"Girl Meets World" doing an episode about AS!

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I finally worked up the nerve to see Girl meets world,
prob would have been better if farkle had the Asperger's diagnoses I think the only other show to feature a character to have aspergers was parenthood which was maybe a somewhat more realistic deception of what AS is but shown in a somewhat dark light where as with this disney program could have promoted AS in a more positive light.

but knowing disney they wanted to bring awareness to a subject in "a special episode" format without having to focus on character re-development in subsequent episodes.

I just watched it. I never watched the show before. I hated it. They spend the first parts of the show with the teacher saying everyone is different it's ok not to be normal. Then at the very end when someone asks who wants to be normal and the girl with AS raises her hand, the others nod.

So Disney just said it's not ok to have AS and you need to be fixed and cured of it? WTF. How does that show acceptance?

So looks like I am going to have to boycott all things Disney. No more Marvel, no Star Wars. I was looking forward to new movie too.

I agree, I hope the girl is in future episodes.

Watched the episode over the weekend. At first I was a bit upset about their portrayal, but then I remembered the target audience for the show. It's not for us (by which, I mean Autistic adults) at all. It's for NT kids.

As such, I think it is a step in the correct direction, though a bit too stereotypical in its portrayals. Playing up the genius angle? Ugh. Not too surprising in this regard, as that's all they could cover with only a solitary special episode dedicated to ASD. I do hope they bring the ASD girl back in subsequent episodes to expand upon other issues. For instance, I wanted so badly for them to touch upon sensory issues in some way.

That said, the overall message of acceptance was a welcome change from mainstream messages that we're damaged and need fixing. I think that's the main message the target audience -- again, NT children -- will take away from the episode, and one which seems in line with the usual Disney Channel programming. In hindsight, I was probably expecting too much from this episode but it meshes well with other children's programming. It is what it is, if you will.

I had two favorite moments. The first was when the girls tried to convince Farkle that he wasn't ASD, almost as if he were given a death sentence with his initial diagnosis. Reminded me very much of my own disclosure process with friends and family. It just shows how stigmatized ASD is and how ignorant the general public is about it until they actually see it firsthand.

My second favorite moment was when they took a poll on who felt like they were "normal," when no one raised their hand, and then asked who wanted to be "normal," when only the ASD girl raised her hand. So many feels.

I've been following this show for the entire series. This character has been recurrent and I have no reason to believe that they will suddenly stop having her on.

Other characters have been incorporated to become regular since the beginning and I won't be surprised if that happens for her.

Also, these writers have done a fantastic job of dealing with sensitive subjects so far, and allowing for change (such as Farkle's new way of dressing).

I think that AS will come up again in small ways throughout future episodes, so stay tuned. I'm pretty certain of it. Let's see if I'm wrong!

PS I like the point that someone raised earlier that the writing is targeting NT children and their experience in the world. Considering, I think it was an okay episode.

The girl in the end asked:
- Who here is normal?
<silence, meaning noone considers themselves normal>
- And who here wants to be?
<Isadora raises her hand and then looks around stunned that she is the only one>
The girl looks at her, nods politely and after a while of awkward silence says:
- Good.

For me it was like she wanted to show Isadora that she accepts her even if Isadore doesn't accept herself. That's the feeling I got. She was trying to be polite. The "good" was not "good that you want to be normal" but "it's OK, don't worry about being the only one". It was the same kind of behavior I got from some therapists in the past(before being diagnosed) when I said/did something awkward and they had no idea how to react.

I'm sure that is NOT what Disney meant. What happened is, Riley asked who wanted to be normal, Isadora raises her hand because she has suffered with Aspergers, with not fitting in. but if you notice, she looks around and notices nobody else has their hand raised, so she puts it down, accepting that normal isn't really a thing. And now, she realizes she might have a few friends.