Entry #8: I Exist, Too

The Elephant (Not) on the Screen

Disclaimer: This post is not meant to dismiss or minimize the struggles of people of color, women, LGBTQ+ people, or any other marginalized community. Rather, I want to highlight an additional group of marginalized people who also need advocacy and widespread education, as this blog is specifically about autism.

    Welcome back, readers! How much media do you consume? Adults in the United States spend just over 50% of their day consuming some form of media. In the past decade, leaps and bounds have been made to expand the diversity in the media. There are more movies centered around the accomplishments of people of color, there are more TV shows showcasing the complex lives of women in history, and there are videos on the internet educating others about the struggles of marginalized groups like the LGBTQ+ community.

    Despite all the recent advancements in representation, time and time again, one group continues to be either misrepresented or not represented at all. Disabled people, despite being the largest minority group in the world, continue to be largely misunderstood. This is due, in part, to the way we are represented in the media. Because information is constantly being updated and the world is constantly learning how to be more sensitive towards others (or at least trying to), part of the misinformation in media is due to the ever changing world. However, I'd say most of it is due to prejudice. More often than not, directors and actors either don't do proper research, or gather information from secondary sources. Let me explain.

Unheard Voices

    Many disabled people have spoken out about the disbelief or infantilization the general public has toward disabled people. For some unknown reason (ableism), many people--whether subconscious or not--tend not to listen to the voices of disabled people. In general, when we try to advocate for ourselves, voice concerns for our health, or talk about our health in general, we are met with puzzled looks, stereotypes, and dismissal of our experiences. For example, people with chronic physical disabilities are often told their pain is "not that bad" or that since they "look fine" they are not in as much pain as they're voicing. 

    Autism Speaks serves as another big example. Autism Speaks is an organization that prides itself on helping autistic children and their families, however they are widely known in the autistic community as a hate group. Only 1% of their budget goes to family programs. Even if they did provide the services they claim to provide, they constantly advocate for the restraint of autistic children, which can result in physical harm, further mental distress, and trauma. Much of their budget actually goes to marketing and "awareness." They make sure to promote their false information and hatred of autistic people. They also spend their money on unethical research into cures for autism. News Flash: Most autistic people do not want a cure. We just want to exist. Autism Speaks had one (1) autistic person on its board of directors. He was only added after outrage about the lack of representation and promptly left after realizing the organization has no respect for people like him. They do not listen to autistic people and they do not care about us. This is exactly what I mean by "secondary sources."

    When creating media that attempts to include disabled people, people look to resources like Autism Speaks and people who do not have first hand experience. This includes parents and family members, by the way! No matter how much parents and other family members think they know about their loved one's disability, they will never truly understand. I'm absolutely not saying they can't advocate for their loved ones, either. I just think their advocacy should stem from actual disabled people. It's important to listen rather than talk over. Nothing about us without us.

The Representation of One

    Specifically regarding autism, too many shows and movies that provide autism representation only display one bland copy-pasted template. They are usually male, white, straight, speaking, and a savant. A perfect example of this is Dr. Murphy from The Good Doctor. Although I absolutely love this show, over-representation of a very stereotypical presentation of autism only leads to further misunderstanding. 

    Autism was long thought to be a male only issue. Autistic girls weren't even thought of (let alone autistic adults). Different cultures were not accounted for, either. Most if not all research done on autism in the past only accounted for the way it presents in white male children. The cultural differences of Black people, Latinos, Native Americans, Asians, and other people of color can massively impact the way their autism presents. Their traits may display differently and can end up being more difficult to recognize. On top of that, autistic people are more likely to be LGBTQ+ than the rest of the population. All of these facets are highly important to include in autistic representation as autism itself is a wide spectrum.

    Not only does The Good Doctor provide a stereotypical representation, it furthers harmful stereotypes such as that autistic people are robotic and savants. In the show, Dr. Murphy speaks in an overly monotone, robotic voice. He has trouble making eye-contact, often appearing to have a blank stare. He also has trouble displaying sympathy and empathy. These are all exaggerated traits that contribute to the robotic image. Murphy also has savant syndrome, an extremely rare condition in which a person has an incredible talent or ability. Dr. Murphy is a medical genius. He is constantly coming up with new ways to solve medical emergencies, going as far as literally picturing his textbooks and diagrams in his head perfectly. Although savant syndrome and photographic memories may be slightly more common with autism, they are not all we are.

   (I cannot speak on this movie because I have not seen it, but I know Rain Man is another good example of this if you'd like to read about it.)

Representation in the Dark

    More often than not, the best autistic representation is one where the characters were not intended to be autistic at all. Recently, Netflix's Wednesday came out and it is incredible. Though it is true that both Murphy from The Good Doctor and Wednesday share a monotone demeanor, Wednesday undoubtedly executes autistic representation leagues better. The representation in Wednesday is amazing because the character isn't explicitly autistic. When a character is meant to be autistic, often the creators oversaturate and exaggerate the autism in an attempt to make it clear to the audience HEY THIS PERSON IS AUTISTIC!!! This is the case with characters like Dr. Murphy. The creators of Wednesday and similar characters didn't purposefully give their character autistic traits to be autistic. They're just meant to be weird. A bit strange. And we love it.

    Throughout the show, Wednesday Addams displays hallmark characteristics of autism in the most natural way. She has sensory sensitivities, wearing only black and claiming to have physical reactions to any color. She has an insistence for sameness and routine, getting upset when her roommate tries to disrupt her scheduled writing time. She has an incredibly strong sense of justice, trying to solve a mystery at her school and becoming extremely upset when others won't help her solve it. She displays extreme black and white thinking. Even her teacher tells her the world isn't black and white, but shades of gray, to which Wednesday replies "Maybe for you." She has intense, focused interests such as writing her novel, investigation, and everything dark and grim. She is absolutely a perfect representation of autism.

Still Not Enough

    Despite sometimes decent performances, most autistic characters in the media are played by allistic--non-autistic--people. This is a massive problem because it is seen by the community as caricaturing the lives of real people. No one knows autism better than autistic people. Though I've only seen clips of the show, Quinni from the Australian TV show Heartbreak High is what the community is striving for. She is one of very few autistic characters actually played by an autistic actor. That's what I'm talking about! Quinni is played by Chloe Hayden, autism advocate and TikTok personality. Quinni is probably the best example of autistic representation I've ever seen. She is openly autistic and most importantly, I cannot stress this enough, the actress is actually autistic.

    Throughout the show, Quinni displays autistic traits such as insistence on sameness and routine, dysregulation and meltdowns when she is overwhelmed, and selective mutism during shutdowns. This is crucial for autistic representation. Often when going into a shutdown (see above links for more info), autistic people become extremely overwhelmed and uncontrollably lose the ability or energy to speak. I've personally experienced this myself and let me tell you, it took me by surprise. I had never experienced something like that before. I simply couldn't utter any words for hours. 

    The depiction of non-speaking autistics in the past has been anything but fair. The media always depicts them as unintelligent creatures, unaware of the world around them. In reality, even autistics who don't speak have rich inner lives. This video highlights the experience of one non-speaking autistic woman. Even though I don't agree with some of the way the story is conveyed (it treats the woman like a zoo exhibit), I urge you to watch this. It makes me cry every time. My heart aches for all the autistic people who are not provided the opportunity to communicate in ways that aren't just speaking.

    From what I've seen, not only does the show treat Quinni as a normal person, it treats Quinni as a normal autistic person. She is funny, intelligent, and interesting. She is not just her autism, but the show doesn't ignore her obvious autistic traits. It goes in depth about her autism, showcasing her meltdowns, her struggles, and her friends' acceptance of her. That's all we want. Autistic people need to be included. That doesn't mean the entire show or character has to be all about their autism. It just means it's shown and not ignored. It's normalized. It's "This thing is happening to this character. This thing is apart of this character's life. This thing is also not the only thing about this character."

A Bright Light Ahead

    As my generation grows and becomes the majority, I have increasing hope that representation for all groups will become less of a problem and more of a norm. Although characters such as Dr. Murphy represent some autistic people, there needs to be a larger variety in the presentations of autism shown. Characters like Wednesday provide excellent representation, however these characters are unintended to be autistic. This representation is quiet. Quinni is a model example of what autistic representation should be. She breaks the mold of a "traditional" autism image. She presents as feminine, she is expressive and empathetic, and she is shown as a full human being with a rich, interesting life that's not all about her autism. I hope to see understanding of autism grow and acceptance become more widespread as characters like Quinni continue to represent people like me. Thank you for reading.