Portrayal of autistic people in films/TV

[AutisticHouseMove]

I was diagnosed as autistic in my early 40s.

When I was younger, the only real portrayal of autism I was aware of was Rainman.

I also know there has been criticism of that because it portrayed an autistic man as a 'low functioning' savant.

Over recent years, I've noticed a prevalence of a different type of autistic person. Usually working in some kind of solitary role requiring a high level of intelligence (eg scientist), who is brilliant/the best at their job but completely lacking in empathy or social skills and getting it all wrong when they have to interact with colleagues or friends.

They're rarely identified as 'autistic' but there are hints along the way, comments from other characters about how 'weird' or 'difficult' or 'awkward' they are or how curious it is watching them trying to interact with or behave like 'the humans/earthlings'. Or other characters have to brace themselves against the tone deaf comments. Basically, either endearingly odd, a bit of a dick or both.

I don't know. It just makes me feel uncomfortable and embarrassed even when I realise this character (and they're recognisable because they're all portrayed in the same way) is supposed to represent me. Or is this really how NT people perceive many of us to be?

YABU - the portrayal of people with autism in films and TV shows is pretty much how I experience autistic people in real life

YANBU - you have a point.

Someone mentioned Mr Darcy - any fans of A Room With a View (book or movie) here? Both George Emerson and his father always struck me as autistic.

Another vote for A Kind of Spark on BBC. The main character and one of her older sisters are autistic but they present differently. The actresses who play them are both autistic. In the second series, there is a new character played by the actress who plays Patience (CH4) - forgotten her name - and again, she has different traits again.

I love that programme so much because one of my children saw themselves in Addie, the main character, before autism was really on our radar. My child has since been diagnosed autistic and I credit AKOS for much of that.

Strangely, I often find the best depictions of autistic characters are those who were never intended to be autistic or, at the very least, weren't written as "autistic representation." Sometimes characters naturally seem to fall into that niche, something fans often pick up on even when the writes are unaware. In some cases writers or actors acknowledge this, either outside of the show or canonising it within the show, but often it's never explicitly mentioned by anyone involved in the show.

Interesting. Can you give an example?

There is a fascinating area of study where people look to diagnose historically people real or imaginary. It covers all types of illness such as epilepsy, coeliac, autism, lactose intolerance, downs syndrome etc etc.Diagnosing the past | Wellcome Collection

Obviously it is done with huge caution but it demonstrates that many things we thing have only become prevalent recently like ND and allergies/intolerances have been around for a long time, we just didn't have a name for them. Or realise that they were anything other than personality traits.

I haven't seen Patience but it is the English language copy of Astrid - Murder in Paris. Astrid is probably the best thing I've watched with an autistic character. It is an excellent TV series and a beautiful exploration of female friendship. One of the 2 main characters is autistic, the other is neurotypical but chaotic and disastrous with men. They try to understand each other better as solve various murders. It is extremely funny, but in a helpful non-derogatory way. It is on channel 4 with English subtitles.

I agree with others that Sheldon in BBT is autistic but he is separately not the nicest person so I can understand why the producers don't want to label him as autistic. He is autistic but also a bit of an arse.

I understand why TV and film writers don't write in autistic characters. It's a minefield and they are immediately criticised because the version they present won't relate to everyone. Take Big bang theory for example, how many posters here have criticised it. Sheldon is a fictitious character in a comedy, so like any comedic character needs to be exaggerated for comic purposes, the producers never even said he had autism and are still being told they got it wrong. If they had mentioned autism the criticism would be 100 fold. The thing is there are some people out there who are like Sheldon, or Rainman and they need to be represented too. But the other 1000 versions of autism that then go unrepresented. There would need to be a lot more autistic characters to get a general and fair representation of the real diversity within the label. Many characters we know well present with autism traits they just don't say it. Maybe if people were less critical there would be more representation?

I would love to see more characters where autism is mentioned but not like a big story line. A bit like when gay characters first appeared on TV in the 90s, it was always a big story with media coverage. But now no body cares, it's accepted. These days gay characters often don't state they are gay, you just see them with a same sex partner or it's referenced in passing. That's when you know something is totally accepted as normal, when it just is without any fanfare or controversy.

Is anyone in film or TV really a representation of any of us, including NT people? I've never identified with a character in film or TV. I'm from a working class background, if you went of TV representations I'd be loud mouthed, hanging about on the front street drinking and smoking, talking about 'the social' and getting into unnecessary arguments. I'm also a social worker, I've watched a few TV shows with social workers in, they're nothing like any social worker I've encountered.

The problem is that now there are very few, or no, portrayals of low functioning (or complex, or profound, or whatever term people prefer) autism, so that the trend has moved away from understanding and supporting those most in need. It’s great that those who can communicate with words, manage their own personal care needs etc, are having the difficulties they face highlighted but it shouldn’t be one or the other. People may not like it, but people who are more similar to rainman than Sheldon cooper do still exist and need all the support society can provide.

maybe I’ve missed some joyful/loving but realistic portrayals of this type of autism in recent media
though!

I think the real issue at the moment is there is no representation of autism in its most severe form where people have high needs. People and professionals really minimalise the needs of my son because their version of autism in their head is much higher functioning. Very rarely do you see a non verbal autistic person with severe learning disabilities on TV.

Have you watched " There she goes" on BBC player it's very good about a girl with severe learning difficulties, non verbal ( not sure if theu ever said if she was autistic but presents very much like my son who is ) Its based on the writers own daughter.

It was determined in a one off special episode that she has DYRK1A syndrome - a rare chromosomal condition, of which ASD or autistic like behaviours are a characteristic. It was a great episode, they met up with others with DYRK1A syndrome and their families (not actors, actual people). I really enjoyed There She Goes, my husband and I found it funny and relatable.

Yeah i saw it but I wasent sure if she was diagnosed with autism as well
My claim to fame is I replied to her Dad on a thread he started in a Unique( charity for people with rare chromosome disorder, s) facebook group ,my son has a different rare chromosome disorder that is thought to be the underlying reason for his disabilities.

I'm a big fan of Abed in Community. Some people say he's not a realistic portrayal of a ND person, but I have a friend who is autistic and exactly like him in so many ways! It's a sitcom, so everything is heightened and exaggerated to some extent, but I think they treat him sensitively for the most part. His traits aren't played up any more or less than the neuroses of the other neurotypical characters.

My favourite example of this is Data, from Star Trek: The Next Generation. He's obviously not autistic, given the whole "android" thing, but what always struck me were the parallels between the way he's always trying to learn and imitate human behaviour (with limited success) - as a kid, that's exactly how I felt. It's played for laughs almost as often as it's pushed for poignancy, but there was always a reason for it in the context of the story; they made his arc important in every story, and his journey (for me) is the core of the entire show and everything that they've done with that crew since.

That made me feel a lot less worthless and broken, and I'm forever grateful for that.

Patrick Stewart might get all the attention for his acting, but for me Brent Spiner sits above all for the way he put more into his character than anyone else in the show.

Yes I remember Abed too. Community is a great series.

It is, but it doesn't seem to be as well-known in the UK for some reason. It's certainly far better than The Big Bang Theory IMO.

I can relate to this. I used to pretend to be Data when I was younger. I actually think I thought I was him at times as I could relate to him so much.

@JLou08 that's an interesting perspective and quite true.

I’m in a largely solitary role that requires high intelligence. I’m known for my brilliance but have a long standing reputation for being off-putting that dates back to childhood. I’m also female. I work with many people who also fit this stereotype as we tend to gravitate to certain careers.

So in many ways I see myself in these stereotypical portrayals. they don’t feel that stereotypical to me in many ways because my peer group is full of this type of person.

Yet often people don’t believe I am autistic at all because I am not outwardly rude, I’m just shy and poor at social cues and people read it as snobbish or cold. That is actually true for most ASD people I know though.

@AutisticHouseMove I’m watching bones at the moment too. I couldn’t put my finger on quite why I was so uncomfortable about the portrayal of temperance as an (implied but not named) autistic women.

my wife (who is autistic) overheard bits and pieces, and said that she finds it uncomfortable as the show mocks temperance for her lack of social awareness and presents autistic people as only valuable if they are really good at something due to their autism, like temperance is.

like they only ‘put up with her’ because of her skills.

we had a really interesting discussion about it, and agreed that while ADHD coded characters were also really problematic in tv programmes (hyper/annoying/narc’s) it’s not quite the same nor as harmful . (I have ADHD which is why we were mulling this too).

That is really interesting. I hadn't thought of that at all.

I like BBT - aren’t most of the main characters different flavours of neurodiverse? (Sheldon, Leonard, Raj, Amy at least) It’s why they find friendship and acceptance in each other. My child is not a genius like they are but I certainly see a lot of similar traits in him that Sheldon has. They take traits to extreme of course and make fun of them (it’s not very ND friendly) but that’s comedy.

I especially liked the episode where they explained why Sheldon was so particular about returning a vhs tape to a rental store that no longer existed, and got Leonard to understand how it felt physically by wearing an itchy sweater, and I REALLY related to that (it’s how I feel when I lose something, like an itch in my brain) and I appreciated they took a whole episode to explain why Sheldon acted the way he does, because he has no choice, it’s who he is.I’m actually surprised that Sheldon’s friends don’t understand his traits better and just go on about how annoying he is, but again it’s US comedy.

I have au-dhd and hugely recognise myself in hermione, only I never made friends until Y10. I think to say because she understands feelings means she can’t have autism is again a dangerous miscategorisation. I have enormous emotional understanding and empathy, it just isn’t consistent and it’s far easier when observing others relationships rather than my own.

I also love Sheldon and identify with many of his traits a so to see a character with the same annoying traits as me have a happy life gives me hope, even if it’s fictional.