Autism and A word

[iem0128]

Watched A word with intense scrutiny. If you have an autistic child, do you go into their bubble and follow the bubble from the inside or do you take the child out of the bubble.. Share your experience please?

Do you take the child to the same place where he finds the rabbit to release it? What do you think of the series?

As an ALN teacher to children with ASC and having a DS with Down's Syndrome, I think the series gets some stuff right, but other stuff wrong. I felt like both the characters of Joe and Ralph were written by people who had read about people with Autism and Down's Syndrome but had not met many people with those conditions. Neither characters seem to have much depth, but yet the program is meant to be 'about' a child with a SN. Instead, it focuses too much on how their families and friends see/perceive them or their personal issues.
Just my personal opinion, but it would have been nice for once to see a character with SN be given depth and individualism rather than to be seen as an extention of the characters around them.

I agree @NagevMama. The disabled people in the series are just the “situation” in this. We know nothing about them at all

@Itisbetter I'm sure there are are children whose Autism presents like Joe's, but I'm yet to meet a child with ASC who you never see a glimmer of understanding from like Joe.
I like that the characters with Down's Syndrome weren't portrayed as the usual 'always happy but never competant', but I also felt like Ralph lacked personality, he comes across as though he does have opinions or care about anything.
I also wonder what the point was to hire a brilliant actor like Sarah Gordy and do very little with her character. She's such a talent, but yet it felt like the director thought 'stick a woman in with DS, she' ll do'.

*doesn't have opinions

None of the disabled children/young adults ever get angry or have any big emotions. The children with ASD I know have HUGE emotions unbounded and Pretty much unfettered by social setting. To me the most “autistic” character is the Mum. I quite enjoy watching it but do mutter a lot ...quite cathartic really

@Itisbetter absolutely! I will still watch it purely due to representation, the great music and the beautiful Lake District scenery 😁

I watched the first two series of this but won’t be watching the third. It was like nails going down a blackboard the whole time - so not sure why I watched so many episodes. Horrible fascination I guess! The way they present autism is totally off - Joe seems like a character written by someone who has never actually met a child with ASD. It drives me insane thinking that millions of people watch this thinking it is an accurate portrayal of the condition.

And yes, why is a child with severe autism never featured on tv?

I'm with Worldweary45 on this:
What I do like about the A word is that it explores the dynamics around the wider family
My DS is nearly 25, severe ASD, LD, non-verbal and challenging behaviour. I usually can't bear to watch autism on telly but I think this is very good, by far the best I've seen on TV.

Mine has Autism/ADHD/OCD and a number of other things including developmental delay and severe LD's.

I asked a question

herewww.mumsnet.com/Talk/telly_addicts/3900507-The-A-Word?watched=1&msgid=96430646#96430646

and Ive just sent a message there by mistake! meant to be on this thread! Doh! That will egt some replies for sure!