Twilight Sparkle: A Role Model Autist

[Inactive01 5,299]

Before I begin, feel free to post any constructive criticism or thoughts on what I am about to discuss. I hope I don't have to see any flames. Furthermore, I don't mean to offend anyone reading this thread. I myself am an autistic person.

 

Twilight Sparkle is personally the first pony I came to love. Why? Because I saw her autistic nature. Her maturity as a pony was stunning. She begins by expressing different traits of autism, including excessive attention to detail leading to tunnel vision, trying to make sense of the world within her train of logic and her comfort zone, and her anti-social behaviour. However, all these traits become transformed as she learns more about friendship, a beautiful trait given to humanity.

 

First things off. What is autism? There are severe forms and the non-severe forms. Severe forms imply significant inhibition of social communication and repetitive behaviours and routines. Twilight Sparkle does NOT have that let me assure you. If that were the case, then it would be very difficult for her to become friends with any of the other Mane 6.

 

Twilight merely has some of the forms that aren't severe. First, Twilight has a realm where all can be well explained by patterns and logical conclusions; they fit within her realm of comfort. However, take something that can't be explained with her ideas, and she goes ballistic. When Pinkie senses different events occurring with mere abnormalities in her nervous system movements (tail wiggle, constant shaking, etc), Twilight tries to explain them within reason, within her own realm of logic.

 

However, by the end of the episode, Twilight learns a lesson. Sometimes, things can't be explained by reason or logic. You just have to accept that fact in those cases. Twilight matures as a character by understanding the importance of understanding other ponies for who they are and that sometimes they just can't be explained. For Pinkie, it would be her Pinkie sense and her extroverted nature.

 

Twilight's reaction to the Pinkie Sense can be connected with another symptom of a mild autism. It occurs within her meticulous behaviour and her reactions to deviations from her plans. Take "Lesson Zero" for example. She makes a checklist on making a checklist for goodness sakes. When she forgets that she hasn't made a weekly report for Princess Celestia on friendship yet, she becomes "Psycho-Twi" in hopes of creating a friendship problem just to fulfill her plans. Yes I understand that she's worried about going back to magic kindergarten, but let's face. It was a completely irrational circumstance she creates when she realizes that she hasn't created the weekly letter yet (feel free to disprove me here if legitimate).

 

Another piece of transformation occurs. Twilight in her self-created dilemma, learns that overreacting to situations out of your control will lead to disastrous consequences. I mean, an attraction potion to a doll so that everyone who sees it will fall in love with it? It will lead to Ponyville being left in chaos of course. The best part? She solidifies her friends' love for her and as such the Mane 6's love for each continues to mature as the other 5 were worried of Twilight's sentence to magic kindergarten. Twilight may have needed another episode to truly understand this concept when she sees her future self, but hey, we humans require more than one reminder to truly apply what we learned right?

 

One last symptom. I'll just refer to the lyrics to "Big Brother, Best Friend Forever".

 

When I was just a filly, I found it rather silly,

To see how many other ponies I could meet...

I had my books to read, didn't know that I could ever meet,

other ponies, to make my life complete...

 

Anti-social behaviour? It might be extreme of me to say it as such, but it's true. She feels comfort in her books and her own world she creates from said books. Of course she has Shining Armour, but he's her brother! Of course they will share in familial love! When she moves to Ponyville to fulfill Celestia's request to check on the annual Rising of the Sun in MLP:FiM's first episode, she doesn't have the urge to befriend the other ponies. She just wants to get the job done so she can get back to her research about Nightmare Moon.

 

Of course, Twilight meets the other ponies from the Mane 6, fully comprehending the different elements of harmony. Each of those elements were not placed in stone and are not abstract concepts as Twilight would see it; she only read books before ever making real friends right? Now she sees the elements embodied in the different ponies based on her experiences with them during their search for the Elements of Harmony in the Everfree Forest. They are real to her. They become real. They breathe into her soul. By episode's end, she sees that true friendship is an embodiment, not just some sort of weird concept.

 

Autists need to see abstract concepts in real life. If they don't see it embodied, they won't understand it. I didn't really understand what true love was for a very long time before my parents showed it to me. And that's why I see Twilight Sparkle as my favourite pony. She went through similar experiences I underwent to understand friendship and love. It comes gradually, but it all does come in its time. Beautiful isn't it?

[Akemi Homura 7,682]

Amusing how an autist who had no idea what friendship was, or even the meaning of having true friends other than her relatives, ended up becoming the Element of Magic herself.

 

Although I'm not autistic myself, I can relate to Twilight in more ways than one - I love her a lot as well (sadly, she's just a cartoon character) and have had my own doubts and misunderstandings about friendship or friends in general, really. But, she was always a good-hearted girl who at least tried to get along with the ponies even when she never really wanted to do so in the first place. Not some snobby egghead who only cared for herself and her studies. Though, it would have been interesting to see Twilight being portrayed as such to begin with - acting somewhat uptight and rude to the ponies due to nuisances and such, so it would have given her a more interesting redeeming quality.

[AegisReflector 886]

I really don't see the connection, to be honest.

 

What I got out of that article is that Twilight basically shows autistic traits because of her anti-social behavior and her inability to accept ideas that are outside of her own beliefs. Only the power of friendship really showed her the "true" way of becoming a mature pony and to make her world more of a beautiful reality than a sheltered cage.

 

You can basically say that about any pony in the series. The rest of the Mane 6 mature gradually over the course of the current two seasons as they learn more and more lessons from their adventures together. They all have their different beliefs and concepts and are sometimes close-minded when it comes to philosophical situations. This doesn't necessarily make them autistic.

 

Autism is such a broad term nowadays because it's been classified under a variety of factors and diagnoses that it's simply confusing to truly understand. Plus, there's no brain scan for it yet, so it just shrouds the disorder in mystery. While it is true that Autism does cause anti-socialite behavior, it doesn't mean that the person who exhibits that is necessarily Autistic. And someone who sticks to their beliefs while ignoring others ideals is just being ignorant.

 

I am not autistic myself but I have dealt with the issues before with two of my family members having a "semi-case" of it (doctors said it). Yes, they have signs of OCD (they like to put things in order or they get antsy), they get restless if they watch or listen to something repeatedly over a period of time, and they hate smooth objects being rubbed on their skin. But, they are very social and have a basic understanding of surrounding environments. Doesn't make them Autistic because of these factors, at least in my opinion.

Edited October 30, 2012 by AegisReflector

[Inactive01 5,299]

I really don't see the connection, to be honest.

 

What I got out of that article is that Twilight basically shows autistic traits because of her anti-social behavior and her inability to accept ideas that are outside of her own beliefs. Only the power of friendship really showed her the "true" way of becoming a mature pony and to make her world more of a beautiful reality than a sheltered cage.

 

You can basically say that about any pony in the series. The rest of the Mane 6 mature gradually over the course of the current two seasons as they learn more and more lessons from their adventures together. They all have their different beliefs and concepts and are sometimes close-minded when it comes to philosophical situations. This doesn't necessarily make them autistic.

 

Autism is such a broad term nowadays because it's been classified under a variety of factors and diagnoses that it's simply confusing to truly understand. Plus, there's no brain scan for it yet, so it just shrouds the disorder in mystery. While it is true that Autism does cause anti-socialite behavior, it doesn't mean that the person who exhibits that is necessarily Autistic. And someone who sticks to their beliefs while ignoring others ideals is just being ignorant.

 

I am not autistic myself but I have dealt with the issues before with two of my family members having a "semi-case" of it (doctors said it). Yes, they have signs of OCD (they like to put things in order or they get antsy), they get restless if they watch or listen to something repeatedly over a period of time, and they hate smooth objects being rubbed on their skin. But, they are very social and have a basic understanding of surrounding environments. Doesn't make them Autistic because of these factors, at least in my opinion.

 

That's the nail to the coffin. Everyone's got some form of said autism. It's actually very common. Some people have some form of it, and others don't. Of course, it wouldn't be fair of me to make her a complete autist because she's only got some of the traits. But I was just trying to make a point. Everyone can share in some of the autistic traits now and then. I say Twilight's a role model for other autists because even if they're diagnosed an autist (which might be the case for Twilight.. I had the same symptoms she had since birth, and the doctors called me retarded and autist) they can fit in fine with the rest of society if they're given the chance.

[CookieGirl 0]

Twilight sparkle is just an amazing pony.Just asdfghjkl.<3 She's stunning, smart, and just an amazing person(Pony) to be friends with, in my opinion.

[GuillermoGage 246]

As someone who was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome at age 9, I say, pfft. I highly question the plausibility and distinct levels on the neurological "spectrum", except for people who are blatantly autistic. It is not a cute little badge of honor for nerds.

[Twilight Circuits 604]

An excellent write up and analogy. Although I'm going to have to agree autism is an overly used word to try and describe just about any personality disorder, it's even more of a shame people are accepting it as simple fact. When it couldn't be farther from the truth actually.

Your mind is made up of emotional memories that merge into one gigantic memory called the subconscience. And it's the subconscience mixed with the emotions of now in the environment that determin how you act or react to any given situation. Traits that are praised more then other traits from people we asume to be our role models can lead to thinking that is actually out of balance. Which then supposed experts call autism. It's one of the reason's that the younger a pony is, the more suceptable they are to mental conditioning that may lead to personality disorders further down the pony's life. As long as a pony can recognise these within themselves, then a pony can balance themselves out if they choose. It's the ones that are out of balance and don't know it, refuse to believe it, and never do anything about it that things can get out of control with Discord.

 

But a very good read non the less. Thankyou!

[AegisReflector 886]

That's the nail to the coffin. Everyone's got some form of said autism. It's actually very common. Some people have some form of it, and others don't. Of course, it wouldn't be fair of me to make her a complete autist because she's only got some of the traits. But I was just trying to make a point. Everyone can share in some of the autistic traits now and then. I say Twilight's a role model for other autists because even if they're diagnosed an autist (which might be the case for Twilight.. I had the same symptoms she had since birth, and the doctors called me retarded and autist) they can fit in fine with the rest of society if they're given the chance.

 

Now that paragraph is not supported anywhere by doctors or professional diagnosticians. Autism isn't in everybody, no matter how many "traits" of autism a person can exhibit. Just because I like organizing or panic when I don't get my way doesn't make me autistic. The only sure way to know if a person truly has autism is if some smart individual creates a brain scan or test to prove that people have autistic genes.

[TailsIsNotAlone 3,696]

I don't believe in pegging any of the ponies with human psychological conditions, but you make an excellent case for Twilight here.