Brony discussion split

[pepharytheworm]

8 pages in, Hobie and I still don't have an answer to our question about rates of autism among My Little Pony fans and the use of autism organizational color code badges at conventions.

I and some others did give personally experiences with autism and fandom? What are you looking for, a study? I am sure you searched it by now and if you didn't find one we sure won't either.

But if you type MLP and autism you get a lot of results. Here's a poll on a MLP fan site.
http://www.everypony.com/forums/showthr ... the-fandom

I also should note that it is very common to have gender issues for people on the spectrum. That alone might drive more people on the spectrum to MLP then other fandoms.

While I am only able to read your post as that of a sarcastic asshat, yes, this actually serves as a decent starting point for what I was wondering about. Thank you.

As for your tone, I disapprove.

You seem to perceive all I write to you as being an "asshat" "snarky" "sarcastic" among other descriptive terms and openly inferring things towards me when I have not once done the same to you. You misunderstood one of my post not even directed at you and continue on that trend ever since then. I have already apologized for that miscommunication yet you continue to infer negative meaning from all my posts. If you actually read what I write at their true meaning and not perceived meaning maybe then you can understand what I mean.

You said you didn't have your answer. I know no one gave an absolute answer but some tried to help and I explained how I thought they did. I was genuinely trying to see what you were looking for and asked direct questions to clarify. You seemed genuinely interested in the topic so I assumed you did independent research outside of this forum. I also tried to state you have abilities great enough that your search would be as fruitful as anything we could do. But just in case you didn't I searched myself and shared something that seemed relevant.

You stated at one point my posting habits have changed. Maybe it has as I have stated earlier I am living with someone on the Autistic spectrum and have been for two years. I went to therapy and researched autism with her because we would have such a hard time communicating at times. I probably picked up a lot of habits learning to communicate better with her that I probably transfer to communicating with others.

Now to speak back on topic; my partner and I were talking about this and why the appeal and why people on the spectrum might be more interested. It's the characters and their different personalities and how easy it is to tell them apart by color, appendages, and cutie marks. They seem easy to read for someone on the spectrum. They clearly state how they feel besides just giving visual and tone cues. Many shows do this but those shows are way more childish in general. Someone on the spectrum could now use those characters to visualize in their mind when people tell them how they feel or analyzing their own feeling. It's like watching something and it's speaking your language more clearly but not treating you like a child, less subtext and more concrete language. Of course the spectrum varies greatly and it wouldn't be the same for everyone on the spectrum. Also it should be noted the typical male traits are not like female traits which could explain males being drawn to the show.

Carebears probably would have had the same appeal if it's writing was as good as MLP among other reasons.

[irixith]

Now to speak back on topic; my partner and I were talking about this and why the appeal and why people on the spectrum might be more interested. It's the characters and their different personalities and how easy it is to tell them apart by color, appendages, and cutie marks. They seem easy to read for someone on the spectrum. They clearly state how they feel besides just giving visual and tone cues. Many shows do this but those shows are way more childish in general. Someone on the spectrum could now use those characters to visualize in their mind when people tell them how they feel or analyzing their own feeling. It's like watching something and it's speaking your language more clearly but not treating you like a child, less subtext and more concrete language. Of course the spectrum varies greatly and it wouldn't be the same for everyone on the spectrum. Also it should be noted the typical male traits are not like female traits which could explain males being drawn to the show.

This is really, really interesting and helpful.

[marurun]

my partner and I were talking about this and why the appeal and why people on the spectrum might be more interested. It's the characters and their different personalities and how easy it is to tell them apart by color, appendages, and cutie marks. They seem easy to read for someone on the spectrum. They clearly state how they feel besides just giving visual and tone cues. Many shows do this but those shows are way more childish in general. Someone on the spectrum could now use those characters to visualize in their mind when people tell them how they feel or analyzing their own feeling. It's like watching something and it's speaking your language more clearly but not treating you like a child, less subtext and more concrete language.

It seems like I've heard this kind of explanation offered before, elsewhere. Maybe it was on a podcast somewhere. This makes a lot of sense to me. People who fall along the Autism spectrum typically have social communication problems. Reading social situations is extremely difficult at times, even for "normals". Having a show that is both simple and visually distinct but that doesn't talk everything down all the time, that can show the variations within personality traits without making them total stereotypes, can be valuable in addition to entertaining.

Hell, I don't formally fall on the ASD and I struggle with personal interactions all the time. It's a frustrating experience. It's sometimes nice seeing examples that show the ability to work through things in a reasonable manner.

This all from someone (me) who hasn't watched a single MLP episode and isn't terribly inclined to. Too much entertainment on my plate already and not enough time...