When I first watched Big Bang Theory, I felt very seen in the main character, Sheldon. A character who is very smart, needs organization, and values routine in everyday life. I caught myself relating to a lot of the things that he “had” to do to feel comfortable, like knocking on the door three times or sorting the cereal by fiber count. He also was not a fan of germs, physical touch, or being around people who he found less intelligent than himself, which was almost everyone. Unfortunately, these were not seen as Neurodivergent traits, but more as him being quirky and different. I related to him so much that I questioned if I was autistic myself.
Years later, when Young Sheldon came out, I was even more convinced. The avoidance of his food touching, not wanting to hold his family’s hands at dinner for prayer, and needing every day to be basically the same. The creators may not say he is, but other neurodivergents like me agreed he was on the spectrum; the evidence was everywhere.
When Sheldon would wear oven mitts to say a prayer before dinner, even though he was an atheist, or when it took him a really long time to even hold hands with a woman, who eventually became his wife, it just made me think of myself. His traits were not his being quirky; it was his being a little different. He viewed the world differently from others.
Neurodivergents everywhere look for representation in characters from movies, TV shows, western cartoons, eastern anime, and books. Anything to describe themselves to someone who doesn’t understand neurodivergency. We need more representation in all forms of media, and some shows do us justice, while others just make it look like we are all the same. Reality is, it’s a spectrum, and we can’t be categorized by just one trait or quirk. If we are to understand neurodivergence better, we have to understand how it varies per person and not just one specific set of quirks. Representation is out there.
