History Main / NeurodiversityIsSupernatural

A real-world atypical neurological condition, like autism or schizophrenia, is presented as the result of or the presence of something supernatural. Bonus points if it doesn't occur naturally at all in the fictional universe.

Strange conditions spark the imaginations of writers, leading them to imagine otherworldly forces behind them. Just as MostWritersAreMale, so are most writers neurotypical. Though non-NT writers are by no means unknown and they might use this trope as well for various reasons.

* In Creator/LawrenceWattEvans' short story "One of the Boy", [[SupermanSubstitute Captain Cosmos]], [[RaisedByHumans an alien who raised by humans]], has trouble with social cues in a way that resembles autism. The implication seems to be this is normal for his species.

* In Lawrence Watt-Evans' short story "One of the Boy", [[SupermanSubstitute Captain Cosmos]], [[RaisedByHumans an alien who raised by humans]], has trouble with social cues in a way that resembles autism. The implication seems to be this is normal for his species.

* In Lawrence Watt-Evans' short story "One of the Boy", [[SupermanSubstitute Captain Cosmos]], [[RaisedByHumans an alien who raised by humans]], has trouble with social cues in a way that resembles autism.

* In ''Series/TheXFiles'':
** In the episode "Fallen Angel", it's implied that aliens are responsible for Max's epilepsy.
** In "E.B.E.", Mulder suggests that Gulf War syndrome is the result of alien encounters.

* In ''Film/TheOmen2006'' remake, Damien shows signs of having [[AmbiguousDisorder some sort of developmental disorder]], and it's bizarre how his modern, 2006 mother automatically subscribes to this trope instead of having him tested. The fact she's right doesn't lessen the unrealistic oddness of her reactions.

* In ''Film/ABoyCalledPo'', while the titular autistic child is in a dissociative trance, [[spoiler:his ImaginaryFriend Jack tells him that his condition means his mind can perceive more than one plane of existence. Jack invites Po to join a group of autistic children about to board a spaceship, which will take him to another plane where he can live forever. Amelia Carr, a classmate only Po can see, turns out to be one of the children who boarded the ship and now lives entirely outside her body. Instead Po opts to stay on Earth and returns to his body, to find his father frantically trying to talk to him]]. It's hard to know if any of that was real or if he just imagined the whole thing, though.

* In ''Literature/{{Wicked}}'', it's implied that a lot of Elphaba's [[AmbiguousDisorder oddities]] are a result of her being a [[spoiler:"child of both worlds", which also comes with immense natural magical talent.]]

* ''WebComic/StandStillStaySilent'' downplays this with Lalli. He's both a mage and the member of the cast with an AmbiguousDisorder. The ISeeDeadPeople aspect of his powers can account for his [[AnOddPlaceToSleep strange choices of sleeping places]] (a preference for small spaces and having other people around), while his cat-like mannerisms may have something to do with his luonto being a lynx. However, there are two other mages in the story. Lalli's older and more experienced as a mage cousin Onni has an overblown and quite possibly justified BigBrotherInstinct (he got a PromotionToParent at some point in the past), but other than that acts perfectly normal. Budding mage Reynir lacks Lalli's quirks as well, but also has been a mage for too little a time for any possible long term effects on behaviour to kick in. In addition, the author herself has hinted that Lalli could be having some kind of neural issues that exist independently of his powers.
* Subverted in ''Webcomic/EnnuiGo''. [[spoiler:Max has some sort of [[AmbiguousDisorder undefined mental illness that he inherited from his grandmother]] as well as the ability to see magic (including people's astral forms), though the two things are stated by resident magic expert Len to be entirely unrelated.]]

* ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'': Helaena Targaryen has many autistic traits, and she seemingly can [[{{Seer}} see glimpses of the future]].

** In the sixth season, it's revealed that [[spoiler:Hodor used to be entirely functional, but his mind was destroyed when Bran warged him in the past.]]

* ''TabletopGame/MutantCityBlues'': Mutants with force field powers have a significant chance of developing adult-onset autism.

-->-- '''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic's''' [[Recap/TheNostalgiaCriticS9E19 review]] of ''Literature/{{Dreamcatcher}}''

* While it's nigh-impossible to be sure of ''anything'' in a Creator/PhilipKDick story, some of them imply an extraterrestrial or sci-fi origin for schizophrenia and psychosis (and autism in ''Literature/MartianTimeSlip'', which is explained as a child being out of sync with time). Although he has NWordPrivileges here - he had a full-blown schizophrenic breakdown in the late 70s, and the warning signs were there starting from about the time ''Literature/TimeOutOfJoint'' came out.

* In Peter Watt's ''Literature/{{Blindsight}}'' autistics and psychopaths are descended from vampires. Which were a HumanSubspecies that had a deficiency in a protein found only in humans and evolved several traits to prey on them. Such as a complete LackOfEmpathy and super-savant mathematical abilities. However, their hyper-savantism caused them to develop seizures when they saw right-angles, and they died out millennia ago. Until a biotech company experimented with gene therapy "cures" for autism and psychopathy and accidentally turned them into vampires.
* In ''Literature/TheCampHalfBloodSeries'' (''Literature/{{Percy Jackson|AndTheOlympians}}'', ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'', etc.), demigodhood correlates strongly with dyslexia and ADHD (though they can both occur in mortals). The latter is due to being wired for adventure and battle rather than schoolwork and officework, and the former is due to demigod brains being wired for ancient Greek.

** In the second series, an autistic woman (though entirely unsupernatural herself) only finds acceptance and friendship when a pack of weres 'adopts' her. [[BrokenAesop Presumably every neurotypical person she's met before were heartless bastards.]]
*** [[TruthInTelevision Yes.]]

* In ''Series/{{Touch}}'', Martin's son Jake appears autistic (though the doctors never could diagnose his disorder). He also has the ability to see complex connections between different people in the world and tell his father how to use those connections to help people.

* For centuries, the Japanese considered symptoms associated with autism, such as restlessness, aversion to eye contact and affinity for certain foods, to be evidence of ''[[{{Kitsune}} Kitsunetsuki]]'' (fox spirit possession). Sadly, many of the attempts to "exorcize" these spirits ended in ''brutal'' injuries.

* For centuries, the Japanese considered symptoms associated with autism, such as restlessness, aversion to eye contact and affinity for certain foods, to be evidence of ''Kitsunetsuki'' (fox spirit possession). Sadly, many of the attempts to "exorcize" these spirits ended in ''brutal'' injuries.

* In ''Literature/{{Dreamcatcher}}'', Duddits (the kid with Down Syndrome that is a friend of the main characters) [[InexplicablyAwesome just happens to be a powerful psychic]], who has foreseen some of the twists long ago during their childhood and provided them all with a mental link.

* Some people involved with the New Age belief system believe autistic children, as well as children with ADHD and other neurodivergences, are [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigo_children indigo children,]] children with indigo auras sent to heal the world. This is {{deconstructed}} [[https://www.springhole.net/other/sketchy-spiritualities.htm here]].

* In 2003, a software engineer called [[https://www.256kilobytes.com/content/show/1939/biography-of-terry-a-davis-the-greatest-programmer-to-ever-live Terry Davis]] had what he considers to be a religious revelation and most other people (including several medical professionals) consider to be [[TheSchizophreniaConspiracy the onset of schizophrenia]]. The end result of this experience was [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TempleOS TempleOS]], a {{Retraux}} operating system built around a program that (at least according to Davis) enables the user to [[HauntedTechnology receive direct messages from God through the medium of random number generation]]. Tragically, it seems that Davis really ''was'' schizophrenic, as his increasingly severe delusions and erratic behaviour ultimately led to him being forced out of the family home. In 2018, he was struck and killed by a train, and is widely thought to have taken his own life.

* In the ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' series, demigodhood correlates strongly with dyslexia and ADHD (though they can both occur in mortals). The latter is due to being wired for adventure and battle rather than schoolwork and officework, and the former is due to demigod brains being wired for ancient Greek.

* In ''Literature/{{Everworld}}'', [[VillainProtagonist Senna]] believes that crazy people are at least partially aware of supernatural things, such like [[WitchSpecies witches like her]]. They can also hear her when she's using AstralProjection, while talking to normal people requires the more taxing effort of creating an illusionary form.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'', [[GreenRocks psitanium]]'s psychoreactive properties mean that prolonged exposure can result in the development or amplification of psychic powers, mental illness, or both. In addition, in ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts 2}}'' introduces the power of Mental Connection, which a particularly talented psychic can use to rewire someone's mental schemas and semantic network. Both psychics shown to use it--Razputin Aquato and Hollis Forsythe--have accidentally induced severe psychological disorders while carelessly trying to change someone's mind on a small matter.

* In ''Psychonauts/{{Psychonauts}}'', [[GreenRocks psitanium]]'s psychoreactive properties mean that prolonged exposure can result in the development or amplification of psychic powers, mental illness, or both. In addition some psychics have learned how to rewire people's mental schemas and semantic networks through Mental Connection. Both psychics shown to use it--Razputin Aquato and Hollis Forsythe--have accidentally induced severe psychological disorders while carelessly trying to change someone's mind on a small matter.

* In the ancient world, epilepsy was sometimes seen as being a sign of greatness of one touched by the gods. UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat and UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar were both considered such. The seizures were sometimes linked with divine prophecies.