Autistic savant type characters - what do you guys think?

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Curious to get some fellow aspergers/autistic opinions on an issue that has been giving me thought over the past few days.

For context, I'm writing an science-fiction adventure story for pre-adolescent children. Being autistic, I feel strongly about getting us more representation in fiction and so I've settled on making the eight year old brother of the protagonist somewhere on the autistic spectrum. I've done a bit of research online about writing autistic characters and found quite a lot of people complaining about savant type characters, that they aren't great because they imply we must have super useful abilities to compensate for our autistic difficulties rather than just being regular people.

While I see where this line of argument is coming from, I don't feel it's works for a genre like children's adventure. Kids don't want to read about a boring average person, they want to read about exceptional people who do exceptional things! I'm very conscious too that as the youngest character in my main trio and the motivation for the eleven year old protagonist to do what she does, there's a real risk of the brother coming across as "the load" or even "the scrappy" if he's perceived as being useless. I'm therefore leaning towards having him have a computer implanted in his brain, which combined with his natural intelligence allows him to useful to other characters at various points in the plot.

What do you guys think? Is giving an autistic character exceptional mental abilities via cybernetics empowering, or is it propagating an unhelpful stereotype?

I think in an adventure story, there's a need for all the characters to be useful to the "quest". So I think it's a good idea to give him some special talents. You should be fine as long as you make him non-stereotypical in other ways. Good luck!

Personally, I think its an assumption that kids wouldn't want to read about relatively ordinary problems, albeit with a twist, on adventures.

Think of the famous five - kids loved those adventures, but no-one was superpowered. Or Harry Potter where the characters are magical, but they also make very normal mistakes - they get their homework in late, struggle in class abs get into trouble for losing their temper.

There is something very powerful about having a character every bit as 'ordinary' as the readers doing something exciting. I'd say a lot of books these days take the track.

It's a cheap shot to make your characters extra special to complete a plot point imo. Much better to work with people whose choices and emotions affect how they behave. Unless very well handled, extra X characters very easily become a magic solution.

You could easily subtly entwine autistic traits into a character without the computer chip marlarky. If you really want one, go ahead but I wouldn't pretend it's a representation of autism.

I think a very important thing when writing for kids, is not to presume that kids are idiots or 'can't handke' much at all.

I'd also watch out for the 'but I gave them 1/2 not-X conditions trait' or, say, 'I made them overconfident/super-shy/etc to balance their super intelligence'. Don't create a character barring a couple of stereotypical traits. Create a varied person. I've seen this happen a lot in writing at it always jars and is easily seen through.

If you're not going to present the difficulties of autism, it's probably best to slide in a few (or several) traits to an otherwise rounded character. Otherwise you end up with the 'stereotypical' comments. People see straight through that sort of thing (as you've read).

There might be the odd exeception to the rule, but unless you're already very successful as a writer (know all the rules, and be able to use them well, before you break them) chances are that when you think it's good for your story... Well, the authors that are complained about probably thought just the same.

Cybernetics will take a lot of digging to write on convincingly, take it from someone planning upgrades. That said I also believe it's a topic people should have the resources to explore.

_________________
"Standing on a well-chilled cinder, we see the fading of the suns, and try to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of the worlds."
-Georges Lemaitre
"I fly through hyperspace, in my green computer interface"
-Gem Tos

I'd go with the spine or *gulp* the pineal gland; many regions of the brain are sensitive to light though not all of those express liquid-crystaline properties like those of my laptop's screen. Since I know you're probably dubious about my claims regarding my own cybernetics aspirations, I know I should mention I'm a programmer & my professional work began in bio-medical technology. Like anyone I started small, working to write a controller for EKG/PulseOx sensors although that's also the manner in which I plan to begin my self-augmentation. I'm interested in the ability to somatically relate to technology; I think your decision to bind neural interfaces to one or both hands is probably good foresight, though the heart I firmly believe should be left to flesh & blood, however reinforced it may soon become. While I'd otherwise favor the augmentation of the spinal column, that of course is rather invasive by most people's standards, maybe you could select a vertebra that intrigues you, or perhaps a construct that follows a set of nerves.

_________________
"Standing on a well-chilled cinder, we see the fading of the suns, and try to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of the worlds."
-Georges Lemaitre
"I fly through hyperspace, in my green computer interface"
-Gem Tos

Autism is so abstract a concept that few grown ups can grasp it.

And you're trying to write a futuristic sci fi fantasy for children with a character that is "slightly autistic".

I dont see how that could work at all narratively no matter what you do.

But okay-let's go with this idea.

First things first: are the characters themselves kids? Is this like Harry Potter, or Frozen? Or is this a group of comic book superheroes who are grown ups (Hulk, and Thor, and the girl played by Scarlett Johanson), or this like Star Trek/Star Wars (ordinary grown up people with out super powers thrown into an extrordinary adventure- and futuristic technology with 'super powers' figures in the story) or what?

I think your plot will probably benefit from drawing on potential manufacturing methodologies for the hardware you're describing.

_________________
"Standing on a well-chilled cinder, we see the fading of the suns, and try to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of the worlds."
-Georges Lemaitre
"I fly through hyperspace, in my green computer interface"
-Gem Tos