19 Reasons Why I Am Convinced Elsa Is Autistic

Now I know you might be thinking really? With this headline. However, after watching Frozen 2. I am convinced Elsa is autistic. As a woman on the spectrum, she displays a more subtle profile (on a surface level) of autism, as many autistic women do. So here are my reasons why I am convinced Elsa is autistic.

*Contains spoilers from both films*

1. Firstly at a young age in the first film, Elsa has abilities that the rest of the characters (the neurotypicals) do not.  

2. Neurotypicals raise concerns about how others may perceive Elsa’s differences. She is forced to hide them, even from her sister

3. She shuts herself off from the rest of the world as much as possible; in fear, people will find out the “truth” even though she shouldn’t have to do this

4. She is highly anxious during her coronation and is in constant fear her true self will be exposed.

5. When socialising at her coronation party, she does not show much of a personality during social interaction. When she does, she is brutally honest (e.g. saying her thoughts on Anna’s and Han’s sudden engagement)

6. When her anger increases, she is unable to mask her differences, and the guests find out about her powers during a meltdown.

7. She knows she will be judged, treated differently and will not be safe now her mask has been exposed (not on her terms), so she completely withdraws from society and builds a castle on top of the mountain in the middle of nowhere

8. When people visit her unannounced, it does not go well, and she takes drastic measures to get them out her ice castle, which is the only place she feels comfortable being her authentic self.

9. When she returns to Arendelle (against her will), people are in fear of her because of differences.

10. Hans (a neurotypical) admits it was too hard to get through to Elsa when he considered pursuing a relationship with her when trying to fulfil his hunger for power.

11. However, because she saves the day and her sister’s life with her unique abilities, she gets the recognition she deserves, and people embrace her for her true self (unfortunately this is not the case for a lot of autistic people, but hopefully we will get there one day)

12. Now onto Frozen 2, within the first few minutes, we see Elsa’s hypersensitivity to sound when she hears the voice that nobody else can pick up. Her differences are the reasons why she can pick up the voice the neurotypicals can’t hear.

13. Initially she hesitant when Anna, Christoph, Olaf and Sven want to come with her to the enchanted forest.

14. She gives in due to pressure from other people but finds it difficult to express herself about how she would prefer to go alone.

15. When Anna and Elsa find their parents abandon ship, she discovers that they went to try and find out about her differences. Many parents of autistic children will go to drastic measures to find out about their child’s differences, including travelling far away.

16. By this point, she has reached her limit with other people following her to discover the voice she can only hear. So she makes them go away with her unique abilities.

17. When she finds out about her grandfather’s actions. Her strong sense of social justice kicks in and (potentially) sacrifices her own life so Anna can correct the mistakes that their grandfather made from putting the dam in place

18. Once Anna has destroyed the dam that helps to restore the enchanted forest. Elsa awakens, and her empathy is shown by preventing her town of Arendelle from being destroyed. She does this by using her unique powers to protect the town.

19. Once Arendelle is safe, Elsa decides to abdicate as Queen to live a quieter and happier life in the enchanted forest, going against social conventions.

There are my 19 reasons! Do you agree? let me know what you think in the comments below!

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