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14 Sep 2022, 7:40 am

What The Heartbreak High Reboot Gets Right About Autism Representation

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Many TV shows and movies have featured characters with autism but a lot of them have struggled to get it right due to stereotyping, a lack of research or casting non-autistic people. In Netflix's Heartbreak High reboot, which premieres globally on 14th September, the complexities of being a young person with autism are explored with authenticity and respect, says one of the show's stars, Chloe Hayden.

The 25-year-old actor — who was diagnosed with autism and ADHD when she was 13 — plays Quinni, a bubbly teen with autism who loves fantasy novels, bright makeup, wearing Crocs and winning school competitions

A scene particularly reflective of this involves Quinni telling Sasha (Gemma Chua-Tran) she is autistic and Sasha appearing very taken aback, asking how she didn't already know Quinni was autistic because "I’ve met autistic people" before. Quinni responds by saying she's "good at masking".

"One of the reasons we put that in was because I had conversations with the writers," Hayden tells Refinery29 Australia, "and they were like, 'What happens when you tell people that you’re autistic?' and I’m like, 'They don’t believe me because I don’t look like Sheldon Cooper and Rain Man and Shaun Murphy and [/i]What's Eating Gilbert Grape[/i] I don’t look like that.'"

Hayden says that by Hollywood not casting people with lived experiences of autism, the industry is doing a disservice to the community and it's not a win for representation at all.

"The thing is, media has such a hold on us as to what we believe is real life. So, people see autistic people represented in media played by non-autistic men and they go, 'That’s what autism is'," she says.

"So then they see me and they’re like, 'You’re a young woman who knows how to speak and who can make eye contact and is doing OK for herself. You can’t be autistic, that’s not what my idea of autism is, therefore you cannot be autistic'."

The actor and activist says this experience isn't unique to her — it's felt by many others and this is why that particular scene is crucial in the eight-part TV series.

"I really wanted to showcase that in the series because that’s not a personal thing. I don’t know a single autistic person who hasn’t had someone say to them, 'But you don’t look autistic'," she explains.

"So, having that shown and having that said by this girl who Quinni is infatuated with is a really important thing to show. That is real life and this is the first time we’ve actually seen what a real-life autistic experience is like because it’s played by someone who’s autistic rather than someone who watched a 20-minute YouTube video on, 'What is autism?'"

The show explores what happens when Amerie creates a stir at school when a secret map charting all of her classmates' hook-ups is discovered. In an attempt to address what they see as a cohort of hyper-sexual students, the school then forces them into a sexual literacy programme which the teens describe as "sex jail".

The airing of Heartbreak High's first season marked a cultural moment when it dropped back in 1994. It was celebrated as being groundbreaking for its time as one of the first shows to feature a culturally diverse cast.

Similarly, the reboot strives to embrace multiculturalism but also attempts to go deeper with representation from LGBTQIA+ and First Nations communities to allow for more nuanced storylines around topics like racism and same-sex relationships that Australian TV is still relatively inexperienced in portraying authentically.

Netflix has really been going all in on autism representation. Too bad I don’t subscribe. Without that channel I wonder if I can accurately comment on the state of Autism representation circa 2022. That said, I am pleased at what I have been reading about and hope other over the air and streaming services step up in response.


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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman


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24 Sep 2022, 10:39 am

How Chloe Hayden became one of the first autistic actors to play an autistic character in a major TV series

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There’s a poignant scene in the reboot of TV series Heartbreak High in which Quinni, one of the students at an inner-city Sydney high school, reveals she is autistic.

Sasha, the girl Quinni has a crush on, is clearly incredulous. “Yeah but ... you don’t ... like you’re not ... like I’ve met autistic people, and you’re like really emotionally intelligent.”

Like many of the scenes from Heartbreak High – which has been widely praised for its accurate portrayal of a young autistic person – the story draws closely on the experiences of Chloe Hayden, the autistic actor who plays Quinni.

The biggest comment that I get is, ‘You can’t be autistic’ because people see me at music festivals and filming Netflix shows and writing books and stuff,” Hayden says.

“And part of that is people have this idea that autism is bad, and autism is scary and (autistic) people can’t do anything. So if you are doing something and you’re autistic, you can’t actually be autistic, which is BS.”

Hayden worked with the Heartbreak High writing team after landing the role of a neurodivergent student.

Her influence shows – Heartbreak High eschews the usual stereotypes of autism. Quinni is not a train-spotting maths genius who lacks empathy, she’s an exuberant creative thinker who talks about sex a lot and has learnt to “mask” to fit in better, forcing eye contact.

Hayden, who was diagnosed with autism at 13 and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) at 22, is an award-winning actor, disability activist, motivational speaker and influencer.

The 25-year-old has also just written a book, Different, Not Less, which is subtitled “a neurodivergent’s guide to embracing your true self and finding your happily ever after”.

Hayden, who is vegan, was first introduced to Vegie Bar by her grandfather, Kenpa, when they were enroute to a musical. It has been a favourite ever since.

Seventy per cent of autistic children have issues with food and eating, Hayden writes in Different, Not Less, due to sensory sensitivities and a hypersensitivity to taste and texture. Hayden says she can’t eat red food and on TikTok jokes that if there aren’t any hot chips on the menu, she isn’t going.

The first – different, not less – is a recurring theme. It’s the title of her book and a key lyric in her “autism anthem”, which has 8.7 million views on TikTok, in which she raps lines such as “Mozart, Einstein, Darwin. They were one of us. Autistic people paved the way, you weren’t ready to discuss. Change the way you see us. This much I will stress. It’s time that the world can see we are different not less.”

The second message is a clarion call for people to embrace their “eye sparkles”; those things, Hayden says, that “ignite a passion in us so deeply that it fills our every crevice”.

Hayden’s eye sparkles include horses, the pop boy band One Direction, the Titanic, the film [/i]Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium[/i] and performing (she once belted out God Help the Outcasts on top of a table at La Porchetta, despite being selectively mute at the time).

It annoys her that 95 per cent of disabled characters are played by non-disabled actors.

Eye-sparkles, which are called “special interests” in autism terminology, are more likely to be trains, gadgets or maths in boys, whereas in girls they are often a love of animals, films and music.

Last year Hayden was furious when Australian pop star Sia cast a neurotypical person to play an autistic character in her directorial debut Music, saying the actor based her mannerisms on YouTube videos of autistic children having meltdowns.

She was even angrier when Sia justified her decision saying, “Casting someone at her level of functioning was cruel, not kind, so I made the executive decision that we would do our best to lovingly represent the community.” (Sia later apologised for the depiction of autism in the film.)

This made for scriptwriting gold in Heartbreak High when Sasha said Quinni didn’t seem autistic, Quinni retorts: “Okaay Sia”.

“I was really lucky in that I got to write almost all of her character, I had a part in her from the get go, which is a really, really rare thing,” Hayden says.

“The sad thing is a lot of autistic people’s stories are the exact same, because we’ve all gone through the same prejudice and ableism and all that sort of stuff our entire lives.”

Hayden loved being able to stim in character.

Hayden’s story didn’t start as a fairytale. She was bullied mercilessly. She attended 10 different schools over eight years and was then home schooled from year eight, when her psychologist said school was never going to work.

Different, Not Less is part memoir, part self-help guide, covering everything from growing up “quirky”, to navigating sensory issues and meltdowns, finding friends and sidekicks, seeking a diagnosis, mental health and finding your happily ever after.

I wrote this book because I wish I had it when I was diagnosed,” Hayden says. “And I wish my mum had it because my mum cried when I was diagnosed.”

Some of it makes for harrowing reading. Hayden had letters put in her locker telling her to kill herself. She had a slumber birthday party and gave BFF necklaces to the girls who attended only for them to throw them in the bin the next day and say, ‘We would never be friends with you.’ She was pushed in the shallow end of the pool on sports day and boys laughed despite her cracked teeth. Teachers pulled her aside and told her ‘You are in high school, you need to grow up’ and then gave her detention when she got teary for not understanding the lessons.

“I want my old teachers to read this,” Hayden says. “I want to send this to the schools that bullied me.”

It didn’t occur to anyone that a sensitive girl who loved horses and was terrible at maths might be autistic.

Hayden was finally diagnosed after a teacher called her parents for an emergency meeting. She showed them her messy locker, said Hayden’s work was substandard, she hid in the library and “there may be something wrong with her”. Her mother took her for MRI scans after the teacher suggested she may have injured her brain when she was thrown off her horse.

When these came up clear, Hayden was referred to a psychologist who eventually diagnosed her with autism.

“When I googled it, the only articles that would pop up were by parents or by doctors and they were always really scary and bad and speaking about autism in a really deficit way,” Hayden says.

It was like parents on forums going, ‘My kid’s been diagnosed autistic, my whole life has ended’. And I was like well s**t, what’s even the point my being here?”

Hayden’s life began to improve when she switched to home schooling and got out of the toxic school environment. She played the ukulele and performed as Anna from Frozen at a disability home. She volunteered for Riding for the Disabled Association and loved it.

At 16, she began blogging about being autistic under the pseudonym Princess Aspien.

“I wasn’t trying to be inspiring or anything. I was actually just screaming out to the world begging for other people that were like me.”

Hayden was overwhelmed by the response. Thousands of people told her she had made them realise they were not alone.

She wants young people who have just received an autism diagnosis to know they are exactly who they are supposed to be.

“Being a teenager is hard, and being a neurodiverse teenager makes it so much more difficult,” Hayden says. “But your brain is your brain and it was created to be different.”

Hayden says there are going to be things that autistic people will struggle with – she’s hopeless at maths, can’t drive a car or read an analogue clock, struggles to cook and can’t eat red food.

But she has just written a book, has half a million followers on social media, is a sought-after public speaker at schools and events, and is one of the first autistic actors to play an autistic character in a major TV series.


_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman