defining personality trait, but Quinni is so well fleshed out. I love having representation for women with ADHD 💖

[@DrewBernstein]

Nicholas from Everything’s Gonna Be Okay also has ADHD!!!

[@lunos5026]

@@DrewBernsteini forgot her but the main girl from “I am not okay with this”, not confirmed but i kind of headcanon her as neurodivergent

[@Lauren-rq4xt]

She's my favourite/most relatable too

[@YourAverageAvery]

Really happy that you included Norma Khan in your tier list! Not many people know about her, since Dead End: Paranormal Park isn't super well known. Compared to shows like Gravity Falls, Amphibia and The Owl House.

[@fosteronthespectrum]

I didn't even hear about there being an autistic character in it. We just randomly watched it a few weeks ago, then googled if she was confirmed autistic lol

[@fosteronthespectrum]

Sorry, I was trying to agree with you about how not well known she is when I said that. Thank you for your comment

[@YourAverageAvery]

@@fosteronthespectrum My bad! Sorry about the miscommunication.

[@keilee_khaos]

It deserved more seasons fr

[@ReflectKindness]

I’ve been trying to get my roommate to watch it with me since it came out but she’s “never in the mood.” 🥲

[@gaines_gal]

I clicked on this video so fast because of Abed's picture. He is so top tier and I am OBSESSED with him. You touched on it with Quinnis relationships but I think Community does a good job of showing how the people who care about Abed try to understand and accommodate him. Also one thing you did not mention is how they handle his disassociative episodes. This really resonates with me as prior to knowing I was Autistic I would have a great deal of these episodes. While my experiences were often scary and taxing, I loved that the writer's included this because it is a very real reality for many Autistic people (especially those who have continued internal shutdowns).

[@bnso3692]

At 7:30 you talk about that deep unease you feel as a teenager from how everything is ... off with how you operate and how lonely that feels. I wish I'd seen this video 10 years ago.

[@jordanlacicero8005]

i will never forget the autism episode of girl meets world because since I had started that show I had been compared to farkle by my mom and I liked seeing him in the show bc I felt like I saw some of myself in him but the second I watched that episode I wanted to cry because it made me feel like something was wrong with me. seeing him talk about the things I related to and the entire cast telling him to stop doing that the second they found out it could be autism made me feel sick even as a kid. i think about it now and it still makes me feel sick to my stomach they way they treated autism on that show.

[@Zectifin]

I don't want to watch that show because 1. I am too old for the target demographic and probably wouldn't like it, and 2. I don't want it to retroactively ruin boy meets world because of all the terrible storylines ive heard about it.

[@Hamster7678]

the one thing i really loved with Extraordinary Attorney Woo is that her primary special interest isnt related to her job! its whales! she's a lawyer! yes she does also seem to have a special interest in law but its more about recall rather than anything. and like its great when we have the opportunity to work in a field related to our special interests but not everyone does! and im glad to see that in media

[@mqgicmike]

PLEASE MAKE A PART 2‼️‼️😭😭 (ALSO, COULD YOU LOOK AT DONNIE, ENTRAPTA AND SNORK?)