Matthew Michael Murdock - Tumblr Posts

Autistic Matt Murdock

Ok look. This may just be my autistic ass projecting but Mr. Matthew Michael Murdock is 100% autistic and you can fight me on that. 

He is literally like /always/ stimming. You can see it in the show he fidgets with his hands or cane all the time, also that little hop jump thing he did in the college flashback. 

Also, I know he has super senses but they read to me a lot like autism/sensory processing disorder. I mean think, he’s not the only character with enhanced senses. Steve, Bucky, T’Challa and Peter all have them too (I’m sure there are other but these are the ones I can think of off the top of my head) and other than Peter (who is also autistic and you can fight me on that) none of them have the same problems that Matt does. We see Matt having multiple sensory overloads throughout the show and honestly they are kind of similar to mine. Everything is too much and I get overwhelmed. Steve/Bucky/T’Challa don’t have that problem. Also “cotton feels like sandpaper on my skin” I mean come on.

*Season 2 spoilers for the next paragraph* When he looses his hearing after Frank shoots him in the head and he’s sitting on the floor screaming and smacking his hand on the wall? That is a meltdown. While I don’t scream during mine I do curl up in a ball and sometimes hurt myself. It’s a meltdown. 

His sense of Justice. Ok, so not every autistic person has a strong sense of right and wrong but a lot do. We can also see it in the fact that he would rather help people than make lots of money. I heard of a study done (Ok so this study is not without faults, it uses functioning labels and try to patholigize autism despite the results) where there were a group of autistic people and a group of neurotypical people. They were both given a choice, they could donate money to a good cause that would help people but would loose them money, or they could donate money to a not so good cause that would make them money in the long run. There were two tests run, one that was observed one that was not. The autistic group where much more likely to pick that good cause in both. Neurotypicals, on the other hand, were more likely to pick the good cause when they were being observed but the bad cause that would make them money when they were not. Matt literally chooses helping people over money every single time. Hell, he chooses to help people over his own safety every time.

His special interests! He has two big ones: law/justice and protecting Hell’s Kitchen. I mean he basically spends all of his time either working a case or on patrol. He maybe also has a smaller one on catholicism.

Scripting. I think he does a lot of that in the show. He describes his senses as a “world on fire” multiple times and uses “I’m blind” as an excuse for his injuries even when that excuse doesn't really fit said injury. He is also extremely eloquent in court when he can rehearse and know what he is going to say but often trips on his words in regular conversation.    

So ya, Autistic Matt Murdock y’all!

-Phoenix

Edit: OMG How could I have forgotten Matts giant special interest on Thurgood Marshall???