The Media and Autism

Arran said:

Only a fraction of articles or reports in the media nowadays are produced by journalists and a high proportion come from press agencies like Reuters or the Press Association.

I expect better from the BBC but it's the Blatantly Biased Corporation. Thankfully I don't buy TV licences.

The media definitely influences. I have experienced managers who had never heard of AS but when told it is on the autistic spectrum immediately think of screaming unteachable kids then wonder in bemusement how anybody autistic could possibly hold down a professional career. More recently I experienced managers that when AS is mentioned to them the first thing that springs to minds are computer hackers like Gary McKinnon.

Sometimes I wonder whether the NAS efforts raising awareness of ASD are totally futile in the face of the biased and perverse portrayal of ASD by powerful media corporations.

I get offended when autism is mentioned in the headline of a story as if it is relevant or as a cause of someone's behaviour. 

www.theguardian.com/.../devon-student-damon-smith-sentenced-to-15-years-for-planting-bomb-on-tube

I'm in favour of charging a tax on newspapers because they are the most corrupt form of mainstream media.

Here is a list of autism films I have compiled. I am working on a documentary list which I will post up.

Please add if I have missed anything.

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Films

Adam 
After Thomas 
Bless the Child
Cries from the Heart
Dark Floors 
Dear John 
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close 
Fly Away 
Jack of the Red Hearts 
Killer Diller 
Life Animated 
Marathon 
Mary and Max 
Mercury Rising
Miracle Run 
Molly 
Mozart and the Whale 
My Name Is Khan 
Rain Man 
Season of Miracles 
Silent Fall 
Snow Cake 
Suitcase 
Superbror 
Temple Grandin 
The Black Balloon 
The Boy Who Could Fly 
The Horse Boy 
The Story of Luke 
Davids Mother 
Fielder’s Choice 
Nell 
House of Cards 
Under the Piano 
A Mile in His Shoes 
God’s Ear 
Breaking and Entering 
Joyful Noise 
Ocean Heaven 
White Frog 
Ben X 
Stand Clear of the Closing Door’s 
X + Y 
I Am Me 
Hear The Silence 
Po 
The Darkness 
The Accountant 
Jack of Red Heart’s 
Jane Wants a Boyfriend 
Too Hip for the Room 
Empty Room 
Cube 
Backstreet Dreams 



TV Series

Alphas 
Touch 
The A Word 
Yellow Peppers 
All The Small Things 

Only a fraction of articles or reports in the media nowadays are produced by journalists and a high proportion come from press agencies like Reuters or the Press Association.

I expect better from the BBC but it's the Blatantly Biased Corporation. Thankfully I don't buy TV licences.

The media definitely influences. I have experienced managers who had never heard of AS but when told it is on the autistic spectrum immediately think of screaming unteachable kids then wonder in bemusement how anybody autistic could possibly hold down a professional career. More recently I experienced managers that when AS is mentioned to them the first thing that springs to minds are computer hackers like Gary McKinnon.

Sometimes I wonder whether the NAS efforts raising awareness of ASD are totally futile in the face of the biased and perverse portrayal of ASD by powerful media corporations.

Thank you for that Arran, very inciteful and I get your points the media is rather preverse when discussing minorities. Unfortunately there is a large amount of people whom 'don't care about the media' but tend to be massively influenced by the media.  

The media has its own peculiar and perverse way of portraying ‘minority’ communities as well as using terminology rarely used by people from the community itself. More concerning is that the media has a tendency to act as a cabal with all outlets singing from the same hymn book rather than showing diversity in the way that they portray the same community.

For example, the media portrays home educating families as:

1. White.

2. British.

3. Middle class or financially well off.

4. Alternative lifestyle types.

5. Live in the suburbs and shires.

6. Arty and creative.

7. The children have no SEN issues.

8. Home educate through personal choice rather than as a result of problems with school.

The media almost never gives coverage to home educating families who are:

1. Not white although they are very rare unless they are Muslim.

2. From poorer or lower class backgrounds including parents on benefits.

3. Have children with SEN – more often than not when the school has failed to provide the appropriate support and services for it.

4. Home educate because of bullying or problems with school.

5. Single parent families.

Before 9/11 the media almost always referred to (Asian) Muslims living in Britain as Asians rather than Muslims. Presumably Muslims of other races didn’t exist in Britain in the eyes of journalists because they never seemed to get any coverage. At the same time the media also referred to non-Muslim Asians such as Hindus and Sikhs as Asians. This had the potential to create confusion in the minds of the public when the media referred to a matter specific to Asians of a particular religion or cultural identity it was easy to erroneously assume it applied to all Asians. Muslims only started being referred to as Muslims by the media after start of the so called war on terror.

My experience with the media is that it portrays ASD in the following ways:

1. Traditional autism using children who scream their heads off in front of the TV camera whilst spinning around, but can’t talk, are extremely challenging to care for, and are virtually unteachable.

2. Autistic savants demonstrating their amazing skill or talent using people who struggle to live a ‘normal’ life or hold down a job.

3. Adults with AS who are computer hackers. My cynical view is that the large amount of media coverage given to Gary McKinnon, whilst Talha Ahsan was ignored, is because he fits the media profile of an adult with AS and also to tarnish the image and reputation of adults with AS.

Children with high-functioning AS or adults with traditional autism on the severe end of the spectrum that both do not have savant skills are largely ignored. Probably because they are not interesting enough in the minds of media bosses.