CARL: "Arthur" now has a character with Asperger's

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cyanosity
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19 Jun 2011, 6:09 pm

So does anyone remember "Arthur", the show about the Aardvark with no nose and all of his friends? Yes? Well, there's a new-ish
character on the show, and his name is Carl. He has Asperger's, speaks in a monotone, is obsessed with trains, and is easily overstimulated. I'd post a link if I could, but I can't. So anyone who's curious can look him up themselves. All I can say is that I don't like Carl very much. He feels like a stereotype to me. But I appreciate the efforts to raise awareness of our existence.

What do you guys think?

Phonic
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19 Jun 2011, 6:42 pm

I'm one of those wonderful autistics who still watchs a lot of cartoons at the tender age of 18, including some arthur, I particularly liked the old ones, the new ones have annoying new voice actors

anyhoo, I've seen a youtube clip with this kid and I wasn't sure if I liked it or not, I mean - why is it always trains? He's a bit stereotypical.

heres the clip, I think it's still a great introduction for kids and man kids like me, the first 3 minutes are arthur.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq-VhfVwqp4

heres another great intro for kids http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9eATBV-_lg

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Last edited by Phonic on 19 Jun 2011, 6:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

cyanosity
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19 Jun 2011, 6:46 pm

Ironically, your avatar has the word "trains" in it....

But yeah, he literally (in the true sense of the word) only ever talks about trains! It's like....he has no personality. :roll:

Phonic
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19 Jun 2011, 6:48 pm

cyanosity wrote:

Ironically, your avatar has the word "trains" in it....

But yeah, he literally (in the true sense of the word) only ever talks about trains! It's like....he has no personality. :roll:

It says "Travis".

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cyanosity
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19 Jun 2011, 6:50 pm

Clearly, today is an off day for me.

At a moment's glance, it read "trains".

krazykat
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19 Jun 2011, 9:33 pm

I don't know. When I was a little kid I used to talk about nothing but birds to people I just met. I think Carl just needs to go through more character development.

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MagicMeerkat
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20 Jun 2011, 12:53 pm

He seems more like someone with classic autism. When I was a kid, I was loud, obnoxious and in your face. Buster and D.W. have more AS traits than Carl does. Brain is just the sterotypical "know it all". I wish they would have just given one of them an AS diagnosis. There is hope for Carl, but he needs work.

cyanosity
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20 Jun 2011, 2:18 pm

MagicMeerkat wrote:

Yeah...unfortunately, if they diagnosed either of them with AS now, it would just cause confusion.

I swear though, if Glee gets an AS or ASD kid, I will punch something.

SyphonFilter
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20 Jun 2011, 2:43 pm

Yeah, I've seen the episode with Carl in it. If I remember correctly, there's a part in the episode where Carl gets scared of a hand puppet and goes, "oh, oh, oh, oh" like he's scared, and rocks back and forth. Didn't much care for that little depiction. Also, what's up with trains? Why is that (almost) always associated with AS?

However, later in the episode, Brain tells George about AS using somewhat of a good analogy. He tells George to think of AS as crash-landing on the wrong planet, where it's hard to know what others are talking about.

cyanosity
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20 Jun 2011, 7:04 pm

The explanation was pretty good. But I don't feel like it matched up with Carl's behavior.

GOD please no more trains!

MagicMeerkat
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20 Jun 2011, 10:00 pm

cyanosity wrote:

MagicMeerkat wrote:

Yeah...unfortunately, if they diagnosed either of them with AS now, it would just cause confusion.

I swear though, if Glee gets an AS or ASD kid, I will punch something.

How? I think it would explain D.W.'s obsession with her snowball and Buster's obsession with aliens. I'm not famaliar with Glee. I don't watch "people shows".

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20 Jun 2011, 11:57 pm

I thought he was too stereotyped because of trains and he came off as arrogant because of the way he talked.

TheygoMew
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21 Jun 2011, 2:51 am

What is wrong with trains?

cyanosity
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21 Jun 2011, 9:40 am

Nothing is wrong with trains, it's just that every single portrayal of someone with ASD/AS seems to be obsessed with math or some sort of vehicle!

I mean, what about the Pokemaniacs and the beach combers and the artists and the writers?!

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22 Jun 2011, 3:39 pm

Quote:

MagicMeerkat wrote:
He seems more like someone with classic autism. When I was a kid, I was loud, obnoxious and in your face. Buster and D.W. have more AS traits than Carl does. Brain is just the sterotypical "know it all". I wish they would have just given one of them an AS diagnosis. There is hope for Carl, but he needs work.

Yeah...unfortunately, if they diagnosed either of them with AS now, it would just cause confusion.

I swear though, if Glee gets an AS or ASD kid, I will punch something.

Too late. Glee just makes me want to kill things :evil:

I thought the explanation of AS was brilliant, however yeah it was the ol' trains again. Has he started counting matches yet? I have met kids (including myself in that) that are a bit like Carl and who have AS. I liked this explanation in the episode though

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9eATBV-_lg&feature=related[/youtube]

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Orwell
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23 Jun 2011, 10:57 am

I saw the one episode with Carl a while back. Has he been made a recurring character since then, or was it just the one appearance.

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