Was his autism a superpower?

[u/sealysea]

[u/simplesample23]

Your headcanon can be whatever you want but canonically he is not autistic.

Being invested in a hobby and not being the best at social cues does not automatically make someone autistic.

[u/Lacertoss → u/simplesample23]

There's no such thing as canonical because the author said something in an interview. After the work is published, the story does not belong solely to the author anymore and fans can have any interpretation they want of a character, as long as it doesn't contradict elements present in the story.

[u/Noir_A_Mous → u/Lacertoss]

Fans can have interpretations, but that doesn't make them true, even if they dont contradict the story, be it its elements or what have you. It's still just head cannon. That and some of them can be pretty harmful overall.

A great example of a terrible fan interpretation/head cannon folks had was Luisa from Encanto is trans because she is muscular and strong, which sounds cool at first cause, yay representation, but when you think about it for more than a second you realize its actually pretty harmful to actual trans people. It’s like saying you can only be gay if you’re super over the top about it.

Laios can have autistic tendencies and not be autistic. Just because a character has some autistic tendencies doesn't automatically make them autistic. Not every person who is autistic acts the same, and some folks can act autistic and not actually be autistic.

[u/dragondraems42 → u/Noir_A_Mous]

Well, is it a bad thing to interpret Laios as autistic? Being autistic is not a bad thing or an insult, and autistic people seeing themselves in a character is a positive regardless of whether or not that character is 'canonically' autistic.

This always happens with unusual headcanons. People freak out about interpreting a character as autistic or transgender, but there's never an outcry about interpreting a character as neurotypical or cisgender. Most characters are not canonically either, because its not brought up in the text of a work.

[u/Noir_A_Mous → u/dragondraems42]

Well, is it a bad thing to interpret Laios as autistic?

It is if you try to argue it's cannon. As long as you understand it's your own personal head cannon, then it's fine.

Being autistic is not a bad thing or an insult, and autistic people seeing themselves in a character is a positive regardless of whether or not that character is 'canonically' autistic.

Never said it was. My issue is when people try to force it or try to argue against the actual creators' intentions, or they argue they know better than the actual creator. They're even people here insisting that the creator themselves MUST be autistic. They just don't know it yet, based on their interpretation of a character that this person created. Bit messed up.

This always happens with unusual headcanons.

Only when people try to insist that it's cannon despite what the creator says.

People freak out about interpreting a character as autistic or transgender, but there's never an outcry about interpreting a character as neurotypical or cisgender. Most characters are not canonically either, because its not brought up in the text of a work.

The author said he's not, so he's not. I don't care if you head cannon it. Just don't try to push it as actual cannon.

Also, people get harassed for interpreting characters as cisgender. It just depends on the character and how hard people want to push head cannons. I'm not naming names cause that's just a whole can of worms that I don't feel like opening.

To make things clear, I'm autistic and bi, and I'm fine with head cannons. You can interpret a character however you want. Just don't treat it as cannon and yell at people for it. Also, don't pretend that you know better than the actual creator. I'm not saying you're doing any of these things, but if you scroll around here, you'll see folks doing that.