Is the quest about Ja-Reet supposed to tell a story about an autistic like character

HisShadowX

I am autistic and I tend to notice trends. The way they explain how an Argonian born away from the Hist has trouble reading movements and other body language that others take for granted and puts Ja-Reet in disadvantage since he cannot properly read others like him and he has a logical way of thinking was he meant to be autistic?

Ranique

HisShadowX wrote: »

I am autistic and I tend to notice trends. The way they explain how an Argonian born away from the Hist has trouble reading movements and other body language that others take for granted and puts Ja-Reet in disadvantage since he cannot properly read others like him and he has a logical way of thinking was he meant to be autistic?

It is very rare for one of our people to be born away from the Hist. We are, in a very real way, part of the Hist. To be born away from it is to be born without something essential. For most of my life and service as a healer, this has remained a theoretical issue. That is, until Ja-Reet.
Though born in slavery, he's done well since the Pact and our emancipation. He even married a Dunmer—the daughter of the Narsis family who owned his parents. While I view such a union with personal distaste, it speaks well of his ability to interact in society despite his obvious disadvantage.
Make no mistake, in Argonian society, he is disadvantaged. He's unable to read social clues, the subtle movements of muscle and tail that most of us take for granted. We occasionally have difficulty reading the emotions of other races. Ja-Reet has that problem even with fellow Argonians. He listens to spoken words, and is insensitive to their tone. Surely being born away from the Hist has deprived him of emotional intuition.
He brought his Elven wife with him to Percolating Mire. She's not welcomed by all, though she draws him out socially, which has been invaluable in trying to learn about how he thinks.
Perhaps proximity to a thriving Hist tree will help Ja-Reet gain the intuition the rest of us take for granted.

The above is from the lorebook bout him (for clarity).

I think from a psychologic perspective his disadvantage is related to autism (though not the same). However the cause is different and is very simular to research bout abanded children who grew up without social interaction. The first and obvious effect in rl is the lack of language skills. But specially a (rather cruel) experiment in the 60's is relevant. It was done on monkey's. A few hours after birth they where taken away from their mum and raised in full isolation (so not even contact with the caretakers). At adult age they where placed back in the group. The result was unexceptable social behaviour, including rocking back and forth in a corner like (severe) autists do as well. The text from the lorebook explains that the behaviour of Ja-Reet is the same as the behaviour Argonians have towards non-Argonians. So he is missing some social skills that are trained/tought at early age that teaches him how to deal with other argonians. How exactly the Hist-tree is responsable for this is unknown, but cause hist trees are concious intelligent beings I suspect it has to do with them mentally nursing the unborn argonians.

BrianDavion

I hate to necromancy a thread but I just completed this story, and lemme tell you, as someone with Asperger's Syndrome this quest made me outright UNCOMFORTABLE. they list a host of affects that are EXTREMELY similer to someone with a high functioning autistic spectrum disorder (such as well.. Asperger's) and then have us cure it? ugh...

BWS2K

I love this questline so much. While I understand the uncomfortability with 'curing' anything I also think they translated it pretty well to in-game dynamics. I thought it was handled with respect but I suppose that's all mostly subjective.

#gimmedatnecroboi

MythicSnake

I searched for "is Ja-Reet autistic" and it lead me here. I immediately thought they were trying to draw a parallel as well. I think it was an interesting quest line, looking at it from that perspective. It brings up a sensitive issue between autists and neuro-typicals. The wife clearly loved him but didn't understand why he felt different. She loved him for who he was on the inside. She says "different isn't wrong. I love you the way you are." But he struggled with some personal aspects of socializing that she couldn't identify with and tried to do the equivalent to occupational therapy. I feel like he didn't so much get "cured" as much as he discovered what he was truly good at, and gained the confidence to pursue it. He said that if he chooses to become a healer, his wife will stay with him while he trains, and then they can move to a city that is a happy compromise such as Stormhold.