Parenthood is currently so freaking ableist I don't know what to do with myself. I heard all this crap about how it's a wonderful show and has an autistic character legitimately represented, so I start watching the first season. It goes something like this: "Oh, yes, your quiet, easily agitated little boy is autistic." "Oh, no, your social, smart little girl (WHO SHARES SEVERAL TRAITS WITH THE AUTISTIC BOY) is gifted." Autism does not have anything to do with intelligence. Tons of people on the spectrum are gifted. Tons of people on the spectrum are not. Introversion and/or quietness have nothing to do autism. There are loud people on the spectrum. There are extroverts on the spectrum.
Autism is not something to fear or to be ashamed of or to fix. Autism is a part of an individual which should be loved and understood just like any other part of any other person. Autism does mean the world is different. But that doesn't make autism bad or wrong or even scary. It just makes autism something more to love about certain people in our lives