What do you think about these autistic characters?

[GrownupGirl]

Sheldon is boring and unfunny, Music is horrible and incredibly stereotypical, and I hate them all except for Crash, although I've only played one Crash game on the Playstation 1 over two decades ago. It was the second game in the trilogy, and it was INSANELY HARD and I never finished it. I haven't played any Crash games since, and don't really care about him one way or the other. Never influenced me the way Mario, Sonic, or even Pac-Man games have. I don't know about Crash being autistic but I do know Crash is supposed to be somewhat mentally unstable due to Dr. Neo Cortex's experiments on him from the first game. But I don't how how much continuity there is of that in the franchise.

 

[mysterionz]

As for characters I headcannon as autistic I haven’t mentioned already, definitely Marina from splatoon 2

 

[mysterionz]

Music is horrible and incredibly stereotypical

Wait until you see how Dhar Mann portrayed autism in this video:

he has done videos touching on the topic of autism every time and they all feel copied pasted (all characters are high functioning and two dimensional)

 

[Raggamuffin]

I never understood why the Big Bang Theory was popular.

A laughter track is bad enough on a comedy show, but it's made even worse when it's a programme that fails to make me laugh.

Ed

 

[Mr. Stevens]

Wait until you see how Dhar Mann portrayed autism in this video:

he has done videos touching on the topic of autism every time and they all feel copied pasted (all characters are high functioning and two dimensional)

There were a lot of odd things about that one. Anyone can be a bully, but I was a little surprised these bullies are so into chess and extra credit.

 

[Lysholm]

The opposite is all the implicitly Autistic suspects on Law & Order. Always male, too. Like we're all pervs just waiting to stalk and harm women (whether through intent or our own obliviousness).

Oh, god yes. I'm pseudo-addicted to SVU, but it makes me sick how almost every guilty party is some overblown stereotype of Left-wing paranoia. Each episode has a little dose of "I told ya so" for the target audience. I have no problem with this, but when it's every single time...

Yet he has no problem flying all over the country without notice. No issues, no meltdowns, no overload.

It should be mentioned that just because someone with Autism (Fictional or Otherwise) doesn't have issue with such things, it doesn't make them any less Autistic.

The other thread on that Gypsy woman who had her boyfriend kill her mom...if you watch the prosecutor's psychologist assess the boyfriend's autism he specifically notes (paraphrasing) when they couldn't get a bus ticket he didn't blow up with rage, so he can't really be autistic. Dude got a raw deal.

 

[Outdated]

I loved The Big Bang Theory, although the canned laughter drove me mental. Exactly as Raggamuffin said, it wouldn't be so bad if they only laughed at the funny bits.

I saw Sheldon as an attempt to portray autism by someone who had no knowledge of autism. What I found funny was the portrayal of the academic stereotype, people who have no knowledge of the world apart from what they've read in books.

I have no idea what the other shows and games mentioned are. I haven't ever owned a TV.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

I never understood why the Big Bang Theory was popular.

A laughter track is bad enough on a comedy show, but it's made even worse when it's a programme that fails to make me laugh.

Ed

My wife loves the show what can I say. I'M not offended sounds too politically correct to me, just a bit silly I enjoy watching her laugh as she watches it.

 

[Jordy]

What about abed in community?

 

[Shamar]

I was wondering what other autistic people's opinions are on some characters who are autistic (or who people have said are autistic).

Sheldon - Big Bang Theory

Music - Sia's Music

Crash Bandicoot - DEATH BATTLE Spyro vs Crash (THIS ONE IS MOSTLY FOR FUN)

I watched Big Bang Theory for about 10 minutes and decided that if they are going to present highly intelligent characters, those characters should at least display a modicum of intelligence. I have not watched it since.

 

[Hylian]

I used to mind Sheldon, but honestly I don't mind him that much now. I relate to him in some ways and don't relate to him in others. His traits can be really exaggerated and he can be a massive asshole, but people like that exist IRL and I don't expect every autistic/autistic coded character to be a perfectly accurate angel.

I don't really have an opinion on the other two characters because I don't/barely know who they are.

I saw someone else mention Sam from Atypical and I really relate with him though (particularly in the second and third seasons, where the writing was a lot better and his character seemed to have more thought put into it). I like him as a character, and I've heard people say he's also an exaggerated stereotype but honestly I always see autistic people who can mask and blend in easier say that. I don't think that lower-masking autistic characters should be immediately labeled and crossed off as a stereotype just because someone doesn't relate to them. I've met people that are like Sam, and I think I relate to him a lot more than I relate to some other autistic characters I've seen because he's not higher-masking and had to deal with some problems that I've had to deal with, and that I don't see other people want to touch with autistic characters.

 

[WildCat]

I don't need to think about it, and I doubt the script writers and/or people who come up with these characters do either.

It's almost like a simple formula: take the most stereotypical traits of whatever it is you're going for, keep the genre in mind, make it suitable for mass consumption and watch it sell!

I don't see the entertainment industry eager to sacrifice profits over depth anytime soon, and why a portion of the population thinks it would be accurate still bugs me a bit, but if millions of people are entertained then I guess that's what counts, right?

On another note, why Crash Bandicoot?

 

[Shevek]

I told my counselor that to understand why Sheldon had friends you had to understand the value of holding a lease in their area. Still, that does not explain it. However, his character works as one of the contrasting types mixed for comedic effect. I'm glad he's not officially AS, because he is not typical, or unmixed.
Watching Rain Man, everything seemed plausible enough, except for a guy coming out of an institution and having wild adventures every day, without a month to recover in between.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

I keep telling my wife do not analyze tv shows they are written by humans, have no relation to real life. I do not play games as the challenges are false, I did not take languages past grade ten as analyzing books or listening to lyrics in a song and then interpreting them to me seems stupid. I like real life mysteries I don't care how difficult they seem on the surface. Like a fractal they look complex but at the root they are exceedingly simple. The brightest people tie themselves into knots. using complex mathematics. many times, the wrong math.

 

[AprilR]

I hate Sheldon and the Big Bang Theory. Idk about the other two.
The one character that i consider autistic and like is Maria Ushiromiya from Umineko no naku koro ni

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

I'm not familiar with the other stuff as I do not play video games.

 

[YabbaDabba]

When The Big Bang Theory first started, I had a partner with two children at the perfect age to enjoy this show. I enjoyed it with them. I took no offence to Sheldon but at that time I was not considering Autism. One of the kids had a boyfriend who was officially Aspergers. I don't remember this for sure but I don't think he had a positive opinion of Sheldon.

I feel like an Idiot because I always looked at this guy like she choose him because he had traits she saw in me. How can I be so ignorant. I felt like I did share some unique traits with him. I can't tell you what those traits are but I know we have them. Why was it impossible for me to seriously consider Autism for myself.

I think there are positives to consider. I think that show has greatly increased awareness of Autism. I'm not trying to say they portrayed Autism accurately. I'm saying a lot more people at least know the word Autism exists. Awareness has to start somewhere. I think most who choose to research Autism based on awareness of Sheldon would quickly realize Autism is painful and Sheldon rarely showed that side. Comedy shows aren't meant to make you sad.

I don't feel there was any malice in that show. There were many jokes made at Sheldon's expense. It's a comedy show. There were lots of jokes about how unintelligent Penny was. Howard's relationship with his mother. Raj can't talk to women... Sheldon was never treated as less than by the other characters on that show. It's okay poke fun at someone while loving and accepting them. I wish someone would do that to me.

I find way too many ways to be angry with the world. I can't let Sheldon be one of them.

 

[Judge]

The few performances of autistic characters that really stood out to me would be Sigourney Weaver in "Snowcakes" and Josh Hartnett & Radha Mitchell in "Mozart And The Whale".

 

[Azul]

I never realized Sheldon were supposed to be ND until researching about autism this year. For me he and his friends were just an "awkward nerd" caricature.

Two other characters who are supposed to be a more serious representation are Entrapta, from the new She-Ra (praised for it's representation of diversity, specially LGBT+) and Woo Young-woo (from Extraordinary Attorney Woo).

 

[FayetheAspie]

I told my counselor that to understand why Sheldon had friends you had to understand the value of holding a lease in their area. Still, that does not explain it. However, his character works as one of the contrasting types mixed for comedic effect. I'm glad he's not officially AS, because he is not typical, or unmixed.
Watching Rain Man, everything seemed plausible enough, except for a guy coming out of an institution and having wild adventures every day, without a month to recover in between.

I could see Rain Man as a realistic presentation of some autistic people. With all those wild adventures after coming straight out of an institution, no wonder he had 3 or 4 meltdowns. With a gradual transition maybe he would not need the institution. Maybe he could just learn some coping mechanisms and he probably would need a legal guardian in his case.