Synopsis: The U.S.S. Protostar and her crew land on a planet in search of Bosonite.
This episode can be seen as an illustration of what it can feel like to be autistic in a world seen through the medical model or pathological paradigm and the validity of the alternative social model or neurodiversity paradigm.
In “A Tribble Called Quest,” the U.S.S. Protostar travels to a planet to obtain bosonite, which is needed to make the proto-drive operational. The crew beams down to the planet only to discover large aggressive tribbles and a Klingon scientist, Dr. K’ruvang, who has been exiled there until he can create a solution to defeat the tribbles, a Klingon blood enemy. K’ruvang had been working with a retrovirus that he believes will slow the reproduction of tribbles, but instead it made them larger and aggressive. Rok-Tahk believes that she has a solution to K’ruvang’s problem, and a way to distribute the virus among the large aggressive tribbles. Rok-Tahk accidentally sneezes into a petri dish and creates a new species—a tribble with legs and a face that Dal R’El decided to call Bribble. Everyone likes Bribble except for Rok-Tahk, who perceives Bribble as an abomination that she created by mistake. Meanwhile, the rest of the Protostar crew is spreading grain infused with the virus around the tribble’s nest, in order to lure them away from it, because this is where the bosonite is located. The large aggressive tribbles eat the grain, but it is quickly finished and they return to the nest sooner than expected, trapping Dal R’El and Gwyndala (Gwyn) inside it. Bribble is able to communicate with the tribbles, and the tribbles disburse. The bosonite is brought aboard the Protostar and the ship’s proto-drive is engaged. Rok-Tahk no longer considers Bribble an abomination.
In this episode, the way that the large aggressive Tribbles are treated by the Klingon’s and the Protostar crew can be compared to how autism is perceived through the medical model or pathological paradigm—as something that needs to be eradicated. Bribble, first considered an abomination made by mistake by Rok-Tahk, can be analogized to how an autistic individual is seen through this perspective. But at the end of the day it is Bribble who is able to use skills that the others had no idea it possessed to save the day. This can be considered an illustration of the need for the social model or neurodiversity paradigm, that considers autism just one example of human biodiversity that has a reason to exist (Walker, 2021, p. 109).
Reference:
Walker, N. (2021). Neuroqueer heresies: Notes on the neurodiversity paradigm, autistic empowerment, and postnormal possibilities. Autonomous Press.
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