Do you have any Kara Danvers autistic headcanons?

philcoulsonismyhero:

Sure do! First off, I really love the headcanon (which I stole from @squireofgeekdom) that all Kryptonians are autistic by human standards because it also fits Supergirl’s version of Superman really well. But here are some Kara-specific headcanons:

• Kara struggled a lot with sensory overload in her first few months on Earth, and it persisted even after Jeremiah gave her those glasses to help dampen her senses. Add that to her social struggles due to coming from a different culture, and one of her teachers at school approached Eliza and Jeremiah about possibly getting her an autism diagnosis so she could get accommodations. Her foster parents were hesitant at first, because Kryptonians work differently from humans and was autism even a valid diagnosis for them? But they eventually came to the conclusion that, whether she was technically autistic or not, a lot of the accommodations she could get if she were officially diagnosed would help her out a lot on this new and unfamiliar world. So they went ahead with things and Kara got diagnosed as autistic.
• She felt a bit weird about the whole thing, because it seemed wrong to be diagnosed with a disability when really she could do so many things that regular humans can’t, but then she talked to Clark and discovered that his adoptive parents had done the exact same thing and it had helped him out a lot. She felt a lot better about it after that.
• Kara has hyperempathy, and finds it really hard not to care about people and situations. This got her into trouble a few times as a kid, because she couldn’t just stand by when she had the ability to help someone. And helping people is Much More Important than keeping her secret identity.
• She and Winn had a bit of back-and-forth on the material her suit should be made out of, since the first one he went for was a Bad Texture. As a general rule, Kara prefers soft things over other textures, which is why she wears a lot of woollens.
• Cat knows that Kara is autistic, but she’s never actually acknowledged it out loud. Her son, Carter, is also autistic, which helps a bit, but she’s still getting used to his diagnosis and doesn’t really know the words to use, which is why she never outright said “he’s also autistic” when Kara was looking after him for the day. Kara picked up on it pretty quickly, though.
• Since she doesn’t wear her glasses when she’s in Supergirl mode, Kara has to be a bit more careful when it comes to avoiding sensory overload. After the first time she got overwhelmed while on a mission for the DEO, J’onn set aside a quiet room for her to use whenever she needed it. 
• Kara’s very much a huggy autistic rather than being touch averse, and hugs from Alex or Eliza were always something that helped her to calm down as well as just being Good. Her friends are pretty tactile as well, which is great.
• Being autistic superheroes who struggle with sensory stuff is another thing she and Barry bonded over when he ended up on her Earth.
• Kara struggles with words a lot when she’s emotionally overwhelmed (hence her habit of angry stammering and such like), and she goes nonverbal or switches to speaking Kryptonese when she’s heading towards a meltdown. She picked up sign language pretty early on, though, which is a big help.

Thanks for asking! I’m going to stop there before I go on forever, because I’ve gotten very invested in this particular headcanon.