this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2023
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I don't see Seven as ASD coded. She has levels of trauma that can sometimes be mistaken as ASD and has lived outside of regular human society for much of her life.
You're completely right, there is obviously no deeper meaning to presenting a character who is a mature adult yet requires structured classes in order to learn how human beings socialise.
Yes because that's exactly what I said.
She's closer to a feral child than ASD. I also don't feel that she has spectrum traits when we meet her again in Picard.
Picard was written by different people who needed different things from the characters, however there were occasional moments where her previous manerisms showed through.
A feral child who was not ASD could have been portrayed like Mowgli (or, for a more Star Trek reference point, Tuvok when he had brain damage). Seven gradually learns how to navigate human interaction (and how to smile, for instance) through studying and is surprised when it's occasionally useful, a non-ASD character could have learned through interpretation of people's reactions and would have sought socialisation rather than peace and quiet in a neatly ordered cargo bay (I'm led to believe that's how it works anyway).
All of the traits you've described also very much fit PTSD as well.
To me taking a Watsonian approach to the character we she a woman who was forcibly taken by the Borg and assimilated at a very young age, then years later ripped away from that as well. That's two extremely traumatic events( that we know of). Then following on we see the character years later at a point where she has somewhat worked though those traumas.
A Doyalist reading we can say it was the 90s and discussions around neuro-divergency and more general mental health were far less common in media. So we're probably both over reading things.
You may be right, the more of Voyager I watch the more flexible each character appears in order to fit around what the story requires. Apart from Tom Paris repeatedly being an idiot, that's a constant.
We can agree to disagree and enjoy it on our own terms I guess. If I have been dismissive of your argument I would like to apologise, that was not my intention.
🤣
Maybe the first comment was little dismissive, after that it was nice to have a r/daystruminstitute type conversation.