Autism in Media: A particular representation

The fictional media tends to differentiate autistic characters into four categories: magical/savant, “different”/quirky, undiagnosed/unlabelled, and realistic portrayals. Most of the characters are high-functioning and verbal, which does not represent most of the community. There is also a lack of diversity in the representation of autism in mainstream media; even if in the last years there has been an increase in it, it still does not represent the reality of the community.

The magical/savant is one of the unrealistic categories, where the autistic person is elevated above the average person thanks to their unique abilities. Even if it is possible to be a savant having autism, it is very unusual. A well-known film in this section is Rain Man (1988), where Raymond has essential cognitive and social deficiencies but has excellent visual memory and is notably good with numbers.

The “different”/quirky category represents a character that, even if it is considered to be on the autism spectrum, their unusual behaviour is made to be due to their personality and not because of their label as autistic. They fit in society because they embrace their differences and have something unique, not necessarily in line with a realistic representation. Legally Blonde (2001) is a comedy film where the character is never labelled as being on the autistic spectrum, but it shares some of the characteristics like having a deep knowledge about her interests or the use of pink as a way to create a fixed routine in her life. However, these characteristics are always expressed as a part of her personality and not as a part of a possible diagnosis.

The undiagnosed/unlabelled category portrays characters who have not been labelled as autistic but who show symptoms of autism. Abed Nadir from the sitcom Community (2009) is a clear example of an undiagnosed autism spectrum, although another character in the first episode points it out because he is very blunt and lacks social clues. However, during the duration of the series, it was never confirmed.

The last category of autistic characters is realistic portrayals. They correlate with the criteria in the DSM-5, and they are not portrayed excessively negatively or positively or have unique characteristics. A recent TV series that shows a realistic portrayal of a person on the autism spectrum is Atypical (2017), a coming-of-age comedy-drama centred around the life of a teenager with autism. The case of this series is fascinating because the first season received a lot of criticism for its lack of realism. However, in the following seasons, the studio hired autistic writers and actors, which allowed Atypical to become one of the series with accurate representation of the community.

Outside of the fictional media representation, we can find documentaries that show a much more realistic portrayal because they film people inside the autism spectrum in different factual situations. Documentaries have biases and don’t show an impartial view of autism. However, they do not show unrealistic behaviours. Normal People Scare Me (2006) is a documentary directed by Taylor Cross, a teenage autistic boy, and his mother, Keri Bowers, in which they interview autistic people and some of their relatives about the difficulties of being labelled autistic. It is based on a 10-minute short film they made in 2004 and is available on YouTube. The film is extraordinary in showing the variety of abilities and ages that can be found within the group. College-educated adults, “ordinary” children, and a nonverbal young adult voice their opinions about their diagnosis.

To approach the reality of living on the autism spectrum to society is necessary to have their representation in mainstream media, a powerful and accessible tool to show other different ways of living. One of the areas where autistic people suffer more exclusion is in the schools since the system is made for neurotypical people. The media can be used in schools to teach about autism spectrum disorder. If you combine it with e-learning, it allows the students to receive the information in a more interactive way.

Our project, ELSupport, aims to decrease the exclusion of digital environments for autistic students. Moreover, we want to offer materials and tools for teachers and parents to improve their training related to neurodiverse people. E-learning is an opportunity to create a learning environment adaptable to all human diversity, but you need the knowledge and the tools to make it possible.