The Medias Depiction of People with Autism - Essay Example

AAP Evaluations Media Portrayal The media’s depiction of people with autism such as in the movie “Rain man” cannot exactly be considered an accurate depiction of people suffering from autism. However it is important to understand that people suffering from autism are not at all alike. They are considered to be broadly across the spectrum of disorder. They may differ in the amount of skills that they may possess. They also vary in the level of their intellectual functioning and they also vary in the degree of the symptoms of autism. The character which is depicted in the movie “Rain man” possesses skills that are called savant skills. These are considered to be special skills, which allow a person to perform unusual cognitive feats, as in the case of calculating. Most of the individuals suffering from autism cannot do this. Thus one may expect that people suffering from autism will show a number of distinctive characteristics across the spectrum of disability. These characteristics may also change as they develop. One may also know that people suffering from autism are a very diverse and broad population (Are Movies Such As Rain Man Accurate Depictions of Autism?, 2008). There are many people, who, when asked about “Autism” the first thing that comes to their mind is the picture of the character played by Dustin Hoffman named Raymond Babbitt in the famous movie named “Rain man (1988)”. The role of Hoffman in the film is considered to be the most famous portrayal of autistic character. However it is not considered to be the most accurate one. In the movie, Raymond is termed as a high functioning man because of his ability to only think and care about himself and also because of his savant skills in Mathematics (e.g. counting) and memory. Although there are few accurate depictions of autistics characteristics that is found throughout the movie, even though the adherence of Raymond to the structure and routines were dramatized or overacted at times. The routine and order are considered to be important in being able to make sense and predict out of the certain events that are taking place in the world, as they help in understanding that how would they bring an autistic comfort. In the movie, the punitive and impatient reaction of Charlie (Raymond’s brother) to his brother’s situation cannot be considered as a good example of dealing with the autistics. As the movie proceeds Charlie eventually learns to love his brother and Raymond too seems to open up a bit more and ends up creating a long lasting relationship with his brother. The ending of the movie was however a stereotypical movie i.e. “happy ending”, where everyone happens to learn something effective and eventually two people turns out to be better for their trials. However one should note that Raymond’s developing bond with his brother Charlie cannot be considered as an overcoming for Autism but it should be considered as a relationship that was developed as a result of his autism. Some of the autistics do possess some extra ordinary skills and some specific talents; this however should not be considered something exceptional. An autistic person may have an average or above average intelligence and they do possess certain skills; therefore they cannot be considered low-functioning human beings. It is important to understand that not every person suffering from autism is same. Just as all the neuro-typical has their own separate traits and personalities, so do autistics. Their talents, skills and interest may vary, which does not at all mean that they can be classified as “retarded” or “savant”. As autism is considered to be a spectrum, so therefore the diversity found in the human being suffering from it is as much as in a neuro-typical population (Portrayals in the Media, 2013). In the year 1988, Duff Hoffman received an Oscar for the best actor for the portrayal of his role as “Raymond” in the “Rain man”. It was a major reason that why people began to think that most of the autistic folk are like Raymond. Before Raymond majority of the people were not aware of autism. The popularity of the movie Rain man shaped the perception of autism for so many years. It also shaped my own perception. I still remember in the year 1933 when I first time met a person with autism; it was nothing like I have imagined. People do believe that autism was misdiagnosed by doctors in the late 80’s and 90’s and Rain man didn’t exactly helped them. Another example of the media portrayal of Autism was seen in the 5th season of the hit Television Grey’s Anatomy. Dr. Virginia was introduced in the show who was a person suffering from Asperger’s. She portrayed extremely autistics characteristics as an autistic person who was completely annulled of emotions. Another irony of his character was that she was a heartless person and one of world’s most renowned heart surgeons. While depicting brilliance in the OR she made decisions based on cost benefit analysis and kept the emotions and feelings out of the process. Her complete procedure driven mannerism and her emotionless character again portrayed the negative image of the autistics and contributed in inaccurately perpetuating societal myths related to autism. There was a scene in the series where the specific ideas and plans of Dr. Dixon were not exactly followed, which however led to an excessive outburst and the need of self-stimulation by deep pressure squeezing. This scene was criticized because of creating a negative perception of autistics. Autistics are emotionally sensitive and they may find it difficult to practice self-control but despite of the fact this scene was a bit over-acted. Although Grey’s Anatomy is an interesting show, which is the dose of heaps of drama for the audience but still the accuracy of its medical content has raised many questions. This show has the goal of entertaining the audience but it should be kept in mind that the show reaches a millions of people; therefore we expect better from it. Reality The role of an autism person as depicted in the movie is considered to be a bad stereotype for a person suffering from autism. Raymond is however an exaggerated stereotype. He had an extreme disability. He was bound by a particular schedule and he wasn’t able to perform essential tasks without the assistance. He has some serious communication disabilities. However the mathematical skills possessed by Raymond were extreme. Most people suffering from autism do not possess intelligence of genius level or any other specific skills and they do face certain difficulties that affect their ability to perform their day to day tasks but it doesn’t make them completely disable. If you watch carefully the character of Raymond does not have any such physical co-ordination disabilities. He makes a poor example for a person serving from Autism. So therefore people who meet person suffering from autism think that he will be same like “Raymond in Rain man”. This shows the negative portrayal of the people suffering from autism by the media. The films like Rain Man imposed another negative effect on society as it only featured one male individual suffering from autism. Females suffering are being heavily under represented by the social media. Female autistics are not in majority and they are difficult to diagnose, as the society encourage the females to hide their behavioral characteristics that would lead to the diagnosis of the disease. The fact is that every stereotype of an autistic person is of a male person, while the characteristics of female autistics are very much different from male autistics, which means that when people see a female suffering autism will not find any characteristics that would be considered as stereotypes of autism. However one should also consider this fact that it is impossible to represent every single person suffering from autism as they possess a number of different characteristics. Autism is considered to be such a varied condition that the case of every individual suffering from it is different. It would take a hundred films or almost 1000 characters to clearly define all the characteristics of all the people suffering from autism. However the fault of the film is that it makes people think that every autistic they will meet will be like the fictional character they saw in “Rain man” (Is Rain Man such a bad image of autism?, 2013). In the year 2009, autism made its way towards the conventional consciousness. The world started to understand more about the disease but still they were differentiated into two main categories: The severe autism i.e. autistics who are not able to speak and they repetitively move their hand in the air. The hyper active case of Asperger’s as it was portrayed in the TV series such as Sheldon and The Big Bang Theory. There are some autistics who fit into the two categories; however the majority of people do not. We all have seen parents explaining their autisms to airplane passengers or the shop keepers. In my opinion it is a fantastic thing to do as it helps to make the people have a better understanding about autism and it also helps them to deal with people suffering from autism, rather than giving them derisive glances. Parents of children suffering from autism should no simply tell people that their child is suffering from autism. They should rather go a step ahead and explain that what exactly your child likes and what are their specific skills as it would help people to understand autism. For example if someone is travelling in an airplane with his or her autistic child so it is better that they should tell the passengers sitting next to them that his or her child has autism and therefore they are going to hear it from him for a little while. It will not only be supportive for their son but it will also help the people to understand the aspects of autism. Conclusion Media possess great power. It also has the power of influencing the public and creating a stereotypic image of about a certain issue. Therefore before featuring any content related to some critical issue such as “Autism”, it must ensure that the information being provided to the people is correct because it will definitely impose some influence on the audience. Autism is not a common disease and therefore it is the responsibility of the media to create awareness about it among the people that would eventually influence them and will make them think about it. References Are Movies Such As Rain Man Accurate Depictions of Autism? (2008, October 23). Retrieved May 13, 2014, from Abc News: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/AutismOverview/story?id=5388361 Is Rain Man such a bad image of autism? (2013). Retrieved May 13, 2014, from Debate wise: http://debatewise.org/debates/1159-is-rain-man-such-a-bad-image-of-autism/ Portrayals in the Media. (2013). Retrieved May 13, 2014, from http://autismmythbusters.com/general-public/home/portrayals-in-the-media/ Read More