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.

Does anyone think Monica might be Au-DHD?

No, not really, though she does have some issues.
OCPD maybe?
It’s not the same as OCD, but often confused with it I think.

Yes I have. it's about the only thing on TV close to where my child is at. Even the high pitched noises are spot on.

My dd refuses to watch any shows or films now, she says they never have depicted women with autism correctly

I think the thing that bothers me the most about SEN kids represented on TV/films is that support just seems to rain down from the sky as soon as a diagnosis is given. They don't depict reduced timetables, exclusions or tribunal to get care put in place, or housing issues, battles to get support or medication. I'd really love a true, working class representation of SEN on TV.

Eastenders is particularly bad at glossing over the hard work it is as a parent, but they have been good at having actors with autism with fewer support needs on the show.

Saga Noren in the Swedish-Danish crime drama The Bridge is a pretty good example of a character most people would describe as ND if they met such a person in real life. Over the four series you find out more and more about her, plus she changes too, and the question of nature versus nurture is also addressed via her interactions with her mother. The writers have never confirmed whether they set out to write an ‘ND’ character.

I do think all this ‘Mr Darcy was autistic’ stuff is essentially meaningless though. For a start, he’s a fictional character, and his characteristics and behaviour drive the plot that Jane Austen chose to write. Saying ‘he’s autistic’ implies that he was real at some point, or that she knew of the existence of autism, which she didn’t, because no one had named it then. It also implies that we are always going to view autism in the same way, which of course we aren’t going to do. As a previous poster pointed out, we might even look back at the way we’ve lumped all these characteristics and behaviours into one all-encompassing diagnosis, and wonder what the hell we were doing.

Nice point, but only in the books from the 1950's? Try Charles Dickens! (Or basically any author since the rise of the novel as an art form who has included "eccentric" characters!)

Dinosaur came along just as we were learning about our then three year old daughter's autism. Can't tell you how much it helped/meant to me.

Someone recently told me that Lilo from Lilo and Stitch is thought to be an autistic character, and i really hadn't considered it before.

How about tv shows with actual autistic people then. The documentary love on the spectrum. They aren't acting.

Or the netflix documentary "Can I Tell You a Secret." It's about the uk's most prolific, cyber stalker, who is also autistic.

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).

It’s not meant to be realistic. It’s entertainment. Very few characters are realistic. They are often exaggerated or simplified or caricatures. Also as we know everyone with autism is different. So it’s therefore impossible to present a character that represents all autistic people. It can only ever represent one, if anything. Plus that character has to be interesting enough to make a show about. It can’t be “here’s a day in the life of an autistic person doing nothing interesting”. No one will watch it. I think it’s great that ND is being represented at all. TV used to just be full of just the most successful type of person - attractive, capable, the best in their field. Now we get quirky, complex, failed, mental health issues, disabled, ND etc etc. I think it’s good. People just need to remember it’s TV, fiction, so is not always going to be accurate or a factual, literal presentation of anyone.

yes, this!! so much!!!

no long drawn out months/ years of battling for an EHCP plan , where are these mystical support packages that just appear ?!

I really loved the real moments that this show depicted.

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

This. Absolutely this.

@SENsupportplease

Yes!
Monica audhd
Ross autistic
Joey adhd
Phoebe adhd
Rachel NT
Chandler adhd

In my opinion
Chandler doesn't find himself till He meets Monica and Rachel and Ross just don't understand each other at all

In fact when I ready Matthew perrys autobiography it was blindingly obvious he was adhd. So sad as he self medicated and never felt worthy . I wonder if he ever had a diagnosis. 😢

Ive always thought Sarah from Sarah and duck was a very well portrayed autistic character.
almost all the characters seem neuro diverse in some way or another, they’re all so accepting of each other’s quirks- it’s such a utopian world!

I find sometimes characters become “more autistic” as a series goes on, likely because audiences have found their quirks intriguing and so the writers go too far and Flanderize them. I felt like that happened with Saga in The Bridge.

I’m autistic, diagnosed at 41 and I don’t feel represented on TV or in films. Probably because I’d be quite boring to watch. Whereas someone like Sheldon cooper is quite entertaining to watch.

I feel better for knowing more people related to Data.

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).

The Good Doctor and Sheldon Cooper are good examples.

There she goes,was fabulous and Rosie was the main character, the writer based it on his own daughter who has profound disabilities.

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.

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 .