I’m hugely into comic books, Spiderman, Batman, Sandman, ever since I can remember. But my favorite comics are X-Men. I have super-loved X-Men since I was a kid, and definitely view X-Men as an allegory for being autistic in a neurotypical society. Of course everyone reading X-Men is going to have their own personal interpretations, but for me, that’s my interpretation, given my life experience.
I’m definitely more of a Magneto instead of an Xavier, a mutant separatist, dreaming of living on an asteroid or island or establishing a sovereign nation away from the judgement and marginalization of neurotypicals. I often wonder what a fully-autistic society (like an autistic version of Krakoa) would be like. I know it would have trains that run on time, animals that are treated respectfully, and I would like to think that sirens and fireworks would be banned.
I was inspired to talk about X-Men because of the new animated series, X-Men 97 that came out recently. It is so awesome! Some of my favorite comics are God Loves, Man Kills, anything Hickman, Claremont, Morrison, but I have spent nearly my whole life reading X-Men and love them all, really.
I love seeing the divide of how some of the mutants can hide themselves easily and thus blend in more with society, while the Morlocks are forced to live underground, not being able to “pass” in the human world. Autism is a spectrum like that as well.
I love reading about how sometimes the underdogs do have leverage and power by out-thinking the humans even though they are almost always destined to fail. I love that Xavier’s dream of living peacefully with the humans despite how awful they are to mutants rarely waivers, but instead evolves over time. I love when he announces on TV that he is a mutant, coming out to the whole world.
I love how the female characters are so powerful and strong, especially Rogue and Jean Grey and Storm, way before that was socially acceptable in our patriarchal society.
I love how good and pure and benevolent most of the mutants are. I love how Nightcrawler purports (in Dawn of X) that the more “evil” the mutant, the more pain they’ve endured. I love how some people have started saying “autism superpowers” to describe some of our unique skills and talents and use that line often with my children.
I get easily discouraged trying to simply exist and “pass” and survive in this very neurotypical world, especially since having children of my own “with the x-gene,” seeing them struggle as I did trying to fit in and be accepted, and knowing what all I’ve been through and how I’ve been treated myself over the course of my life. Sometimes reading X-Men comics gives me hope for the future. Maybe it’s a distant future, but I do have hope.
