Writing Autistics
do
- ask us for our help and input
- listen to what we tell you
- respect us as unique individuals
- remember we have feelings
- give us subtle, complex motivations
- portray adults as well as children
don’t
- ridicule our differences
- treat us as objects of pity
- assume our goal is to be like you
- use our behaviours as a running joke
- fall into lazy, outdated stereotyping
- expect praise just for mentioning us
This is exactly why I find Big Bang Theory so cringeworthy to watch. Both actor and writer says they did not write an autistic person, but they clearly did. And yes, it is sometimes refreshingly recognizable to see Sheldon do or say certain things. But there is no getting around the fact that Sheldon basically is the butt of the joke. His behaviours are ridiculed, and it is clear that we should all strive to be not him.
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I never saw the appeal of BBT: cringeworthy is exactly it. And I do not enjoy that feeling, so I usually avoid shows like that. Atypical, the new Netflix one, is worse. Much worse, to the point where I had to keep pausing the episode and taking a break, just to get through it. If I wasn’t intending to blog about it I’d have given up after about 5 minutes.
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