Media Representation of Autism: From Best to Worst
In my earlier blog post, I talked about important factors when thinking about autism representation of media. This is a list of a wide variety of autism representation in media (primarily movies and tv shows), and each one has their pros and cons. Personally, I would say that I don't have an absolute favorite as of yet, because I still haven't seen any autism representation that looks like me. That being said, the more autistic participation, the better, but nearly all autism representation has some room for improvement.
This list is not a comprehensive list of every confirmed autistic character in media, and I hope to add to it in the future as we hopefully move towards more authentic and complex autistic characters, but for now I have a list of movies, a brief summary, and what I thought about their representation of autism. I hope this list is helpful for others as you think about the good, the bad, and the ugly in autism representation.
Media Representation of Autism: From Best to Worst
S-tier representation: (Amazing, highly recommended)
Listen - This short film was filmed by nonspeaking autistic people in response to an outcry against the movie "Music" that was released in 2020. Music featured a nonspeaking autistic girl, but completely without input from autistic people, who vocally objected to much of the movie, including a scene encouraging the use of prone restraint, a method which has led to the deaths of many autistic people. This short film encourages the audience to Listen, even to those who don't communicate in the way we're used to. I highly recommend this film, and I'll put the link down below.
The Reason I Jump - This book was written by a 13-year old Japanese boy on the autism spectrum. I would say that it is not for beginners, but it has a lot of really great insights into the experiences of the nonspeaking autistic author. These experiences aren't shared 100% by every autistic person, but the author does a great job of shedding light on why his brain works the way it does.
Loop - A Disney short about an autistic character and a non-autistic character interacting at a canoeing day-camp, this is a short but sweet example of good autism representation. The autistic character is nonspeaking, and is voiced by a nonspeaking autistic actor. This character is also a girl and a person of color, and it's the only one on my list with both of these two represented in media simultaneously. Would highly recommend.
Thomas & Friends - A British tv show featuring an autistic character, Bruno the Brake car. Bruno is voiced by a young autistic actor, and this tv show does a really good job of authentically representing an autistic character who is appreciated by the other characters. Bruno's autism isn't seen as a character flaw, but as a part of him, and the character even has cute little earmuffs! I would highly recommend this tv show as a positive representation of autism in kids media.
A-tier: (Minor flaws but generally good representation)
As We See It - a tv show starring three autistic actors as young adults (20-ish) living in a supported living situation as roommates with a care provider and learning how to gain independent living skills. I would say that this tv show is great in that it casted autistic actors for autistic roles, which brought a lot of authenticity to their representation of autism, and it has a good variety of experiences within these three characters. That being said, a lot of the autistic character's family members see autism as a burden or a source of negativity in their lives, and there were multiple scenarios where the autistic characters' autonomy was challenged or taken away from them by supposedly well-meaning caregivers. I also felt like there was a little too much of a desire to be "normal" in a couple of the autistic characters, but there was a good scene where one character pushed back against that and said "normal" is overrated, which I liked. If this show has future seasons, I would love to see even more diversity in this show's autism representation to include nonspeaking autistic people as well as autistic people who don't require support in living independently. There was also a bit more of a focus on the caregivers thoughts than on the autistic character's thoughts about autism, so I would like to see a little bit more of a focus on their experiences, but overall, it was a pretty decent, authentic form of autism representation. I put this one above the other A-tiers only because their autism was explicitly stated and there were multiple autistic people with a diversity of personalities and abilities.
Everything's Going to be Okay - One of the main characters in this tv show is autistic and is played by an autistic actor, which is a great success for autistic representation. I will say, however, that the tv show focuses more on LGBTQ+ identities than on autistic identity, but it is still a good example of autism representation done right. However, it did feature the characters living through Covid in the second season, so I personally lost interest in the series pretty quickly. This is just my own opinions though, so feel free to give it a watch if it sounds interesting to you.
Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - This tv show is lighthearted and pretty fun to watch, and despite the lack of autistic participation in this character's creation, it appears that the creator did their research, because Donatello is a great example of a fully developed autistic character, despite being an anthropomorphic turtle. My favorite part about this character's autism is the fact that he isn't alienated for his "quirks," but that he's accepted as a member of his family and team. His autism isn't explicitly stated in the show itself, but the director mentioned that he was intentionally characterized this way in an interview. Would highly recommend if you're looking for a laugh and a return to your childhood.
The Chosen - In a TV show set in the time of Jesus' ministry, Matthew's story was a pleasant surprise for me. As a person of color, Matthew is not your typical form of autism representation, and I also really appreciate how he is treated by the other characters in the show, especially Jesus. In this show, Jesus sees Matthew's difference and accommodates for it, spending more time explaining his parables and metaphors to Matthew than he does with others, and appreciating the way his mind works. One of the creators of the show is also autistic, so overall, this character handled with respect, even though he isn't played by an autistic actor.
B-tier: (Generally good representation with some misconceptions about autistic people, but overall informative)
Temple Grandin - Temple Grandin's experiences are probably one of the more highly publicized examples of real life autistic people, and as such, I would say that her movie is a good one, but that it should be made clear that her experiences of autism only speak for her own. A lot of the time, "success stories" of autism can be made into the "prodigy rhetoric" that I talked about earlier, and this movie skirts the edges of this tendency. An autistic person doesn't need to be "successful" in order to be listened to, or respected as a human being, so her experiences should not necessarily reflect on autistic people as a whole, but the movie itself is pretty interesting.
Power Rangers (2017) - The Blue Power Ranger is a confirmed autistic character in the most recent movie, making this a form of autism representation. Honestly, I need to rewatch this movie because I haven't seen it since being diagnosed, but the Blue Power Ranger came off more geeky and socially desperate than autistic from what I remember of the movie. The actor is not autistic, and I'm not sure whether the writers received input from autistic people, but I do have friends who appreciated this character more than I did myself. However, there is something to be said for showing an autistic person of color in this movie, especially as a super hero, so I would tentatively recommend this one simply for curiosity's sake.
X-men: The Last Stand - No characters are canonically autistic, but there are a lot of great metaphors for autism or other disabilities in the story of the mutants, especially in this movie, with the forced "X-factor" cure for the mutants. When thinking about the potential for an autism "cure," I'd highly recommend giving this movie a watch.
C-tier: (Lots of misconceptions about autism but still potentially useful for autism representation)
Extraordinary Attorney Woo - A Korean show about a prodigy lawyer on the autism spectrum, this tv show is pretty fun in its visuals and fairly accurate in Woo-young Woo's characterization of autism, but it still has some misconceptions and overused stereotypes about autism. This example definitely falls into the "prodigy rhetoric," but it has worth as the first example of autism within Korean media. Similar to Rain-man, this tv show has value given its social and cultural context, but still has a lot of room for improvement.
All Cats are Autistic - This is a cute children's book written to help educate people about autism by comparing autistic people to cats. It's a fun concept, however, it's more than a little outdated, and it has a lot of misconceptions about autism, including the "fact" that only boys are autistic, that autistic people are stuck in their own world, that they are rude, and that they don't care what other people think. However, this is easily fixed by adding a bunch of colorful sticky notes to the book to clear up any misconceptions, which is what I did with my family's copy. We've since lended it to a couple of friends, who appreciated my input (lol). With this addition, I would say that it is now worth the read.
The Accountant - A movie about an autistic accountant who runs the finances for criminal organizations, and is a math savant. This movie definitely falls into the "prodigy rhetoric," and some of the other character's opinions about autism are pretty harmful and negative, but it's an interesting action movie overall. Decent as an action movie but not great if you're wanting to actually learn about autism.
Rain-man - A groundbreaking movie for its time, Rain-man has unfortunately become the standard for nearly all forms of autism representation. While it was a great way to start the conversation about autism, much of media hasn't progressed since Rain-man was produced in the 1980's, and this trend can hurt autistic people from its outdated views. Among Rain-man's faults are its simultaneous "tragedy rhetoric" and "prodigy rhetoric" storylines, and the fact that the autistic character, Raymond, is placed in a care facility at the end of the movie, showing the view that autistic people need to be separated from society for their own safety. Raymond himself is mostly used as a plot device to help with his brother's character development without growing much himself. The real-life person that Raymond was based off of wasn't actually autistic, which puts further inaccuracy on its depiction of autism. Rain-man is an important piece of media as autism's first real media representation, but we should move on from that example now that we're 40 years in the future.
F-tier: (Nope, don't even bother; actively harmful to autistic people in their representation of autism)
The Good Doctor - Haven't seen it, but I don't know that I would recommend it, given its tendencies on the "prodigy rhetoric" side of autism representation and its general lack of autistic participation in its creation.
The Big Bang Theory - Sheldon Cooper is a jerk, not an autistic person. Need I say more?
Music - By far, my least favorite example of autism representation. When creating their autistic character, Music took pointers from Autism Speaks, a harmful NGO that claims to speak for autistic people while actually just spreading false information, using fearmongering tactics to raise funds for harmful things like ABA therapy and anti-vaccination research. The creator, Sia, also made a variety of negative statements about autistic people, implying that autistic actors weren't competent enough to play autistic characters in her movie, and then verbally berating anyone who disagreed with her.
The movie itself was really just a retelling of Rain-man but with a few more harmful biases and falsehoods than the original. The most harmful part of the movie was removed after significant backlash from the autistic community because it contained scenes encouraging the use of prone restraint, a form of restraint used on autistic people that has led to many deaths by suffocation. Music herself is nonspeaking and uses AAC to communicate, but only has a few single-word lines in the movie. Her character is the epitome of the "tragedy rhetoric" while also only being used as a plot device to further the development of the other characters. This movie was an Oscar nominee the year it came out, and I am personally shocked that it got that wide of reception, given its many issues.
Final Note:
This list is likely incomplete, but I would love to hear any feedback or additions to this list of movies. If you think a movie deserves to be higher on the list according to my earlier criteria of participation, research, diversity, and respect, I'd love to hear more.
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