Coded

Getting an autism diagnosis means you start seeing traits in others, particularly fictional characters. I only realised now I think why I was so obsessively drawn to Dale Cooper is he's autistic AF. Even without that knowledge applied to his character development, he is an extension of Lynch and his idea of a perfect boy scout.

Coop is meticulous, attentive and particular, especially about the food he eats. His breakfast orders are very specific, his coffee has to be to his liking. He appreciates the sensory nature of food. He hates disorder, while he copes with it, we don't see it always working. He's naturally inquisitive to the point he overlooks certain commonalities with people's behaviour, he doesn't conduct himself in the most casual of manners, he might miss a joke or two. He's forthright and has an innate sense of justice, he's able to respect command despite disagreeing with it, he follows orders but still questions authority. When he loves, he loves completely and not lightly. Sometimes he trusts too implicitly and pays the price for it while never shifting blame. I think he resonates with me more as I am now as opposed to me seeing myself in Laura's shadow more as a teenager. Reading My Life, My Tapes, he carries that childlike naivety into adulthood, he suspects something's amiss as a kid but can't identify precisely why. His flaws are very lovable. He makes fatal mistakes, and carries his regrets.

I can't watch Benny and Joon now I see her as autistic as well. Removing the schizophrenic aspects of her behaviour, you can fit her better into autism, particularly in terms of rigid need for a schedule and controlled environment, emotional dysregulation and her hyper-intelligence. She's incredibly smart and talented but infantilised by Benny because of her outbursts and erratic behavior. Knowing what I know about psychosis being a comobidity, you could evenly readdress her as an autistic adult. Having a neurological disorder like this can affect the brain in terms of hallucinations and inability to socialise effectively. Every time I hear CCH Pounder tell Aidan Quinn Joon needs to be with her peers, I hear him say in my head, "She hates her peers." That's basically where I've landed, if you forced me to socialise with other autistic kids it would still be hell for me. She's more capable of figuring people out, it's her childlike appearance and behavior that gets her belittled, and looking like a big kid is apparently an autistic trait, we don't appear to be what society considers old. (Having had someone say from a medical perspective I don't look like a 40 year old backs that up, it's not just people telling me that).

I can come up with other characters had I the energy but these are two in particular that are standing out more. I would prefer people recode someone like Cooper as autistic instead of having the representations we have now, like Sheldon from Big Bang Theory (I only realised his last name is Cooper too, so were they borrowing from Coop?) My generation had to grow up with Dustin Hoffman being the only representation available, now they're still using boys for most live action depictions and girls for cartoons. You could sit down with the Mane Six of MLP and find traits in all of them. It could take hours if you sat with your friends and mentioned popular fictional characters. I can't do that. We all saw it in Wednesday and in part with her friends. Now it's glaringly obvious, you may see it where it wasn't intended. I love Abed from Community but only to a degree, some of his behaviour is a gross exaggeration but what's on the surface with him is usually just under with the rest of us, if we unmasked, we'd be Abed.