http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8192895.stm
Quote:
Autistic impressions
By Laura Schocker
BBC News Magazine
Hollywood movies rarely deal with disability - except for autism, when characters are typically shown as having special intelligence.[b] Why do we like to think everyone with autism is especially gifted?[/b]
In one evening, he memorised every name and number from A to G in the phone book. While waiting for a meal in a restaurant, he committed the entire tableside jukebox to memory.
A dropped box of toothpicks? One glance and he is certain that 246 have spilt on the floor.
His mind was like a computer and, for years, Dustin Hoffman's Rain Man character has often been the first reference point for autism.
Other films since this 1988 release have depicted similar areas of brilliance that are sometimes associated with autism, known as savant qualities.
In 1998, for instance, Mercury Rising told the story of a nine-year-old autistic boy who used his savant abilities to crack a $2bn encryption code.
And in Mozart and the Whale, a 2006 film about two savants with Asperger's syndrome, a high-functioning type of autism, Josh Hartnett's character could glance at his watch and then calculate exactly how long he has had his job as a taxi driver.
The link between autism and savant skills in cinemas is clear, but does art really imitate life? Do people with autism always have an amazing intellectual skill?
"The simple answer is no," says Dr Stuart Murray professor of contemporary literature and film at the University of Leeds and author of the book Representing Autism. "By far, the majority of people with autism do not have any kind of savant ability."
'Autism celebrities'
In fact, the current estimate is that one or two in 200 people with an autism spectrum disorder have a savant talent, according to the National Autistic Society, although the exact numbers are still unknown in the UK.
Well known savants - including Kim Peek, who partially inspired Rain Man, Steven Wiltshire, a London artist who can recall entire cityscapes after brief observation, and Daniel Tammet, author of Born on a Blue Day, about living as an autistic savant - are the exception to the autism rule, Dr Murray says.
"These people are almost like autism celebrities," he says. "It's not something that crops up very much in the day to day life of living with autism."
So if autistic savants are the exception and not the norm, why are they are they so over-represented in films?
"It's a very sexy way of looking at autism," says Jonathan Kaufman, president of Disability Works in the US and technical consultant for Adam, a new Hollywood film featuring a leading character with autism.
While his work with Adam, which went on general release in the UK at the weekend, was about capturing the day-to-day nuances of a person with Asperger's - something he wishes would happen more often - he understands why many films have seized on savants.
"It focuses on the almost superhuman nature of the disability itself," he says. "Somebody who is gifted has always had a place in society."
They tend to be the stories audiences want, says Dr Murray. Films about disabilities typically focus on two types of story lines, he says. Either:
* the disability provides some kind of incredible skill or quality that "makes up" for the negative, or
* the person finds a way to "rise above" adversity
"It doesn't seem to be as bad to be severely autistic if you're also skilled at maths or music," he says. "If it seems to be that with your disability comes an extraordinary ability, it takes away the worst aspects of being disabled."
Artistic licence
This can be a comfort to audiences.
"Everybody who is not disabled is fundamentally very scared by the possibility of becoming disabled," says Dr Murray.
But what about people who do have autism? While mainstream movies with autistic characters may increase awareness about the disability, how does it affect what the public expect of the condition?
"I have spoken to many families who say that they feel really depressed and devastated when they get this portrayal," says Uta Frith, emeritus professor of cognitive development at the University College London.
While she understands films have artistic license to create compelling stories, the aftermath can be difficult for parents of children with autism.
"It seems almost like their fault that their child isn't like that."
And it can go beyond childhood. Robyn Steward, a 22-year-old in London with Asperger's syndrome says some people still think she's the Rain Man.
"People expect you, as an autistic person, to be really good at maths, or a walking calculator," she says. In reality, she doesn't care much for numbers. "Everyone is an individual and has their own interests and not everybody is a savant. So maybe people see it in Rain Man. But that's not the full story."
What type of story would Steward like to see on the big screen? Something a bit closer to her own experience, maybe with a character diagnosed later in life, she says.
Dr Murray agrees. As a father of two children on the autistic spectrum, he says he relates more to something like The Black Balloon, an Australian film released last year. The story focuses on a family living with an autistic son and depicts scenes with the boy running down the street naked or throwing himself down on the supermarket floor.
It may not be as romantic as the story of a maths genius, but it's the reality, says Dr Murray.
"We've all had the supermarket thing happen. This rings true to us in a way that somebody doing the square root of a million and nine doesn't," he says.
The film was not a box office hit in the UK. It went straight to DVD.
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One of God's own prototypes. Some kind of high powered mutant never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.
11 Jan 2010, 10:38 pm
