Is it me or is SIA movie 'Music' depiction of Autism HIGHLY offensive?!

[Mum2prince]

Ive just seen the trailer in YouTube, ive yet to research more about what in earth possesed this woman to cast maddie ziegler a NT person to play the role of a young autistic girl.

I am gobsmacked at all the stereotypes the have used to depict autism and i honestly felt horrible watching it. As someone who was concerned my ds may have asd, this is exactly the type of representation i did not like. Regardless of how much info about asd is out there and the awareness raises, there is still a large group of people who do not fully understand Autism and this movie makes things worse imo.

The icing on the cake is the movie trailer is a sensory overload for me, let alone someone neurodiverse who may want to watch it. Bright colours, flashing lights and breaking out into song regularly. Yikes.

AIBU?

*EDIT - Just watched and interview Sia did and she used offensive words like "low functioning" and even claimed she had an original Autistic girl cast for the role but she couldn't handle it. What?!

Not seen it but is the autistic person depicted as very impacted by their autism non verbal etc if so good ,many autistic people are very impacted and this side of autism isn't shown enough ,in the parent of a non verbal ten year old with autism

I'm autistic, I don't have a problem with a nt person playing autistic roles, it's acting you play characteristics or roles you might be nothing like and as other PP said much better then I could, its depicting one person.
The movies pretty trash though and teaming up with autism speaks for consulting is grim.

I,m*

I will also add my autistic ds played an NT role in a play. Comments from people were very positive that he caught the quirky edge of the character.

Many didn't know he was autistic (that's those watching) and so I don't think NT people shouldn't play autistic characters but I also don't see why an autistic person can't play an NT role.

It's acting after all. Playing a character.

@MyLittleOrangutan in glad you feel that way. Your question has made me realise that the anger i feel is mainly towards sia and her insensitivity towards the asd community. After doing more reading I've realised she's upset thousands of people. I share sentiments with @ThePontiacBandit

This is what I don’t get;

“Misrepresentations like this might reinforce dangerous stereotypes that there's only one way autism looks, which contributes to the chronic underdiagnosis of women and girls, precluding us from an understanding of our neurodiversity and therefore from accessing the support we may need.”

Genuine question. If an autistic person took the lead role, how does that mean they are representing all autistic people and not just “the one way autism looks”. How is it different: ONE non autistic person vs ONE autistic person. Surely there is a risk of people saying “that autistic person does not represent my child whose autism means”
.....etc.

Honestly not trying to be goady but it seems to me that there are a lot of arguments floating around about various things where people shoot them selves in the footv

Many people in those autistic groups don't like to admit that there are loads of autistic people who are low functioning which is also highly offensive to those of us who love and care for our low functioning son's and daughters

@itsgettingwierd has explained it better than me

It's just lazy casting. If Sia was a guy she wouldn't be lauded for this bias of hers.

x2boys - the issue is:
a) low functioning covers as wide a range of abilities as high functioning - there are non-verbal people who have written books for instance (and that is historically the divide between high and low functioning)
b) the restraint methods shown are dangerous - and according to my DD (ASD) has seen it - totally uncalled for
c) it's another "poor disabled person" narrative.

And I do know parents of "low functioning" individuals as well as my own high functioning daughter.

@Doggybiccys

This is what I don’t get;

“Misrepresentations like this might reinforce dangerous stereotypes that there's only one way autism looks, which contributes to the chronic underdiagnosis of women and girls, precluding us from an understanding of our neurodiversity and therefore from accessing the support we may need.”

Genuine question. If an autistic person took the lead role, how does that mean they are representing all autistic people and not just “the one way autism looks”. How is it different: ONE non autistic person vs ONE autistic person. Surely there is a risk of people saying “that autistic person does not represent my child whose autism means”
.....etc.

Honestly not trying to be goady but it seems to me that there are a lot of arguments floating around about various things where people shoot them selves in the footv

The difference will be firstly i understand autism is a spectrum. Regardless of if someone autistic plays the role, or if someone NT plays the role, autism cannot be fully represented.

But there is a difference when doing research and communicating with the asd community and trying to really understand. Than going to autism speaks for help with the character.

Of course @MollyButton but if you have met one person with autism you have met one person with autism it's a huge spectrum let's not pretend those who are hugely impacted by their autism don't exist it doesn't help anyone .

Well I think it could be seen as patronising that an autistic person has to be represented in a "positive" manner. What does that even mean? Are they supposed to be inspiring, somehow? Or can only a narrow, "acceptable" version of autism be shown?

My nephew is autistic. He is deeply loved by his family, but there would be plenty of "not positive" behaviour to show.

And anyway, maybe watch the actual film before juding?

@MollyButton finally you've put my thoughts into words. The points you make are exactly my issues with this whole thing.

Especially pointing out that nonverbal doesn't equal low functioning.

It’s hugely offensive. Aside from the fact that prone restraint is shown as a positive thing when it’s actually killed many autistic people, Maddies portrayal feeds into every stereotype imaginable. It’s a grotesque characterisation. Not her fault, she’s a child. Sis should have known better.

The autistic community is very hurt by this film. It’s set their cause back many years. Talented Autistic actors struggle to get cast in roles. No autistic people were involved in the film, only the hate group Autism Speaks.

To be honest, I’m not that bothered about whether the person in the lead role is autistic if it’s done sensitively..like pp say, it’s similar to someone straight playing a role of a gay character. No one individual can represent all autistic people, it’s such a broad spectrum. As they say, if you’ve met one person with Autism..you’ve met one person with Autism. But to cast an NT in that role, you would hope that it wouldn’t revert to negative stereotyping and show unhelpful approaches in response to a meltdown such as restraint (pretty much the opposite of the way to handle a meltdown!), the whole concept is so flawed.
I genuinely think when Sia started out, she wanted to do something positive for the Autistic community. This was a huge project for her and she did a lot of research. Unfortunately teaming up with Autism Speaks is likely to take her down a very negative viewpoint of Autism. Her initial reaction to criticism seems very personal, I think she was probably upset that people didn’t love it! But it seems she has only reinforced negative stereotypes and it’s no wonder there’s a backlash.

@Comefromaway

It’s hugely offensive. Aside from the fact that prone restraint is shown as a positive thing when it’s actually killed many autistic people, Maddies portrayal feeds into every stereotype imaginable. It’s a grotesque characterisation. Not her fault, she’s a child. Sis should have known better.

The autistic community is very hurt by this film. It’s set their cause back many years. Talented Autistic actors struggle to get cast in roles. No autistic people were involved in the film, only the hate group Autism Speaks.

The sad truth

I agree and especially hate the THREE restraint scenes. Sia's goal wasn't to educate or raise awareness, you can tell that by her twitter diatribes. She wanted to pretend that music can cure autism, and quite frankly I find her relationship with Ziegler quite odd. If you watch interviews etc with her, she talks about how she can't work without Maddie and "needs" her, which doesn't seem right. She had her contracted into this at 14.

I don't know how old your DD is, OP, but be have you watched Pablo on CBeebies? That's quite a nice, positive representation, I think.

*DS, sorry. Autocorrected to DD.

Also doesn't help that many of the stems Maddie's character uses are the ones most commonly mocked and imitated by NT people, just adds to the atmosphere of lazy characterisation and poor representation, whether Maddie is NT or not.

YANBU. It's grim and Sia's defensive response is also pretty horrible.

I think getting people to play characters they don't have experience of isn't completely black and white, but they didn't get Maddie Ziegler to play an autistic character, they got her to play a gross caricature.

And don't get me started on how creepy Sia's relationship with her is 🤮

@Mum2prince - I also understand autism is a spectrum. But I still don’t get how one person’s experience of autism can speak for the whole community. The “ASD” community will be so diverse that no one character in any movie / book / soap opera will be able to represent them all.

The difference will be firstly i understand autism is a spectrum. Regardless of if someone autistic plays the role, or if someone NT plays the role, autism cannot be fully represented.

But there is a difference when doing research and communicating with the asd community and trying to really understand. Than going to autism speaks for help with the character.

@babbaloushka i agree.

@WineInTheWillows oh thanks, he's nit a big cebeebies fan but ill definitely search it up!x