I don’t see Seven as ASD coded. She has levels of trauma that can sometimes be mistaken as ASD and has lived outside of regular human society for much of her life.
You’re completely right, there is obviously no deeper meaning to presenting a character who is a mature adult yet requires structured classes in order to learn how human beings socialise.
Picard was written by different people who needed different things from the characters, however there were occasional moments where her previous manerisms showed through.
A feral child who was not ASD could have been portrayed like Mowgli (or, for a more Star Trek reference point, Tuvok when he had brain damage). Seven gradually learns how to navigate human interaction (and how to smile, for instance) through studying and is surprised when it’s occasionally useful, a non-ASD character could have learned through interpretation of people’s reactions and would have sought socialisation rather than peace and quiet in a neatly ordered cargo bay (I’m led to believe that’s how it works anyway).
All of the traits you’ve described also very much fit PTSD as well.
To me taking a Watsonian approach to the character we she a woman who was forcibly taken by the Borg and assimilated at a very young age, then years later ripped away from that as well. That’s two extremely traumatic events( that we know of). Then following on we see the character years later at a point where she has somewhat worked though those traumas.
A Doyalist reading we can say it was the 90s and discussions around neuro-divergency and more general mental health were far less common in media. So we’re probably both over reading things.
You may be right, the more of Voyager I watch the more flexible each character appears in order to fit around what the story requires. Apart from Tom Paris repeatedly being an idiot, that’s a constant.
We can agree to disagree and enjoy it on our own terms I guess. If I have been dismissive of your argument I would like to apologise, that was not my intention.
Im guessing based on your username this character is an obsession of yours, and there’s a need to insist your interpretations are absolute fact. But unless the writer’s state explicitly what they were intending with her character. Its all just opinions.
On another note. Despite what you might think based on a lot of comments, it is possible to discuss things on the Internet without being unnecessarily smug and condescending purely because someone contradicted your head cannon
Not an obsession, I tuned out of watching Voyager when it was first on TV and I’m partway through a complete watch now … she’s simply my favorite character from the show, and given that Star Trek fans have a pleasant and active community here I thought it was a good choice. Perhaps I was mistaken.
Being interpreted as smug was not my intention, I thought I was simply stating my opinion with equal force to the poster above. How should I have responded?
Does Odo actually qualify for this? He can feel and comprehend and interpret emotions just fine, he is just deadly shy and insecure behind his stoic enforcer facade.
The doctor doesn’t fit either, just because he is modeled after an egomaniac asshole does not mean he is autistic.
ASD coded, not literally ASD. The thematic struggle with social convention counts IMO. But Data has no self loathing or whatever. He just wants to understand. We stan Data.
He can feel and comprehend and interpret emotions just fine, he is just deadly shy and insecure behind his stoic enforcer facade.
This is basically describing autism too. We can feel emotions just fine. But expressing them is hard because we do so in a way that can sometimes be upsetting to others. So we become shy and put up a facade that hides how we feel about things.
Also, “ASD-coded” is different than ASD. These characters don’t literally have ASD, but the fantastical sci-fi backgrounds the writers set up allow them to write the characters to behave and experience struggles in a way that is similar to someone with ASD. Especially problems fitting in with a group, socialising, and forming meaningful connections with others.
Autistic people can feel and comprehend emotions like everyone else, no difference. Not sure why those two were on your list. As far as interpreting emotion, we can, we just have to learn how instead of doing it innately, which it seems Odo did for all human behavior.
Agreed, but terrible bedside manner isn’t indicative of autism. And the Doctor seems to be garden-variety crotchety, which makes sense given that he’s modeled on Lewis Zimmerman. I’d need other criteria to convince me he’s supposed to be autistic.
The more I hear and talk about with others about autism, the more I think that it all just has to do with just being human and a person with a unique set of personality traits and conditions.
Some of it might be healthy, some of it unhealthy, some brought about by upbringing, some brought about from trauma, some brought about my neglect but some also brought about because of having everything, or nothing, or too much, or too little.
It’s like gender identity … some people identify one way or another … some strongly identify, some don’t, some are just in the middle and some are off the spectrum … and many change over time and over a lifetime.
It’s the same with autism … some have a little bit of it, some don’t, some are aware, some are not, some are more affected, some are just a little affected but everyone has no clue and no one is capable of measuring it.
It’s just part of the human condition that we are all different … and its the differences that made us who we are as a civilization and a global society. We were successful not because of one person or one group of people … we were successful as a species because of all these individuals doing what they did and being who they were. It’s our chaotic mess of personalities, whether good or bad or perceived as good or bad that make up all the amazing things we have created, generate, construct, produce and imagine.
I think it’s a great thing … it’s worked for us for thousands of years … and I wouldn’t want it any other way.
Ehh, I do agree that dealing with different personalities is part of being human, and everyone has their own strengths, weaknesses and quirks. I would have to disagree that somewhat on the “no one is capable of measuring it” part. It seems to lean towards the “everyone is a little Autistic” saying, which is not scientifically accurate. Autism is something we can test for and while it’s something we still don’t understand completely, recently scientists have been able to identify which genes are responsible. So I think putting it on a level with a personality trait or gender identity is a bad comparison.
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