WMG / Debra!

Debra is on the autistic spectrum.

• She tends to have very obsessive interests.
• Socially awkward, does not get social cues (particularly sarcasm).
• Highly imaginative.
• Sees the best in people.
  • Dancy's blog even describes her as "gullible" - which has been used to describe the trusting nature of autistics.
• People have pretended to be her friend to take advantage of her.
• Physically clumsy with bad coordination (as seen when it is mentioned Dancy beat her in a hula-hoop competition).
• Also, Dancy's blog mentions she bounces a lot, possibly as a form of stimming.
• She mentions that it takes her a while to adjust to new socks (sensory issues).

Debra! shares a universe with Naturally, Sadie

Both shows are Canadian and produced by Family, and Debra and Sadie would get on well together.

Perhaps they could start up a petting zoo together.

If the series had continued Debra would be diagnosed as being on the Autism Spectrum.

The whole conceit of the series is that Debra is an unusual girl, as dramatic as this might seem it would have set the show apart from others like it.

Same as above, but we would have found out more about Debra's home life

We never get to see Debra's house, or her grandmother's. When Preston asks why don't they ever go back to her house for her plans she says that her parents keep locusts and it would be better to use his house.

If the series had lasted longer there would have been an episode about the mystery of Debra's house

Debra would be busy or preoccupied with something on her own for most of the episode with the guys, Preston, Auzzie and Brud; left without her for the first time since they became friends with her and suddenly realizing that they have never actually seen her house or her grandmother.

It would also give them the opportunity to act as a Comic Trio with Auzzie as The Leader and Schemer, Preston as The No-Respect Guy and Brud as The Fool, which with the exception of Preston likely bring the leader was how they functioned pre-Debra.

They could decide to ask Dancy for help since she technically knows Debra the longest.

Each of them could get their own Confession Cam.

• Preston's would be thoughtful and emotionally distant at first but then start to open up as they find more clues.
• Auzzie would naturally come across as a charmer and the most reality TV-ready of the gang.
• Brud would be straight-forward and fun-orientated.

Finally the group without Debra would venture to Debra's grandmother's house, only to find nobody is home, Auzzie and Brud to find a way in. At first it looks like the house might not be Debra's grandmother's or that Debra might have been only pretending to live there and that she is actually alone. But then a car pulls up and the front door opens with Debra and her grandmother coming in from shopping with the stunned Debra very excited to see her friends and her grandmother finally revealed, and in the same vein as Marla, very similar to Debra herself.

Debra's grandmother would have been a one-time character played a Special Guest Star

Most likely a Canadian actress over the age of 50 who is familiar to Canadian TV audiences.

Think a Canadian Betty White.

If the series had been able to have a proper, planned finale Debra's parents would have come back.

• Possibly for her birthday.
• Or the gang's graduation.

There would have been an episode about Debra getting diagnosed as being on the autistic spectrum.

• It would start with Debra being recommended to have a session with the Camfield High Guidance counselor after some of the teachers begin to notice her difficulty socializing and picking up on cues, particularly when she lists interesting facts in Mr Treadgold's classes.
  • Or a new guidance counselor would start at Camfield High and request that everyone in the gang's year book an individual one-on-one appointment for he/she can get to know the students. They would most likely a she just to contrast with Treadgold and Ridge being the only prominent teachers and both male and for Debra to have an older female role-model in the series for future episodes.
  • The counselor would take an interest in Debra's quirks and personality and ask her if she has any difficulties in school and refer her to a psychiatrist.
• The episode would likely have Debra telling Preston this as they walk through the school hall corridors and no doubt Dancy would appear and overhear the conversation, leading her to make a remark about how Debra's weirdness was finally becoming noticeable to the whole world.
• This leaves Debra feeling cold and worried. When she tells the Preston about it she tries to comfort her, but then Auzzie says something of how she is seen as weird by everyone and that they might finally figure out why which makes Debra feel more anxious. Preston tells Auzzie that he was being tactless.
• Later Preston, Brud and Auzzie find Debra researching psychological conditions on the computer in the school library looking for the most extreme conditions. Preston tells her not to worry and start with just typing in her own quirks. Burd and Auzzie help by politely (Auzzie is not on his best behaviour) pointing out all her unique qualities. Among the results are autism and Asperger's (the series was produced and debuted in 2011 so its second season would have been around 2012 with AS still on the DSM). Debra opens the page and reads the list of symptoms. The more she reads out loud the more they agree it sounds like her.
• Preston tells her it doesn't matter if she is autistic or not and that she will always be his friend. They read through a list of the symptoms and characteristics and Preston relates how Debra displays each one. Debra comes to the conclusion that she is very likely autistic.
• Soon time later Mr Treadgold is packing all his things into his briefcase and preparing to leave the school at the end of the day when he spots a quiet and depressed Debra sitting alone in the classroom. When she seems to be not herself he becomes immediately concerned and asks her what is wrong. When she tells him she is autistic/has Asperger's she tells her that he thinks she is probably a genius and that she is likely his best student even if she is too much for him sometimes.
• Realizing that her autism has always being a part of her Debra comes to the realization that the world needs people like her and returns to her joyful and optimistic self.

Debra is an ancestor of Hikaru Amano.

They're both short girls with glasses and easily excitable personalities, with particular emphasis on catchphrases (Hiraku's "Leaping Lizards" and Debra's "Skippy Liberty").

Its not impossible for Hikaru to have some Canadian ancestry in the year 2196 when all the nations on Earth have apparently come together in World Peace and for it to go un-commented upon or even just trivial in her family's history.

By the same logic Debra could also be an ancestor of Hikaru Inagaki who lives in the Kanagawa Prefecture in the year 2070.