Dyspraxic Characters Encyclopedia

‘Dyspraxic characters’ is not a common topic as such, is it? Not surprising as there aren’t that many dyspraxic characters to begin with. This page is a little passion project of mine, to bring together those confirmed characters. There is a twist though, I’ve included ones who are theorised to be dyspraxic too. Within the dyspraxia community, it is a past-time for us to have discussions on which fictional characters could have dyspraxia. After all, dyspraxia is a combination of human traits and so it is possible that characters can be given a ‘dyspraxic combination’ purely by accident. If anything, this project is to bring to light how we with dyspraxia can relate to certain characters.

The question “Could (insert character here) have dyspraxia?” doesn’t yield a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer which is why I’ve given a breakdown to each character. In short, I’m not saying these characters are actually dyspraxic, but they show certain signs of dyspraxia. After all, if they really did have dyspraxia they would be under the ‘confirmed’ banner, not the ‘potential’ one. For a more detailed look about my project check out my post:
Dyspraxic Characters Information Post

⚠Warning: Potential Minor Spoilers Ahead!⚠

My aim is to keep to the key points of each character with as little spoilers as possible. Just as a precaution some of the points raised could be story or plot-related. 

All characters belong to their respected owners; this page isn’t to discredit their creation but to give an alternative point of view into each character. Likewise, this isn’t to devalue dyspraxia in any way but give it an alternative understanding.

Feel free to comment with your own characters, but if you’re ready, let’s crack on!

Confirmed Dyspraxic Characters Chapter

Ryan (Doctor Who)

Character Debut: Doctor Who (October 7th 2018)

*Watch this space!* (Will add a description when I can)

More info: https://dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk/series-doctor-reveals-dyspraxia-character/

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Potential Dyspraxic Characters Chapter

Here is the list of potential characters to date; order from highest to lowest score. The characters who don’t score favourably are included too, as it would be unfair to simply dismiss them purely based on my opinion. None of the scores are set in stone and so I may alter them as time goes on.

Yui Hirasawa (K-On!) ~ 10
Goofy (Disney) ~ 9
Sayori (DDLC) ~ 9
Tonks (Harry Potter) ~ 9
Mr. Bump (Mr. Men) ~ 9
Little Miss Whoops (Little Miss) ~ 9
Kanon Matsubara (BanG Dream!) ~ 9
Miranda (Miranda) ~ 9
Warrior (Tugs) ~ 8
Tyson (Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters) ~ 8
Homer Simpson (The Simpsons) ~ 7
Wallace (Wallace and Gromit) ~ 7
Celica A. Mercury (BlazBlue) ~ 6
Angela Cross (Ratchet and Clank) ~ 5
Neville Longbottom (Harry Potter) ~ 5
Mr. Bean (Mr. Bean) ~ 4
Ruby Rose (RWBY) ~ 3; Ruby Rose (RWBY Chibi) ~ 5
Errol – The Weasley’s Pet Owl (Harry Potter) ~ 2
Cassandra Alexandra (Soul Edge/Soul Calibur Series) ~ 2
Harry Potter (Harry Potter Film version) ~ 1; (Harry Potter Book version) ~ 0
Tillie (The Little Engine That Could) ~ 1

Bella Swan (The Twilight Saga) ~ Unscored
Tsukasa Hiiragi (Lucky Star) ~ Unscored
Miyuki Takara (Lucky Star) ~ Unscored
Doremi Harukaze (Ojamajo Doremi) ~ Unscored
Jeanette Miller (Alvin and the Chipmunks) ~ Unscored
Momoko Kanda (Wonder Momo) ~ Unscored

Analysis

There are 5 key areas I concentrate on;
+ Co-ordination, Spatial Awareness, and Clumsiness
+ Thought and Memory
+ Emotion and Behaviour
+ Perception of Senses
+ Speech and Language

I score each category out of 5. The more prominent, variety of traits or how often the dyspraxic-type issue crops up the higher the score. These scores are then added up and converted into a percentage. Additionally, as dyspraxia is a spectrum, characters do not need to score 100% to be potentionally dyspraxic.

For my final score, every character starts on 5/10 and then I add or subtract points depending how I feel dyspraxia truly fits them. I take into account how the character fits in their universe. For example, if every character is clumsy then I take that as the natural way of their world, which makes imagining dyspraxia existing there difficult. As this is just my head-canon, these analysises are there to create a different way of thinking rather than taken as a direct fact. You’re probably going to have a different valid opinon.

Dyspraxia Symptoms table (Click here to view)
Positive Dyspraxia Chart (Click here to view)

Yui Hirasawa (K-On!)

Yui Hirasawa is the protagonist of the series ‘K-On!’ She is the lead guitarist and lead vocalist for the Light Music Club’s band, Ho-kago Tea Time (After-School Tea Time). On the surface, Yui is your classic ditsy anime character, however, underneath that layer is quite the intricate character. Over the course of K-On! she shows certain dyspraxic tendencies and scores strongly overall.
Note: As I’ve only seen the anime, anything exclusive to the manga will be left out.

Co-ordination and Clumsiness

+ Trips and falls over, and bumps into people and things frequently
+ Occasionally has slightly messy hair (probably due to not having enough time to sort it out!)
+ Fairly messy eater
+ Balance issues and has difficulty carrying things

Thought and Memory

+ Terrible short-term memory and gets easily distracted
+ Struggles with multi-tasking
+ Poor time-keeping skills and sometimes misreads her alarm clock
+ Struggles with academic studies, however, has proven she is extremely capable of achieving high marks
+ Really observant and alert despite being viewed as an airhead
+ Has difficulty learning music jargon, but finds her own way of learning how to play music

Perception of Senses

+ Really sensitive to hot and cold temperatures
+ Lacks spatial awareness
+ Struggles with time-keeping

Emotion and Behaviour

+ Difficulty controlling her emotions and gets overwhelmed easily (from good as well as bad news)
+ Can’t process too much information at once and can get mentally overloaded easily
+ Gets tired easily and dozes off
+ Short attention span
+ Has some social awkwardness and struggles to pick up on some non-verbal cues (can take jokes and sarcasm literally)

Speech and Language

+ Sometimes stutters and can’t get her words out
+ Mixes up words sometimes

Overall

Yui puts ticks in all the boxes and then-some; as a result, I’m really confident that she could well have dyspraxia. While as far as I can see no one online has come up with the idea she could be dyspraxic, there have been suggestions of her being on the autistic spectrum and/or having ADHD. With the overlaps, Yui has a strong case for having dyspraxia too. With Yui showing dyspraxic symptoms across all 5 trait sections, with a reasonable average score of 4, and has some dyspraxic ‘spirit’ to boot she gets a solid final score.

Yui’s has her downfalls, her weaknesses, and she is underestimated at times but with her determination and certain quirks she captures a certain image of dyspraxia. It’s an image that perfectly demonstrates what Dyspraxic Fantastic is about at its core. Other characters on this list come mighty close to that elusive 10 score, but something just holds them down to their secured 9 score. I feel there’s enough when it comes to Yui to edge her into the 10 slot.

Extra reading: I go into more detail about Yui on my post here: Yui Post.

My Dyspraxic Characters rating: 10/10

Mr. Bump & Little Miss Whoops (Mr. Men and Little Miss Series)

Ah, Mr. Bump and Little Miss Whoops; the cartoon embodiments of clumsiness – there isn’t enough space to list all of their accidents. From tripping/knocking over things to bumping into other people. These siblings get into all sorts of accidents on a regular basis – it is in their name after all!

Mr. Bump Book Quote: “The trouble was that Mr. Bump could not stop having little accidents. If there was something for Mr. Bump to bump into, he’d bump into it alright.”

Little Miss Whoops Book Quote: “Little Miss Whoops is one of those people who have accidents all the time.”

Other things to note are; getting lost, breaking things, and having problems with coordination.

In his book, we get to see that Mr. Bump is a good problem solver and can turn his disadvantages into an advantage. In my opinion, if dyspraxia had a cartoon personification it would turn out something very much like Mr. Bump or Little Miss Whoops.
We do get a slightly better insight into Mr. Bump than Little Miss Whoops, but they’re both the same kind of character so they get the same score. It can be assumed that the writer didn’t want to cover any old ground with Little Miss Whoops by repeating what they had said with Mr. Bump.

My Dyspraxic Character Rating: 9/10

Warrior (Tugs TV series)

Warrior is clumsy and extremely accident-prone throughout the entirety of the Tugs TV show. He is the first character I ever theorised could have dyspraxia.
Here’s a list of his moments:

+ Bumped into several boats and other things
+ Caused a barge to sink (Wasn’t strictly his fault though)
+ Lost navigation during a misty night and almost hit some rocks
+ Forgot about a task he promised to do
+ Tires more easily than the other characters
+ Difficulty in pronouncing and understanding certain words
+ Difficulty in understanding sarcasm and jokes

Warrior has all the other characters in the series beaten when it comes to accidents. On the positive side, he has demonstrated that he can come up with creative ideas and has a very strong will, especially to put things right if he makes a mistake. He is also an extremly hard worker. Warrior being non-human makes it difficult to draw up more comparisons though. The show lasted 13 episodes, so there isn’t much on the character development side.

Extra reading: I go into more detail about Warrior on my post here: Warrior Post.

My Dyspraxic Characters rating: 8/10

Goofy (Disney)

Goofy is a character that doesn’t require an introduction. After all, he is one of the most famous Walt Disney cartoon characters (and Klutzes) of all time. Goofy attracts clumsiness, accidents, and mishaps like a mighty magnet! I think it’s safe to assume the majority of us have arrived at the conclusion that Goofy is probably dyspraxic already! Still, I like to offer my opinion into these characters, so here’s my breakdown of the lovable goof.

Throughout his cartoon career, Goofy has demonstrated:

+ Co-ordination difficulty (both with major and minor motor skills),
+ Forgetfulness,
+ Easily distracted,
+ Minor speech difficulty,
+ Trouble picking up social cues and emotions in others.
+ More accident-prone than the other characters in the Disney Universe

He puts ticks in all the right boxes! What makes Goofy a bit of an oddball is his character development. He went from starting off as a simple cartoon character for simple laughs and developed into a well-established character for later cartoons and even starring in his own films. While I take into account the whole of his cartoon ‘career’ the fact he has quality character development, his final score gets a boost.

As for his qualities;

+ He has a big heart and is a warm individual to meet.
+ At first glance he appears to be dim, but the majority of the time he has shown a good amount of intelligence,
+ Strong and almost unbreakable will – doesn’t let his accident-proneness hold him back whatsoever. (He gets involved in all sorts of sports and physical activities time and time again despite getting hurt nearly every single time, after all!)

Goofy is one high scoring potential Dyspraxic and one of the highest on this list.

Extra reading: I go into more detail about Goofy on my post here: Goofy Post.

My Dyspraxic Characters Rating: 9/10

Sayori (Doki Doki Literature Club!)

Sayori from the visual novel ‘Doki Doki Literature Club!’ (a.k.a DDLC) is a cheery, optimistic, energetic, clumsy character. Part of her character bio states:
“She is very clumsy, noted for finding ways to accidentally hurt herself or to drop things.”
No surprise that she has a few mishaps in the game; dropping things, bumping her head, and bumping into another character.

The things to note about Sayori;

+ Is very clumsy.
+ Bedroom is “constantly” messy.
+ Is terrible at cooking (and almost started a fire accidentally).
+ Struggles with managing money (probably).
+ Late meeting the main character (happens often).
+ A messy eater (likely).
+ Quite forgetful.
+ Has a low attention span and gets distracted easily.
+ Messy attire ~ Blazer unbuttoned; Top buttons of her shirt undone, with a crooked collar; slightly skewiff ribbon.
+ Had a potential dyspraxic morning ~ dishevelled hair; a displaced bow; and toothpaste on her (crooked) collar.
+ Suffers from depression.
+ Awkward speech (sometimes says the wrong thing).

Her depression does account for most of her personality and struggles. Depression isn’t exclusive to those with dyspraxia but there is a link as those with dyspraxia are more susceptible to depression and other mental health issues. With Sayori ticking off a fair few dyspraxia boxes it isn’t that much of a jump to conclude she is a high-ranking potential dyspraxic. Dyspraxia simply ties things together quite nicely while at the same time taking nothing away from her depression. I certainly can relate to her from both a dyspraxia and depression viewpoint.  

As an extra piece of info, Sayori was inspired by the character Yui from K-On! – which explains a lot.

Extra reading: I go into more detail about Sayori in my post here: Sayori Post.

My Dyspraxic Characters Rating: 9/10

Kanon Matsubara (BanG Dream!)

BanG Dream! (aka Bandori) is a music rhyme game with an anime adaptation, an anime spin-off series, and digital comic series. The world of Bandori plays host to a large cast of unique and colourful characters.   

Kanon is Hello, Happy World!‘s drummer and the one who keeps the band running smoothly. She’s one of the most grounded members (both metaphorically…and literally…speaking!) of the band. Across the franchise’s various mediums she has shown various dyspraxic-type quirks; a part of her bio reads, “She is very clumsy, quick to burst into tears, and has a bad sense of direction.”

Co-ordination and Clumsiness

+ Is known to fall over (even one of her character cards is a photo of her post-accident!)
+ Often breaks her drumsticks, accidentally
+ Occasionally drops/fumbles things

Thought and Memory

+ Gets flustered easily (~fuee!)
+ Has difficulty remembering left from right and following directions

Perception of Senses

+ Bad sense of direction and gets lost easily
+ Very sensitive sense of smell (even uses it to help guide her way to cafes!)
+ Spatial awareness is probably lacking, which results in many of her accidents

Emotion and Behaviour

+ Sometimes lacks concentration, is known to occasionally space out (mainly to think about jellyfish), and gets distracted easily.
+ Gets overwhelmed and upset easily
+ Suffers from anxiety, especially around people, and can become a nervous wreck easily.
+ Struggles using trains and other common transportation (not strictly stated how, but I’ve concluded it’s probably due to her anxiety around people and getting lost easily. There’s a high probability that due to her lack of directional sense she gets lost finding the right platform or misses her stop)
+ Has a mild obsession with jellyfish
+ Has a little bit of social awkwardness and sometimes doesn’t pick up on social cues.
+ Struggles understanding jokes and sarcasm

Speech and Language

 + There have been occasions where she’ll talk continuously. This is especially apparent when it’s something she’s passionate about (i.e Jellyfish)
+ Another point is when she gets flustered, nervous or overwhelmed she has a tendency to stutter or stumble over her words. Other times she simply exclaims “fuee!”

Conclusion

The Bandori franchise features several bands and characters, which means Kanon’s screen time and development is limited.  From what I’ve gathered she does show several dyspraxia-type traits across the entire board. With that she gets a strong overall score. While she does have certain co-ordination difficulties, she can play the drums exceptionally well. It would seem that Kanon can handle gross motor co-ordination pretty well but struggles with fine motor control. Kanon has her issues and downfalls, however, she is an extremely hard worker, can have strong determination, and is caring and kind. She can also find creative ways to solve her problems. Case and point; using her heightened sense of smell to find her favourite cafes when she’s lost. With all these factors, Kanon embodies a certain spiritual essence of dyspraxia.

Extra note

With help from the rest of the Hello, Happy World! band, she has become a more confident person. The other members are brimming with energy, positivity, enthusiasm, and optimism so with that kind of attitude a little bit has probably rubbed off on Kanon.

My Dyspraxic Characters rating: 9/10

Miranda (Miranda)

Many people believe Miranda has dyspraxia. Her clumsiness and awkward tendencies are her biggest prominent character traits (Far too many to list!). There are many people with dyspraxia that are able to relate to her and because of this, it is highly possible that she is dyspraxic. Miranda as a show has a very basic premise and doesn’t really involve much character development – it runs like a sketch in a sketch show, which makes it difficult to get the full picture of a character. At face value, she is one of the best contenders for dyspraxia around.

It’s also worth noting that in the show ‘Not Going Out’ Miranda Hart played a character called Barbara who was also clumsy and could well have been a precursor to the title character in this show.

My Dyspraxic Characters Rating: 9/10

Nymphadora Tonks [a.k.a Tonks/Dora] (Harry Potter series)

Tonks was first introduced in Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix, which was the 5th book and film in the series. She is an extremely clumsy witch and has had a fair few mishaps and accidents throughout the course of the series (As a side note, when actress Natalia Tena auditioned for the role of Tonks she deliberately tripped over a table and chair to imply that she’s clumsy – which just helps build up this character!).

Things to note about Tonks’ clumsiness;

+ Breaking a plate (which acted as her introduction to the series).
+ Breaking things in general.
+ Knocking over objects.
+ Falling down/over things which include falling over the same umbrella stand on more than one occasion (in the film she simply stumbles over the umbrella stand).

Tonks has admitted to being clumsy in the past, so it is something that happens to her regularly.
She has the unusual gift of being a Metamorphmagus, which is having the magical ability to change her physical appearance at will, unaided by a potion or spell. This gift isn’t linked to dyspraxia (at least as far as I know!) but she can lose control over this power when she gets emotional (such as angry or sad) which results in her hair changing colour. Hair spontaneously changing colour isn’t a dyspraxic trait either, but the very notion of difficulty controlling ones’ emotions is for sure. She has also suffered from depression at some points, which is linked to events happening in her life, but those with dyspraxia are more prone to bouts of depression.

Conclusion

Personality-wise, she is a Hufflepuff. She is an inquisitive person with enthusiasm and has an incredibly strong will. She is fiercely loyal to those around her and is one to help brighten the mood and cheer people up during bleak times. With all these elements combined, Tonks stands out to me as someone who is the best contender in the Harry Potter universe as having dyspraxia. There’s just one shred of doubt that stops her from scoring any higher which is her Metamorphmagus ability. The ability to change physical appearance could impact spatial awareness due to not constantly having the same body all the time – as an example, being taller will make it so much easier to whack your head if you weren’t used to the height!

We don’t witness Tonks doing normal activities so this makes it difficult to bring up any more comparisons – after all, she has magic to aid if she struggles with buttons and shoelaces, etc!

J. K. Rowling hasn’t revealed if any of her characters have dyspraxia or not but with Daniel Radcliffe revealing his own dyspraxia, it created a golden opportunity for J. K. Rowling to reveal to us if any of her characters have dyspraxia. She hasn’t, yet, so we can come to our own conclusion for the time being.

My Dyspraxic Characters Rating: 9/10

Neville Longbottom (Harry Potter series)

Neville demonstrates certain dyspraxic tendencies, like losing things and having awkward moments. So it is widely accepted that he could have Dyspraxia. These tendencies are brought up less and less as the series progresses though. Most of the time his misfortune is down to a stroke of bad luck; “Why is it always me?” 

Early on in the series, it is clear that he isn’t a skilled wizard, mainly due to a lack of self-confidence. It could well be a co-ordination difficulty too, but it isn’t confirmed or demonstrated, so it is pure guesswork at best. Some theories state that it is his wand that is the problem and not directly him, which is an interesting idea and one that I can agree on.

My Dyspraxic Characters Rating: 5/10

Harry Potter (Harry Potter series)

Harry Potter to me is easy to conclude; he doesn’t have dyspraxia. On the other hand, I can understand why people may think he is dyspraxic. The actor, Daniel Radcliff, has dyspraxia so it wouldn’t be surprising if some of his dyspraxia traits find their way into the film. However, the book version of him didn’t leap out to me as being dyspraxic, after all, he did show an incredible amount of dexterity and co-ordination with no confirmed issues. His appearance of messy hair, broken glasses etc, which can be associated with dyspraxia, is obviously as a result of being kept in a dusty cupboard for most of his early life and the treatment from the people around him.

In the 6th film, The Half-Blood Prince, there is a moment involving shoelaces, but whether this is just creative licensing on the film part, a nod to the actor’s dyspraxia, or as a hint to something more about Harry as a character is debatable. For me, there is far too much conflicting evidence for Harry to score here. I’ve given the film version a benefit of the doubt and boosted the score slightly, but it doesn’t make much difference in the end.

My Dyspraxic Characters Rating (Book): 0/10 
My Dyspraxic Characters Rating (Film): 1/10

Errol [The Weasley’s Pet Owl] (Harry Potter series)

While on the subject of the Harry Potter universe and clumsiness I thought I bring up Errol – the Weasley’s lovable, but equally clumsy, pet owl. Errol has bumped, crashed, and gotten lost on several occasions and this explained that it’s due to his old age and bad eyesight. However, despite the bad eyesight he seems to, for the most part at least, find his destination – in other words, he is an expert at crash landing in the right spot! By my scoring system, Errol scores higher than Harry, which is the main reason why I’ve brought him up. Take this with a pinch of salt though.

My Dyspraxic Characters Rating: 2/10

Tyson (Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters)

Tyson is a Cyclops and half-brother to the series main protagonist, Percy Jackson. As I have only seen Sea of Monsters and haven’t seen any of the other films or read the books my world-building, as well as character development, is limited. It was mentioned in this film that Percy Jackson is dyslexic and after some digging, I find he also has ADHD. Through my extensive research, I find out that one of the author’s sons has dyslexia so he wanted to empower dyslexia through the books. The canon reason why characters have dyslexia is too complicated to explain here, so I’ll leave this link in case you like a detailed explanation:

http://riordan.wikia.com/wiki/Dyslexia

Because dyslexia and ADHD actually exist in this universe it can be safely assumed that dyspraxia also exists. This brings me to Tyson. I remember distinctly that Tyson had a lot of dyspraxia-type moments that revolved around clumsiness and forgetfulness. Being a cyclops it can be argued that having one eye would explain problems with depth perception and the clumsiness but surely the brain of a cyclops would adapt to this unless there was something like dyspraxia afflicting this character. It’s a factor that does affect the score though. I watched this film once in the cinema (back in 2013) and came out convinced that he has dyspraxia. I even felt that in this film alone Tyson showed more dyspraxic traits than Percy showed dyslexic ones. Like many others on this list, he also showed a great deal of enthusiasm, determination, and a strong will.

Once I get a better insight into this universe then Tyson’s score may change. Interestingly enough, I was going to write a post about Tyson and thoughts that he could be dyspraxic after seeing the film, however, I didn’t want to spoil the film as it had just come out and I wasn’t entirely sure how to tackle a topic like this.

My Dyspraxic Characters Rating: 8/10

Homer J. Simpson (The Simpsons)

Homer certainly has a fair few of the tendencies such as the countless accidents, getting distracted easily, messy eater, etc. Not to mention he has a big heart and strong willingness at times. Generally speaking, Homer is a strong contender for a dyspraxia label, however, there was an episode which gives an insight into Homer’s persona. It’s the 9th Episode of the 12th Season titled ‘Homr’ As a result, it is arguable if what Homer has is a form of Apraxia. While dyspraxia is from birth, apraxia happens from a head/brain injury or stroke.

Homer is a perfect example of why fictional characters are difficult to officially diagnose. Especially cartoon characters, as they run off cartoon logic and not what we have come to expect in the real world. Still, this page is only a bit of fun and runs off its own rules here so characters like Homer do get the benefit of the doubt.

My Dyspraxic Characters rating: 7/10
(If we are counting what Homer has as a form of dyspraxia)

Wallace (Wallace and Gromit)

Like a few of the other characters on this list, many people suspect Wallace is on the autistic spectrum. He certainly shows many of the traits, so I do agree they have a good case. With much thought, it occurred to me that Wallace shows some dyspraxic traits too. 

Co-ordination and clumsiness

Wallace is quite the clumsy chap and has had many accidents throughout the series. While some of the accidents aren’t strictly his fault, many of them are down to him. Some of the main accidents include:

+ Sawed through a table leg
+ Forgot to remove his headphones and fell over when he moved away from his control console
+ Made a ‘pyramid’ of wool collapse
+ Walked into a glass door (granted, it was sparkling clean)
+ Backed into another character
+ Knocked a switch with his foot  

Wallace’s fine motor control seems to be fine as he doesn’t have trouble building and tinkering with his inventions, so it’s just the gross motor control he struggles with. On the other hand, he has made inventions to help him get dressed and doesn’t wear shoelaces. He just likes to do things in the most complicated way possible. It could well be that because he has difficulty with getting dressed he invented something that helps him with it.

Thought and memory

It could be assumed that Wallace has difficulty focusing because he’s constantly changing jobs. There’s also the classic line, “We’ve forgotten the crackers!”  Wallace gets distracted quite easily; even in life-threatening situations he is quick to point out the ingenious of a piece of machinery.

Perception of senses

There isn’t much to discuss here, Wallace has co-ordination difficulties but doesn’t demonstrate any other issues as such.

Wallace probably has a heightened sense of taste and smell; however it might be a bit of a leap to think so. He loathes the taste of vegetables but loves the taste of cheese, for example. On the other hand, his sense of smell is so acute he can use cheese as an alarm clock.   

Emotion and Behaviour

One of Wallace’s most prominent personality traits is his obsession admiration for cheese (especially with crackers!). Cheese is addictive stuff though and many people, dyspraxic or not, can love it equally as much. However, at face value dyspraxia does make it easier for people to become addicted to things.

Along with this, Wallace has a strict routine including how he gets up and dressed. It’s also shown that he has specific days for certain meals (case and point; Tuesday’s breakfast is porridge)

He is prone to emotional outbursts when excited or anxious, which often includes him clenching his fists and flapping his hands while repeating himself (such as saying “cheese!”). While this is a classic autism type trait it does cross over a bit with dyspraxia.

Wallace has difficulty picking up on social and non-verbal cues in others and often takes things literally (“Duck!” “Where?”).  

Speech and language

He doesn’t show any real signs of speech or language difficulties, so there isn’t anything to note here.

Conclusion

Personally, Wallace shows traits for both autism and dyspraxia so he could well have both. He puts a fair score in almost all categories and ends up with a reasonable final score. 

Celica A. Mercury (BlazBlue)

BlazBlue is a 2D fighting game series which has an incredibly deep and rich story. Celica and her Ex Machina: Minerva (An A.I robot who protects her) official introduction came in the 3rd instalment of the series; BlazBlue Chrono Phantasma. Her character bio describes her as “A young lady with a positive personality, who is kind to everyone. Her directional sense is beyond abysmal, and often it takes her several hours to reach a destination a few hundred meters away.”

Celica’s Personality

It is not an exaggeration when Celica sense of direction is described as “beyond abysmal” – as even with a map she easily gets lost, but it sure would help if she knew which way up to hold it! (It’s safe to say she has the worst sense of direction out of all characters on this page; which is probably an achievement of sorts.) She is also clumsy, but it doesn’t manifest itself that much in the story and is only noticeable during the fighting aspect of the game (mainly tripping over). Her tripping over is linked with specific attacks and combos, so while her clumsiness is natural it isn’t exactly organic. If she tripped over at random times then that would score some hefty bonus points.

She is known for taking things literally and being naive/innocent at times too. Really, she tries to see the good in everybody.

Overall, it seems to me that she’s a fair contender for being dyspraxic.

My Dyspraxic Characters rating: 6/10

Fighting Game Characters (Various)

This is the best time as any to bring up my thoughts on potential dyspraxics in fighting games. Giving a character in a fighting game a high potential dyspraxic score is a tricky business. Characters in fighting games rarely get any personal development – for the most part, all we get is their basic story arc. On top of that, you don’t normally get clumsy characters in fighting games unless;

+ They’re a joke character.
+ It’s part of their fighting mechanics or style.
+ They are overpowered and need to be balanced out

When a character is clumsy during in-game moments it’s normally triggered on certain attacks and/or combos instead of happening randomly. To be fair, if a character has dyspraxia it’ll make gameplay with them frustrating and complicated. So while having this type of character reflecting dyspraxia quite nicely, they’ll probably end up being a hated character. Certain characters, they may show certain tendencies during the story elements but it is dismissed in the actual game-play side. I still think it’s worth mentioning these characters, even if they have a low score. Mostly because it shows I have considered them in the first place and leaves room to expand on in case more information comes to light.

Mr. Bean (Mr. Bean)

Mr. Bean is a difficult one. Some say he probably has dyspraxia and others say Aspergers. Judging him across the original TV series and the 2 spin-off films he has shown that he is clumsy at times, forgetful, and is non-verbal (except for the occasional word). He also owns a creative mind and has tackled problems with a unique approach (an incredibly dangerous creative mind I must add). When things goes wrong he does get rather flustered and gets clumsier as a result. For the most part, his accidents are linked to a streak of unfortunate mishaps rather than clumsy accidents.

The major issue is while he has some clumsy moments, he has shown incredible strong co-ordination and dexterity skills at times. This works against him having dyspraxia, in my opinion and I say it is more probable that he is on the Autism Spectrum.

Mr. Bean is a character created under the thought process ‘what if a child lived in the adult world’. Dyspraxia used to be called Clumsy Child Syndrome, so there is a small link there. Other than that, I can’s score Mr. Bean highly.

My Dyspraxic Characters Rating: 4/10

Ruby Rose (RWBY)

Many people have brought up a case that Ruby could be on the Autism Spectrum and I, for one, can certainly agree with their reasons. She does show many autistic-type traits. While watching RWBY for myself I found she showed a few dyspraxic ones too. Autism and Dyspraxia have some crossovers, but I think she shows enough dyspraxic ones to warrant me writing up this analysis.   

Before I continue into the points and factors I like to state that Monty Oum, the creator of RWBY, did address the fan base to officially state that Ruby does not have autism; he created the character using personality traits he liked. This means, canonically speaking, she does not have dyspraxia either. Whether the likes of dyspraxia, autism, and the others actually exist in the RWBY universe is currently unknown. But the real question is – like the rest of the characters on my list – has Ruby Rose been given a combination of dyspraxia traits inadvertently?

Co-ordination and Spatial Awareness

Ruby has her clumsy moments from dropping things, occasionally losing her balance and sometimes falling over. She is one of the clumsiest characters in the series, perhaps not the outright clumsiest but she’s up there (or rather down there!). However, when it comes to combat her clumsiness doesn’t seem to be an issue as she’s able to get strikes and shots off with amazing pinpoint accuracy. I feel her clumsy moments are directly caused by a momentary lack of concentration; while in a combat scenario her focus is refined to the point that it ‘overrides’ her clumsiness.

Speaking of combat, it is stated that she is left-handed but Ruby has often wielded Crescent Rose, her High-Calibre Sniper-Scythe weapon, in her right hand with ease. Monty has stated that it is “common to switch both hands while fighting, especially to make it interesting”. Ruby has used her right hand for non-combat situations though, like writing tasks, so perhaps she struggles with hand dominance and this has simply been incorporated into her fighting style. A more likely reason is that she’s so used to switching hands that it’s just something she does instinctively, even outside of battle. There is plenty of grey area with Ruby and there isn’t really anything absolute concrete.   

Thought and Memory

Ruby isn’t one to plan; she’s spontaneous even when it comes to combat scenarios because she is impulsive and battle eager. However, during a battle, she adapts quickly and forms an attack plan on the fly. She can actually wait and plan if she really wanted to though. The issue here is her attention span! Not to break the 4^th wall too much here, but it makes sense to create the character this way for the series. Skip the dialogue where characters talk about fighting and just get straight to the fight!

Emotion and Behaviour

Social situations are something Ruby struggles with. The prime example is she has difficulty picking up on non-verbal cues and sarcasm in others. She also has social awkwardness and difficulty making friends. The reason for her social difficulties is that she’s at least 2 years younger than the people around her and lacks experience being around other people ~ but maybe there is more to it than that. Additionally, Ruby has an obsession with weapons which is a big factor in her wanting to become a Huntress. (Big side note, it’s her having a strong obsession that counts towards dyspraxia not specifically about the weapons!).

The final bit is she has anxiety and a phobia – of sorts – around large crowds; so that’s something extra to consider. A side note; early on in the series Yang, Ruby’s half-sister, asked Ruby if she had a meltdown earlier. This suggests that Ruby may have had meltdowns in the past. We do see Ruby lose control of her emotions on a few rare occasions, but not quite to the extent of a full-on meltdown as such. Currently, it can’t really count towards this analysis as it’s too much of a leap.

Perception of Senses

There really isn’t much to discuss here, her senses seem well balanced; it’s just the odd accident she gets herself into.

Speech & Language

Ruby can get words mixed up, which happened a few times including an incident where she confuses a string of words one after another! She hasn’t demonstrated any other issues though.

Overall

Ruby is an interesting character and has several personality traits that relate to both autism and dyspraxia. While she does score in all 5 categories, she doesn’t score high overall. She currently stands as the lowest-scored character on my potential list with scores across all 5 categories.  

My Dyspraxic Characters Rating: 3/10

Ruby Rose (RWBY Chibi)

I should give the RWBY spin-off series a mention. RWBY Chibi is an official non-canon comedy series using the characters and backdrops from the main RWBY series. Because it was created by the same studio, Rooster Teeth, and is non-canon this version of Ruby gets a separate score. Ruby from RWBY Chibi has similar traits to her canon counterpart, just a little more exaggerated. She is clumsier, gets frustrated much easier, has more emotional outbursts, sometimes has confusing speech, and has shown issues with time-keeping. She ends up getting a little boost in every category, giving her a reasonable final score. Under normal circumstances, this character would score more favourable in my final verdict, however, because she is a non-canon version of an existing character, I can’t give more than a ‘middle-of-the-road’ score.

My Dyspraxic Characters Rating: 5/10

Angela Cross (Ratchet and Clank 2: Going Commando)

During cut-scenes, it shows that she is clumsy such as slipping, falling, banging her head, and other mishaps. Angela seems to get into more accidents than any other character making her stand out compared to them.

If she had more character development with the same personality consistency then her score would be a few points higher, however judging her on the appearances she has had so far I’m happy with the score that I have settled on.

My Dyspraxic Characters Rating: 5/10

The ‘Klutz’ Character Trope (Various)

When you have a character there is a good chance that they fall into a stereotypical character trait. One such typical trait is ‘The Klutz’. A typical klutz character is clumsy (go figure!), plain and simple. Sometimes these accident-prone characters get a slight character boost by having something that makes them extra memorable; traits like inner strength, being funny, being the most friendly/caring, etc.

Strictly speaking, the klutz is for comic relief; random, funny, and clumsy moments. Slapstick is a popular form of entertainment and it’s easy to pull off. Typically that’s where this trope ends. You either end up with a lovable klutz who you want to root for or a character you dislike who you love to see get into accidents.

Dyspraxia is a klutz character trope in real-life; we stumble, trip, and get into all sorts of mishaps and accidents. Dyspraxia is far more complicated than just a simple klutz trope. When these onscreen klutzes have an extra depth or have something compelling, especially if it’s something additional that we can relate to, then we can’t help but create our own head-canon for them. A theory that they could be dyspraxic, just like us!

For more information on ‘The Klutz’ character type, I recommend checking out this page:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheKlutz 

Funnily enough, Dyspraxia does get a mention under the ‘Real Life’ topic!

Cassandra Alexandra (Soul Edge/Soulcalibur Series)

Cassandra is a character from the popular fighting game series Soulcalibur, making her playable debut in Soulcalibur II.

She is a bit clumsy and probably the most accident-prone character in the series. She has accidentally damaged at least two swords; one in Soulcalibur II and another in the sequel Soulcalibur III, due to clumsy mishandling. The clumsiness doesn’t come across in game-play though, which heavily affects her final score. While she is a naturally talented fighter, she isn’t a trained one so to decide if the accidents are purely because she is a novice fighter or because of the clumsiness is difficult to tell – probably a bit of both. It’s also shown that she struggles to mend the broken sword in Soulcalibur III, doesn’t really count for anything though. She does get worked up easily and sometimes has difficulty containing her emotions.

Personality-wise, she shows fierce loyalty to those around her, especially for her sister, Sophitia. Her determination to succeed and her hard-working mentality, with ample courage to boot, to do what she feels is right is unquestionable and as such, she can be considered one of the purest characters in the series. After that, this analysis hits a standstill as there’s nothing else to really talk about without any more insight.

My Dyspraxic Characters Rating: 2/10

Any game character we play as!

This is probably cheating, but this page is just a bit of fun and shouldn’t be taken too seriously! When you think about it when we play a game it automatically makes that character dyspraxic! From falling into an endless pit to missing a target and from messing up a button sequence to getting lost (even with a map!). The character is a reflection of you! This is especially true if you’re playing virtual reality or something similar.

My Dyspraxic Characters Rating: 10/10 (Potentially)

Tillie [The Little Engine that Could] (1991 movie adaptation)

Tillie, the little engine that could, is a mascot of sorts for Dyspraxic Fantastic. Truth to be said, when I was really young Tillie was my first ever motivational character. While I may have outgrown this character and film, that doesn’t mean I forget my roots and I keep a little hold of this for its pure sentimental value. Who knows, without this character and film I may have turned out completely different? While Tillie is an unofficial icon for my blog, she isn’t exactly an icon for dyspraxia itself. I felt it was only fair and fitting to give her a character card to show how she stacks up against the other characters.

Tillie’s Personality

She is incredibly underrated by most of her peers and they constantly tell her that she can’t pull a train due to being too little. This kind of repression is rather similar to what we with dyspraxia have to deal with – just being told that we can’t or are unable to do something without an opportunity to prove otherwise. She captures a certain little spark of dyspraxia because of her treatment, so I gave her a little score boost.

Tillie doesn’t really show anything to suggest she is dyspraxic. There is the fact she is an exceptionally hard-working engine, who is kind-natured, enthusiastic, determined, resourceful, creative, and an inspirational character. All traits which are associated with the positive side of dyspraxia, but can apply to anyone, dyspraxic or not. She had a clumsy moment that was due to a sudden burst of anticipation and energy – an accident that anyone could have had. I’ve also noted that in order for the steam engines to move it takes a good amount of coordination – something that doesn’t seem to affect Tillie even when compared to the other 3 steam engines.

My Dyspraxic Characters Rating: 1/10

The Unscored Potential Dyspraxic Characters

The currently unscored characters on my list deserve a section dedicated to them as they don’t have an individual section for me to explain the depths. There are several reasons why they don’t currently have a score:  
1) They’re in a franchise that doesn’t interest me and so I can’t give them a fair final score
2) Their potential is fairly strong, but there aren’t enough talking points to get an actual conclusion
3) I haven’t had time to review them, but they’ll get one at some point (hopefully)

Creating Your Own Character Card!

Do you know a character who is potentially dyspraxic and want to create a card for them? Or maybe you feel like you would score a character differently to an already existing card. If so, feel free to use the template. After creating it, feel free to share it whever you like but don’t forget to show it to me too!

The font I used for the numbers is Bookman Old Style

Alternatively, you can give me the character info, score, and how you like to be credited (such as name, nickname, etc) and I’ll put it together for you.

I like to collect these fan-made cards, so please send them through to me when they’re ready. I may look to creating a section on my blog to present them all.

Happy creating everyone!

Epilogue: Summing it all up 

This page has been really fun to make and has been one of my favourite projects for my blog. With all the doom, gloom, and stigma I think it’s something positive to take a step away from all the cold facts of dyspraxia and concentrate on a warmer side. We know that most characters are not specifically created as dyspraxic, it just happens accidentally. Accidents and dyspraxia go well together! Sometimes a character is born and is given certain traits that we just see a part of us in them. Maybe a character was based on a real-life person with dyspraxia and those traits seeped through into them? On the other hand, maybe fate just smiled upon the creator that day to make such an awesome character that would end up connecting to us on a certain specific level.

Any character that gets created is a form of art and all of us perceive art differently so it’s OK to see a character differently to how others see them. We have unique, and sometimes unusual ways, of connecting with these characters. Even if there was no intent whatsoever to make that character dyspraxic, we can feel a strong connection to them on the dyspraxia level anyway. Diagnosing characters is often frowned upon but when we turn those characters into our own hero/heroine, which then fills us with immense positivity, motivation, and drive who can wholeheartedly complain? Don’t be afraid to idolise them in your mind because as a famous wizard once said:

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” ~ Professor Albus Dumbledore

I look forward to hearing about other characters who you have found a certain dyspraxic click for. Especially if they’re not on my list. Thanks for reading!