r/TopCharacterTropes • u/MeepMan324 • 5d ago

Hated Tropes (Hated Trope) Autism is the best thing ever

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  1. Because of her autism, music's worldview is really innocent and positive with bright colours and these stupid dances whilst in real life she gets chocked out by her "caretaker" (Music)

  2. Most videos Dhar Mann has on autism have them being these really smart people that solve a test or a spelling bee or win a competition

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u/MadotsukiInTheNexus 5d ago

It's one of the most annoying depictions that I've ever seen, because what he's saying is relatable (being a highly educated, experienced professional and being treated like a child anyway sucks ass). How he behaves, on the other hand, is exactly the sort of stereotype that leads people to treat Autistic adults like children.

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u/127-0-0-1_1 5d ago

He's not being treated as a child, though. In fact he's being treated incredibly fairly. He nearly botched a surgery, and was reassigned to a non-surgical role in the hospital.

It's perfectly reasonable for a hospital to reconsider whether or not you can do surgery after you have a meltdown in a surgery and force another surgeon to take over. That's a person's (fictional) life.

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u/MadotsukiInTheNexus 5d ago edited 5d ago

Right. I don't think I spelled this out well enough in my original comment, but the character is being treated fairly based on his behavior. The problem is that the behavior is incredibly stereotypical. There are, of courses, real adults with Autism who behave like the character, but many others face abuse and discrimination because of the belief that they're children stuck in adult bodies when this is grossly inaccurate because stereotypes about ASD treat adults with the condition as manchildren.

My point here was that characters behave as their creators want them to, and that there were several other, better options for creating conflict in a show about an Autistic doctor that wouldn't have reinforced harmful stereotypes in a major television program. The fact that the character is treated fairly in-universe doesn't make the character himself a fair portrayal.