Grey's Anatomy

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I was very displeased with the way the Chief of Surgery commented that their new Cardio Specialist was "Autistic", while complaining about how Seattle Grace had dropped to #12 on the best hospitals list last night. She has Asperger's Syndrome and has been on a couple of episodes. It was like her Autism was a contributing factor to the hospital not being as good as it was.

I've been displeased as a whole with their portrayel of the character. To me it's a very negative portrayel of Asperger's. All the extreme stereotypes are present in the character, and none of the characters seem to accept her. At least from what I've seen with her on it, I don't watch every episode of the show though, I just catch it from time to time when my mom watches it.

We might just have to see where her story arc is headed. Part of the deal with that show, is that the regulars never like "outsiders" - and a character with AS is the ultimate outsider. Conflict drives drama - if they liked her right away, she would be unimportant to the dramatic arc of the show. (And don't forget, that along with the negative aspects the writers gave her, they also put her at the top of her field - which makes for an interesting, multi-layered character.)

I was annoyed with that as well. And, in my opinion, the problem with his fictional hospital is that everybody is more concerned with their relationships and egos than they are with medicine. They need MORE Aspies, not less.

There oughta be a facepalm emoticon for this. Not over their portrayal, but over all the people overeacting to this.

As far as I can tell, the only reaction here is to discuss the show. That doesn't appear like overreacting to me. Nobody is threating to blow anything up.

Why does it seem that most people on this site like to act as if they're being oppressed?

This is just plain digging for the slightest ''problem'' now. It's getting tiring.

Nobody is complaining that they are being oppressed by this. We are simply discussing a fictional television show and how we like/dislike different aspects of it.
I personally think the Sarah Conner character in The Sarah Conner Chronicles could be more of a hardcore badass, Linda Hamilton style. Does that mean that I feel the show is oppressive towards hardcore badass women?
Perhaps you are actively looking for cries of oppression to attack?

No, no you are not.

This is in a forum which is specifically about autism. Not television.

The OP specifically talked about the autism portrayal on the show, and nothing else.

All subsequent posts have been about autism on the show and how bad it supposedly was.

You cannot possibly pass this off as a discussion not about the portrayal of autism on Grey's Anatomy. Seriously, just read the very title of the forum. ''Autism Politics, Activism, and MEDIA REPRESENTATION''.

Anyway, carry on. I'm the bad guy of course, I'm attacking you, yes yes...nope, it's not that I'm just tired of all the theatrics of how ''bad'' we're getting treated, I'm just a total ass.

While I agree for the most part about the overreaction about this, it is an open forum. Anyone can make threads about anything that has to do about autism politics, activism, or media representation. And so, you're going to find threads like this. You can't complain about the thread right on it and not expect somebody to either take it personally or at least challenge your complaint. That's just not how forum works, and just because you've never been oppressed or discriminated against because of autism doesn't mean that nobody has and it's not happening.

That's all I have to say about it, really.

I don't expect no one to disagree with me. But as you say, it is an open forum and I can respond. And if someone is going to use a blatantly incorrect argument, I will point it out.

And there is no mass oppression of Autistics, regardless of what is being said here.

Ah, but 'blatantly incorrect' is in the eye of the beholder. There are two sides to everything, and there might not be an oppression going on specifically autism, there has been one going on for quite some time about developmental/mental disorders which include autism. Just nobody talks about it unless it is about one singular disorder.

I merely made an observation about how another character seemed to have a problem with (was troubled by) her. I actually thought the character was interesting. A bit extreme in some stuff, but like what was said earlier, top of her field, etc. When they introduced the character I thought it was an opportunity to educate people on AS, which is what my cause is. Personally, I don't need or want anybody else's acceptance or approval, but since I was diagnosed I sure as hell will not placate those that want me to conform to what is considered normal. Not that I did before being diagnosed. Those kind of people will likely never change, but those that are just the herd following the rest may actually be accepting of different perceptions if educated on them. It is really about perception, as we perceive the world in a much different way that many others cannot understand.

Nobody in this thread has overreacted or blown anything out of proportion. I didn’t call for a media blitz on the show or anything. Nobody else has suggested any such things either.

My hopes are that the Chief will end up learning from this, assuming the character evolves into the show, and come to better understand and appreciate all that she does contribute. It all depends on if they really do anything with the character.

Everyone’s entitled to their opinions, no matter how outrageously off they are.

I agree that the portrayal of this character was quite out of proportion (but nothing like what has been done on shows like Boston Legal, for instance). I guess anything goes to make for popular TV.

It is disappointing that the issue of this person not being accepted and no attempts being made to address issues that evolve in the workplace because of asperger's were made. It would really help a lot of messages like that are broadcasted, e.g. that scene in the lift was classic, where the aspie doctor notes that some things may escape her, but she clearly could pick up when she was not being treated nicely - which was the absolute truth. She never harmed anyone - she did a fine job in the operating theatre, and all people saw was the social ineptness and awkwardness.

I hope she's back. And I hope she gets integrated into the team and accepted. The bunch of sour old ladies, intern sluts and the remaining Ken dolls are surely getting a bit boring!

Anyone seen the show Regenesis? Now THERE was a cool aspie