Autistic Donnie - Blog Posts
Bro I thought Donnie was gonna get absolutely bodied–
Keep the 'tism turtle alive, folks.
@autismswagsummit
Do not despair rottmnt fandom! We still have a ninja’s greatest weapon—hope! If we keep hoping, Donnie just might win! But why should you vote for Donnie, you ask? Well…
Donnie is canonically autistic and has so much swag it’s unreal.
Donnie has helped educate people on autism and neurodivergence in general. He may or may not have been the driving force for my realization that I might be autistic. Donnie seriously changed my life with that piece of information.
Donnie is very realistic autistic representation. He’s just an autistic character who’s allowed to exist and exhibit autistic traits without being scrutinized for it. I love when he stims!
Donnie presents many autistic traits such as low empathy, monotone voice, sensory issues, difficulty with emotions and feelings, special interests and stimming!
In conclusion, please vote for the autistic turtle! Maybe it’s because I’ve been fixated on rottmnt and autism for the past seven months but I genuinely believe that he deserves to win. I hope that you can give Donnie the support he needs to win this competition with his clear superior autism swag! 💜💜💜
@autismswagsummit @autismswagreblogs
(I am way too invested in this competition, someone help. Even if Donnie doesn’t win, he’ll always be a winner in my heart!)
🐢💜
I’ve been cooking this one for a while, but with the most recent “The Bad Batch” episode, I feel this is timely.
Before I go into it, I want to get it out there that there is NOTHING WRONG with HC-ing an autistic character or an autistically-coded character as Aro/Ace, and there is NOTHING WRONG with being an Aro/Ace Autistic/Autistic person. My issue is with a PATTERN and not any specific HCs that I’ve come across. I also need to say that my Autistic experience is not the same as anyone else’s, I cannot and do not speak for all Autistic people. We exist on a spectrum here. I will also be using Autistic and Autistic person interchangeably here because I have no personal preference, though others might.
That being said, I notice that A LOT, if not MOST Autistically-coded characters are popularly headcanoned as Aro/Ace in their respective fandoms. Sometimes there’s canon evidence and sometimes there’s not. Some of them I agree with and others...make me wonder if they’re just being thought of that way because of the pervasive stereotype that Autistics are incapable of romantic or sexual feelings.
In my own experience, I’ve had a handful of encounters where people are really shocked that I’m in a committed romantic relationship and that I am very comfortable with my sexuality and sexuality in general. It goes hand in hand with the typical “you don’t LOOK Autistic” response from people. It’s all part of a wider stereotype that infantilizes neurodivergents, separating them from commonly recognized markers of adulthood (and by extension, personhood) like a developed sex drive, desire to be romantically close with others, and independence. None of these things actually define what an adult person is, by the way.
In those encounters, I usually feel infantilized and talked down to. It’s an unpleasant reality of my life that I can usually escape from in my fandoms, but echoes of it resonate in previously safe spaces with this pattern. I have to wonder if everybody is actually thinking their HCs through or if they’re just slapping “Aro/Ace” onto the character because they subconsciously don’t think of Autistic people as capable of romantic or sexual feelings, especially with characters that actually have canon romantic/sexual feelings ON SCREEN or CONFIRMED by the creators. (I thought about providing examples of Autistic/Autistically-coded characters that get Aro/Ace headcanoned often here, in spite of canon evidence to the contrary, but headcanons are supposed to be fun and I don’t want to start an argument about these characters here, especially if that headcanon is important to someone).
In summary, the Autistic community is an incredibly diverse one with people of all walks of life. Please don’t shunt us into just one way of being because of stereotypes, even if we’re just fictional characters.
Also, please watch Overly Sarcastic’s Trope Talk on Robots for a nice little lesson on coding and how it affects the Neurodivergent and Aro/Ace communities. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZGRdxP_8Js&t=1s
I am pretty bad at finishing projects but at least I finished it! I will be celebrating with a plain Rice Krispies Treat now :)
Finished version: human!Donnie
Donatello "Donnie" Hamato. 16. Japanese/Chinese American. Donnie is my favorite and I just love all my silly little ideas about him and all his autism. I am the same and I can’t get enough. You go, you Funky Flat Fuck (I’m not waiting till Friday to post, sorry.)
Some lil Donnie doodles I did today because I needed to make SOMETHING and this is cute.
I am also an autistic bean and although I wasn't diagnosed until I was 14, I definitely showed signs as a small child and I feel like Donnie DEFINITELY did too.
I HC that Splinter, you know, KNEW something was different from the beginning and knows Donnie is on the spectrum, but he can't get an official diagnosis for him because of This Whole Situation TM. But he's done a lot of research and knows Donnie loves music and dancing, so he teaches him bō-jutsu (known for its kinetic flow) to help him improve his proprioception and help them bond.
Bonus lil Leo because he's freakin cute AF, LOOK AT HIM.
My Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Headcanons - Donnie 💜
He/They but doesn't mind any other pronouns. Bisexual, Nonbinary (I love the fact that neurodivergent people see gender differently than everyone else, and more likely are nonbinary, genderfluid etc)
Ofc He’s autistic
He’s semiverbal, when he’s really overstimulated or overwhelmed he goes nonverbal and uses ASL
Donnie is scarred of the dark, but not normal “scarred of the dark”. When he wakes up, and its still dark he gets paranoid
When he’s paranoid or smth at night he looks if Leo is awake, tries to make it as quiet as posible so that Leo doesn't notice him. If he do he will sit with Donnie, and comfort him
Donnie sleeps the least of all his brothers, he is too busy with his work, he just forgets to sleep. Raph needs to force Donnie to go to bed then he watch him to be sure he fell asleep
When Donnie can’t deal with his sensory issues he goes to Raph. He hugs him, rub his shell, or just carefully lay on his shell like weighted blanket
When Don bought himself his purple comfort hoodie he bought one for Mikey too. Some time later he bought one for Leo because of his dysphoria
Don always has a emergency epipen in his battle shell
Donnie stimms with his fingers and toes a lot
Genuinely loves coffee and mango passion fruit energy drinks
Wears contacts, but when he is too tired to put them on he just casualy wears glasses
He sometimes experiences seizures after krang attack, because of nerve damage
When he feels super preety he likes to use a lot of eyeliner
He sings while making his makeup
Always paint his nails
He’s anemic
Donnie always has hidden candy with him in case Mikey is stressed and Raph isn't there
Donnie is realy flexible because of his soft shell
Donnie & Mikey absolutely hates squishy fruits and vegetables. The texture of food that they eats must meet theirs standards
The headphone/goggle idea was born in Donnie's mind one day when Raph was helping him with overstimulation
When Donnie needs physical contact he just sits in lap of one of his brother that are actually chiling somewhere in the lair
He loves demonia boots, especially damned 318
His music taste: Lady gaga, Daft punk, Lemon demon
He’s the type of person who have all of his stickers in folders and never uses them. On the other hand Mikey sticks his stickers on everything
Don keeps all of the drawings Mikey gave him, and have them all on the giant pin board on his lab wall
At some point in his life he started smoking
Fav pizza: Something with vegetables like Mozzarella, Sun-Dried Tomato and Arugula
Stimming its a thing that neurodivergent people do I'm neurodivergent Do I stimm? No its just a normal hand rubbing, leg bouncing, mouth sounds, hands shaking, playing with jewelry, scratching etc.
ITS STIMMING! WHY DIDN'T ANYONE IN MY WHOLE LIFE TOLD ME?!
And like i learned it from the rottmnt fandom! From people talking about Donnie stimming and his cooping mechanisms
No doctor in the past has been kind enough to share this information that may be useful in the future
It's so funny and frustrating at the same time
