Will Byers is probably autistic (psych analysis)
kaypeace21
So I guess before I get started, I just have to mention that everyone should keep an open mind. Imagine all of the autistic rep you’ve ever seen- okay? Now, throw it out the window XD. Because almost all of it is inaccurate, and offensive. Okay, so I’ll be citing scientific articles as well as giving my own insight as an autistic person- who is studying to be in the medical field. Every autistic person has different experiences, but i’m just giving my input as an autistic person (who has average/above average intelligence- like Will) to paint a better understanding of ASD, and to explain why I head-cannon him as such.
1. Stimming
Will in high stress situations, will generally sway his whole body back and forth in response to both supernatural and normal real life stresses- a very common real life stim. He does this about 7 times in the show.
“The biggest differences between autistic and typical stimming are the type, quantity, and obviousness of the behavior. According to a research study conducted at the Georgia Institute of Technology, there are a number of common stimming behaviors among children with autism. These include… swaying or rocking back and forth while standing.” “Mild and occasional rocking is usually acceptable, but rocking one’s entire body back and forth is considered a stim.”Stimming “ is considered a protective response to over-stimulation, in which people calm themselves by blocking less predictable environmental stimuli… as a way to relieve anxiety and other emotions.”
2. The need for alone time in Castle Byers
“Time with others can be overwhelming for many young people on the spectrum. Constantly trying to figure out what is expected of them, struggling to read the facial expressions of others and follow both the implied and overt instructions in the environment can be exhausting. Time out by themselves gives them time to regroup, meaning that they are more able to cope when they return to social situations.”
Now, for me this was one of the biggest indicators to me Will was autistic. Lets think about this … Will has his own room where he could theoretically get alone time to read his comics there. But instead he decides to go to castle Byers -a place in the woods in complete seclusion, i.e the perfect place to decompress. It’s implied he spends an excessive amount of time here. Just look at castle Byers for a second. He has, a bed, a microscope, a stuffed lion, tables, cans of paint, wall decorations, a lamp and 2 cans of beans next to his lamp. The lamp implying he may spend nights there- which is why this is one of first places Jonathan and Joyce check when he goes missing. In s3 we even see he has framed pictures of his friends, and toy cars along with a 2nd lamp. Also, it’s implied it’s exclusively Will’s special place- he even has a secret password to get into Castle Byers.And he even put a fake door bell in the front of the castle Byers where Joyce fakes a ring and then after the ring he’ll ask for the password (and then only then will he allow them in). Saying “you may enter”. A lot of autistic people crave privacy or warning that others are about to talk to them- if they’re being interrupted during their ‘alone-time’ and he sets these boundaries pretty explicitly. And Joyce respects this.
3. Autism/Anxiety/crowds
“ For someone with ASD, some commonplace situations can cause great anxiety. Sensory issues can be triggered almost any time or anywhere on a daily basis. Whether the individual is experiencing an anxious moment or not, sensory integration challenges can overpower a person’s ability to control him or herself. Sensory situations that may provoke anxiety can include:
• “crowds… the noises or looks of too many people can be too overwhelming and exacerbate such anxieties.”
*Also notice he doesn’t seem as anxious in less crowded environments- when girls just glare at him, he just awkwardly waves.
Another exacerbation of anxieties in autistic people can be the“ interruption of daily routines” (i.e the monthly dr. appoitments he hates so much). Or “interacting with new people.” Which brings me to my next point.
4.Interacting with strangers
This is something that is often portrayed with very little nuance or understanding. Some autistic people can be very outgoing with both strangers and/or people they know well. While others are extremely shy or can barely speak to new people. However, what people often miss is that regardless of how they interact with strangers-many autistic people are generally much more open and talkative with people they know and trust (i.e family/friends). This is because they generally understand the explicit and implicit rules of these relationships- and are less worried about accidentally offending them or being interpreted or rejected as a ‘freak’. However, what I never see addressed is“selective mutism”. Some autistic people (even those who are usually outgoing) may experience times where they become mute or instead use terse-short language under great situational-stresses. And Will experiences a lot of this.Will has always been shy in general, but under stress he becomes even more quiet.
Mike: “He’s quiet today.”
Lucas:“He’s always quiet.”
However, the way he interacts with Max (a stranger) is a dead-give away that he’s probably autistic. In the 1st episode he actually seems the most intrigued by Max.
However, not only do they never exchange a word of dialogue in s2. The Duffers emphasize the lack of it on multiple occasions. Max is from an abusive household which is probably why she was so concerned over Will’s behavior and ‘episodes’. However she didn’t feel comfortable ever talking to Will- instead she asked Lucas about his background. Max as a stranger was concerned, but she probably thought Will didn’t like her - since he’s the closest to Mike (who clearly didn’t ). So, she probably assumed that him being mute or not talking to her was his way of saying he didn’t like her. She suspected he was giving her the silent treatment- not knowing Will is simply like that with strangers and that Will already stood up for Max. Which explains how awkward this whole exchange was…
They both wrongfully assume that the other dislikes them- and Will is use to rejection and assumes she also think he’s a “freak”, which hurts his feelings. (I can’t wait for their friendship in s3!)
Also the only other stranger we see him interact with is the girl at the dance. Yes my son, is obviously in love with Mike Wheeler. But the fact that he is literally forced to talk/interact with her because of his friend is something that many (quiet) autistic people have experienced. And this shows a clear pattern when it comes to him having difficulty in talking to strangers.
However, these traits with age, can greatly diminish … but as of now it’s something he struggles with.
5. His special interests: Art, D &D & Music
Will is always meshing his 3 special interests together and trying to share it with his friends. Will may love art but it’s interesting that even his art is generally of a niche subject in itself- that being D&D. The vast majority of his drawings are related to his D&D campaigns- and unlike his other friends he is the only one who named his fictional d&d character after himself (although I also think this is a hint he has powers). Also, just like his d&d art (which he gives as presents to his friends) he uses his special interest in music to make specialized mixtapes for all his friends (and he even names the music tapes after their d&d characters). Will is probably not the best at expressing his feelings- and so he thinks the best way to show his love for his friends is by giving them things that he loves most- and which take alot of effort and time to make.
6. Lashing out
My second point was about how most autistic people need time alone, in order to properly interact with others. If they don’t get this alone time it can lead to autistic children lashing out in anger or having a break down.“ALONE TIME CAN HELP TO REDUCE THE RISK OF A MELTDOWN.When anxiety and/ or anger and frustration kick in, being around others can quickly add to the tension. Time alone doing a preferred activity can really help some young people to regulate their emotions much more quickly than being surrounded by others.”
So after Will has a tough day being bullied at school, a drs. apponitment (that altered his daily routine), and seeing the day before a literal demon. He is extremely stressed. He closes his door and begins to draw in silence in order decompress and relieve his anxiety. But Jonathan comes in talking about movies, Will is clearly irritated with having to interact , saying“whatever you want” (cause he wants to be left alone) and returns to drawing. But Jonathan doesn’t get the hint and asks what he’s drawing, Will says“me” and again ignores Jonathan when he asks if people are bullying him. Will is simply too overstimulated and stressed and simply chooses to ignore his questions, going“selectively mute” and refusing to make eye contact, as he continues to draw.
Jonathan begs him“to talk” but Will only responds when his arm is gently smacked. This is when we see Will lash out about all his frustrations.
However after he lashes out, he once again goes right back to ignoring Jonathan and drawing. He feels bad because he knows Jonathan was just trying to help but he worries if he doesn’t get time to decompress he’ll lash out more and say something he’ll regret later. This is when Jonathan goes into ‘being a freak is the best speech’, because he’s desperate in trying to get Will to open-up. And during this speech will says something that implies he most likely has ASD…
7-8. Being blunt and missing social cues
Now, I believe if Will actually had the proper time to decompress and be less anxious, he would of probably thought this through more and censored himself before he let this slip. However with all the talk of Will being ‘a freak’ Will got a ‘tunnel-vision’ of sorts… because he became anxious thinking his friends might abandon him, because of it. And so he asked this question -without thinking of the ramifications of how this might hurt Jonathan. Will is a sweet ,extremely empathetic person but sometimes we autistic people occasionally say things that are low-key savage… literally by complete accident. XD
And we see this hurts Jonathan a bit, but the way he quickly laughs it off implies this isn’t the first time Will has done this. And he knows Will well enough, to know this wasn’t an intentional insult.
-Also at first I thought Will was being sarcastic here, but when Will asks this, I think he may of been genuinely asking Jonathan if these dance moves were in fashion.
9. Communication: Interrupting or speaking to others about unrelated topics
Will does this in the very first episode. He hates lying (a very autistic trait) especially to Mike. Pretty positive he made up the “friends don’t lie” rule. He feels bad about ratting out his friends but he has to tell Mike and his anxiety is getting to him as he waits for the others to leave. He’s so wrapped up in saying what HE NEEDS TO SAY that he doesn’t realize that his friends have already switched topics ( and are talking about Nancy).So the second they leave, he just blurts out“it was a 7″.
And of course Mike is confused because as a neurotypical person, he already forgot about that previous discussion (that Will has been hyper-fixating on)- and he’s a bit confused until Will further elaborates and awkwardly bikes home and says good bye. My awkward, autistic, queer son. :)
*We also see in one of the last scenes in s1, Will doing something similar. Jonathan and Joyce moved on from the topic of presents and are now talking about food. However Will in all his excitement rushes over to talk to them about the presents- not knowing that.
Now besides him interrupting their conversation- what actually gave it away to me is when Will specified“it’s the exact same weight”. The fact that Will has played with Dustin’s atari- but fixates on it’s weight, is a dead giveaway. ASD is a sensory disorder meaning most of us are generally more sensitive to changes in“temp, lights, noises, textures, tastes, and weights.” In fact some autistic people find comfort in heavier objects and sleep with a‘weight blanket’. So Will being able to lightly touch a box and guess-timate it’s about the same weight as Dustin’s atari shows he already has a different thought process than most children.
10. Aversion to eye contact and touch
I’ll only talk about this briefly because this will be what i see most in the rebuttals to this post. This is something that Hollywood again gets wrong most of the time, and generally lack any type of nuance in. Every autistic person is different , however most of us train are selves to look people in the eyes or face, very early on in life. And some of us have little/less/or no difficulty in looking someone we love in the eye/face unlike strangers ( just like Will). However, similar to talking…under high-stress situations or anxiety inducing situations (like crowded/noisy places) even looking at someone we care about can be more difficult. And we might switch between avoiding contact… to looking at them for long periods of time in the face (almost in a compensatory way). And Will has done similar things in s1 and s2.
As far as touch . It’s similar, some autistic people hate it some love it. However, for a lot of autistic people it’s more complicated. I would say from my experience I get anxiety hugging people I don’t know well. However, I don’t have such anxieties if either (a) I’m initiate it or (b) I care about the person. So Will is fine with initiating physical affection or receiving it from his friends/family. But after Will forgot who Bob was , he was very quick in avoiding touch.
11. Hyper-empathy
Not all, but some autistic people (myself included) have hyper-empathy. And although some autistic people may struggle with empathy the majority do not and … some are even too empathetic! This is something Hollywood ALWAYS gets wrong. Despite the fact medical studies have already proven we have empathy- this trope never dies, even some psychiatrists still state this on their sites. They pretty much portray all of as unfeeling robots- who are too dim to know when people are annoyed, angry, sad, or upset. There could literally be someone crying and the‘autistic character’ would look them in the face without any emotion and not realize they’re upset. It’s so insulting and leads to our de-humanization- not understanding! So I’ll explain what autistic people actually struggle with. There are 2 types of empathy.
“Cognitive Empathy- This is the largely conscious ability to work out what other people are thinking or feeling.Cognitive empathy is an intricate thought process allowing you to grasp what people really mean when they say something vague, or which emotions they’re feeling when they behave in a way you find confusing. For autistic people, this is a‘learned trait’ that may improve over time, and be accurate sometimes but not always.”
“What most autistic people don’t struggle with at all isAffective Empathy-
This is an unconscious, automatic response allowing you to feel what other people (and other living beings) are feeling, and is absolutely not something autistic people lack. Hyper-empathic people find that even the thought of anyone or anything suffering causes them intense emotional, psychological and often physical pain. They can be highly sensitive to any changes in atmospheres, picking up on the slightest tension between people, and becoming more and more upset as they anticipate things escalating.”
*So to make it simple. Lets say after Will said ‘is that why you have no friends?’ and Jonathan starts to cry. Will would automatically feel awful and apologize- knowing he said something to upset him, but he may struggle with knowing what phrase made him upset- or it might take him a couple seconds to realize what the phrase was and why it upset him.
So yes, Will displays hyper-empathy. When he was young he saw a girl crying and automatically gave her his toy, even when Joyce warned him that they couldn’t afford another. And baby Will just says“she should have it because she’s sad”. As a kid he couldn’t stand to see someone suffer- because he suffers with them- so he does anything in his power to stop them from hurting. And after his week in hell, without food, water, sunlight, human contact, or breathable air… one of the first thing he says to Jonathan after waking up is“what happened to your hand?” And of course this floors Jonathan and he starts laughing, looking at his mom and saying “You’re asking about my hand?!” Because it’s so un-believable, but so characteristically Will.And in s2, he is willingly to die to save his friends and family , telling them to “close the gate” as his last words.And if you take the cannon of the comics seriously, this is further reinforced in the fact he risked his life to save both Nancy and Joyce from demogorgans, sacrificing his 2 and only chances at escaping from the upsidedown, to do so.
11. low self-esteem, fear of abandonment and over-apologizing
These aren’t symptoms of ASD, but simply side-effects that may occur because of it. Regardless, of whether Will is or isn’t autistic … there isn’t much doubt in my mind that he has all three of these traits.
When Jonathan says he has friends, Will is confused and says this…
This in itself is extremely telling of how Will views himself. After s1 despite all the kids, teens, and adults doing everything they could to save him (risking their lives to do so) he still doesn’t understand why any of them actual would want to hang around him- like most autistic kids he doesn’t see‘his appeal- his worth’. He doesn’t like himself (which is common in autistic kids). He sees himself as a burden, just like his dad perceived him. And because of his abandonment issues, and somewhat iffy social skills, he probably assumes they saved him out of obligation (because he lacks cognitive empathy). And because of his abandonment issues and constantly feeling like a burden he is always over-apologizing. Very early in life, in their formative years, autistic people generally ‘make the most mistakes’ and may unintentionally hurt people the most when they’re very young, so even as they get older they may still apologize when they’ve done nothing wrong. And since Will already feels like a burden, because of his dad, his PTSD, and the upside-down incident he’s constantly apologizing . He yells“I’m sorry“ and snuggles into his mom when he’s trying to explain the mindflayer to Hopper and Joyce.
And Joyce says something indicative to his character (before anything supernatural occurs).
Joyce:“You feeling any better? Will?”
Will:“Huh? Yeah… Sorry.”
Joyce: “Hey… what’d we talk about, huh? You gotta stop it with the sorry’s.”
Will : “Yeah, sorry. I mean… yeah, I know.”
This illustrates that Joyce has already discussed the fact that Will over-apologizes . But Will still does it very often, even after these 2 separate discussions.
Essentially everything his father did was the exact opposite way to build up a autistic child’s self esteem. I most certainly think Will is gay (or another queer identity). But the fact that Will’s dad left when he was 5, and was calling him such slurs so young doesn’t make much sense. It’s possible that after he left, during his occasional visitation that the verbal (and psychological abuse) started, continued, or escalated. For instance, it wasJonathan’s 10th birthday when he was first taught how to use a gun, and was traumatized because he was forced to kill/shoot a rabbit to be “more of a man”. So, why does Will know how to shoot a gun ?! Can you imagine how much more sh*t he forced Will through (compared to Jonathan) if he thought he was queer and was forcing him to ‘man-up’?!
However, as a queer person I still think it’s odd his dad would assume he’s queer. Most parents like to live in denial- and frankly, Will isn’t flamboyant or‘stereotypically gay’ (nothing wrong if he was- but he isn’t). So I can’t help but think… besides his interest in art, his other behaviors may have not been‘gay’ but simply“stereotypically un-masculine” for the times. Examples being: being quiet, reserved, unassertive, not making eye contact, being scared to talk to others/almost everyone (To lonnie he was wimp who was scared of everything, which equaled ‘queer’). So Lonnie tried to‘man-him-up’, and when he didn’t“cure-him” he essentially gave up and abandoned him. So to Will… Lonnie was one of the people who knew him the most and who saw his‘worse-traits’ , and he left, and this would negatively affect any child, but especially an autistic kid. Since most get their self-worth from their peers and family.
It would also explain Will’s shocked face when Mike says asking him to be his friend was“the best thing” he’s ever done.
Actually look at Will’s face his eyebrows initially arch up high, because he’s so genuinely shocked , Mike thinks this way. Especially because through Will’s perspective, this is after Mike has seen the very worst because of Will (he would assume Mike thinks of him as a burden now). Not the best thing he’s ever done. It’s heartbreaking.
I would honestly be shocked if s3 doesn’t address Will’s abandonment and self-esteem issues. The day Will’s dad left , him and Jonathan built Castle Byers all night in the pouring rain. So then when Will goes to Castle Byers in s3 at night in the pouring rain he’s probably thinking that Mike (and his friends) are going to abandon him just like his dad did!Mike and Lucas have girlfriends, and Jonathan will probably be too busy trying to financially support the family, and Dustin starts hanging out with Steve, so he just feels so alone and like he’s being abandoned all over again, by the people he thought would never do this to him (and this probably just brings up so many depressing memories and emotions of self-loathing).
God , I just want my son to increase his self esteem in s3, and have a happy ending in s5!
*gifs/pics were used as visual evidence and do not belong to me. And yes, El is also autistic- echolalia (repetition of certain phrases they like“mouth breather”, “friends don’t lie”,“we’re not stupid”,“people are going to be aghast”),meltdowns that may involve grabbing or hitting ones self (did so in s &2), mimicking others behavior to blend in, multiple forms of stimming, comfort objects, selective mutism/terse speech,disordered eating patterns(obsession with certain foods), doesn’t like strangers touching her but will get into peoples personal space (she grabs Dustin by the mouth), avoids eye contact when nervous, sensitive to loud noises and lights, angered when people change scheduled plans, or lies, etc. Also Will and El are always paralleled with each other throughout the whole series. The show confirms people like El and Will (psychics) have different brain waves than normal people- so psychics by definition are NOT neurotypical.
