The Media and Autism

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.

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.