Well, I knew I felt an affinity with Brun, so I'm not surprised. Well written, and sympathetic Spectrum character. Thank you Jeph. I was diagnosed ASD before I had heard it used disparagingly, but I can definitely relate to her feelings on the use of the term. However, I've never felt like that part of myself was wrong or bad (Other parts, yes, because, y'know, human... ). I think characters like Brun (and Abed) are important in educating people who haven't encountered spectrum personalities before, as functional, if odd, people with emotional landscapes and empathy towards those around them. Too often I find ASD be represented as sociopathic or neurotic, which is damaging to the image of those on the spectrum, both externally and internally.
I was lucky, was diagnosed early, had Speech-Language therapy for 8 years, and had a loving and understanding home life. I have worked hard to learn social grace, and while I'm not perfect, I am a lot better than I used to be. A few messages to those on the spectrum who feel limited by it:
1. While social skills are not easily learned, they are learnable, and are well worth investing the time it takes to improve them.
2. Know what calms you down, learn the warning signs for meltdowns and do what you need to get into a calm environment before it gets to that point.A lot of overwhelm occurs because of sense overload, so finding ways to limit sense-data in socially appropriate ways is important. For me that is intentional breath Meditation with closed eyes.
3. Love yourself, and take care of yourself in the ways you know are necessary, as you are ultimately the one responsible for your emotional state and your well being.
4. Request clear and direct communication! If you expect normal people to behave "rationally" you are going to be disappointed consistently.
I hope that will reach someone who needed to hear it. Back to lurking <3.