Portrayal of Autism - Your Views

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Hi guys. I was wondering what other people on the spectrum think of the way autistics/aspies are portrayed in the media and by the larger autism organizations.

Every time I see something in the media about autism such a documentary, I always feel they have gone out of their way to find individuals on the spectrum who have the greatest amount of disabilities and needs. I always feel they have embarked on their mission not with the intent to find out what autism is and what it means for the individual living on the spectrum, but to show autism in a negative way.

I often wonder whether I am some super rare aspie, one who does not feel he suffers from the problems shown in the media or at-least not to the extent shown. But then I also spent as much time wondering whether I'm a common aspie and that most feel as normal as I do, and just it seems like there are more problems then there are when reading specifically about autism/aspergers.

For example, the past week or two there have been a few people posting about their bad first weeks experience at university on here, but to the best of my knowledge no one has posted about a positive first week at university. This could make it seem like university is a real struggle for those on the spectrum but in reality, there may be 10 times more aspies who had a positive experience and just didn't post it. I am one of them, it was my first week back at uni too (different class, so I'm in the same situation as a newcomer) and I LOVED it. The entire class would already consider each other friends and we been out most of the week exploring the the local night clubs. I even had to do what most people would consider a nightmare, ASD or not, and stand up at the front of the lecture hall in front of ~150 students all looking down for about 30minutes (if you haven't seen one, their like a semi circle of seats with each row higher than the previous one all pointing directly at a tiny space at the bottom where the lecturer stands). Fine, doesn't bother me, I'm now the most easily recognized student of all the classes in the hall.

So how do you guys feel? Do you feel the media offers up a fair portrayal of you? Or do you feel there is some exaggeration in the media that doesn't represent the majority of the autistic community, which could lead to other people feeling the need to speak slow/patronize us?

I realize my post can sound like "autistics problems aren't real their just making it up". That's not how I meant it to come across so sorry if it offends anyone.

My AS is mild as well and I wasn't dx'd until my 40's so I basically had to learn to function like everyone else, mainly because I thought I was like everyone else. My problems aren't as severe as other's and I've also learned to tolerate a lot and to control a lot. I do have my quirks and preferences, and they are AS things, but I've thought of them as quirks and preferences for so long that it's hard to think of them as symptoms now, especially when I'm able to control them.

Being diagnosed didn't do anything major in my life and wasn't a big deal, it only explained myself to me and helped me figure myself out better and know why I felt the way I did about some things and was the way I was at times.

They show people with more problems on the documentaries, etc because people without problems wouldn't be as interesting.

Which documentary about autism do you think would attract more viewers; one about a moderate functioning classically autistic person who struggles to do some of the things that others take for granted, or one about a high functioning AS person who you can't really tell has autism unless he tells you and the only things you notice about him are that when certain obscure topics come up he will be happy to talk about them until he bores others and he just reads odd books?

ETA; I think they go for one of two themes with those documentaries. Showing the lower functioning kids and adults and the problems they have and their parents and caregivers have seems to be geared toward motivating people to want to do something to help, whether its to contribute to research for treatments or to help petition lawmakers to increase funding for their care, etc. Showing the moderately functioning kids and adults who are able to do some of the things that others do, but who will never be fully independent seems to be more of a "feel good" type thing to show how people can overcome adversity.

Again, those without even moderate problems are just not interesting.

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I'm giving it another shot. We will see.
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This thread has inspired me to include a character based on myself in my next story. Don't expect a touching story of overcoming adversity though, I'm going over the top caricature mode. Amphetamine addict, looks like Rasputin, sounds like an American Brian Blessed, says things you'd expect from a guy doing a Quentin Tarantino impression to say, only he ain't joking (but he pretends he was when the speed wears off), talks as fast as he can think, regularly trips on mescaline with a pal who claims to be Navajo but is actually an ashkenazi Jew, and has the world's largest male genitalia, which for reasons science can not yet explain, he is able to make vibrate at will.

Ok, two of those things are different than me. Oh yeah, he has a loud voice, like you would expect, but he's capable of speaking quietly and whispering. I mean, ok, some of us sound like Temple Grandin, that's true. But I sat next to Temple Grandin at a conference, and every time she started talking my head would start hurting. Every moment of every scene of the biopic in which Kate Winslet's mouth is not firmly closed, I start getting a migraine. I assumed she was Temple Grandin based on how she dressed and spoke and had it confirmed later, since this was the mid 90's and she wasn't a beloved Kate Winslet character yet. I mean, I sat down directly next to her, which I could tell she didn't like (I certainly didn't like it) but the room was filling up fast, and I just thought "This woman is a professional cattle rancher, hey, I bet she's-" and it was about then I believe Tony Attwood started talking about something evidently not important enough for me to remember. I remember he had a good speaking voice though, and the next speaker was a stutterer who talked about bursting into tears of horror whenever he heard adults laughing. I muttered something to the effect of "damn freak, get over it, everyone else in this room has" I decided it wasn't my kind of scene at that point and left, the tires on my Ferrari smoking and squealing . (my parents drove me home many hours later, convinced I was autistic after I had fit in with a crowd for the first time, while I sat in the back seat of the car frowning, realizing they were right, and thinking that if I ever had a severely autistic child I would have to abandon them and their mother because I couldn't handle that kind of paternal disappointment and horror, at the moment it became clear to me the kid was autistic, all my dreams of a normal future for myself and for them would evaporate in an instant, forever.

Ok, that was a bit of a digression, but the point is the Temple Grandin voice that some actors use as their stock high-functioning autistic voice gets on my nerves, and I'm glad my parents sent me to speech therapy so I stopped talking that way. Only took a few months of lessons, but if I had had a computer and microphone back then I think I would've gotten rid of my robot-accent before I finished preschool.

Ok I got a little side tracked, my basic idea is more autistic stoners, as long as they're depicted as dynamic characters who grow and change like all human beings do, not just as an endless series of lame weed jokes and unrealistically socially awkward behavior. You know, they eventually quit smoking weed after they get white collar jobs, they get married, get divorced, have kids, a parent dies of cancer- never mind, that show sounds horrible, just put it on at 6:00 pm on CBS and let it die.

You know, I've had several professors with AS, I'm surprised that hasn't become a cliche by this point.

I didn't think about the voice. I noticed it in the one face to face aspie I know, but I don't have it. I have a very expressive and animated voice. I had to learn that though. Been doing it since my teens and now it's just second nature.

The face to face aspie I know tends to be more expressive when he's relaxed around you, but when he first meets you he doesn't look you in the eye and mumbles and has a flat voice. He's a cashier at my grocery store at the moment, and it's funny to be in line and see him doing all that way to the people in front of me and then when I get up there, he's still looking down at the stuff he's ringing up and I say "hey" and he looks up at me, smiles, says "hey" and starts talking without mumbling, is a bit more animated, and jokes around. Then as soon as the next customer comes up, he's back to the way he was before. He's a friend of my kids and I've known him for a long time, so he's been over here a lot and is relaxed around me.

_________________
I'm giving it another shot. We will see.
My forum is still there and everyone is welcome to come join as well. There is a private women only subforum there if anyone is interested. Also, there is no CAPTCHA.

The link to the forum is http://www.rightplanet.proboards.com

Good enough.

I used to have a very flat voice, but I've learned to vary it a lot so it seems almost natural. It was also so quiet that anyone with any kind of hearing problems pretty much needed an interpreter who could hear me.

I think that my intonations are often not as one would normally expect. They are often present just to be there.

I get the impression sometimes that people think I'm asking a question when I am not and it's because of the intonation.