Guys, I'm gonna go all serious business on this for a bit, maybe bring the thread back on track. As a new person, it's my duty to bring some new ideas for the table.
First off I want to say some of the popular suggestions don't work on a practical level. The progressive hearing loss doesn't fit with what they're told in the plot - Misha already knew some sign language, but went on to learn more to communicate with Shizune. If it was progressive hearing loss, it would be getting constantly worse. Learning some at the start when you don't really need it and forgetting about it later on seems like the opposite of progressive hearing loss - the implants theory makes more sense. It would also be cruel to pair Misha up with Shizune in that regard. Progressive hearing loss means she'll be poor at communicating things to Shizune(unless she's an amazing lip reader), but as we can see she's actually quite effective.
Inner ear problems seem more appropriate, but don't explain other aspects of her behaviour. Also if she is hard of hearing in any shape or form, again, she wouldn't be able to communicate effectively with Shizune.
Hermaphrodite, um, it's an interesting thought, as is Gender Dysphoria. While it's NOT a registered disability, if her parents thought she was messed up enough they might send her there regardless. And honestly, I think GID should be a proper disability as there is no way in hell it's managable in a regular school. It's possible she could have started transition at a young age but her parents sent her to a disabled school to avoid bullying. I actually kind of like this theory, and it would explain how some "completely healthy" students ended up there - HRT is something that needs to be monitored too, so handy having the nurse on hand. If she has aspergersish or coordination issues on top of it, it's an added bonus.
I am going to suggest Aspergers Syndrome, or a related ASD. I am thinking it may not be Aspergers in specific, but a similar condition, however it's mostly likely aspergers. I don't like how people shot this down earlier in the thread. Let me address some of the issues people are having:
1) Not a physical disability.
Actually, not quite true. Aspergers often comes with some more physical side effects, which may be the key to explaining Misha's behaviour as I'll get into later. Also, it's already been established that the school isn't just for physical disabilities, it's just that they're not equipped for more severe disabilities such as full blown autism which may impede communication and self reliance on
any level.
2) Not a serious disability.
This is another thing that isn't true, and I think for this reason it's a good idea to include it in the game. The 4chan dominated internet has given people the impression that Aspergers is either a made up condition, or not one to be taken seriously. Actually, someone with aspergers is less likely to be ready to go out in the world in general, or have gainful employment than someone with a traditional disability as the very concept of full time employment can be difficult or beyond them. Dealing with people in the work place constantly, dealing with someone's routine(Aspergers suffers can be very strongly routine driven, but of course, their own routine, or find any routine difficult to deal with at all).
3) Misha isn't introverted
People with milder AS aren't necessarily introverted. I notice a lot of kids with AS don't necessarily act "shy", they tend to rant on at you and be generally loud like Misha. It is true that she should be displaying some more social awkwardness than she does - but keep in mind this is only a demo, and we almost never see her without Shizune. It is possible for someone with AS to give the impression they do not have this difficulty with enough mental effort, which is an important point to make, but it can come at a high cost in terms of stress. Also, keep in mind girls are more rarely diagnosed with AS than males(At least a 1:10 ratio I believe, but it closes every year) - and girls acting like Misha could well be why. Even though they display some symptoms, the female brain is hard-wired differently and in some ways more socially so the fact that they are suffering from largely the same difficulties doesn't show.
Now, to get on to WHY I think Misha has AS.
First off, one of the first things you see her doing is obsessively shaping the rubbers - this sort of compulsive, ritualistic behaviour goes hand in hand with Aspergers. It is difficult to have AS without some form of OCD or ADHD, often both.
The way that Misha seems to talk AT you, rather than with you, is also very AS-like. Aspergers will drone on in your face, and often have bizarre intonation just like Misha.
Second, I'm actually going to have to agree with the "Puppet" theory to an extent, as crazy as it sounds. People with any form of autism can often have difficulty building up personalities, and once they do they sometimes end up being very eccentric like Misha's. Shizune is in a sense feeding Misha a personality. But due to Misha's aspergers
creating difficulties in interpretation of social cues and general empathy, it causes the eerie disconnect that Hisao continually makes a note of.
This would explain the absence of "shyness" symptoms in many ways, since she's kind of running on an automated program of sorts. This is why she makes such a "good" pair with Shizune in this regard, as being a medium gives her a lot more experience in communication without having her as directly involved. Someone mentioned earlier that autistic/aspergers children are sometimes taught sign language as an alternate means of communication.
http://aspergers-autism.com/sign_language.php
Another explanation for her signing, especially her competency at it is the "focused interest" part of Aspergers - perhaps she had a deaf or hard of hearing friend when she was younger and became very interested in signing, which is why she has such an apparently random skill, but lost interest like Aspergers kids tend to as well, until she met Shizune. She was sat beside Shizune for this reason, so it's not exactly a big coincidence. Misha does seem unusually skilled for her age, being able to sign multiple conversations and interpret quickly, while having possible hearing/sensory issues.
We often see there are times when Misha goes into "frowny face" mode, where she seems more reserved than normal. If we see her becoming shy in the absence of Shizune, then it would make the Aspergers theory become very likely.
I mentioned earlier there are some "Physical" symptoms to Aspergers. Lack of coordination is one. When I was younger, I used to have a lot of difficulty with stairs for some reason, and I had poor balance. It was less "dizziness" than a fear of it, but I could see how someone with poor balance and general fear would get dizzy attempting to do so. Of course, she could have an inner ear problem in ADDITION to Aspergers.
And here's the bit I'm really enthusiastic about, that could well explain Misha's volume and demeanor. Sufferers of ASD often have a lot of sensory problems, as I just mentioned.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensory_overload
What's particularly of note throughout Misha's appearances is that it's mentioned once or twice that she
is constantly signing all the conversations around her. Someone with sensory problems in terms of hearing would have difficulty immediately distinguishing between relevant and irrelevant conversation. Of course, this comes back to the original problem with being a poor match for Shizune, however if Shizune has any skill in lip reading, it may not be a problem. Of course, it's also more likely Misha does that as a means of coping with the sensory overload, rather than an automatic result, or she's learned some kind of distinction.
A more extreme version of this is called the "Cocktail Party Effect".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocktail_party_effect
While it doesn't mention being a direct symptom of Aspergers, I do know one guy with Aspergers that has it. I believe it also happened after he had some kind of hearing difficulty, so perhaps Misha went down the same path, and her loudness could be due to a previous hearing condition combined with this.
While I doubt all people with sensory overload or CPE act this way(Though the guy I know seems pretty loud), Misha's personality could mean she talks loudly to make sure she's "heard" above all the racket.
Here's a book I found on Sensory problems with Aspergers:
http://books.google.com/books?id=RCQ1U3 ... &q&f=false
What to look for:
1. Fears height,
stairs, escalators,
2. Has difficulty catching
balls
3. Appears startled when being approached(good reason to pair her with Shizune who can't speak?)
4. Compulsive repetitive
hand, head or body movements that fluctuate between near and far(People with aspergers engage in "Occupational Therapy" to control these - sign language being one possibility, replacing hand flapping etc. with more elaborate movements, very fitting)
5. Pronunciation problems
6.
Unable to distinguish between some sounds
7. Hits eyes/ears/nose/onesself
8. Difficulty with hopping, jumping, skipping,
riding a bicycle(i.e. balance, apparent inner ear issues)
9. Climbs high into a tree, jumps off tall fences, etc.(err.?)
Page 58-60 has some more relevant symptoms.
Another famous sensory problem would be tactile oversensitivity - made famous by characters like L from Death Note, who has to hold things a certain way. Things feel "too much" to hold. This can also apply to for example, the texture of certain foods, which is why a lot of aspergers kids will refuse to eat certain things.
If Misha DOES have Aspergers or an ASD, I'm impressed that the devs have really done their homework and not fallen into the trap of lol Internet Disease. There can be some very real "Physical" symptoms to Aspergers that can provide a lot of difficulty in every day life, so it would make sense to me for someone with Aspergers to be admitted to a school for dealing with such issues. Also, Hanako has severe social anxiety which is one of the major symptoms of Aspergers - while Misha so far has mostly lacked that, it's obvious the school sets itself up to be an environment capable of dealing with that, making it a good place for people with aspergers, who as far as I can tell are not treated very well or efficiently in Japan in general, and left to become NEETs. The high pressure, conservative work ethic of Japan comes at the cost of destroying many people who are incompatible with such a culture.
I'm saying Misha has an ASD, somewhat mild on the social side of things(though clearly she lacks the ability to "read" in many ways) but unfortunately having strong sensory issues which can be an unfortunate aspect of ASDs.
I think people don't want Misha to have an ASD because it means Misha is less Misha, it's her disease making her that way. But keep in mind all the people that have posted about their brothers being nothing like this - while there are some things in common Aspergers is kind of like a "flick the switch and see what happens" thing, you can trace back symptoms to a common source but they're not the same for everyone. I'm sure there are plenty of things we'll see about Misha that have nothing to do with ASD. It's not that the ASD makes Misha who it is, more like it allows her to be who she is. It's an explanation for why some things go beyond the realm of "personality" into odd or jarring behaviour.
A lot of people have difficulty accepting certain conditions, but the fact is that the brain does largely have a "mechanical" nature, certain things happen certain ways because of certain mechanisms, and when people try to describe them maybe it infringes on the more "ghost in the machine" view of how we work. But it doesn't make someone less of an individual, since everything probably happens for some reason anyway, and if it doesn't, then even ASD people are probably prone to some of this random behaviour.
I think this is the most complete explanation for Misha thus far, and I hope someone finds my suggestions interesting.
