When will Aspies get represented in the media?

Post Reply New Topic

In general, autism gets its attention when it comes to the media, but Asperger's rarely if not ever gets representation. We have to get somebody to step up and represent this population in America. We have things that we have to endure on a daily basis that needs recognition.

I go back and forth on that one. It makes sense to me.
Decent people want to understand and will give you a break.
But there aren't enough of them, and they aren't as effective as the others.
More and more, I'm thinking that the ones who matter are pure predators.
If you go around wearing a "kick me" sign, they'll be happy to do it.
Maybe we are better off in the shadows.

I'm not going to put myself out and make others view me as weak or vulnerable. At least, not until my position in the world is already well-established.

i reccomend we avoid CNN, but FOX seems like a good shot... whatever you do, DO NOT tell stephan colbert or jonathan stewart. they will screw us over.

Back in the late 90s, Ted Danson's sitcom Becker did an entire half hour episode during which he repeatedly cackled and laughed at the term "Ass-Burgers"...and his character was supposed to be a doctor.

Before we advocate activism, perhaps we should brainstorm a more marketable name.

I thought Asperger's tends to come under most depictions of "autism" nowadays? Usually, the more able ones depicted have AS, and the ones who tend to look severe, usually have Autism.

Aspies are already represented in the media. For example:
1) The Autism Rights Movement (from New York Magazine).
2) Positively Autistic (from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation).
3) Autistic and Proud (from ABC news).
4) It is not a disease, it is a way of life (from the Guardian).
5) Am I On the Wrong Planet? (from Northern Virginia Magazine)
6) The Truth About Autism (from Wired Magazine).
7) Local Artist Is Positively Influenced By Autism (from Baltimore's WJZ TV).
8 ) Who in the world is Delmar? (from the Charlotte Observer).
9) Autism Reconsidered (from the Ottawa Citizen).
10) Asperger's and IT: Dark secret or open secret? (from Computer World).
11) Autism Movement Seeks Acceptance, Not Cures (from NPR)
12) Interview with autistic teacher (from American Chronicle).
Etc.

Why avoid John Stewart and Stephen Colbert? And why avoid CNN?

I have always heard "Ya' meet one Aspie, you've met one Aspie" which means we all present a bit differently. I can safely predict that 95% of any of us will not be satisfied by whomever 'speaks' for us in the media.

Merle

Even if we have several dozens of aspies, each with their own unique aspieness, speaking for us in the media?

"You've met one Aspie, you have met one Aspie. . ."

Merle

i very much hope that asperger syndrome does not get widely broadcast in the popular media because already, people are thinking AS people have an high IQ and super young looking faces and bodies, and have an innocently blunt nature. that is a winning recipe for some lost NT's.

a lot of people who are unable to fit socially with their personalities, will want to jump on the band wagon of AS.
many "emos" and spotty pimply impassioned teens who have yukky problems will flock to a self diagnosis of AS if they see it is a role they want to play. if they think that it is thought "einstein had it" (puhleeeze), then they will quickly adopt that diagnosis for them selves.

then they start to bugle their own experiences claiming they are grounded in autism, and they distort the mindsets of people who wish to learn about autism.

i fear one day when AS is considered the "coolest thing to be", and most teenagers purport to be AS, that i will be cast out as a fraud because i am not like them, and they are at the center of the fan club of AS. the guru's if you will of AS, who are just mis self diagnosed NT's, who can inagine ways to tell their stories so they sound vaguely autistic.

whatever, i am very tired and i am going to bed, but i resent "imposters to AS", and there seems to be many boat loads of refugees to AS that are polluting the communication that real AS people can have with each other and the public if the imposters did not shout so loud.

too much positive publicity will create a pimply nosed teenage stampede of people saying "dude" as they flock to the diagnosis.

i just want people to not be aware of AS, and not be attracted to it and think they are one and then tell me i am not.

gnight.

Successful fishing involves going where the fish are feeding and offering the fish something they find appealing. If you're thinking about expanding the understanding of the neuro-normal majority, the same thing applies.

Living as an aspie or autistic is a huge set of events and experiences, not a set of facts. Personal experiences are conveyed much more accurately in fiction than in news reports and statements by experts. In terms of the human experience, fiction is more real than facts, and most people find fiction far more engaging.

The fiction media that reach the largest number of people nowadays is TV and movies. Unfortunately for us, these media are largely based on the non-verbal behavior of the actors, who specialize in that sort of thing.

The problem is, who would want to watch a movie or a TV show featuring a character they would find boring and annoying in real life?

I'm wondering if maybe something might be done like the old TV show "Wonder Years," where a narrator spoke the character's thoughts, focusing on the difference between the aspie-autist's perception of the situation and everybody else's.

I just want to completely get rid of the title "Aspergers".
I have nothing wrong with me, everyone is different and I hate the word Aspergers.
What if I went around going "Oh look its an NT. NTs lie a lot, and NTs this and that".
I mean its bloody ridiculous. If I had the choice to go back in time and stop my mom from getting me diagnosed I would do it faster than you can say "Aspie".
It just discriminates.

don't worry, B-9. By the time this happens you will be in your thirties and no one will mistake you for a pimply faced adolescent.

Merle

Man, I can totally imagine that happening, right down to the internet posts with "omg i dont fit in at skl cuz i got aspergers i just no it" or "dey r all jelus cos i got wot einstien had", or the threads entitled "Aspies only no NTs aloud! But u can cum in if u got a cool diagnosis " And then all their precious Mary-Sue roleplay characters would 'have' it as well. Just like what happened with OCD and MPD and all the other 'fashionable' disorders.

Do aspies really look younger than usual?