Autistic people are superheroes. There I said it. And no, I’m not just playing fast and loose with what could vaguely constitute as a superhero, I really mean every word of that sentence: autistic people are superheroes.
Of course, to some, this may seem hard to believe – especially after wasting so much time with your head in the clouds mistaking, birds and planes for laser beam shooting Kryptons but, the reality is, autistic people really are the super superheroes you’ve been looking for and, to prove it, here are 5 concrete reasons why, each stronger than Black Panther’s vibranium suit. Here goes:
1. Superpowers
With the exception of the Dark Knight himself: Batman, all great superheroes have great superpowers. I’m talking Flash’s speed, Storm’s weather manipulation, Aquaman’s ability to not look ridiculous in an orange fish suit. The list goes on. These powers are what heroes take with them into battle. They are their greatest advantage whilst also being what separates them apart from the rest of society.
Sure, at this point it would be easy for me to start discussing the ever amazing autistic savants e.g. Stevan Wiltshire who can paint anything he sees (even if he has only seen it for mere seconds). However, I have already done that (here), so instead, let’s cast the bat-signal on those more common abilities autistic people hold i.e.
- Invulnerability: autistic people can often have an increased pain threshold
- Hyper recollection: Our brains have more memory than an elephant working as a historian
- Super hearing: In fact, all our senses are pretty sharp but most impressive is that some autistic people have even been known to hear electricity
Of course, these powers can cause complications, such as being unable to identify when a child is truly in pain and yes, they are not flashy enough to get us an invite to join The Avengers. But, without his shield, these same heightened abilities are what sets Captain America apart. So, if you’re saying that these don’t make us super, then you’re also saying that Captain America isn’t either….
2. A Strong Sense of Justice
As the ever-botched Spider-man quote goes: ‘With great power, there must also come great responsibility’ (yes, that is correct – look it up!). However, unlike our unfortunate wallcrawling friend, this isn’t something the autistic community had to learn through misfortune. Instead, being something many of us come packaged with.
This strong sense of obligation has been studied and reported in countless autism research papers demonstrating how we:
- have a higher sense of morality (knowing right from wrong)
- are less likely to lie (trust me)
- ‘super empathise’ (take that anyone who believes autistic people are without emotion)
Obviously, there are clear complications with seeing the world purely in black and white. However, it is the action we take, when evil is afoot, that is when we are at our most heroic.
Don’t believe me? Try cutting in front of a queue/line when an autistic person is on the watch or try breaking a promise you made to the autistic person. Chances are we’ll either try our best to right the wrong or, alternatively, the unpredictability of deceit may result in a meltdown of cataclysmic proportions. But, hey, we call The Hulk a hero and he’s wiped out entire city blocks while ‘saving the day’!
3. Disguises/Secret Identities
It’s common knowledge that, in the worlds of supes, the true identity of our hero is anything but common knowledge: Wonder Woman is Diana Prince, Martian Manhunter is John Jones and in the good old days of comics, Thor even became Donald Blake, a man who disguised his iconic hammer as a cane to help him walk.
Although it’s not exactly a quirk our community is raring to celebrate, it’s the unfortunate truth that many autistic people also wear a disguise, when trying to blend into society. This is more common in autistic females and is known as camouflaging or autistic masking. While the act of mimicking our surrounding usually comes at the cost of great emotional stress, this doesn’t make any of us less super.
There are countless times in comics when characters like Tony Stark are so lost between who they are and who they think they should be that they become their own worst enemy. However, just like Iron Man, it’s important for us to realise that the taxing weight of being different doesn’t mean we have to hide our true selves because, as every hero knows, we do our best work when embracing who we really are.
4. We Never say Never
What is it that really makes a hero super? The powers? The costume? The ability to prefix your name with an adjective like ‘incredible’ ‘astonishing’ or ‘spectacular’? No, I’d say what makes a hero truly heroic is the ability to keep fighting for what you believe in – even when the chips are down and this will be your 1000th time at taking down Doctor Doom’s henchmen?
Like Black Widow’s ability to never give up, even when armed with nothing more than her brain, this is something the autistic community are exceptional at – as our narrow focus and steely determination all but ensure that we will not give up on any given task, until we are either experts or we have exhausted every possible option (and even then we’re likely to give it one last push).
While many will think of autistic people as ridged and unwilling to adapt, this only further proves our determination. As, despite our difficulties in picking up new skills, we still rise from each failure, following Alfred’s immortal mantra: ‘Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up again’.
5. We have our own Supervillains
Growing up I used to religiously watch the 90s X-Men cartoon on Fox Kids and when I wasn’t watching Xavier’s Merry Mutants, I was switching over to catch up on Nickelodeon’s Spider-man. Now, of course, we all love a good baddy, but the thing I loved most about these two programmes is how the naysayers didn’t wear capes as, instead, they were often your average Joe.
For example, in Spider-man, our titular hero always found victory when battling the Green Goblin but when reporter J. Jonah Jamerson was on the scene, he was branded a menace, misunderstood and forced to flee from the pursuing police. Whilst when watching the X-Men, the team’s inhuman abilities were no match against an entire government who sought a cure for what they couldn’t understand.
I’m sure you can guess where I’m going here, but this is no different to the many challenges that autistic people face. Our community is full of capability and potential yet all too often we are shot down for being different. I’ve proven this with many of the points raised today. However, there will still be some people responding to every section here with a ‘but this’ and a ‘what about this?’ (you know who you are).
If the world of superheroes has taught us one thing it’s that, through diversity, we excel. So, take a lead from the great heroes: Superman, Captain America or just your friendly neighbourhood autist and realise that, yes, people on the spectrum are indeed superheroes – but only if you allow us to be.
Carry on the Conversation:
Do you agree that autistic people are superheroes? Can you think of any more reasons which prove why? Let me know in the comments below. And, if you would like to see how autism has been translated into comics themselves, then make sure to check out my articles on How Guardians of the Galaxy represents Autism BETTER than Rain Man OR on Aquaman’s Autistic Supervillain: Black Manta.
As always, I can also be found on Twitter @AutismRevised and via my email: AutisticandUnapologetic@gmail.com.
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Thank you for reading and I will see you next Saturday for more thoughts from across the spectrum.
