I am autistic and as such the depiction of neurodiversity in the media is something a bugbear of mine. For those of you who are unfamiliar neurodiversity refers to people who are what you might call neuro divergent. People with autism, ADD, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia etc. Now everyone in a while I get a good reminder than the way it’s depicted in fiction is very poor. Autism in particular more often than not falls back onto the old stereotypes. But I don’t think any of them are done well in the long run.
For example there is a writer of some renown who wrote stories for his dyslexic and ADD son by writing a character who was misdiagnosed with both. Now someone explained to me that it was meant to be about overcoming societies’ labels. Trouble with that is that they’re not labels, they’re diagnosis that help people. Not only by helping a person understand themselves better but also allows them to get the help they no doubt need in things like school. The person who first saw I had autism didn’t want to diagnose me cause they didn’t believe in labels so I know what that’s like.
Looping back to representation I feel the whole thing is something of a vicious cycle now with most people basing characters with the things on other characters with these things despite the fact that they were wrong to begin with. The most famous book with an autistic lead is The Curious Incident with the Dog in the Night, written by a neurotypical who was too busy writing a massive stereotype to make a good story. The most famous movie, Rain Man which is also perpetuating the stereotypes. And these are the big ones, the most well known which they harm they do can be widespread. But even the lesser known one have proven to be problematic, video games with autistic scientist, comic books associating it with psychopathy, tv series about people who make their kids diagnosis all about them. It’s terrible to witness. And any story where the autistic character is the main character it’s some boring real world where the story is all about being autistic. The amount of fantasy or sci fi stories where the main character is autistic is virtually zero.
This is one of my main reasons for my desire to be a writer cause I think I can do better representation. For autism at least. But alas we live in a capitalist world where only those with the money can make it as a writer and thus the cycle may never break. There’s not really a point here, I’m just venting. I have made similar rants in the past and will probably do more in the future. Thanks for listening if you did.
I am autistic... Have to admit I love Rainman I think its a great film... the character Raymond has savant syndrome and autism. Some Autistics do adheres to strict routine, my routine is not that strict but I do get annoyed by things being changed and I have known people be a lot worse. I could go in more detail with it but I think the issue is that to many people don't understand the Spectrum part of Autistic Spectrum so they see people like Raymond and go ''Ahhhh ok so this is what Autistic people are like'' the truth is all autistic people are different some will be super worried about routine others not so much.
The best way around this if you want to wright something Shy would be to write a story which features 2 or 3 Autistic people and then show how they can relate to each others experiences but how they are different from each other.
I have written a fair few short stories and 2 novels but I have never focused on Autism. I have focused mostly on horror but have touched on some mental health stuff I Suffer from PTSD and I did a book which was a mix of PTSD and someone being in a fake world that there brain had created to help them.
I have written several stories about autistic people. In fact the five main characters in my first book are all based on people with autism and are themselves autistic. I didn’t go into much cause I didn’t want the stories to be all about them being autistic. Since then my attitudes have changed somewhat and I’ve written more stories about autistic characters were is more prominent but not the sole thing about them. And I have tried to make them varied
shy guy 64 wrote:I have written several stories about autistic people. In fact the five main characters in my first book are all based on people with autism and are themselves autistic. I didn’t go into much cause I didn’t want the stories to be all about them being autistic. Since then my attitudes have changed somewhat and I’ve written more stories about autistic characters were is more prominent but not the sole thing about them. And I have tried to make them varied
The main thing is if you want a change in the world then you need to go out and make the change sometimes.
I have made videos about how I got PTSD, my thoughts about my Autism and I am just putting a video up now about why/how I got fat all because I want people to understand these things more and I think bearing my soul helps.
Respect to you for trying to alter the world around you.
shy guy 64 wrote:This is one of my main reasons for my desire to be a writer cause I think I can do better representation. For autism at least. But alas we live in a capitalist world where only those with the money can make it as a writer and thus the cycle may never break.
I wouldn't give up. I worked with a woman who definitely wasn't wealthy, she has been a published writer for about 10 years now with 4 books published, two of which won awards
shy guy 64 wrote:I have written several stories about autistic people. In fact the five main characters in my first book are all based on people with autism and are themselves autistic. I didn’t go into much cause I didn’t want the stories to be all about them being autistic. Since then my attitudes have changed somewhat and I’ve written more stories about autistic characters were is more prominent but not the sole thing about them. And I have tried to make them varied
The main thing is if you want a change in the world then you need to go out and make the change sometimes.
I have made videos about how I got PTSD, my thoughts about my Autism and I am just putting a video up now about why/how I got fat all because I want people to understand these things more and I think bearing my soul helps.
Respect to you for trying to alter the world around you.
Thanks. I am wanting to do it myself but I do get daunted by it
Outrunner wrote:
shy guy 64 wrote:This is one of my main reasons for my desire to be a writer cause I think I can do better representation. For autism at least. But alas we live in a capitalist world where only those with the money can make it as a writer and thus the cycle may never break.
I wouldn't give up. I worked with a woman who definitely wasn't wealthy, she has been a published writer for about 10 years now with 4 books published, two of which won awards
Thanks. I’m not giving up yet though I do waver quite often. At the very least I’m going down swinging. Or whatever the phrase is
Another big problem I think is that autism is painted with very broad strokes in media. Subtlety is actually a huge part of it, mild autism/Asperger's is referred to by some as a 'hidden disability' for a reason. Many autistic people, as they go through life, learn to construct all kinds of coping skills which lets them function at a higher level.
Although sometimes this tends to lead to isolation and anxiety, but on the outside can seem very high-functioning. But you don't really see that, since TV writers typically want in-your-face visible depictions of everything, so they find it much more interesting to have a character who's at the more severe end of the spectrum.
Which doesn't really help the general public's perception I don't think.
Imrahil wrote:Another big problem I think is that autism is painted with very broad strokes in media. Subtlety is actually a huge part of it, mild autism/Asperger's is referred to by some as a 'hidden disability' for a reason. Many autistic people, as they go through life, learn to construct all kinds of coping skills which lets them function at a higher level.
Although sometimes this tends to lead to isolation and anxiety, but on the outside can seem very high-functioning. But you don't really see that, since TV writers typically want in-your-face visible depictions of everything, so they find it much more interesting to have a character who's at the more severe end of the spectrum.
Which doesn't really help the general public's perception I don't think.
Yeah I wasn't diagnosed till a few years ago, was just considered a eccentric who didn't like to conform a lot of the time when young
Imrahil wrote:Another big problem I think is that autism is painted with very broad strokes in media. Subtlety is actually a huge part of it, mild autism/Asperger's is referred to by some as a 'hidden disability' for a reason. Many autistic people, as they go through life, learn to construct all kinds of coping skills which lets them function at a higher level.
Although sometimes this tends to lead to isolation and anxiety, but on the outside can seem very high-functioning. But you don't really see that, since TV writers typically want in-your-face visible depictions of everything, so they find it much more interesting to have a character who's at the more severe end of the spectrum.
Which doesn't really help the general public's perception I don't think.
Yeah I wasn't diagnosed till a few years ago, was just considered a eccentric who didn't like to conform a lot of the time when young
i know people who didn't get diagnosed until recently and i despair when i look back at how school was for them
