New BBC Series, Inside Our Autistic Minds.

I thought I would recreate discussion on this programme as it has been replayed tonight (and also aired yesterday).

The individual films of each autistic participant are great however there are few issues with the programme in general and Chris Packham:

1. Firstly, Chris Packham is not immersed in our autistic community enough in order to reliably represent us.
2. Secondly, Chris describes the majority of our nonspeaking members of our community as having a learning disability which is false- many of our nonspeaker members are apraxic (brain/body disconnect).
3. Our dedicated interests are described as obsessive- this is unnecessarily pathologising instead our interests are passionate and specialised.
4. Masking is portrayed very simply and inaccurately. In my opinion, autistic advocates such as Kieran Rose describe masking brilliantly.

Ausomely Autistic said:

Firstly, Chris Packham is not immersed in our autistic community enough in order to reliably represent us.

As you are fond of pointing out, autistic people are very diverse. Nobody can represent everyone.

At least Chris is raising awareness and trying to educate the wider population. I like the man.

Yes I understand that, I just think the programme would have been better if may be a younger autistic person presented who had better connections to our autistic community.

Yes you are completely right, BBC Three is definitely aimed at a younger audience.

I think they're more likely to pick someone from social media etc if they were doing something for BBC Three. With BBC Two, they're going for a broader audience.

HMO said:

Like who, though? What if they aren't equipped to deal with the trials and tribulations of being a telly presenter? Especially on a subject as sensitive as this.

I don’t know very much about the TV industry.

Like who, though? What if they aren't equipped to deal with the trials and tribulations of being a telly presenter? Especially on a subject as sensitive as this.

Packham has been in the business for decades. Either way, it wasn't really about him, he was just the person linking it all together. 

Yes I know and the films were brilliant! I just meant that the general comments made about our autistic community within the programme were somewhat inaccurate and could have negative implications for non speaking members of our community and other autistic people.

Both programmes were all about the experiences of four quite different autistic people and their attempt to communicate those experiences to the people in their lives.

HMO said:

A random autistic social media content creator may not be confident with what presenting a TV documentary brings, and they may not be immersed in the community either. Especially when, as I say, people can turn on you very quickly.

I understand your point and Chris Packham is actually a very confident and well known presenter. However , I was thinking that maybe a autistic content creator who focuses on autistic experiences may have been better suited.

I don't think it's a shame, I think it's always better to develop these presenters and give them some experience first.

A random autistic social media content creator may not be confident with what presenting a TV documentary brings, and they may not be immersed in the community either. Especially when, as I say, people can turn on you very quickly.

You could express "I don't think autism is a disability" and get swathes of abuse from other autistic people.

I have seen that. I'm interested to see how it plays out.

Yes I know, that is a shame. I was thinking that maybe an autistic social media content creator could have presented the programme or instead the presenters of the ‘Am I Autistic?’ documentary from a few years ago.

Also did you know that Chris Packham will also be fronting a future programme about dyslexic and ADHD experiences? I am looking forward to it.

It doesn't really work in the TV industry where someone who has no experience or is massively unknown will be approached to present a documentary on the BBC.

I'm not sure who you would choose instead. 

There are many proud and openly autistic members of our community and also given the scope of the programme it has direct impacts on our community.

Also even members of our community don’t know it, they probably are mixing with other autistics .

The vast majority of autistic people aren’t young and don’t have any involvement in the “autistic community”.

The vast majority of autistic people aren’t young and don’t have any involvement in the “autistic community”.

Yes you are completely right, BBC Three is definitely aimed at a younger audience.

I think they're more likely to pick someone from social media etc if they were doing something for BBC Three. With BBC Two, they're going for a broader audience.

HMO said:

Like who, though? What if they aren't equipped to deal with the trials and tribulations of being a telly presenter? Especially on a subject as sensitive as this.

I don’t know very much about the TV industry.

Like who, though? What if they aren't equipped to deal with the trials and tribulations of being a telly presenter? Especially on a subject as sensitive as this.

Packham has been in the business for decades. Either way, it wasn't really about him, he was just the person linking it all together. 

Yes I know and the films were brilliant! I just meant that the general comments made about our autistic community within the programme were somewhat inaccurate and could have negative implications for non speaking members of our community and other autistic people.

Both programmes were all about the experiences of four quite different autistic people and their attempt to communicate those experiences to the people in their lives.

HMO said:

A random autistic social media content creator may not be confident with what presenting a TV documentary brings, and they may not be immersed in the community either. Especially when, as I say, people can turn on you very quickly.

I understand your point and Chris Packham is actually a very confident and well known presenter. However , I was thinking that maybe a autistic content creator who focuses on autistic experiences may have been better suited.

I don't think it's a shame, I think it's always better to develop these presenters and give them some experience first.

A random autistic social media content creator may not be confident with what presenting a TV documentary brings, and they may not be immersed in the community either. Especially when, as I say, people can turn on you very quickly.

You could express "I don't think autism is a disability" and get swathes of abuse from other autistic people.

I have seen that. I'm interested to see how it plays out.

Yes I know, that is a shame. I was thinking that maybe an autistic social media content creator could have presented the programme or instead the presenters of the ‘Am I Autistic?’ documentary from a few years ago.

Also did you know that Chris Packham will also be fronting a future programme about dyslexic and ADHD experiences? I am looking forward to it.

It doesn't really work in the TV industry where someone who has no experience or is massively unknown will be approached to present a documentary on the BBC.

I'm not sure who you would choose instead. 

There are many proud and openly autistic members of our community and also given the scope of the programme it has direct impacts on our community.

Also even members of our community don’t know it, they probably are mixing with other autistics .