Ok so here’s a thing. We have representation of autistic people with intellectual disability in media, rain man for example. I struggle to think of any at the opposite end of the spectrum, autistic but extremely intelligent.
we have lots of people who might be said to have autistic traits, sheldon cooper, Sherlock Holmes etc. but they are never called autistic. Why is the media afraid to label high functioning autistic characters as autistic?
Are they worried about offending us? How is it alright to offend low functioning autistic people then? How is portraying us poorly less offensive than erasing us?
Thank you Peter. That was a very welcome mini-break and massive dose of nostalgia for me. I enjoyed watching House very much - thank you for taking the time to post the clip. Kind regards.
It was specifically addressed. There is an episode where he treats a boy with autism and his team are like, does house have autism, and they’re like ‘no he’s just an ***.’
I don't recall exactly, but I certainly read claims at the time that he had Asperger's, it was the lens through which I viewed the series many years before I self diagnosed and was probably the first I'd even heard of Asperger's, so it certainly influenced how people understood the condition when it came out.
