Is CM's Dr. Spencer Reid an Aspie?

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What do you think fellow Criminal Minds viewers? Ever since I first heard the word autism in the season one episode "Broken Mirror" in which the unsub taunted, "Jason Gideon, an expert in the criminal psyche yet unable to diagnose the autistic leadings of the very insecure Dr. Reid..." I have suspected he was different. He definitely has a lot of traits for it; hates being touched, takes rhetorical questions literally, rambles on about his obsessive interests (he and I share a love of Star Trek which makes me super happy!), and is the only profiler I've ever seen on TV who has no grasp of social skills. What do you guys think? Is the genius an aspie, or just ridiculously smart? I for one would love to see him get tested!

He's probably aspie. He wears his watch on his sweaters (sensory issue), seems to prefer sunglasses when outdoirs (sensory issue), ALWAYS has an extra ticket to some nerd event which his team passes on, and to which he has no one to accompany him (social issues). I might also add that even though he's an adult, he still has his kid ways. To wit: his multi-coloured anchor socks.

It seems that it is the intention of the writers that Reid be an Aspie, as many of his behavioural traits are consistent with ASD. I like that they don't push his Aspie traits too much, and don't give him a public diagnosis, as it somewhat prevents him from turning into a stereotypical 'autistic' whose role is centred around their diagnosis and behaviours.

I love Reid as a character, possibly because I can relate to him so much (which is rare)!

a) Fictional characters are not real.
b) Dr. Spencer Reid is a fictional character.
: : Dr. Spencer Reid is not real.

a) Autism is real.
b) Real people have autism.
: : Autism is a real condition had by real people.

a) Dr. Spencer Reid is not real.
b) Autism is a real condition had by real people.
: : Dr. Spencer Reid does not have autism.

QED

Matthew Gray Gubler is pretending to be Dr. Spencer Reid. Anything that Dr. Spencer Reid says or does is part of the pretense, including Asperger's Syndrome. Thus, Matthew Gray Gubler is, in essence, a poseur pretending to have Asperger's Syndrome.

Link: Wikipedia Artilce on Dr. Spencer Reid

I know for a fact that Max Braverman on the show Parenthood has Aspergers Syndrome. Oh wait, that's really an actor named Max Burkholder, who plays a fictional character who has AS.

Only difference is they are up front about that character having AS. Unlike they are about Dr. Reid, Sheldon Cooper, the first CSI guy, that Anime cartoon character etc. That's why no one ever asks about Max.

Have only seen clips of the Dr. Reid character, but seems likely his behavior is based on AS, even if they don't come right out and say so.

I think Captain Jean-Luc Picard can be added to the list as well. And lets not forget about Mr. Barkley!

Why do you have a problem with people discussing tv or movie characters? Who cares if the character is fictional. A character can have cancer, just as much as a character can have a stutter, just as much as a character can have blue eyes and brown hair just as much as they can have Asperger's.

By your logic a character can't have brown hair and blue eyes because brown hair is real and real people have brown hair. Blue eyes are real and real people have blue eyes. So and so character is fictional, therefore do and so can't have brown hair and blue eyes.

Everytime someone makes a thread discussing a character you feel compelled to post this same argument over and over again.

I think he is aspie~ I LOVE HIS CHARACTER He is cute, and I like his rambling and such. ^^
I also really like how bookish and awkward he is! I find it so endearing!
Although, I think that some of his "strange" behavior might be a mix between aspie and too-intellegent.

If you are really extra smart- I would assume it's hard to connect with people (even if not autistic), and isn't that why super smart people are mostly unhappy & why a lot of prodigies grow-up miserable and "not fulfilling their potential". That's what I've read anyway.

Don't worry, Noca. He contradicts himself with his last sentence. "...Gubler is a poseur pretending to have Asperger's." In other words, the fictional character Gubler is playing, Dr. Reid, is real. In that sense, then yes, Dr. Reid does have autism.

The only arguments I've seen people make against Spencer being on the spectrum were his ability to profile Unsubs and eye contact, which can be learned (and some people on the spectrum don't have noticable eye contact issues) and lack of stimming. Since I have been rewatching all the episodes I have noticed small hand movements he makes that could be subtle stims.

Some of his traits could also be from being raised by a paranoid schizophrenic. Though, it seems like he'd still have more social skills if that was the case.

Whether he would be considered autistic or not in real life, I still love his character. I especially like when he goes on his monologues because he's always saying something interesting

A fictional character can indeed have cancer, but only if that character was written to have cancer.

They actually mention Asperger's when talking about Reid in an episode btw, I'll have to find the episode when I am on my desktop and not my phone.

This is what is says on the "Spencer Reid" page on Wikipedia:

So I guess he's supposed to have some autistic traits.

To wit: 5:20 of this video.

I didn't remember that scene, I was thinking about another scene, I think it was with JJ or something talking about Reid. But anyway's it's clear the show's writer's intended Reid to be on the autism spectrum.

Then like Max Braverman on Parenthood, Dr. Reid was written as a character who has Aspergers.

I know Dr. House was suspected of having Aspergers by his doctor friend.

Also there is a good House episode about a severely autistic boy about 10 years old on that show.

That was some bad guy accusing Dr. Ried of having "autistic leanings".

I think the thing for me and maybe Fnord, is with a fictional character, he is only what he has been written to be. He can't really be speculated about like a real person. Now I know in my case, from what I have been told, that is due to me having black and white resonating. I can see imagining a fictional character of whatever. But to like scientifically evaluate a fake person of having a real condition, just does not make sense to me.

I'm not saying this about StarTrekker, because they seem to go to great lengths to depict Dr. Reid as someone on the spectrum. But in other cases, people have asked if any number of fictional characters have autism. Even cartoon characters. So often this sort of thing is done too often and it gets ridiculous to me.

It's like someone can say I have autism and the person they tell might say, "oh yeah, so does Batman and Daffy Duck". It kinda starts making autism seem fake by connecting it to fake characters. I think there are enough people as it is who think autism is basically a fake condition. That it's just bad behavior due to lack of discipline etc.