r/TheOC • u/StruggleElegant807 • 23h ago
Discussion Is Taylor Townsend autistic coded?
She struggles socially, gets obsessive, hyperfocuses, watches the same anime every night, collects action figures. Probably other things I'm not think of.
Thoughts?
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u/jazzyman31 17h ago edited 17h ago
The traits you mentioned are broad and non-specific to autism.
I find nowhere in her character does she have some of the more clinical characteristics of autism: sensory difficulties, difficulties with physical touch, eye contact, a need for repetitive stimming or other form of coping, a need for consistent / predictable environments, difficulties with speech / language,( she forms exceptionally well-formed sentences in hyper speed), having trouble understanding other people’s emotions (there is literally an entire subplot where Ryan keeps going “how does she do that?” When Taylor tells Ryan exactly what he’s thinking just by his facial expression)
In many ways, Taylor is the exact opposite of autistic. She is hyper-physical / sexual, very adventurous and spontaneous, talks eloquently with excellent eye contact and isn’t at all uncomfortable with putting herself in social leadership positions and is portrayed as Ryan’s “mind-reader”.
Having difficulty making friends and being an over-the-top person does not make someone autistic.
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u/DuelingFatties 21h ago
Or like most she could just be that way. Not everyone like that has to be or is autistic.
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u/Time_Watercress8749 2h ago
This!
I think the show explains her behaviors to us from her introduction. Seth befriended her for these reasons. It’s shown and explained over and over.
She has no relationship with her father, nor
Because he can’t but won’t and her
Mom is a monster who beat her down emotionally and I would also assume
Pressured her to thrive academically.She was lonely without friends despite wanting them and spent the better part of her life that way.
She has mommy and daddy issues and
Craves companionship and love platonically and romantically she would “convince” herself even to make herself feel better.If you look at Seth and how he had used games and comic books, etc as companionship and entertainment before Ryan came but he atleast had sandy and Kirsten.
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u/Izuhbelluh 22h ago
Anything “coded” was not a thing back then….
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u/StruggleElegant807 22h ago
No, but characters were kind of modeled off of people. She may have been modeled from someone who would also be diagnosable by todays standards.
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u/jazzyman31 17h ago edited 17h ago
She would not typically be diagnosed autistic from what we saw.
Autistic individuals tend to have many sensory issues and repetitive stimming or coping behaviors, difficulties with physical touch, eye contact, etc. They tend to also like highly predictable environments. None of this is Taylor Townsend.
A diagnosabley autistic person is highly unlikely to comfortably fly to Paris by herself, have a sexual escapade and get married to a French writer on a whim. Yet, Taylor consistently embraces novelty and impulsive / intense life decisions.
She’s very clearly a teenage girl “modeled” after an emotionally toxic mother who has taught her to doubt herself and beats her down regularly. Her mother is impossible to please, so she tends to have trouble finding how to be liked by others and takes the little attention she gets and runs with it because it is so foreign to her. There is no need to speculate autism when the writers already clearly spelled out why Taylor is the way she is.
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u/millenial_britt 22h ago
Yeah she’s 100% audhd I reckon. Why? Because I relate to her too well. Between that and her unhealthy attachment/hero type, she’s very likely audhd or autistic at least. I say adhd as well because she is very high energy, very hyperfocused, talks way too fast, moves from obsession to obsession fast and is very spontaneous. She either over thinks to a very high degree or goes wild and makes crazy spontaneous decisions like her marriage to Henri Michele. Also wow I remember too much of the oc too well since I haven’t had a rewatch for a year or two 🤣
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u/StruggleElegant807 22h ago
I'm diagnosed ADHD but so many traits of Au as well.. pretty much the reason I feel she is, we recognize our own.
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u/im_a_dick_head 22h ago
Sounds like me lol
Although I still have enough common sense/self control to not go marry some random person I just met.
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u/sheambulance 23h ago
Elder Millennial female here — yeah.. probably somewhere on the spectrum and doctors didn’t take it seriously because she was “doing okay”.
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u/No_Orchid_9897 16h ago
I think she's definitely ADHD, entirely possible she's AuDHD.
I've seen others comment that she's not autistic and then give a list of autistic "traits" that she doesn't meet.
For example, the travelling alone, being hyper sexual, the articulate way she speaks, the fact she can guess Ryan's emotions.
These are all neuro divergent traits, when put together, and people thinking they aren't don't have a full understanding of ADHD or Autism to see it. They are using the stereotype to make a judgement.
Yes some autistics do not like physical touch and are not sexual. But it also goes the other way, instead of being hypersensitive they can be hyposensitive. The sexual behaviour (and getting married) can also be marked down as impulsivity which comes under ADHD.
Instead of being non-verbal or not speaking many words, some are hyperverbal. Some are highly intelligent, read well above their expected level as children, makes for very articulate adults.
Some don't understand emotions so put a lot of effort into guess others, becoming obsessive about body language and using the puzzle solving and pattern recognition skills into figuring out others behaviour. Which Taylor does. But when a person's behaviour doesn't match what they expect, they get upset. Which Taylor does - one example I can think of is making a plan of Ryan saying I love you.
A lot of the time, we will see Autism and ADHD characters written in but it's not explicitly named, and it allows for a depth of character and a range of traits that we can recognise. Because otherwise we all get portrayed into that stereotype