Neurodiversity in the Media (a rant)

[fogbadge]

I am autistic and as such the depiction of neurodiversity in the media is something a bugbear of mine. For those of you who are unfamiliar neurodiversity refers to people who are what you might call neuro divergent. People with autism, ADD, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia etc. Now everyone in a while I get a good reminder than the way it’s depicted in fiction is very poor. Autism in particular more often than not falls back onto the old stereotypes. But I don’t think any of them are done well in the long run.

For example there is a writer of some renown who wrote stories for his dyslexic and ADD son by writing a character who was misdiagnosed with both. Now someone explained to me that it was meant to be about overcoming societies’ labels. Trouble with that is that they’re not labels, they’re diagnosis that help people. Not only by helping a person understand themselves better but also allows them to get the help they no doubt need in things like school. The person who first saw I had autism didn’t want to diagnose me cause they didn’t believe in labels so I know what that’s like.

Looping back to representation I feel the whole thing is something of a vicious cycle now with most people basing characters with the things on other characters with these things despite the fact that they were wrong to begin with. The most famous book with an autistic lead is The Curious Incident with the Dog in the Night, written by a neurotypical who was too busy writing a massive stereotype to make a good story. The most famous movie, Rain Man which is also perpetuating the stereotypes. And these are the big ones, the most well known which they harm they do can be widespread. But even the lesser known one have proven to be problematic, video games with autistic scientist, comic books associating it with psychopathy, tv series about people who make their kids diagnosis all about them. It’s terrible to witness. And any story where the autistic character is the main character it’s some boring real world where the story is all about being autistic. The amount of fantasy or sci fi stories where the main character is autistic is virtually zero.

This is one of my main reasons for my desire to be a writer cause I think I can do better representation. For autism at least. But alas we live in a capitalist world where only those with the money can make it as a writer and thus the cycle may never break. There’s not really a point here, I’m just venting. I have made similar rants in the past and will probably do more in the future. Thanks for listening if you did.

 

[Sucumbio]

I think the problem is these "disorders" were largely ignored until much more recently, at least in the US. The term "neurotyptical" for instance resides as a normal comeback against resistance to "odd" takes because everyone still secretly believes "normal" is what everyone is. Before this, people were subject to being called all kinds of names cause they either stutter or stare blankly while teased (me) or any number of oddities. Then they started lumping the into psychotherapy categories which allowed for countless people to be electriuted or drugged.

I think spectrums are important because it's the right way to tbh. Just as sexuality and gender are fluid and dynamic so too are our personalities. It scares me that even now the therapies that are mainline in the US involve powerful medicines that can alter reality or have lasting physical discomfort. All so one can be "normal."

 

[fogbadge]

My philosophy is that there’s no such thing as normal

 

[Oracle Link]

I am autistic and as such the depiction of neurodiversity in the media is something a bugbear of mine. For those of you who are unfamiliar neurodiversity refers to people who are what you might call neuro divergent. People with autism, ADD, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia etc. Now everyone in a while I get a good reminder than the way it’s depicted in fiction is very poor. Autism in particular more often than not falls back onto the old stereotypes. But I don’t think any of them are done well in the long run.

For example there is a writer of some renown who wrote stories for his dyslexic and ADD son by writing a character who was misdiagnosed with both. Now someone explained to me that it was meant to be about overcoming societies’ labels. Trouble with that is that they’re not labels, they’re diagnosis that help people. Not only by helping a person understand themselves better but also allows them to get the help they no doubt need in things like school. The person who first saw I had autism didn’t want to diagnose me cause they didn’t believe in labels so I know what that’s like.

Looping back to representation I feel the whole thing is something of a vicious cycle now with most people basing characters with the things on other characters with these things despite the fact that they were wrong to begin with. The most famous book with an autistic lead is The Curious Incident with the Dog in the Night, written by a neurotypical who was too busy writing a massive stereotype to make a good story. The most famous movie, Rain Man which is also perpetuating the stereotypes. And these are the big ones, the most well known which they harm they do can be widespread. But even the lesser known one have proven to be problematic, video games with autistic scientist, comic books associating it with psychopathy, tv series about people who make their kids diagnosis all about them. It’s terrible to witness. And any story where the autistic character is the main character it’s some boring real world where the story is all about being autistic. The amount of fantasy or sci fi stories where the main character is autistic is virtually zero.

This is one of my main reasons for my desire to be a writer cause I think I can do better representation. For autism at least. But alas we live in a capitalist world where only those with the money can make it as a writer and thus the cycle may never break. There’s not really a point here, I’m just venting. I have made similar rants in the past and will probably do more in the future. Thanks for listening if you did.

Granted if you wanna see a story of an autist i am working on Videospiel-Man its about me from another universe as a videogame saving superhero! BTW i already made adjustments to other storys of mine to make the characters not me but i did think heck keep one as yourself but make him flawed! And i can gurante that the main crux of the story is a Superhero/ Isekaish story NOT the real world so im gonna tell you when its up (although the art is ROUGH)

 

[fogbadge]

First of i agree and considering how much modern hollywood pushes Diversity having the biggest and most heavily affected minority get even just half the Extra Push of women (Who lets be honest ARE 50% Sorry nothing personel) would be pretty neat!
Granted if you wanna see a story of an autist i am working on Videospiel-Man its about me from another universe as a videogame saving superhero! BTW i already made adjustments to other storys of mine to make the characters not me but i did think heck keep one as yourself but make him flawed! And i can gurante that the main crux of the story is a Superhero/ Isekaish story NOT the real world so im gonna tell you when its up (although the art is ROUGH)

I don’t follow what you’re saying in the first half

 

[Oracle Link]

I don’t follow what you’re saying in the first half

Its just my frustation for modern media leaking out again i removed it! the main point is the Videospielman part anyways!

 

[fogbadge]

Its just my frustation for modern media leaking out again i removed it! the main point is the Videospielman part anyways!

You have a problem with diversity? Or disingenuous diversity?

 

[Oracle Link]

You have a problem with diversity? Or disingenuous diversity?

Disingenious Diversity!
I mean i watched and enjoyed Owl House, Amphibia, lilo and stitch and Molly Mc Gee to name a few!
Also love Undertale and Deltarune!

 

[Mushroomguy12]

As someone with a diagnosis myself, I do appreciate seeing neurodiversity in the media and seeing positive representation of characters on the spectrum. I think it is something that can happen more.

 

[KneeOfJustice99]

I think it also doesn't help that elements of neurodiversity are still generally discussed in such a clinical tone in common discourse, meaning most people's exposure to what conditions like autism, ADHD, dyslexia and so forth will either be pulled from someone they know (usually not personally, so they'll look to celebrities or fictional characters which just perpetuates the cycle), or they'll be pulled from a WebMD list called something like "Top Ten Autism Moments!! With William Shatner" or something.

The neurodivergent experience is a difficult one to capture (regardless if you're ND or not, imo), but it is possible to get a better understanding of it through research and actually talking to people... but when the most easily accessible resources tend to be really clinical in nature as opposed to, like, relatable ****posts about how water tastes weird, it makes you feel less like you're writing a character and moreso a vaguely humanoid list of features that exclusively responds in pre-determined ways to environmental stimuli like some kind of fictional neurodivergent homunculous.

 

[Champion of Hyrule]

On the topic of autism specifically, I honestly find it really interesting how a lot of characters that aren’t technically stated to be autistic can still resonate with a lot of autistic people’s experiences. A good example would be Data from Star Trek who I see a lot of autists relating to the experiences of but I’m not too familiar with the character so I can’t really comment on it more than that. Recently I even saw someone talking about how Po from Kung Fu Panda can be an effective metoaphor for autism. It does give me hope that even if the portrayals of neurodiversity in media are “other-ing” the experiences of autistic people can still be captured through media and metaphors even if they’re not the sole focus or intent. There’s definitely an interesting question on if it’s better for representation of autism to be explicitly stated by the text or for it to be subtext that anyone can see themselves in.

For full transperancy: I haven’t been officially diagnosed with autism but it is something I’ve thought about myself for years now and I do consider myself on the spectrum. I personally think a lot of media has helped me explore this in other characters in a really positive way, even when other portrayals of autism are uh, not positive. An example is Ichiban from the new Yakuza games who is portrayed as socially awkward and unaware in a lot of ways, and pretty clearly having a hyper fixation on video games which helps him see the world. I don’t think he was explicitly supposed to be autistic but it helps me explore myself through media and helps me to see autism as more of a normal thing which I think is great.

this was long and kinda rambly but tldr is I think neurodivergent experiences can be portrayed very well by characters who might not explicitly meant to be neurodivergent.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

I agree that some characters that might not have been intended as on the spectrum can still be identified with by those who are. I'd attribute that partially to the widely different levels of diagnosis when it comes to function (as it is literally called a spectrum).

 

[fogbadge]

On the topic of autism specifically, I honestly find it really interesting how a lot of characters that aren’t technically stated to be autistic can still resonate with a lot of autistic people’s experiences. A good example would be Data from Star Trek who I see a lot of autists relating to the experiences of but I’m not too familiar with the character so I can’t really comment on it more than that. Recently I even saw someone talking about how Po from Kung Fu Panda can be an effective metoaphor for autism. It does give me hope that even if the portrayals of neurodiversity in media are “other-ing” the experiences of autistic people can still be captured through media and metaphors even if they’re not the sole focus or intent. There’s definitely an interesting question on if it’s better for representation of autism to be explicitly stated by the text or for it to be subtext that anyone can see themselves in.

For full transperancy: I haven’t been officially diagnosed with autism but it is something I’ve thought about myself for years now and I do consider myself on the spectrum. I personally think a lot of media has helped me explore this in other characters in a really positive way, even when other portrayals of autism are uh, not positive. An example is Ichiban from the new Yakuza games who is portrayed as socially awkward and unaware in a lot of ways, and pretty clearly having a hyper fixation on video games which helps him see the world. I don’t think he was explicitly supposed to be autistic but it helps me explore myself through media and helps me to see autism as more of a normal thing which I think is great.

this was long and kinda rambly but tldr is I think neurodivergent experiences can be portrayed very well by characters who might not explicitly meant to be neurodivergent.

i really don't see how anyone can see autism in po. as for data, i have seen people make this comparison before and it really bugs me. not just cause i think star trek is unbearably dull but i hate it when people compare autistics to robots. apart from anything else it leans into the stereotype of emotionally stunned but brilliantly analytical. funny thing is i've seen another character in start trek who would be a much more believable portrayal of autism is he was meant to be one. which i doubt considering the general quality of writing.

can i ask if you've thought about getting diagnosed.

 

[Champion of Hyrule]

i really don't see how anyone can see autism in po. as for data, i have seen people make this comparison before and it really bugs me. not just cause i think star trek is unbearably dull but i hate it when people compare autistics to robots. apart from anything else it leans into the stereotype of emotionally stunned but brilliantly analytical. funny thing is i've seen another character in start trek who would be a much more believable portrayal of autism is he was meant to be one. which i doubt considering the general quality of writing.

can i ask if you've thought about getting diagnosed.

Yeah I can see that but the thing is there are already lots of autistic people who see themselves in the character of Data which I was referring to. If you look at him like a 1 to 1 metaphor for autism it falls apart in some ways but there are a lot of autistic people who see their struggles in the character and even though there should be better examples of intended representation it’s important and good to note there are places where autistic people can find representation. Sorta like how I don’t think the movie Luca is actually about a queer metaphor but I think it’s great that a lot of queer people can see their own stories in it.

As for the Kung Fu Panda thing, I can’t find the video specifically now since I’m in public and kinda don’t wanna look a bunch for a yourube video, but I saw the reasoning in the channel OverlySarcasticProductions video on the last of one’s race trope, it should be one of their more recent videos if you’re interested in it.
Also I am trying to get a diagnosis atm, yes

 

[fogbadge]

Yeah I can see that but the thing is there are already lots of autistic people who see themselves in the character of Data which I was referring to. If you look at him like a 1 to 1 metaphor for autism it falls apart in some ways but there are a lot of autistic people who see their struggles in the character and even though there should be better examples of intended representation it’s important and good to note there are places where autistic people can find representation. Sorta like how I don’t think the movie Luca is actually about a queer metaphor but I think it’s great that a lot of queer people can see their own stories in it.

As for the Kung Fu Panda thing, I can’t find the video specifically now since I’m in public and kinda don’t wanna look a bunch for a yourube video, but I saw the reasoning in the channel OverlySarcasticProductions video on the last of one’s race trope, it should be one of their more recent videos if you’re interested in it.
Also I am trying to get a diagnosis atm, yes

in the case of luca that always felt to me a case of people seeing what they wanted to see. you can read about the making of the film and watching it, it's clearly just a film about friendship so i think that was just the shippers getting carried away. in the case of Data, well i can appreciate that people can related their struggles with him but as i said i think there's another character in the show who is a more realistic example. with data it's just another badly done metaphor for a show that wrote itself into a corner with it's own premise.

it's good that you're trying to get diagnosed. it's very important to know one way or the other