Warning: Long-ish, but not too long surprisingly
I’m surprised have only seen a few posts with the same headcanon, but I totally headcanon Tinkerbell (from the Disney Fairies movie series, but I’m sure she’s portrayed just as autistically in other versions, I just only really know her from these films) as autistic. I could relate to her a lot as a kid, which was a big part in why these films were such a SI of mine.
Let me talk about this beloved headcanon of mine. Fun fact: It was my first autistic headcanon I’d ever made. :)
- Tink is so awkward. So very socially awkward. Making friends doesn’t come easy to her, in fact, it’s really difficult. She can never accurately read how people feel about her, and at times she comes off as if she’s almost pushing herself on people, when really, she’s just trying to make friends in the only way she knows how. She doesn’t have a good read on social cues and has a hard time reading others, and it’s easy for her to feel different and out of place amongst others because of her quirks. She’s a bit rough around the edges, socially graceless, and stands out easily amongst other fairies; She thinks, sees, feels, and acts very differently from other fairies.
- The whole first film is all about the fact that she’s extremely different from other fairies. She has the obscure fairy talent of tinkering, she can’t play with the seasons or go to a lot of the events or do lots of the things other fairies can do, and therefor she thinks because her talent is different that she needs to change it. She tries all the other fairies talents, but she fails miserably at all of them, and ends in disaster. The message is that when you try to be like everybody else, it never goes well and it never feels right, it’s only when you accept who you are and who you were born to be, that thinks are truly right. Tinkerbell was born to tinker, she has a natural creativity and knack for fixing things, and she’s rather good at it. She comes to love who she is and even finds a way to advocate that tinker fairies be included in things other fairies do. As I got older and finally learned I’m autistic and lost my mask after years of mimicking, I realized such a beautiful parallel here between tinker fairies and autistic/neuroatypical people.
- She has a special interest in lost things, she loves finding things and collecting them, sometimes fixing them up or using them to build things. She also has a special interest in building/tinkering and fixing things.
- She’s very clumsy and has poor motor skills.
- She has a black and white view on things. She’ll get an idea or a plan and will get very angry if it doesn’t go like it was in her head. She likes doing things her way and her way only, and can be very stubborn. She’s also an extreme perfectionist, and gets extremely frustrated and upset when she messes something up or it doesn’t hold up to her standards. Her perfectionism can often put her in meltdown-mode.
- Prone to anger and meltdowns/outbursts. She can become easily frustrated and moody, and can snap on people without realizing. She has many meltdown-like instances in the films, for instance she gets mad at Terrence who was trying to help her with building a scepter, but she wanted to do things her way and stick to her plan, and she winds up getting so frustrated she kicks something angrily and trips into the table and breaks the scepter. In meltdowns I get very angry and very reckless. I do and say things without thinking, and like Tinkerbell, I feel very bad and regretful afterwards
- Despite being very empathetic and wanting to comfort others and help them, she can’t quite figure out how. She’s not lovey dovey or a shoulder to cry on, and definitely not gentle. Her first instinct in a situation is to solve whatever the problem is, but not everyone wants or needs that, and it frustrates her, and despite getting angry with others, she’s not apathetic to their emotions but rather annoyed she doesn’t know how to comfort them. That has always been so relatable to me, as I’m exactly the same way. I’m so overloaded by empathy that it frustrates me, and I can’t show it.
- She has a habit of wandering off when something interests her or catches her eye. She also tends to go on about her interests or try to involve people in them (i.e. Vidia) when they’re not interested, but it’s oblivious to her. She thinks because she enjoys it everyone must enjoy it. It’s the black and white way of thinking.
- Tinkers with her clothes so they can fit her sensory needs. Also likes her hair up and her hair out of her eyes because it’s a Bad Sensory Feel™
- She’s very stimmy. Her wings are always flapping even when sitting down and other fairies aren’t. Flappy Wings = a beautiful concept. She also stims visually, she is mesmerized by floating things and beautiful sceneries. Tinkering in some ways is also probably really stimmy. ALSO. Raptor hands. She does this sort of raptor hands pose with her hands, she like curls them up; She does it constantly, and it’s so beautiful because I do it too. That’s my default pose. I just. Gahh.
- Tinkerbell = an autistic fairy. No one can tell me otherwise. She was such a beautiful, magical, best part of my childhood, I had someone to look up to who was different like me, and having Tinkerbell in my life got me through some of the worst, scariest points in my life. Some kids had princesses or superheroes, I had this awkward fairy who just wanted to be understood, and she went about it in the wrong ways, but later found acceptance in herself and learned to love being different. And it wasn’t until recently, until I found the words, until I looked back, that I realized how much my life was like those movies. I’m different and awkward, I’ve always just wanted to be understood, but I went about it in the wrong ways, and now I’m finding acceptance in myself and have learned to love being different; To love being autistic. I didn’t need to hear the word autistic on my screen, she was like me, and that was enough. Thanks to the people who brought this awkward, clumsy pixie to life, she’s kind of my hero.
ALT
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wethepixies
gwenifred
artbysarf
woolblossom-archive
samix-asb
torturedsouldisorganizedmind
pickleberrysundae
