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Beany Brain #99: Autistic-Coded Characters + Alexithymia

Author

Abigail Munday
June 24, 2026

Beany Brain: loving our jumping-bean brains!

Welcome to this issue of the Beany Brain! I hope today’s newsletter will bounce us up as we contemplate the upsides and challenges of being neurodivergent, a little beauty, some creativity, and just general yeehawesomeness.

Table of Contents

Photo by Abigail Munday

Autistic-Coded Characters

Have you ever watched a movie or read a book and thought, Hey, that character might be neurodivergent like moi?

Maybe Sherlock? (He’s definitely one of a kind, though.)

Maybe Martha in the Bible?

I am worried about many things. I can relate. Maybe her anxiety was genetic and a comorbidity of autism? Maybe she wanted things organized and ready for Jesus?

How about June Jones?

Wait, who’s she?

June is our quiet heroine in the novel The Last Library, by Freya Sampson. A charity-shop find, which turned out to be a good ‘un. (Thanks, Salvation Army in High Wycombe! I’m sorry, but the butterfly bag I bought there is just stinky with perfume and it won’t come out, so it will probably be donated again.)

Back to June…

She’s grieving.

There’s never been a dad on the scene, and June’s mother died 8 years ago. June’s 30, working at the library where her mother used to work, and coming home to an almost-empty house (there’s a cat named Alan Bennett, but he’s mean and scratches) and a frozen lasagna or Chinese takeaway.

The grief isn’t why I think she’s coded autistic, but because she’s always been a quiet person and a reader (and bullied in school), June can’t overcome the grief + stigma from (possible) autism + trauma on her own.

No spoilers.

Something happens to upend everything.

A cast of lovable and hilarious and sometimes righteously-angry characters comes into play.

There are cringey scenes. RSD (rejection sensitive dysphoria) is strong with June.

Things get worse, then get better.

That’s all I’m saying.

I thought the book was going to be cheesy. Maybe it kind of was. But it was also beautiful and well-written—the story flowed.

Let me know what literary or movie characters you relate to.

Ha Ha Haiku

A funny haiku for you every week in every newsletter, whether it’s one of my own or one I curate for you. HA. Ha. Haiku.

Flapping wood pigeons

Sparring around the garden

Oops, it’s not a fight

(Abigail Munday)

Photo by Abigail Munday (Tate Britain)

Alexithymia

Here’s my Abigail hot-take: Just because some of us who are ND (neurodivergent) might not know how we feel in the moment does NOT mean that we do not possess emotional intelligence or resilience!

We do!

It just means that we have to work harder at knowing how we feel and what we need than your average neurotypical person.

Rebecca Ellis, assistant researcher in Public Health, Swansea University, says this in a piece in The Conversation:

Alexithymia is a term you may not have heard before. But it describes something many people experience: difficulties in identifying, distinguishing and expressing emotions. It affects how people engage with their emotions at work, in relationships and even within themselves. It may also change how a person analyses their surroundings and how they interact with the world.

It’s not easy to tell if someone you know has alexithymia. Often, a person may not even realise they have it themself. It’s very much an internal phenomenon that a person experiences.

Ms. Ellis also says that autistic people are much more likely to experience alexithymia than the general population.

Also:

Alexithymia is closely related to one’s sense of interoception, which is the ability to interpret and label one’s internal states. People with reduced interoception, also referred to as “alexisomia”, can’t easily tell if they are hungry, thirsty, tired, aroused or in pain.

Gosh. Yes.

Easier said than done, but there are some ways to deal with alexithymia:

Practising naming emotions and physical sensations is one strategy that can help people with alexithymia better understand themselves. Another is learning to identify how these are represented in the body.

One thing I’m allowing myself the grace to do lately is to put my fingers in my ears when I need to. I used to put up with noises so as not to bring attention to myself, but because I’ve realized that I do feel sharp sounds in my body, it’s OK to block them out if needed. (I know, there are noise-blocking ear thingies but I haven’t tried them yet.) Loud noises feel yucky to me, even if I can’t name the emotion or sensation I’m experiencing in the moment.

I’m doing a bit better at identifying how I feel, and I also would like to get even more adept at it.

Both/and.

Ain’t that life.

Photo by Abigail Munday

Yeehawesome!

Yeehawesome! is a happy-brain roundup in each issue of Beany Brain. What’s happening that’s good in brain land? What’s bringing me joy?

  1. Governor Mike DeWine in the US state of Ohio is calling for the abolition of the death penalty in his state. This is totally yeehawesome!

  2. A fantastic urban garden at Chicago O’Hare airport:

  1. Dominique Palmer is an autistic environmental advocate and spokesperson, actor, speaker, slow-fashion advocate, and musician whom I saw on the BBC Springwatch show a few weeks ago. Here’s a quote by her:

What if our time living in a thriving, sustainable world is ahead of us? Amidst all the doom and gloom we see about that state of the climate crisis, there is hope, and joy.

Quote of the Week

The opposite of lament is not praise—it’s dishonesty.

Rev. Dr. Karen Campbell, General Secretary of the Irish Council of Churches

Beany Brownie Points and Extra Bonus Funniness

Philomena Cunk (aka Diane Morgan)

Wonderful Wednesday

Wonderful Wednesday was a day once a year in college when they would suddenly and surprisingly call off all classes and we’d play all day. The cafeteria provided special fun food and we’d do stuff outside like slip ‘n slides and jello wrestling in sumo suits. This segment of Beany Brain is dedicated to that memory of silliness and fun—no words, just a photo from the week that I’ve taken or found that reminds me to let the joy in. Since Beany Brain is published on Wednesday every week (at least, Wednesday in Japan), I hope you enjoy this Wonderful Wednesday.

Screenshot by Abigail Munday

Today’s Beany-full Summary:

  • Some characters in books or movies can be coded autistic. Do you know of any?

  • Alexithymia means having difficulty feeling and naming emotions or sensations. It’s related to interoception issues, and autistic people have to deal with this at higher rates than the general population.

  • Go forth in Beany joy. What will help you feel yeehawesome this week?

Thank you for reading this installment of Beany Brain! You’re very welcome to hop on by any old time.

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