Love on the Spectrum was fun to watch. The characters were vulnerable and real. They weren’t pretending to be something they’re not to seem like a more appealing romantic partner, which is how I’ve seen most NT dating shows play out. I remember that when I first started watching it, I thought, “Wow, how refreshing. Finally, a reality TV show about normal people.” Then, I realized I thought that because the show was about people like me, whereas most reality TV shows I’ve seen tend to have loud, reactive, and difficult characters that end up causing a lot of drama.

I’ve never really liked the Big Bang Theory though lots of people have recommended it to me. Something with the way they portray the characters feels off. It’s like they are too extreme or stereotypical, and we’re supposed to find that funny. Nope. Also, one of the characters, despite being autistic and me trying to understand him, is still a jerk.

So far, Atypical has been my favorite! The dude is soooo much like me. I loved it. It was so validating that I was just cracking up the whole time. I was like, “O.M.G!! Someone out there gets it too!” I binged watched that series in less than a week. My one complaint with the show is that the whole focus of the show is on autism rather than life in general. Rather than have an autistic character with their difficulties play out, the focus is often on autism. Everyone is frequently talking about autism. I get that’s the point of the show, and it seems like the show is more tailored to NT family members of auties, so that makes sense. I’m just sharing my opinion from my perspective. I still like it a lot though.

The other depictions I can think of are Forrest Gump and Rain Man. Before I knew I was autistic, my jerk of a father made me watch Rain Man and tried to get me to sympathize with Tom Cruise’s character, which I didn’t. I just felt bad for Raymond. Regarding Forrest Gump, I used to watch that movie like 4 times/year by myself. I did this before I knew I was autistic too. The things that appealed to me from the movie were seeing the progress of American culture throughout that time period, how simple Forrest was, and how he was just navigating the world. I also liked that despite everyone, including himself, thought that he was stupid, he reached great achievements! Medal of Honor, started a successful shrimping business, ran enough to motivate the country, etc. Yet, he stayed just as humble as he always was because to him, they weren’t extraordinary or special. He was just being himself ❤️

I would like to see a show with an autistic character that masks in most public places except for with family and close friends. It would also be nice if they didn’t discuss autism nearly all the time. Instead, the person has their struggles, but they learn to manage them and navigate life through processes, systems, and helpful friends. For example, the character is talking to someone that casually brings up a special interest, so the character drops an infodump bomb completely unaware the other person was not interested in that. The conversation goes awry, leaving the character confused. They later get home and run that interaction by an NT friend which interprets the NT meaning of the interaction. Or, they get home from masking at work and start stimming, singing, and talking to their fake audience. Maybe they complain every time they’re low on groceries and have to go to the market, then make a list categorized by aisle, and you see them go shopping with headphones on and sunglasses. Then, they eat the same thing for dinner all week. The point is to portray the autism in a way that shows our lives are different from NT lives, but that is not the central point. Kind of like if they made a show about a Black family in the US, they wouldn’t be talking about racism and affirmative action every single show. Yeah, they would experience it, but rather than make the topic the central point, we see how they experience and navigate it when it comes up, but the central focus is the family and their culture. I would loveeee something like that for autism!

Usually coded depictions of autism >>> canon depictions of autism.

Unless you have someone who is incredibly subtle with autism, it’s going to increase prejudice in many cases. For example, if all the autistic characters are weird and don’t make eye contact, it means they’re more likely to not be hired to quickly fired from retail type jobs.

The big bang theory is an abomination

I might have a different take, there is some pretty poor representation in media. Some of the best examples are not stated out loud. My issue is the discourse around it. Take “I am a surgeon” line from the Good Doctor. If you talk to an Autistic person the common complaint is the acting. Though the online discussion tends to be majority neurotypicals who are mocking the break down itself. There is no context of over stimulation and the disrespect he was feeling from his supervisor or whoever it was showing them.

My problem is all those things you are wondering plus it can be damaging and maddening. If you met one autistic person, who’ve met one autistic person and media does a piss poor job of representing this.