Let’s face it: Atypical,
The Good Doctor, and Sesame Street have peaked in terms of
autistic representation. Most of these
have become face-value stereotypes and draw a lot of controversy from the
autistic community for making autism the butt of a joke in addition to failing
to cast autistic actors to play autistic characters. While some of them did make some effort to
reach out to autistic people for consultation (Sesame Street did contact the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, an
autistic-approved, autistic-run organization) these shows portrayals of
autistic individuals are informed mostly by groups like Autism Speaks—whose
message about autism is toxic on every level—and groups like Talk About Curing
Autism, the National Autism Association, the Autism Research Institute, and the
Autism Society of America—whose views are similarly problematic. Besides that, these shows reached out to
parents, siblings and family members of autistic people (whose views can be
extremely myopic)—not autistic people themselves. If these shows were to do that with any other
minority, they would certainly draw criticism from the public.
So,
instead of shows that are vaguely and inconsistently informed by non-autistics,
what about shows derived from sources that are shaped by autistics at every
level? I’m talking about comic books,
autobiographies, books and other media by autistic people, about autistic
people. They could have moments that
make us laugh and cry, as well as shed light on autistic relationships
(including LGBTQIA people). Some would
be fiction, semi-fiction, and some could be real-life as well, similar to FX
making The Assassination of Gianni Versaci and
Trust: a Getty’s Family Saga. Assuming said owners of this sources would be
willing to have a show adaptation (or movie) I had these few ideas in mind:
The Life of an Aspie
Not to be confused with The Life of an Aspie blog by activist Alyssa Marie Huber (which is
fantastic, and Alyssa has a novel Vael that would make a fantastic TV show as well), this is an on-line comic done by
autistic Twitter personality Aspi3Gam3r about a sixteen-year old orphaned
autistic teenage girl who sent to a Japanese boarding school run by her
grandmother. The comic includes the
grandmother trying to be a good guardian to the girl (named Susan Graham) while
stopping her granddaughter’s behavior from damaging her career. It also includes Susan taking lessons in Manga
comic drawing, her relationship with her sixteen year-old roommate and
learning to resolve her issues with the school’s counselor. Unlike Aspi3Gam3r’s Twitter page (which often shows heated political opinions), The
Life of an Aspie is very non-political and is something many autistics
could relate to. Here’s one show that
could have a female character, and possibly challenge the stereotype in the
media that autistic individuals are always plain-looking or unattractive.
Born on a Blue Day
Based on the autobiography Born on a Blue Day by British autistic savant Daniel Tammot, this
show could show the existence of autistic savants without making the same
mistakes that Rain Man did. As a main character, Tammot could also give a
voice to living with epilepsy. Falling more under the category of drama, the show
could depict the feelings of Daniel’s family as he goes off to Lithuania, since
all parents, regardless of their nationality worry about their children going
off to foreign countries. Daniel’s
character would also be a break from the portrayal of autism in the media,
which seems to mostly show heterosexual characters too.
Conspiracy of Birds
Written by autistic Trevor McKee, Conspiracy of Birds is a comic series about the adventures of a
character very much like the author that demonstrate the bizarreness of social
rules and expectations. This could be an
opportunity for a show with light-hearted hi-jinx that also forces neurotypical
audience members to be more open-minded and respectful of autistic traits.
Look Me in the Eye, by John Elder Robison
While Robison is the center of controversy among some
autistics for a few of his viewpoints (most recently his support of TMS Therapy
for autism), this show could give light to older autistics who are severely
ignored by the media (Robison did not get diagnosed until he was thirty-nine
years old, twenty-one years ago), and could have anecdotes about living with
autism relatable to most autistics. This
TV series could also include stories from one of Robison’s other memoirs Raising Cubby about fathering his son
with an autistic woman, and serve to dispel the myth that autistics can’t be
good parents. A compelling episode that
might be a possibility for this series could focus on Robison’s resignation
from Autism Speaks in 2013 to protest their continued backwards ways, which
attracted a lot of publicity, and delivered a serious blow to AS’s reputation.
Growing Up Aspie-A Comic by Nathan McConnell
A widely popular published hit in the autistic community,
Growing Up Aspie is a series of comic
strips the author dealing with his childhood and young adulthood as an
autistic. In addition to sometimes
making you laugh, these strips have an amazing ability to make you feel the
pain the McConnell feels due to being discriminated for being autistic. Whoever makes this idea into a show might
also consider portraying the NTs in McConnell’s life the way he draws them: as
phantom-like creatures in reference to how they force on him a social standard
that he can never life up to, however hard he tries. This series could also show the love story
between McConnell and his wife, Candace, and their first child born as the book
was being published. Some story lines
about interactions with in-laws could be good too.
The Rosie Project
Though this source (a novel) is written by a
non-autistic—Australian author Graeme Simsion—its portrayals of autism bare
some merit. The novel follows Don
Tillman, an autistic professor (something I can relate to, since I work at a
university) and his experience in love with a bipolar woman, Rosie. There is a sequel to this book that the movie
could cover—not to give too much about the story away, although it has been out
for several years. Originally, it was
set to be a movie starring Ryan Reynolds and Jennifer Lawrence, though
Lawrence, angered that she was being discriminated against in pay due to her gender, quit the project and wrote an article about it to Lena Dunham’s “Lenny
Letter.” Due to her experiences, JLaw
may not wish to have a role in a television adaptation of the novel, but that
does not mean this sort of series couldn’t be made.
Michael McCreary-Aspie Comic comedy-based sitcom
Michael McCreary is a twenty year-old autistic comedian with a huge social media following
who has long been disproving the stereotype that autistics don’t have a sense
of humor. In the same way Seinfeld made
a show based off his comedy antics, it might be funny to see McCreary be the
center of a show based around his own comedy routine.
Plus+…an Extended Universe TV Series about Harry Potter’s Hermione Granger
While Hermione has never been verified to be an autistic
character, I have heard from several autistics who say that she demonstrates
many characteristics of Asperger syndrome herself. A series could follow Hermione before
Hogwarts, where she is a doubly-marked girl in a British muggle school both for
her autism and the fact that, like all young witches and wizards, she makes
things happen that she can’t explain, particularly when she is angry or
scared. Fast-forward to her time at
Hogwarts showing the events of the books from Hermione’s perspective, the
wizarding view of neurodiverse people (surely there are autistic and non-neurotypical
witches and wizards in the Harry Potter
universe—no jokes about Ron, please), and her shifting back-and-forth between
wizard and muggle cultures as a muggle-born witch. Fast-forward to her adult years. Can you get a diagnosis from wizarding
professionals? Imagine how hard it could
be for Hermione to get a diagnosis from a muggle doctor without letting slip
that she is a witch and exposing the wizarding world, on top of trying to get a
diagnosis as a woman and an adult (and possibly a black British woman, as seen
in the fan-made show Hermione Granger and the Quarter Life Crisis). The show could
also deal with Hermione’s revelations of how she is (why she kissed Harry in
public, was stubborn about rules despite frequently breaking them, and why she
was always willing to do Harry’s and Ron’s homework) and her regrets from her
life during the Wizarding War, her life as a politician, wife, and mother, and
her struggle to say the right thing to survivors of the Wizarding War as
Minister of Magic, in comforting her husband Ron and other in-laws over the
death of his brother Fred, and in trying to explain to her children the
tragedies of the Wizarding War. In
addition, the show could provide story lines about quack wizards who hawk fake
magical cures for autism, in the same way doctors peddle fake cures for autism
in the “muggle” world, leading to attempts to capture them and subsequent
wizard duels with aurors Harry and Ron. And being autistic, a woman, and muggle-born, Hermione is a
triple+-minority, and that could add a good angle to Hermione’s post-war story
as she campaigns for the rights of house elves. Also, does Hogwarts provide accommodations for learning-disabled
students? This could be another subplot
in the story of fulfilling the post-Wizarding War promise of accepting all
wizards.
