Portrayal of autistic people in films/TV

It’s a spectrum ranging from the adult with various comorbidities who has never been able to communicate verbally and still in nappies to people who’ve gone through life , married looking after children and not diagnosed until late 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, etc.
I always say this and I cannot understand how they can all have ‘autism/are autistic’. I would like to see some kind of distinction one day. I understand the different difficulties with different functions, etc but the current diagnosis criteria is not enough imo.

I agree it is an amazing series and the characters are human. I also love that they have a dark sense of humour, I think if you didn't laugh at some of the situations and things we go through as families you'd go mad.

I saw a lot of my son in Rosie and a lot of my family in the series. I wish they didnt get the chromosome dx though as many families never get that sort of closure (we have).

I'd love to see a series ten or twenty years on, looking at navigating life for or with an adult with severe needs. I'm sure if families were interviewed we could all give some stories to contribute.

Yes she was fantastic
I also liked how they portrayed the family faults and all
The Dad drank to much they both had a dark sense of humour ( which me and my dh have) they were muddling through doing the best they could but clearly adored Rosie.

Do you think an actor with or without severe autism should play such a role? Because I think it's probably impossible for an actor without severe autism to play that kind of role now and equally unlikely that an actor with severe autism would be up to delivering a performance to the often hellish constraints of a shooting schedule, unless that was the main factor that everything else worked around. There are some initiatives for disabled filmmakers which help with representation - the Oskar Bright Foundation runs a festival for work for/by filmmakers with learning disabilities and autism, and some production co's who specialise in that field (104 Films springs to mind), but I think it's a big ask to do what you're suggesting in mainstream drama production even if there was a drama where that character had a major role. Not saying you shouldn't ask for it, and maybe with the right will/funding/connections it could happen, but it's hard to get anything made at the moment beyond cheap cosy crime and schlocky thrillers, so it'd take some heavyweight backing and the right actor and story for it to become a reality. I'm more hopeful for the democratisation of media to mean wider, better representation comes from YouTube and SM, with people making their own work, than for the monolith of major broadcasters who are mostly there to say no and make what's already been done but slightly differently.

It’s not uncommon for threads about autism to get heated because of this. I’ve seen posters with autism get angry when people suggest that those with profound disabilities due to their autism are different to those who are “high functioning”. I don’t think im explaining this very well, so my apologies, but I’ve seen a lot of posts that claim there is no such thing as HF autism, just autism. But there is clearly a huge difference between someone who is non-verbal and require support with all care needs, and those who have independent lives, careers, relationships etc.

It’s not uncommon for threads about autism to get heated because of this. I’ve seen posters with autism get angry when people suggest that those with profound disabilities due to their autism are different to those who are “high functioning”. I don’t think im explaining this very well, so my apologies, but I’ve seen a lot of posts that claim there is no such thing as HF autism, just autism. But there is clearly a huge difference between someone who is non-verbal and require support with all care needs, and those who have independent lives, careers, relationships etc.

It’s a spectrum ranging from the adult with various comorbidities who has never been able to communicate verbally and still in nappies to people who’ve gone through life , married looking after children and not diagnosed until late 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, etc.
I always say this and I cannot understand how they can all have ‘autism/are autistic’. I would like to see some kind of distinction one day. I understand the different difficulties with different functions, etc but the current diagnosis criteria is not enough imo.

The family confirmed that Joey (Rosie) did have learning disabilities and autism related to her eventual DYRK1A syndrome diagnosis. They did quite a lot of interviews when the programme first aired.

I also agree the actor who played 'Rosie' was incredible.

My son also has a rare chromosome disorder, it's believed to be the underlying cause of his autism and learning disabilities
I'm.not sure wether the ever said Rosie was autistic but she certainly presented a lot like my son.

I know what you're saying and Rosie definitely reminded me of my dd when she was having a mental health breakdown 2 years ago due to undiagnosed autism (she was 6). Rosie isn't autistic though, she has a chromosome abnormality I think? And dd now is a far cry from Rosie these days, appreciating that dd has 'high functioning' (sorry) autism, and that many are much more severely affected.

The actress who plays Rosie is absolutely superb.

Watch There she goes on BBC I player the actress who played Rosie isn't disabled ,but she was brilliant in portraying someone with profound disabilities IMO as the parent of a severely autistic teenager, I thought she got it spot on .

Dinosaur on BBC is great. Written and starring Ashley Stories who is herself autistic. Second series is due out this autumn first series is on iPlayer.

Watch There she goes on BBC I player the actress who played Rosie isn't disabled ,but she was brilliant in portraying someone with profound disabilities IMO as the parent of a severely autistic teenager, I thought she got it spot on .

Do you think an actor with or without severe autism should play such a role? Because I think it's probably impossible for an actor without severe autism to play that kind of role now and equally unlikely that an actor with severe autism would be up to delivering a performance to the often hellish constraints of a shooting schedule, unless that was the main factor that everything else worked around. There are some initiatives for disabled filmmakers which help with representation - the Oskar Bright Foundation runs a festival for work for/by filmmakers with learning disabilities and autism, and some production co's who specialise in that field (104 Films springs to mind), but I think it's a big ask to do what you're suggesting in mainstream drama production even if there was a drama where that character had a major role. Not saying you shouldn't ask for it, and maybe with the right will/funding/connections it could happen, but it's hard to get anything made at the moment beyond cheap cosy crime and schlocky thrillers, so it'd take some heavyweight backing and the right actor and story for it to become a reality. I'm more hopeful for the democratisation of media to mean wider, better representation comes from YouTube and SM, with people making their own work, than for the monolith of major broadcasters who are mostly there to say no and make what's already been done but slightly differently.

I'd like to see more representation of those with severe/ profound/ low functioning autism. Since there she goes (i think it came out on the last episode that she had something else dx) i can't think of any and no adult representation (Rainman didn't have autism - Kim peake had fg syndrome).

I'd quite like to see a character who uses pecs/aac for very basic coms, who flaps and stims, verbalises, requires constant supervision possibly even 2:1 support etc

I honestly don't think there's a writer out there capable of doing it without the character becoming more of a prop or plot device than an actual character, though.

I mean...look at Music. The film is named for the autistic character, and yet she has no motivation or agency, and exists purely to move the plot along for the sake of her sister's character arc (such as it is).

I'd like to see more representation of those with severe/ profound/ low functioning autism. Since there she goes (i think it came out on the last episode that she had something else dx) i can't think of any and no adult representation (Rainman didn't have autism - Kim peake had fg syndrome).

I'd quite like to see a character who uses pecs/aac for very basic coms, who flaps and stims, verbalises, requires constant supervision possibly even 2:1 support etc

It's quite telling, I think, that in a time when the only maybe-representation of autism was Rain Man...we all picked Data instead (I know a lot of people my age who did).