Sherlock Homes (Al Moss)

 

    The many stories, and adventures of Sherlock Holmes have great appeal to fans of mystery as a genre, but Sherlock Holmes means something a little different to me. I haven't read too much Sherlock Holmes material, but I have been able to identify some characteristics of Sherlock Holmes as a character.

Sherlock Holmes is a man who doesn't like to be bored, that requires stimulation at all times to keep his head sharp (sadly he is a cocaine addict). He likes noticing things. He likes details, and he considers himself an intellectual. He doesn't have a role model, because he is self absorbed, and doesn't quite relate to anybody, or really any characters in the book. He also struggles socially pretty often. He always expresses what he is thinking and ends up at times saying rude things, because his goal is not a social goal. His goal is to constantly figure things out, and be right. 

I find I relate to a lot of these things, I am a tad self focused too, (not the cocaine though who do you think I am?) though Sherlock is quite taken to the extreme on all ends. I mention this, because I am Autistic, and I believe Sherlock Holmes exhibits some autistic traits. I think these traits are too extreme though, so it would possibly be harmful to classify him as autistic, because if he is classified that way it would stereotype autism as it would add to the trop only smart people have autism. First of all I am the living proof that's not true, but second of all autism is also stereotyped in the opposite way from that too. However I still believe that if Sherlock Holmes was classified as autistic it could very well still impact how people view the community, and the very small yet obvious point that it would affect how people view the books, and other literature involving Sherlock holmes.

Sometimes we don’t have to figure these things out cause there is no real way of knowing who is autistic and who isn’t autistic without any arguments that follow. There's also no real way of knowing if someones autistic unless some brain tools or tests are used. At the end of the day it’s just a label, but labels are important in the societies we live in which is why people want to know if Sherlock Holmes is Autistic. Though people also just like to relate to media, even if that media is hard to relate to. I guess the importance of all of this is that the internet lives forever so don’t say mean things to people, and don’t be mean in general cause if there is one thing that makes us all the same is that we are all so very tired all the time.

THE END

Sources

https://dsq-sds.org/index.php/dsq/article/view/3728/3791#:~:text=In%20many%20ways%2C%20the%20popular,and%20displaying%20unusual%20body%20language. ← could cite for some reson

The Autistic Detective: Sherlock Holmes and His Legacy        | Disability Studies Quarterly.