Love on the Spectrum

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Has anyone watched?

I've seen most of it (may have missed some of the first season) and my impression is largely negative.

If you haven't seen it, they have 2 seasons and some of the participants are different, but with one exception they are largely dependent on family or caregivers. The exception is a couple who are already a couple when introduced. In their case, the man is so high-functioning that he didn't even suspect being on the spectrum until his fiancée suggested it whereas to me his fiancée seems not so much on the autism spectrum as intellectually disabled (when interviewed he frequently helps her reply to simple questions).

The others are put under the guidance of a dating coach and dates are arranged, typically at restaurants during which the participants are interviewed as is typical for a reality show. In my opinion these dates are a stress-inducing experience, more like a job interview and we know that's one thing anyone on the spectrum dreads.

After both seasons, the only participants who actually establish relationships are gay. Except for the aforementioned couple, the heterosexual participants i.e. those with a clear heterosexual preference, predominately male, walk away empty handed. There is one success I suppose involving 2 relatively low-functioning people whose relationship I believe won't go beyond highly supervised hand-holding "intimacy". The gay couples however seem to be entering into what most people would recognize as "typical" intimate relationships, even one in which one partner lives in a group home.

There was another situation of a woman being brought in to supposedly romance one of the men but they conceal the fact she is asexual and annoyed by all the sincere attention the guy gives her (she actually posted about this on Reddit).

Overall a very discouraging message for most people on the spectrum, although I can see how many NTs might think the show charming and some LGBTQ+ activists might applaud the representation, but this wasn't promoted as an LGBTQ+ show but rather a show about autism.

I wish I had the resources to make a different sort of show.

Watched several episodes.

It is a mockery of people with Autism.

Show is written and lead by people who obviously do not understand challenges of people with autism and aren't autistic themselves. In turn, they are shoehorning these cast into social situations they are visibly not comfortable with. They do not try to even explain what autism is and what causes certain behaviours of people in the show. You know, during an era of colonisation, indigenous people were quite often captured and shown in zoos or circuses in Europe as "humble savages", for entertainment. This is what this what this show does - it degrades from being complex human beings into pure, innocent and hilariously awkward child-like subjects.

This show is circus made for NTs to laugh at comedy value of people severely impacted with ASD, which is evident when you take it into account that there are few highly functioning autistic people in there and most of the cast is still very young and inexperienced not only when it comes to dating, but life in general.

Take a look at what POSE means to trans and gay black and latino communities. One of executive producers is a trans-woman who went through what many characters in the show did. Gay characters are played by real homosexuals, trans-women by real trans-women. The show pays respect both to people who it is about and historical source material.

Love On The Spectrum is trash, comparatively. I know that it isn't the same format, but it is clearly made to be "fun" for the audience, with parts of it done on what borderlines with slapstick comedy.

^Reality Television is just a bunch of hogwash, anyway. Glad I've never heard of a show such as this.

Cut ,



Hey so like the producers are worried you aren't acting ret*d errr oops autistic enough ,

Can we do this again and act like you know,

this probably happened on set.

The second season of the American version is now streaming on Netflix