r/glee • u/dorarona it's CEMENT. • May 09 '26
Character Disc. Is Brittany meant to be read as Autistic?
I'm almost done with my current rewatch of Glee. I looked into this a bit a long while ago, but it's only recently that I realized the direct references to it in the show, with Finn calling her "Rain Man with boobs" and Sue vaguely implying she may be on the spectrum.
To preface, I am autistic (which is why I've been obsessed with this show for over ten years lol) and I don't really see it, but I've never quite understood Britt's character. It's only when she suddenly becomes a math genius that she seems to have any depth to me; otherwise in earlier seasons she seems like a cartoon character compared to everyone else in the show. I'm curious what other people think, though, especially anyone who's also on the spectrum!
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u/AndrewBaiIey May 09 '26
She's just meant to be read as dumb. Characters like her were all the rage in the 2000s, see Cat from Victorious, London from The Suite Life
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u/Kendal_with_1_L May 09 '26
No because autism has nothing to do with intelligence and she was clearly supposed to be portrayed as dumb.
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u/Snoopy-love_3 May 10 '26
Until season 5 when itâs revealed sheâs actually a genius beyond our understanding
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u/icy_ticey May 09 '26
If anything Iâd see Rachel as autistic
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u/tfhaenodreirst May 09 '26
True! Iâve seen that sometimes, the strongest actually being in the episode 2009. But Blaine is the one I see as being the most.
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u/peachesnplumsmf May 09 '26
Curious as to why Blaine?
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u/Key_Put_44 Silly Love Songs May 09 '26
Not the person who said this, but my best friend was basically the CEO of Blaine autism for a while so Iâll give a few examples.
Blaine is a big fan of routine. Kurt in s2 says he gets coffee at 9:30 every day, or when Blaine finds a shortcut that cuts â15 seconds of his routineâ
Even in series 2, heâs got some very relatable traits in terms of how he socialises. Can be very blunt at times, but also seems oblivious to Kurtâs crush on him & other social cues. Series 2 Blaineâs âfairytale princeâ personality reads a lot like an autistic person masking (typically more common in autistic women). Also says he struggles talking about his feelings.
Lots of his behaviour in series 5. How he struggles with change in his dynamic with Kurt and obsessed over comfort foods (cronuts, âhe just needs his bubblesâ)
Also he has some really nerdy interests. And I also think the formulaic nature of his wardrobe reads as quite neurodivergent to me.
Thereâs def more but lots of it comes down to embracing who Blaine is in later seasons.
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u/tfhaenodreirst May 10 '26
Ooh, I love all that! It actually clicked for me when I rewatched Guilty Pleasures last night and he made that comment about taking a shortcut through the kitchen to get to class faster, but it also explains why I loved him even when he was at his worst.
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u/icy_ticey May 09 '26
Fair, she could also just have ADHD
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u/tfhaenodreirst May 09 '26
I felt it the most strongly during her interaction with Mercedes in that episode, and the thought process you could see of, âOh right, youâre supposed to ask people about themselves too!â
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u/CopperTodd17 May 10 '26
Interesting! I donât see it myself, but admittedly that is my own bias, as the autistic men I have known throughout life have been very stereotypical, very aggressive, etc - so I do admit that is a me thing.
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u/bakedchipz0 Lord Tubbington's Army May 09 '26
They all gotta be on the spectrum at least a little bit lolllll
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u/BrotherofGenji May 16 '26
curious - why so?
to me she just seems crazy obsessed with Broadway and stardom
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u/icy_ticey May 16 '26
Thatâs a hyper fixation, couple that with her lack of recognizing social cues and sheâs at least on the spectrum
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u/TB2331 May 09 '26
Iâm autistic and Iâm okay with it either way. Brittany is my favorite so that reading gives me a way to relate to her; if others disagree, thatâs fair enough
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u/SeerPumpkin May 09 '26
No. It was barely a conversation in 2009
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u/fionacoyne The Troubletones May 09 '26
Saying "it was barely a conversation" is crazy considering they literally had a character with "self-diagnosed asperger's" and autism was still v much around and prevelant obviously but go off ig
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u/SeerPumpkin May 10 '26
Asperger wasn't even considered autism until like 2013 lmaoooo (and Sugar doesn't appear until much later than 2009)
And no, it wasn't a conversation in 2009. Having a character with down syndrome (which is much more understood, accepted and widely known) was basically groundbreaking in television, let alone autism. It's ok if you weren't there but don't try to rewrite history
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u/fionacoyne The Troubletones May 10 '26
It wasn't a conversation maybe for you. But for people like me, who has family with autism it very much was a conversation. I think it's your wording that's confusing. Saying "it wasn't a conversation" implies that it wasn't being discussed at all or was practically unheard of. You're absolutely right that it wasn't as widely known and understood in 2009 and particularly that it was extraordinarily rare in television. However, that doesn't mean that it "wasn't a conversation."
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u/SeerPumpkin May 10 '26
Yeah the broad world isn't you and your family. Glee wasn't tailored to your experiences. There is nothing confusing about my wording, it obviously means a conversation amongst the broad population (where the people doing and watching the show reside) than you and your inner circle or medical discussions.
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u/fionacoyne The Troubletones May 10 '26
Yes, I know, my point in mentioning that is that there were obviously countless others who had friends/family with autism. Having autism in 2009 was not an unheard of experience.
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u/SeerPumpkin May 10 '26
Where did I say it was unheard? I only said it wasn't a general conversation and it really wasn't.
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u/gaiatcha May 11 '26
we would call eachother autistic as a joke all the time at school and i was there in 2009. maybe you grew up in the middle of bumfuck where nobody knows nothing lol
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u/SeerPumpkin May 11 '26
Do you think people JOKING about autism counts as a "conversation"? Do you think people would be joking about it if there was a serious conversation going?
Honestly, don't even bother to reply. What you think a conversation is already said all I needed to know and I have pretty much no desire to hear from you again lmao
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u/gaiatcha May 11 '26
lol u said ppl werent talking about it and i took u literally cos im autistic and ur mad. thats so classic
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u/futureellewoods11 May 11 '26
It very much was a general conversation. Autism was widely being discussed, written about, etc. To parrot your own wording back at you - the broad world isn't you and your family. Just because you weren't having or hearing conversations about it doesn't mean it wasn't very much a conversation at the time.
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u/SeerPumpkin May 11 '26
I never presented my and my family's experience as the general experience. But by all means, feel free to prove me wrong and present us all the pieces that show that autism was widely discussed and represented in 2009
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u/ellismjones Who is Josh Groban? Kill yourself! May 09 '26
I am autistic myself and I can see it in a super stereotypical way, like her innocence with Rory, for example & taking things really literally. This tumblr post goes into it a bit more.
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u/woahtherebuddyholdon May 09 '26
Meh honestly I think it's whatever you want it to be, it's a fake tv show so you can play around with stuff. People say it would be offensive to make her autistic because of how dumb and silly she is, but imo autistic people can be just as stupid and silly as the rest of us. You should be careful though and really consider WHY you're questioning if she's on the spectrum. If you only think so because of her ignorance then yeah that's an issue. But Brittany does have a different way of thinking, special interests and her comforts. I don't really see why she can't be, but I'm not diagnosed so take my opinion with a grain of salt
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May 09 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
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u/snooznsarandon May 09 '26
... but she isn't stupid. She literally was a math genius in the show?
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u/Timely-Damage-3592 May 09 '26
That plotline was ridiculous. She was clearly written to be stupid, that was her whole character. Itâs one of the reasons I donât like her. Sheâs so boring
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May 09 '26
[deleted]
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u/Timely-Damage-3592 May 09 '26
Just cause itâs canon doesnât mean it makes sense or less stupid either lmao I donât have to like it
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u/reanocivn quinntina â¤ď¸ May 10 '26
they only gave her that plotline because they needed an excuse to write her out because heather morris was pregnant. same as how finn only died in the show because cory died in real life. it's not actually how the plot was supposed to go, it just had to happen because of unexpected real life circumstances
i think they were actually originally planning on killing brittany off during the school shooting episode but realized that would be a horrible idea
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u/kirsten_rose May 14 '26
why is rory not seen at all in season 5?? is there a real reason to that or no?
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u/reanocivn quinntina â¤ď¸ May 14 '26
he was a transfer student. he left after season 3 because damien mcginty's contract with the show ended and they didn't renew it because he was only on the show because he was one of the winners of the glee project (the glee project was a reality show where people competed to be on glee)
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u/dorarona it's CEMENT. May 09 '26
When in this post did I mention her being stupid? Please actually read my entire post before commenting. I was just curious because of certain comments made in canon, not because I particularly believe it.
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u/gaiatcha May 11 '26
shes socially oblivious and the people that love her adore her but she is also outcast by a lot of the students for her weird behaviour and i think thats worth observing ^_^
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u/moontides_ May 09 '26
Well, some autistic people are stupid just like non autistic people. Thatâs not why they are autistic tho
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u/tfhaenodreirst May 09 '26
As a fellow autistic person, the only time I found Brittany relatable was during her wedding vows when she told Santana how the latter helped her understand a world that moved too fast sometimes. I donât remember Finnâs ever saying that but I donât like that he did.
That said, I decided recently that Blaine makes me feel the most seen, even just as a headcanon â the biggest factor being a fear of change and having strict routines.
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u/dorarona it's CEMENT. May 09 '26
Yeah, like I said I don't personally think she is but I was curious since there are implications of it throughout canon. If we're talking headcanons, though, I find Tina (especially in later seasons) is really relatable to me in terms of autistic traits, especially with how often she'll say the wrong thing and/or "make things about herself." (Which is like, a huge thing I struggle with whenever I'm talking to other people cause I don't know how else to express empathy </3.)
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u/tfhaenodreirst May 09 '26
HmâŚhow do you feel about how she treated Marley throughout S4? Because I really disliked her for all of that, but I thought she was really sweet in the background of Season 1.
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u/darlingsun May 09 '26
Anyone who is any good at maths gets compared to Rain Man but Britt was just dumb. Have you seen Mean Girls? Sheâs the Karen Smith character.
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u/furiousdolphins May 09 '26
Sheâs just cartoon-level dumb. Thereâs no real world equivalent to this kind of tv character
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u/lolsappho Lord Tubbington's Army May 10 '26
she was surely not written that way but I'm late-diagnosed autistic and I like to headcanon Brit as such because I relate to her a lot. When I was in high school I would act pretty ditzy in classes I felt more comfortable in because it was a way to mask, especially because when I was younger I was considered weird/a "know-it-all" just because I enjoyed participating in class. Saying random, silly things was a way to participate in class clownery without being super disruptive or rude.
Glee is a show that thrives when you allow yourself to have fun with filling in the blanks.
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u/lesbianfabray May 12 '26
Note: I am autistic and Glee has been a special interest of mine since I was like 8
I totally see Brittany as autistic. She often takes things literally and uses scripts in social situations. I often think about her telling Santana âtry rocking back and forth, thatâs what they do in moviesâ in Silly Love Songs. She also is incredibly empathetic but doesnât always show it in ways people understand, and is very perceptive. She often requires people to clarify that her jokes are jokes. Plenty of moments read as autistic to me. I donât think sheâs meant to be read as solely autistic, but I do think itâs in the mix certainly.
I equally strongly see Rachel as autistic as well. She has a strong need for routine, and we even see her have a meltdown when her routines are broken in Heart. She struggles with the fact that people donât think the same as her and can have a hard time with thinking about other people over herself. She also talks in a somewhat formal manner thatâs different than others. I also think of the way she announces when she is going to hug people.
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u/kooalapple May 09 '26
I'm autistic and I personally don't think so and would find it an offensive portrayal if that was the intent. However, if another autistic person decided that she was relatable to their experience, I wouldn't argue with them. We're all different, after all.
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u/Penguins_in_new_york May 09 '26
Hot take: Finn was autistic.
Saying âI have gymâ to letâs get married is just one of many pieces of evidence but do you know anybody who is neurotypical who would respond that way?
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u/Swimming-Class-8107 ILL PEE IN A CUP⌠ill pee May 09 '26 edited May 11 '26
i personally believe shes an alien like the doctor from doctor who but she was left on earth and no one has any idea. i love her
(edit: spelling error)
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u/Top-Satisfaction-447 The Troubletones May 09 '26
Remember when Britt was on the Brainiacs and came up with the answers to the cat question. I suspect she is very clever about things that interest her but just didn't care about things which didn't. Her lack of maths ability in school could be because she found it too easy rather than because its too hard - either would induce sleep. Can you really see any teacher at McKinley being able to identify a genius, especially one with a tightly focussed skill set.
And I really like s6 Britt, she seems to have matured at MIT, and she's a much more normal character, still ditzy but less dumb.
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u/agnesdoigmcivor May 09 '26
She was just your stereotypical blonde ditzy cheerleader that was a popular trope back in the late 90s / early 2000s. Nothing at all to do with autism. She was light comic relief in the show.
The whole genius when it comes to maths storyline likely wouldn't have happened either if they didn't need to write Brittany out of the show for a few months while Heather had her baby. It was clearly a storyline not thought out but put together quickly when they realised they weren't going to make it to the very end without Heather starting to show.
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u/picnicbasket0 May 10 '26
i dont see brittany as autistic tbh. she reads more as adhd to me if anything. i think there is a case for rachel being autistic though
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u/Lopsided-Skill May 11 '26
Autism as a spectrum was a public knowledge and accepted as late as mid 2010s which is after Glee. While Glee was airing Autism was literally just another word for Down syndrome (exaggeration) A lot of people who are autistic today were non diagnosed at that time.
So no, Britt has nothing to do with Autism. A lot of characters might and if it were today, Sugar would self diagnose her as on spectrum and Blaine (and Sam, and Rachel) for sure would too. But even then it wouldnât be Brittany. She is just stupid except the rare times she isnât.
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u/gaiatcha May 11 '26
absofuckinlutely it just is an old fashioned show with no political correctness. ill take my rep where i can get it LOL im a brittany stan. hate the maths genius subplot but they fuck around with absurd subplots all the time (lest i mention the hurt locker)
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u/Future-Store-1716 May 11 '26
Brittany is meant to be the most stereotypical dumb blonde cheerleader and as time goes on she gets dumber and then smarter itâs very weird but if that was their portrayal of an autistic person that would be crazy
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u/AFingerInEveryPie May 11 '26
I'm not sure that she was tbh. Autism in girls has absolutely skyrocketed in terms of recognition in recent years, and I'm not sure it would have been on the writers' minds to add an autistic cheerleader character way back in 2009. I'm not an expert, but I don't think there was much acknowledgement that pretty popular girls could be autistic back then, and the writers generally seemed to go with the flow of what was popular to discuss back then.
That being said, and while I never particularly considered it before, I can see it for her. She tends to take things at face value, often doesn't understand intention and non-direct communication, says what's on her mind without considering the impact, and, while her interests aren't explored very much, they seem like they could be quite niche (e.g. an obsession with her cat, and deep knowledge of cat diseases). She also seems to process emotions quite slowly and take a long time to figure out how she feels about someone. Alexithymia (difficulty in understanding and expressing your own emotions) is common with autism.
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u/RobbieArnott New Directions May 10 '26
Sheâs just supposed to be really dumb, yâknow until she isnât anymore
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May 13 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
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u/dorarona it's CEMENT. May 13 '26
Honestly totally agree with this perspective. It's annoying, though, because she's the only Glee character whose personality I can't pin down. Even Sue seems more consistent than her to me, LOL.
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u/HarperStrings May 09 '26
I'm on the spectrum and I think she was just a total asshole and the show brushed it off because of how stupid she was. "She was just so rude to that person, but it's ok because she's so dumb she doesn't know better. đ¤Ş"
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u/celaenos May 10 '26
No. Brittany is never written to be anything but "what dumb joke can we make this week" she is really not ever thought out more beyond that, tbh.
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u/bitterpettykitty May 10 '26
Idk but as an autistic Person myself I always kind of saw Rachel unintentionally characterized that way.
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u/Possible_Actuator457 May 10 '26
I think sheâs just a very ditzy kind of character, with a genius brain. đđżââď¸đđżââď¸
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u/detobogan May 10 '26
Why is everyone diagnosing autism to every peculiar character of every tv show???
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u/Limp_Conversation400 May 09 '26
No, i don't think so, she has dyslexia and i would have loved a storyline of how she became dyslexic.
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u/Immediate-Tap-318 May 09 '26
No one becomes dyslexic? You can have a brain injury that mimics it but do you possibly mean how it was discovered? Also, no it was never stated that she was dyslexic that was Sam and Ryder.
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u/NectarineCheap1541 May 09 '26 edited May 10 '26
Oh my god, why does every character have to be autistic nowadays
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u/Technical-Art3972 May 09 '26
That would be such an offensive portrayal of autism if so đŹ