Usually I don’t expect BBC News to have decent feature articles, especially in their Magazine section – the internet equivalent of The One Show – but today there was one thing worth reading. It looked at the representation of autism in storytelling such as films and theatre and asks why Hollywood only portrays one view of the disease – someone who also happens to have a unique skill that is extraordinary such as photographic memory.
For me, as an autistic person, it is refreshing to see an article that tells you that being autistic doesn’t mean you have some sort of skill attached to it. I am managing to live a normal life and, whilst I understand that some cases are more severe than others, when you see the same old portrayal again and again it’s a bit annoying. It’s understandable though – viewers want a story. They wouldn’t be interested in following someone like me.
It worries me even more so to hear that The X Factor has an autistic contestant that goes far in the new series. Given the programme’s history of exaggerating personal woes, I dread to think what false impressions it might give people. I mean, if it is a severe case then the contestant deserves credit for going through the process in the first place. However, I don’t want the guy’s apperances to be shrouded with untrue facts about autism and to give people the wrong impressions.
