one-A-N wrote:
What does the writer/director actually know about being autistic? Yes, I think the idea of an autistic person surviving an apocalypse is interesting, but a lot depends on the director and how well they understand autism. The temptation will be to pile on stereotypes and misconceptions (e.g. we cannot understand figures of speech, we are computational robots, we have no feelings, we are really just NTs inside trying to break out of our "shell", etc).
Her source of knowledge is from her parents, one of which is a psychiatrist (and one of his specialities is autism) and the other is a physical therapist, as well as reading material such as Oliver Sacks and Temple Grandin. From what we have so far it's obvious she knows more about autism than just stereotypes, but you're right, she is no expert and does not have autism herself.
AspergersActor8693 wrote:
I like the idea, but as one-A-N said, it has to be done without falling towards general assumptions and stereotypes. Ideally, the autistic character would be played by someone who has autism. That would be a truly genuine experience of the story concept. But Aspie performers I assume are few and far between if they exist at all.
The director is the actor for the character, so that is that.