Star Trek Is Life

all-about-malcolm-reed:

I just love Malcolm’s disbelieving expressions

kiranerysismyhero:

AU where like a year or two into being stranded in the Delta Quadrant Tuvok meets this young human ensign in a turbolift and they have a very short interaction that like… sticks with Tuvok and he keeps thinking about it from time to time for the rest of the day

The ensign carried themself in a sort of stiff way for a human, but it seemed to be this person’s normal posture. They allowed plenty of personal space and looked straight ahead at the turbolift doors instead of trying to make eye contact. They were polite, concise, and rather literal with their answers when Tuvok asked about their work. They obeyed Tuvok’s idea of turbolift etiquete perfectly, giving a nod farewell when the doors slid open and returning to their duties without unnecessary delay. It had been refreshing.

Tuvok checked their personnel file to see if they were part Vulcan with recessive ears, and found that they were simply an autistic human.

Long story short, the experienced bridge officer and the newbie science officer end up best buds by the time they return to the Alpha Quadrant.

The ensign had learned quickly how to stand up to Neelix because he’d kept trying to withhold their samefood to get them to try whatever new leola root stew or hair pasta he was serving. It would be beneath “Mr. Vulcan” to tell off the cook for badgering him about smiling (or for calling him Mr. Vulcan for that matter), but that doesn’t mean Tuvok couldn’t let the ensign do that for him.

Tuvok much prefers the ensign’s style of reporting their findings to that of many of the other human science officers. He tried placing them in charge of their workgroup, but they weren’t ready for the interpersonal aspects of leadership just yet. Instead, they’ve become sort of the comm officer on behalf of the science division for Tuvok, tasked with listening to the reports of their colleagues and organizing the most relevant information in a pragmatic way before relaying it to Tuvok on the bridge

The two commiserate over sensory things like misophonia, other unpleasant sounds no one else seems to mind, and distractingly chilly areas of the ship. They also share an aversion to touch in most instances

Tuvok teaches them Vulcan meditation techniques to prevent meltdown/shutdown and to help them focus without hyperfixating, and hopes that they make it home in time for him to teach his own children in this manner

The ensign seems to be the only one to always, without fail, have a noticeable smirk every time Tuvok makes one of his deadpan dad jokes

When Seven comes aboard and builds the astrometrics lab, Tuvok finds that requesting that the ensign be assigned there is one of the best decisions he’s made onboard. They thrive under Seven’s clear directions and expectations, and oftentimes Seven finds them easier to understand than many other humans. The biggest payoff for Tuvok, however, is that he has to listen to the ensign infodump about stellar cartography way less when they get it out of their system with Seven and Icheb

Anyway, point is: Star Trek could really use more canon neurodiverse characters where it’s not just implied, or metaphor-ed by writing the characteristics into the defining traits of an alien species