Thread by @xasymptote

Ok, a friend of mine just got a novel rejection saying that their #ownvoices autistic protagonist wasn't "autistic enough."

The editor's basis for saying this was that they, the editor, had been watching the show "Atypical."

Buckle up: I am going to talk about this AT LENGTH.

In this thread, if you are NT, I am going to explain several reasons why you SHOULD NOT EVER judge if a character is "autistic enough" by how well they match autistic characters on TV. Any TV.

Then when I am done with that I will suggest some things you can do instead.

Why should you not judge autistic characters by what you see on TV? There are several reasons.

There are several types of autistic representation on TV, from good to horrible. None of them should be used as a litmus test for another character's autisticness.

First, some autistic representation on TV is just bad representation. Many autistic characters on TV shows are portrayed inaccurately, insultingly, or in ways that are so stereotypical that no one actually consistently behaves that way. It is bad rep and it should feel bad.

Second: Some autistic rep on TV tries to do better, but still has characteristic inaccuracies and stereotypes.

A really common problem is when a writer wants to be "good" and "accurate," so they talk to... doctors.

Why is this a problem? I will explain.

There are characteristic, pervasive problems in how doctors describe and portray autism.

They talk about autism in terms of deficits and ways that the autistic person is broken. Their view of these deficits is stereotypical and often just wrong.

Not all doctors, but MANY.

"Doctors are often wrong" is a controversial view in many circles but in the autistic community, diagnosed and not, it is WELL known.

These are doctors IRL who prescribe abusive therapies or who refuse to listen to autistic patients (even diagnosed ones) about their experiences.

Autism research is getting better, but a LOT of it still relies on racist, sexist, or simply inaccurate/outdated assumptions about how autism works and who has it. A lot of it is insulting and dehumanizing, or is by people who want to get rid of us.

So: fiction about autism which relies on these doctors and on this research, rather than on accounts by #actuallyautistic people, has a characteristic set of problems.

It will portray technically accurate autism traits, but in wildly exaggerated, stereotyped ways, or in combinations that don't make sense together, or in such a way that the character has no personality or interiority other than these traits.

If you take these technically correct but exaggerated and insulting accounts of autism, and measure other autistic characters - or real autistic people - by them, you will see a mismatch.

This mismatch is not autistic people's fault.

There is also TV and fiction that portrays autistic characters well. There is great autistic fiction out there, #ownvoices and otherwise, all over the place.

But EVEN GREAT AUTISTIC FICTION should not be used as a litmus test for whether new characters are "autistic enough."

Many different autistic people exist who are all very different from each other. Different combinations of autistic traits, life experiences, intersectionality, and personality result in immense autistic diversity.

One autistic person can look very different from another.

If you reject Autistic Character A because they don't look or act like Autistic Character B, you are displaying your own ignorance of the diversity of the autistic spectrum - even if Autistic Character B is a WONDERFUL character.

There is another reason, besides all this, why it is dangerous to criticize an #ownvoices autistic character for not being "autistic enough."

It has to do with the gatekeeping many autistic adults experience in real life.

Many autistic people experience a double whammy of gatekeeping. We are told our whole lives, implicitly or explicitly, that if we want to succeed and survive we MUST NOT act autistic in any way.

Many of us get good at not acting autistic.

Then we try to access supports.

We're brutally trained our whole lives to act as non-autistic as possible, and then denied services, recognition or inclusion in autistic community because we aren't acting (stereotypically) autistic.

This isn't your fault, I assume. You are just a fiction editor.

Just be aware that it's this whole thing, and that it's a sore spot for many of us.

So if you can't judge if characters are "autistic enough" based on TV, what can you do? How can you make sure that the portrayals being sent to you are accurate in their portrayal of autism?

Here are some ideas.

First: Trust autistic people.

If you aren't autistic yourself and you are reading an #ownvoices autistic character, maybe trust that the author at least mostly knows what they're talking about when it comes to portraying autism.

There are exceptions to this rule - all of us have more to learn, all of us can make mistakes - but these exceptions are the kind of thing that, honestly, a non-autistic editor probably isn't going to be able to deal with cluefully anyway. Maybe stay in your lane.

Second: If you're really not sure or really have misgivings about something, try asking an autistic person about it.

Many autistic people work as sensitivity readers and would be happy to discuss a work of #ownvoices autistic fiction with you.

Third: If you find that this is happening to you a lot, maybe try listening to autistic people more in daily life.

Read books like "Loud Hands" and "Knowing Why." Read our memoirs and our fiction. Lurk on a tag like #actuallyautistic and see what we're talking about.

Whatever you do, just quit doing this thing that someone did to my friend today.

Quit telling autistic people that their work isn't valid unless it matches TV.

Quit making yourself the judge of how to describe a condition you haven't experienced.

Listen to autistic people.

Woah, this blew up.

While I was still writing it, even.

Obligatory self plug: I'm an #actuallyautistic author myself; I review a lot of autistic fiction; my debut novel THE OUTSIDE comes out in June; and if you want to support my work, I have a Patreon. patreon.com/ada_hoffmann