Why Atypical is Crap- from an Actual Autistic Person
In case you dont already know Atypical is a hot load of garbage (although this shouldnât really come as a surprise considering how wonderfully Netflix has dealt with mental health in the past) here is my personal run through. Â
This is dedicated to the 100 beautiful porn bots that follow my blog, Iâm sure youâll all appreciate this. If any actual autistic people find this though (and if you manage to read through all this crap), Iâd appreciate your pov as well since i probably wonât even cover a tenth of whatâs wrong (esp considering Iâve only watched the first episode, but take this as first impressions, if you will).Â
Apparently autism is synonymous with stupidity, but this isnât much of a surprise since this has become the sweet new meme among edgy 4chan users.Â
Autistic people are completely gullible and lack any critical thinking whatsoever
Only white straight cis men can be autistic (only). It doesnât matter they are primarily the only demographic shown with autism and this has been the state of things for far too long, or that we desperately need representation for autistic people who are poc, women or lgbt+ (especially considering that girls are frequently misdiagnosed to the point that some medical professionals- medical professionals- refuse to diagnose girls with autism at all, or that many poc struggle to get a diagnoses or even a review because of racist teachers or psychologists)
Heâs tech savy bc we all know that if he wasnât interested in computers he wouldnât be autistic (though i can say that i do appreciate the fact his main special interest is biology and the antarctic, although it still follows the same STEM stereotype)
His sister constantly bullies and makes fun of his symptoms (but she defends him against other people so itâs okay) dad canât relate bc he doesnât play sports and just generally acts like he hasnât realised or got over the fact that his sonâs autistic (despite living with him for what? 17 yrs???), mum is a typical Autistic Mum⢠who is burdened with her godawful son, both parents heavily imply life would be better without him. Not to mention the mother is v. paranoid about him having any kind of independence, bc he âcanât survive without themâ. They have stereotypical Autistic Familyâ˘Â down to an art, congratulations Netflix for being so revolutionary, because god forbid autistic people actually have a supportive family or group of friends that dont constantly make fun of them and emphasise how much they make their lives a burden. (btw, im not saying that every autistic kidâs family has to be perfect; but their family could  at least treat them with some dignity and not do what every other ableist show has done)
He has zero self awareness, and of course he canât date or do anything well without being heavily dependent on a nt. (Can I also emphasise that im not saying autistic people dont have these symptoms, just that they are used so often that its a huge stereotype and is portrayed as a crude caricature)Â
He canât date what a surprise never seen that one before netflix we already know autistics are r*t*rds that canât date of course they can'tÂ
The stupid as fuck instance when his psychiatrist asks for his brain??? How did they think that was ok?? (and even if it was, itâs totally impractical and ignores the fact that there are plenty of older -and already dead- autistic people who are, you know, not 60+ years away from dying
He can only ever talk about his special interest because autistics never talk about anything else you know never.Â
âi can see your braâ ??? (again, caricature)
thereâs so much that bugs me but its hard to articulate sometimes so again, if thereâs an autistic person who has seen this crap and has something to add iâd really appreciate it.
also apparently it was written by non-autistic people (am i surprised??) and the cast isnât autistic. I dont think i have to go into how fucking stupid this is, considering itâs A STORY ABOUT BEING AUTISTIC AND NO ONE WHO HAS WORKED ON IT IS AUTISTIC. How the fuck do people think making this shit was a good idea??Â
âevery time the phone ringsâ (suchhhh a burdennnn, heâs not the same as themmm)
The thing i hate the most about the show is the level of condescension. I feel like the protagonist is presented as the same caricature, straight white guy who is afraid to talk to girls, nerdy and smart but without an ounce of independence, never speaks up for himself and is a collection of all the stereotypes weâve seen before, he lacks any nuances what so ever. He is another autistic character written by neurotypical people.
apparently also their only form of research was talking to autistic kids (bc you know weâre so r*t*rded that weâre all the same, regardless of age) and parents
Autism Speaks supports it, I donât think I need to continue.Â
Ok, but all this other stuff isnât even that infuriating because, you know, weâve seen it so many times before itâs just laughable. But they crossed a fucking line (and Iâm not joking with this one) when they decided that it was ok to use one of my favourite fucking bands in their shit tv show. Iâm always going to be reminded of this crap whenever I listen to them again, Netflix, and Iâm fukcing pissed its not fucking acceptable. fuck. you.
I feel like Iâve covered most of the things I had problems with, but again Iâd love if other autistic people could add on to the discussion (neurotypicals are welcome to reblog)