10 Things That Would Improve Autistic Media Representation

The portrayal of autistic people in entertainment can be improved.

1. Autistic Characters Who Are Women, People of Color, And/Or Members of the Lgbt Community

Yes, people who are not cis, straight, and white boys can be autistic. A surprising number of people don’t know that. And our stories deserve to be part of the mainstream autistic canon. Autistic women and/or people of color are often diagnosed later in life than white boys because people, sometimes without realizing it, do not expect the traits to come up in people who are not white boys.

2. Nonverbal or Selectively Mute Characters

Nonverbal autistic people are a part of the community that is often ignored and misunderstood. People often conflate inability to talk with inability to think or to communicate in other ways. Other times, they are treated as objects of pity instead of complex human beings. Maybe if well-written nonverbal characters were more common, more people would abandon these mindsets.

3. Autistic Characters with Expertise in Fields Other than Math, Science, and Computers

The autistic math and science genius is one of allistic people's favorite stereotypes. In some ways, it is positive. However, it is important that the media reflect that autistic people have interests in all fields and that we do not have to be extra good at something people value to "make up for" our disability.

4. Autistic Characters in Romantic Relationships, Especially with Other Autistic People

An absurd number of people think autistic people can't be in romantic relationships, or that if we are, it's because our partners are saints for putting up with us. It may not be as easy for us as it is for some of our neurotypical peers, but plenty of people on the spectrum date and get married, often to each other. It is far past time for the media to treat that as normal, not an anomaly.

5. Autistic Characters Whose Singleness Is Not Framed as a Result of Their Autism or as Something to Be Pitied and Fixed

On the other hand, autistic or not, not everyone falls in love. And that's not always a bad thing. They may be asexual/aromantic, they might simply not like dating, or they might think of themselves as better off alone. The idea that single people need to be "fixed" by setting them up in a monogamous, heteronormative relationship runs rampant through fiction and can be harmful to people who struggle with dating.

6. More than One Significant Autistic Character in the Same Cast

I can't think of any movie, TV show, or book that has more than one significant autistic character. Like with other minorities, many writers think that having more than one character who is not "the default" is unrealistic.

7. Autistic Parents

It blows a lot of people’s minds when I tell them that my dad is on the spectrum. People who have never met him before picture reductive stereotypes and are shocked that he could have raised me to turn out okay. The idea that disabled people cannot be good parents is a widespread misconception that harms disabled people and their children.

8. Autistic Characters in Stories That Are Not Specifically about Autism

It bothers me that most of the stories that involve autistic characters are explicitly about autism. We exist all the time, not just when we're teaching you a lesson. I want more stories that have characters who are stated to be autistic without their autism being a major theme of the show. The same can be said for the way several other minorities are portrayed in fiction.

9. Autistic Actors Playing Autistic Characters

"But, Lauren, autistic people can't act because they can't understand other people's minds."

First of all, "autistic people can't understand other people's minds" is a massive over-simplification. Second of all, a lot of us act all the time in situations where we are expected to appear "normal." So it shouldn't be that surprising that, yes, autistic actors do exist and need to find work. In fact, Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins was diagnosed with Asperger's as an adult.

10. Autistic People on Writing Staffs

It is unsurprising, yet disappointing how many movies and TV shows about autism get produced without any input from autistic people, especially since everything most neurotypical people know about us is inaccurate. A popular rallying cry in the autistic self-advocate community is "nothing about us without us" and this needs to apply to all aspects of the media. I am not saying that every show with an autistic lead needs to also have an autistic head screenwriter, but I think having at least one person on the spectrum in the writer's room would go a long way to ensure that the portrayal is respectful.