#coby bird

After having Tal Anderson on the show as Mel King's autistic sister Becca, The Pitt casting team did another great job, hiring Coby Bird as an autistic patient with a sprained ankle.

He had scenes with Dr. Mel King and Dr. Langdon. Mel had then a lot to explain to Langdon, who hadn't initially taken Terrance's autism into consideration, because "It's an ankle sprain. Autism has nothing to do with the injury." Yeah...

Except when Mel, whose sister is on the spectrum, took over the interview and subsequent treatment of Terrance, she came up with much better--and much more patient-satisfying--results. And she taught Langdon something in the process.

This whole episode was a piece of good storytelling for the MCs, and, I think, enlightening to a lot of people who don't know all that much about autism.

Now, someone might say that the show hiring autistic actors for episodic roles, while the autistic (coded?) MC is played by a neurotypical actress, is not right representation. I wouldn't exactly agree with that sentiment. It's a complex matter, I realize that. Nevertheless neurotypicals are a majority of the population (as are cis-het people, able-bodied people, whathaveyou). And if we would try to restrict playing characters from those minorities to only people who have the actual exact trait, that would also limit the number of stories that could--and should--be told.

It's different with multi-racial representation, mind you.

I still think the show: the writers, the producers and Taylor Dearden, are doing a great job with Dr. Mel King. She's as autistic-quirky as they come, while being professional, confident and empathetic. Which--all those qualities--is a good autism representation, imo. I'm wondering--as many other viewers--whether Mel knows she's autistic and doesn't want to disclose it in her workplace, or she doesn't realize that (because her sister "had it worse"? idek).

I was so happy to find this a while ago. I held off posting it because what amused me is my Gabe fanfic includes the kids playing a few games like this and I hadn’t posted that chapter yet. Also Jenga which Griffin is playing in a photo in Sophia Duncan’s post - https://www.tumblr.com/19chimneys/810652667290451968/photos-etc

Coby Bird - Insta