• Replies 29 replies
  • Subscribers 38 subscribers
  • Views 18627 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Are you autistic - The Inquest

Trainspotter

The channel four programme had a pretty good go at showing autism, more specifically what used to be referred to as Aspergers.

But where were the more mature autistic people. Those over 45? Those over 60? And I know I may have dropped off a bit during the programme so will have to watch it again,but there didn't seem to be a 'control' for the tasks. Just saying they had problems when presented with change. I would like to have seen how a neurotypical  behaved and coped in these circumstances. To me, as someone autistic, I still don't know how a NT picks up when interrupted, when I take ten or 15 minutes to get my thoughts focused again.

There also was an over representation of females although I know part of the raisin debtor was to show women are under represented in diagnosis. The speed dating bit I didn't get at all apart from to show that autistic people don't have green skin.I can make a good job of pretending I'm something I'm not for ten minutes if I keep to a script but sooner or later the script will vary to another play for which I haven't learned the lines and then the problems will start..

Yes, generally we do look like everyone else. However until people are not judged on appearance and superficial traits we will always have a problem in society. A society that supposedly welcomes truthfulness and open speech is greatly phased by someone autistic who tells it as it is.  And until this can be addressed we will always have a problem in the NT mind.

Parents

  • I was mainly disappointed with this. Certainly, it was nice to get actual perspectives from some autistic people. And my husband, NT, said he found it very insightful until the very rushed ending.

    I quite enjoyed the attention given to the fact that the spectrum isn't a line and that all autistic people present their traits differently, but I was disappointed with the science behind it. As you said, there were no NT examples for comparison when tasks were shown - the whole show was very much "you did this, which is what autistic individuals do", with no reference to what a neurotypical person does differently.

    Having been amongst those that took part in the survey, and had the opportunity to speak online with Simon Baron-Cohen at roughly that time, I was also disappointed with the reference to survey results.

    "We think this...did you survey find that?"
    "Yes."
    "And we think this. Does your survey agree?"
    "Yes."
    <END>

    They presumably had a wealth of categorised data, and yet the survey was only really mentioned in passing.

    And the title had me concerned before I even saw it, as though it would encourage anyone to adopt the label. I certainly felt that it seemed a little as though it was promoting autism, at times, rather than providing objective detail. Still, I did like mentions that you can't be 'a little bit autistic', even though most people watching would probably have thought "Well, I do that sometimes..".

    Good in parts, but it could have been so much better. Still, it's something better than nothing and certainly wasn't negative.

Reply

  • I was mainly disappointed with this. Certainly, it was nice to get actual perspectives from some autistic people. And my husband, NT, said he found it very insightful until the very rushed ending.

    I quite enjoyed the attention given to the fact that the spectrum isn't a line and that all autistic people present their traits differently, but I was disappointed with the science behind it. As you said, there were no NT examples for comparison when tasks were shown - the whole show was very much "you did this, which is what autistic individuals do", with no reference to what a neurotypical person does differently.

    Having been amongst those that took part in the survey, and had the opportunity to speak online with Simon Baron-Cohen at roughly that time, I was also disappointed with the reference to survey results.

    "We think this...did you survey find that?"
    "Yes."
    "And we think this. Does your survey agree?"
    "Yes."
    <END>

    They presumably had a wealth of categorised data, and yet the survey was only really mentioned in passing.

    And the title had me concerned before I even saw it, as though it would encourage anyone to adopt the label. I certainly felt that it seemed a little as though it was promoting autism, at times, rather than providing objective detail. Still, I did like mentions that you can't be 'a little bit autistic', even though most people watching would probably have thought "Well, I do that sometimes..".

    Good in parts, but it could have been so much better. Still, it's something better than nothing and certainly wasn't negative.

Children