ASD in pop culture. (A lot of Sheldon ahead.)

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Hey, I'm new to this forum and came specifically to discuss something I've been obsessing over, that it, ASD in pop culture.

I am a girl in my mid-teens who was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome at ten years old. I never thought much about it, because I could get by as normal enough to be considered strange, but not specifically neurodiverse. My philosophy is that my ASD is like a block in a block tower. Essential, but not defining. Then I became aware of a certain Sheldon Cooper from a certain TV show. I liked the show okay, but Sheldon was never a favorite. I started wondering, though, why he had to change over the course of time, which got me worried about what people thought of ME. I'd always been afraid of someone trying to cure me and rob me of myself.

Now I realize that Sheldon's development was just the nature of the show. They all grow and "get better", so Sheldon was part of that formula, and there's nothing wrong with that. But I overheard the debate on whether Sheldon's got ASD, and the creator's decision not to diagnose him. While I took offense at their use of the term "disease"-- that was just insensitive about a polarizing topic-- I totally understand and agree with their essential reasoning. I think that neurotypicals AND Aspies/ASD people will generalize Sheldon into other ASD people. Even if he's a stereotype and cartoonish, the cartoonish sticks in people's heads; they expect or associate it with others nothing like him.

For example, me. I'm okay with socialization and facial expressions, metaphors and humor and eye contact. I know when to hold my tongue from bluntness. But it's often uncomfortable and the conventions annoy, and occasionally, confuse me. I've said just enough odd things for people I know to think I'm weird, but not enough for them to go, Aspie! I'm not super knowledgeable about my interests and I'm not smart. I suffer from so much bullying, but when my Sheldon-freak friend heard I had Asperger's, he just said, "Are you sure?"

I feel like an outsider among neurotypicals and the "ultra-logical savant antisocial quirk" stereotype, while true for many, makes me feel like an outsider among those with ASD. I feel like I'm mooching off the title to feel unique, or am just a freak.

On the other end of the spectrum, I've met people who hate being compared to Sheldon. They feel like it makes fun of or erases their identity. If someone told me, "Oh, you're Sheldon!", I'd feel uncomfortable, because I'm NOT Sheldon, and they would be accusing me of not being me, after knowing me.

I understand that many of those with ASD love Sheldon. But he's harmful to others. I want a representative who does mostly good. Now, this topic isn't purely Sheldon. I also think of Brennan, BBC Sherlock, manga character L, and the like when I think of "antisocial savant", the stereotype. L, a genius detective with impeccable social knowledge and ability to feign friendship while strange and few, (in my opinion, two) diagnostic traits, seems to me to be a victim of the shorthand. The others I know nothing about.

I thought an alternative to Sheldon in pop culture could be Abed Nadir. Yes, very intelligent and strange, but he is just as functional as the others in the cast, (not spectacularly), he's interested in pop culture and the like, has a genuine close friendship with another, and his eccentricities are often received positively along with negatively. He's also a character in a show where butt of the joke isn't the character, but the weird stuff the characters get in together. The stuff his actions lead up to is funny, but he himself is only mildly entertaining. Community's strong point is its plot, and the tropes it subverts, so the characters work together to do that.

I'd like to see more characters to reassure me that I'm not fake, but that can't happen immediately, and in the meantime, I want someone who doesn't make people that I'm valuable as a punchline who needs to be funny and weird in and of myself to have ASD. Although Abed isn't perfect either, I find him to be as funny as Sheldon, and memorable, but more flexible and less negative.

Whooo long. Sorry, I have a hard time with summarizing.

I agree with you. I think people stereotype aspies as having "Sheldon characteristics", and more often than not this is not true because no 2 people are the same. Many things that he doesn't understand seem painfully obvious to me.

I feel like people treat it like a tragedy.

With out more specofic information people represent most things in their minds using a 'prototypical concept' as a point of reference. So for example when you hear 'bird' the first thing that usually comes into most peoples minds is probably a sparrow or aeneric brown bird,instead of say an emu or a penguin.
When you hear 'ape' people generally think of a chimpanzee or a guerilla than a human or an orang.

If you ask someone if this is a bird or if this is an ape they compare it to the 'prototype' and then say yes or yea sort of or not really or no. So they are more 'prototypical' because they are 'better examples' of a concept.

Thats basically how stereotypes work in that people have implicit beliefs (usually based on what they believe tha most other people believe, or how members of groups are typically (mis)represented in society) about what traits a person from whatever group 'typically' has.

So if you use autism for example then people will subconsciously compare you to Sheldon Cooper or even if most people say that Hollywood usually portrays autistic people as fascinating charicatures