Can the 2020′s be the decade where we stop making people sympathize for the “neurotypical” side in narratives about autism?
Rain Man: Charlie is the “sympathetic” POV, Raymond has almost zero agency, even though the conflict of the movie is all about him.
Curious Incident: Even though Christopher is the protagonist, we clearly aren’t meant to sympathize with him more than his “poor” parents who claim that their autistic son “destroyed their marriage”.
Atypical: While arguably better about this than other shows, Atypical still gives Doug and Elsa far more sympathy than they actually deserve. And the show still tends to slip up and focus around Sam making the life of his family “harder” simply for existing.
Finding S.A.M.: The book was thankfully pulled, but the point still stands. Braden is a complete blank slate, his bratty younger brother Zach is the viewpoint character and he makes it no secret that he either: A. despises Braden, or B. wishes that he was “normal”.
Music: Are we seriously supposed to like Zu? If Music had any braincell in her fake-autistic head, she would probably beg to be taken away from her and Ebo.
And no, I don’t want autistic Mary Sues either. I want an autistic character that I can actually root for.
