Does Rin have Asperger Syndrome?

[Guest Poster]

Nobody judges Rin for it, but it's hard to deny she shows a lot of the telltale marks. It's not just her social awkwardness, but rather the way she communicates. Hanako's socially awkward too, but has no problems voicing her thoughts if she wants to. Rin has severe trouble doing that, even when she's at ease.

[Joshp9690]

Nobody has specifically said that Rin has AS. For now (and probably for the rest of time), it's just a theory.

[Notguest]

What about all the other symptoms that everyone is ignoring? Like stereotypic movements?

I don't think that merely being asocial is enough to prove anything.

[Atticon]

Being an Aspie myself I had that same sentiment.

Of course autism is more of a spectrum of certain personality elements scaling in intensity. So basically, everyone is autistic. Some are just more autistic than others. Same goes for what most of us like to call "neurotypical".

Anyway, I don't really think it matters. If you can emphatize with her story and issues, that should be enough. I'm sure most Aspies can relate to her, but I guess about everyone asks themselves the questions pertaining to her story at one point or another.

[CNB]

What about all the other symptoms that everyone is ignoring? Like stereotypic movements?

Kind of hard to judge since
a) she has no arms, so her body language would be unusual even if it weren't the case that
b) she's depicted entirely in static images and non-animated sprites, and
c) the writing is heavily focused on dialogue, to the almost total exclusion of description.

If one believes Rin to be autistic, her autism is like Hanako's burn scars: recognizable, but not thoroughly realistic.

[Astrid]

Aspie here who wouldn't be at all surprised if Rin is somewhere on the spectrum. It certainly occurred to me when I was on the route. But I don't think it matters too much. Finding interesting/appealing autistic characters in fiction is always nice, and I think most people enjoy finding characters that they can relate to, and I can relate to Rin whether or not she's autistic.

Considering that the posts of the people with Asperger Syndrome in this thread are nothing like Rin's disjointed ramblings I would say no.

I'm always a little surprised to see something like this, because it demonstrates a lack of understanding that's really a little disappointing. Everybody's a little different, aspie or no, but taking somebody's ability to express themselves through text to be equivalent to their ability to express themselves every other way possible isn't a good assumption to make. I don't think the way I speak. I don't think the way I write. I really don't speak the way I write. Sitting in front of a keyboard, I can take my time to make my posts clearer and more precise. In real life, I wouldn't speak anything like this.

[Guest Poster]

Considering that the posts of the people with Asperger Syndrome in this thread are nothing like Rin's disjointed ramblings I would say no.

There's plenty of people on the spectrum who are very eloquent (if, usually, overly formal in casual situations too), but there's also plenty of people on the spectrum who have a lot more trouble communicating. Especially those with classic autism instead of Asperger. (Aspies don't suffer from slowed development of the communication skills, but people with classic autism do)

I help give weekly game development courses to autistic teenagers. One of the autistic people in our current group hardly speaks at all. Others in the group are extremely vocal. It's difficult to use the same criteria to judge everyone. Our first group had a kid who reminded me a lot of Rin in hindsight. Didn't like the scripting side of development much, he was usually just doodling things. But when the time came to design his own game (the final requirement for our course), he couldn't come up with a coherent game design plan and when we tried to help him lay it out, his own explanations were very disjointed as well. At the last show-and-tell meeting, he ran off to sit in the lobby kinda similar to Rin. It was pretty upsetting.

And that's the higher functioning ones. The lower functioning ones can often only be communicated to using signs with visual symbols and small comics. Autists tend to rely on visuals for communication a lot more than people who are not on the spectrum.

[ingordo]

(Aspies don't suffer from slowed development of the communication skills

Then I guess Rin isn't one, because she clearly has major difficulties in communicating with anybody.

[MoonShadow]

I have Asperger Syndrome, and I could identify to Rin pretty well. One of the things I hate the most about me (and it's often a symptome of asperger) is that not only I have difficulties showing my emotions, but I have trouble understanding them myself. Rin was pretty much like that ; think about the scene where she cries on Hisao's chest in the classroom and when she is done she says "What happened just now? Can you tell me? [...] I cried. Why? [...] It feels wierd to cry. [...] It always felt so wrong, different from what is in me. Like I couldn't really tell what I felt. So I started thinking that maybe I don't know what I'm feeling."

Aside from that, there are other small things that makes me think she could have Asperger. She doesn't give any body movement when talking aside from shruging. I know she doesn't have arm, but most people move a lot when talking and not only the arms, but Asperger people usually doesn't. She doesn't care about her apparance, never wearing any clothes beside the school uniform, never arranging her hair, never putting make-up. That is also common to most Asperger persons. She doesn't try to make a lot of friend, prefering a circle of close friends (Hisao and Emi in her case), and even with good friends she often prefer to be alone. Another traits common to most Asperger people.

I am no psychanalist, so I can't say she does have Asperger with certitude, but if you ask me, I'd say she probably have it.

[Xerxes]

I kinda relate somehow to Rin, I'm socially akward myself. It's just, deep into myself I want to burst with emotions and to share a talk but everybody, but I simply don't know how or don't feel like it. I ain't that good in articulating good, concise sentences either, when in conversations.
And like autists, I have problems with physical contact. I'm pretty apprehensive, I just don't like to be touched, or hugged, or kissed, or waken up abruptly. Even if I allow to be touched, I feel uneasy and about to throw a punch. Pretty much when Rin kicked Emi when she hugged her. I did that, and I like Rin, I sometimes expect that it would be repeled if I suddendly hug someone. Noy with a kick or a punch necessarily, but you get the point

And I'm very, very absent minded, for a lot of things.

I only talk a lot when it comes to technical subjects that I really know a lot about, like firearms. Yeah, I know about that stuff.
Maybe I do have undiagnosed AS myself, I wondered sometimes wheter I have a mental condition or not, but I learned to accept myself, even if I'm pain. Who doesn't?

At first, I think that Rin's lack of empathy was because she has no arms, that's she doesn't know that it's to feel thing through your hands.
Hands are very sensitive, and can send and convey a lot of feelings. Feet aren't really that sensitive.
Maybe if she had arms and hands it probably wouldn't make a lot of difference seen that AS doesn't seem to clippe the growth of arms.

Bottom line, it's very plausible that Rin has Asperger's, but Emi having Down Sindrome? C'mon! Hyperactive? maybe, perhaps. Emi is pretty the stereotypical übercute anime girl.

[LoveTl]

I think it's plausible....but then I don't think Rin has AS.
It's true that Rin seems to fit in the listed traits, but I found Jigoro also fits quiet well in some of the traits. How about Kenji? It's somewhat impossible to diagnose someone correctly only by some CGs and dialogues. Maybe the only correct answer is "Rin is Rin", "I guess...

[ardiel]

Maybe the only correct answer is "Rin is Rin", "I guess...

Rin is indeed Rin.

What's more, the Rin that Rin is, is probably more Rin than the Rin that Rin isn't, and the Rin that Rin IS is just as much as the Rin that Rin is, if not more.

[newnar]

I need to know how to check myself for AS. I thought all those were normal cause they happen to me all the time.



I always thought that as long as I didn't have the urge to massacre people I'm psychologically sound.

[ShadowB]

I need to know how to check myself for AS. I thought all those were normal cause they happen to me all the time.

They are normal. Checklists of common traits aren't the sole method of diagnosing a mental condition, and checking yourself is never reliable. It's just an easy-to-identify guide, Aspergers will have deeper, more pronounced effects. It might seem a bit insensitive (for the record, I'm diagnosed with it too) but a more appropriate first step in diagnosing it is "Is this person a weirdo, to the point of not functioning quite like a regular human being?" If so, and they share those traits, maybe they have Aspergers. If so, but they don't have those traits, maybe they have something else. Being weird in that way isn't so bad though, if you manage fine it doesn't matter what your psychologically condition is labeled as, and in my case growing up with Aspergers was worse than the Aspergers itself.

Does Rin have Aspergers? I'd say she's just generic fiction weird, but generic fiction weird was likely influenced by people with Aspergers before Aspergers became the in thing anyway. She could very well have been labeled as having Aspergers, but if she wasn't intentionally designed with it then I'll just think of her as being Rin.

[NoOne3]

I need to know how to check myself for AS. I thought all those were normal cause they happen to me all the time.

A good psychologist would be the best choice, and a second oppinion. Also have in mind, that just after playing KS it could be MSD instead.

I always thought that as long as I didn't have the urge to massacre people I'm psychologically sound.

Definition of "normal" was always subjected to great psychological and philosophical dispute. And there is very popular conviction among psychiatrists, that there are no sane people, just not diagnosed enough.

Rin is indeed Rin.
What's more, the Rin that Rin is, is probably more Rin than the Rin that Rin isn't, and the Rin that Rin IS is just as much as the Rin that Rin is, if not more.

That sure is a lots of Rin in one sentence. Hope you know what you're doing.