Female protagonists with autism/Asperger's syndrome

Recommend/discuss works that have female protagonists that are either canonically on the autism scale or made rather obvious through several deliberate trademark traits common with the disorder. Please try to keep the pigeonholing speculation to a minimum; being eccentric/anti-social/poorly mannered does not automatically mean autism.

. . .

This should not be this hard.

This site says Brigid in Aubrey-Maturin is autistic, and also mentions the mute girl in Cupid and the Silent Goddess. This one gives Al Capone Does My Shirts. Further digging uncovered Wild Orchid, My Strange and Terrible Malady, Taking Care of Cleo, and The Very Ordered Existence of Merilee Marvelous. I know nothing about any of them.

Maybe it's just because it's rarer for girls to be autistic. You know, like how we never read stories about conjoined twins.

I read on the Alternate Character Interpretation page that Jane Eyre displays the signs of Asperger's syndrome. I don't know very much about Aspie's myself, but as a Jane Eyre fan I'm interested in this theory. Can anyone else weigh in on that?

Scarlett O'Hara constantly misreads people, doesn't get conventional humour, hated school because she had better stuff to do, is morally-detached, and displays a blatant disregard for the mores of her era just because they happen not to suit her goals. I freely admit that I don't know what the hell I'm talking about, but she really gives off the high-functioning vibe to me.

I'm not an expert on Asperger's Syndrome, but as someone who actually has it, I don't think Scarlett gives off that vibe. Just my two cents, though.

I need to read Jane Eyre...

edited 14th Nov '10 4:25:32 AM by DoktorvonEurotrash

In the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series most of the other characters assume that Lisbeth Salander has Aspergers, because of her intelligence but aloofness to emotional situations. Also her social skills aren't the greatest. Though its never been confirmed in the series, its talked about.

vifetoile, I don't know about Jane Eyre specifically, but I definitely feel that all three Bronte sisters (not to mention their brother) showed very significant symptoms of the condition. So it's not really surprising that their characters also showed a predilection towards it.

Scarlett O'Hara is charismatic, not a notable characteristic of Aspies. She's just garden-variety self-absorbed and bull-headed.

Livvie Owen Lived Here by Sarah Dooley

edited 14th Nov '10 9:10:20 AM by Nobodymuch

Winterlong by Elizabeth Hand comes to mind.

Throwing Elizabeth Moon's The Speed Of Dark out even though the main protagonist is male. It's a 20 Minutes into the Future setting and the autistics are the viewpoint characters.

Mass Effect: Ascension by Drew Karpyshyn. Gillian Grayson, while not the protagonist, has the entire book's plot revolve around her.

Ooh, a definite nod to The Speed of Dark.

Harmonious Feedback by Tara Kelley is a personal favourite of mine. The main character is (if I recall correctly) explicitly mentions herself being diagnosed with Asperger's. It's an excellent book.

@feo: I don't know about Al Capone Does My Shirts. Not that it's a bad book, but it's mainly about the autistic girl's brother trying to deal with the girl's severe autism during the 1950's, she doesn't really have any lines.

Rather a late post, but I think Lucy Snowe from Villette has it. Another likely candidate is Caroline Helstone from Shirley, and more likely, Mrs Pryor. For some reason, Shirley is crowded with aloof female characters - but then Charlotte Bronte was the queen of aloof female characters. Paulina Home shows some traits, but is loveable - that's probably faulty characterisation than a deliberate attempt to show an unsociable awkward girl. Then you've got yet another suspect in Frances Henri from The Professor. Bear in mind that in classic novels, many heroines even the likeable ones seem to have very few or no friends until the plot starts, as the author can't be bothered to create more characters, and it's supposed to make the new friends she makes even more special.

And in the Hunger Games film, Katniss shows a fair share of these traits.

Hmm, I am not sure if Broen/Bron/The Bridge exists in book form yet, but the female protagonist of that show is suggested strongly to have Asperger's Syndrome - I recognise in her traits of the condition that I have in common.

edited 11th Jun '12 2:19:07 AM by TamH70

Ayn Rand seemed quite fond of heroes and heroines showing signs of Asperger's Syndrome. On the "heroine" side, Dominique Francon of The Fountainhead is described by her father as having been quite introverted, aloof, and separate from others her age as a child. Dagny Taggart of Atlas Shrugged is even more blatant in her "signs", if you will—again, seen particularly in her childhood, where she as a child devotes her attention to the railroad her family runs, and has to be nudged by her mother to partake in social activities.

Jane Eyre doesn't show signs of Aperger's at all, in my opinion. She's quite adept at negotiating social situations once she gets older (especially in her constant duel of wits with Rochester). She's quite aware of social and conversational conventions, and she'll abide by them when needed; she's just happier when she's able to speak freely.

She's also not antisocial. She desperately wants friendship and connection, and pursues it whenever she meets people she gets along with; against her own choice, she's spent much of her life isolated without people she feels any connection to.

edited 17th Apr '15 11:06:38 AM by Galadriel

Gillian Grayson from the Mass Effect novels is autistic.

And ignore what Deception tells you, she does NOT grow out of it.

Harriet The Spy shows many signs of Aspergers. It's not just social ineptitude, but little things like always eating the same thing for lunch every day.