An eoiphany about DS9

It occurred to me in that the episode of Deep Space 9, where Garak was crawling around in turbo lifts during an enemy occupation of the station. That’s a perfect allegory for what it’s like to mask around Neurotypical people.

Garak was claustrophobic (or so he confessed). He hated being there with every fiber of his being. His nervous system literally could not handle the overstimulation and he had a bit of a meltdown. But he DID it. Because he had to.

Is Garak autistic?