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Playing neurodivergent NPCs
(lemmynsfw.com)
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I think you’ve got some wonderful answers here already so I just want to add something that a few points brought to mind.
In my opinion one can authentically play a trait without playing a diagnosis. A great example of this is Drax in the MCU. He isn’t “the autistic one” he’s the guy with hyper literal interpretation. That autistic (amongst other classes) people relate that and feel seen isn’t because he’s “being autistic” but because he sees things like them; the other characters regard that and it somewhat authentically shows the outcomes one such person might have in these wild tales.
You can represent elements of neurodivergence without going all in on an ND character that might only serve to entrench stigma.
Iirc there was a whole thing when Joker came out where people were trying to diagnose the Joker with some combination of real conditions, and the actor/writers came out and said nah we just gave him a bunch of behaviors generally accepted as dangerous red flags