Primitive Culture 123: Neurodiversity in Infinite Combinations / by Trek fm

Autistic representation in Star Trek

Running Time: 1 hour 1 minute 48 seconds
Download / RSS / Send us a message / Discuss the show / Support Trek.fm

“Perhaps you’re just different,” Tam Elbrun tells Data in the Next Generation episode “Tin Man.” “Not a sin, you know, though you may have heard otherwise.” Both characters—the emotionally sensitive Betazoid and the supposedly emotionless android—have been seen by fans as allegories of a particular kind of difference, standing in for those on the broad spectrum of neurodiversity.

In this episode of Primitive Culture, host Duncan Barrett is joined by autistic Star Trek fan Thad Hait to discuss how Trek has encoded the experiences of neurodiverse people—often accidentally—over the course of its long history. Looking at characters such as Data, Seven of Nine, Reginald Barclay, and Sylvia Tilly, we consider how Starfleet’s approach to difference both mirrors and differs from our own, and ask whether the time is ripe for Trek’s first explicitly neurodiverse character.

Chapters

Intro (00:00:00)
Getting to Know You (00:03:18)
NCC DSM-5 (00:13:35)
Masks (00:28:40)
Love on the Synthetic Spectrum (00:46:25)
NDIC (00:54:30)

Hosts

Duncan Barrett

Guest

Thad Hait

Production

Duncan Barrett (Editor and Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer)

More recent episodes of Primitive Culture…
Primitive Culture 126: Progressive Nostalgia?
Primitive Culture 126: Progressive Nostalgia?

Music in Star Trek. We take a look at how Trek’s underscore has developed over more than half a century with musicologists Jessica Getman and Evan Ware.

Primitive Culture 125: Five-Year Mission
Primitive Culture 125: Five-Year Mission

Half a Decade of Primitive Culture. In this special episode, recorded earlier this year, we look back on the podcast and how Star Trek has changed in the time we’ve been podcasting.

Primitive Culture 124: Just Following Orders?
Primitive Culture 124: Just Following Orders?

Cardassian war crimes and The Man in the Glass Booth. We look at the DS9 episode “Duet” alongside The Man in the Glass Booth, as well as the presentation of war crimes in Star Trek more generally.

Primitive Culture 123: Neurodiversity in Infinite Combinations
Primitive Culture 123: Neurodiversity in Infinite Combinations

Autistic representation in Star Trek. We look at Trek’s history of (accidental) representation of neurodiversity, considering characters such as Data, Seven of Nine, Reginald Barclay, and Sylvia Tilly.

Primitive Culture 122: Identical Strangers
Primitive Culture 122: Identical Strangers

Star Trek’s Double Troubles. We look doppelgängers and duplicates from The Original Series through Lower Decks.

Primitive Culture 121: When Is an Allegory Not an Allegory?
Primitive Culture 121: When Is an Allegory Not an Allegory?

Trans Representation in Star Trek. We look at how Star Trek accidentally addressed the topic in TNG and DS9.

Primitive Culture 120: Resurrecting Nightmares
Primitive Culture 120: Resurrecting Nightmares

The Alien franchise and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. We take a look at “All Those Who Wander” alongside the Alien franchise.

Primitive Culture 119: Cowboy Diplomats
Primitive Culture 119: Cowboy Diplomats

How Star Trek’s leaders reflect our own. We talk about the parallels between Star Trek’s leaders and our own, and ask whether Star Trek has finally managed to marry the military ethos of Starfleet with the business of intergalactic politics.

Primitive Culture 118: Servants to Two Masters
Primitive Culture 118: Servants to Two Masters

Star Trek’s backdoor pilots. We take a look at the original attempt to establish a spinoff series, “Assignment: Earth,” as well as more recent examples including Strange New Worlds and more potential offspring of Discovery.

Primitive Culture 117: What If …
Primitive Culture 117: What If …

What if it wasn’t the Vulcans who made first contact? In honor of First Contact Day, we imagine how things might have played out for humanity had it been the Klingons, Romulans, or others passing by on April 5, 2063.