Dear Hollywood,
Please stop making movies “about autism”.
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Can you imagine if you released a movie about a “person with green eyes” and said,
“It’s okay because we have surveyed a lot of people with green eyes and tried to be true to ALL of their experiences. As a result, we present this “well-rounded” representation of everyone with green eyes.”
People would (hopefully) see this as ridiculous and be dumbfounded or outraged.
Everyone understands that autism is a spectrum, but it’s still generalized and universalized (where one experience stands in for all). Each individual experiences and/or shows their autistic traits uniquely- even if some experiences speak to a large part of the group.
Instead, present it as a movie about a person who happens to have autism and deals with it and life in this ONE UNIQUE personalized way. Allow it be a movie where some may relate to aspects of, but not the whole, and DOESN’T represent all of the people in that space of the spectrum, much less everyone who has autism.
I strongly recommend checking out “The Autistic Gardener” with Alan Gardner, a TV show that presented a small variety of traits and the wonderful characteristics of high-functioning autism (aka ‘Aspergers’). There are just two precious seasons since Alan Gardner, rightly, chose to put his health first, rather than business. (Selfishly, I long for more seasons because Alan Gardner’s sense of humour makes my day).
Thank you.
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