AS on 'Law & Order' again

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TV viewers in America:

Did anybody else see the big two-hour 'Law & Order' this week? (I love
all the 'L&O' shows BTW.) It really hit close to home - thought the
depiction of AS was pretty accurate right down to the bad treatment
the sufferer got from his mother, a cop and a prosecutor.

The down side: just what we need, another reason for normal people to
unfairly hate and suspect us.

(Even though the psychologist character tells the truth that most of
us aren't violent.)

Can't stand Bebe Neuwirth's prosecutor character - wouldn't mind if
like Diana Muldaur's character on 'LA Law' back in the '80s she
accidentally stepped into an empty elevator shaft.

One of the best scenes: when the defence lawyer, the mother and the
man with AS are in a room and the first two are talking/arguing about
the case. The man suddenly throws a teacup onto the floor, stands up
and says angrily, 'He's still in the room. Stop talking around me!'

Most of us don't commit crimes and know right from wrong.

An option the show didn't use is the guilty but mentally ill plea. I
think that would have fit the story.

Then again the Neuwirth character is being written and played as very
unsympathetic.

What are your thoughts?

The one thing Aspies are known for are their extreme sense of justice, and a clear sense of right and wrong to the point of living in a black and white world, metaphorically speaking of course. Obviously, an Aspie could have mistinterpreted a smile as an invitation to hit on someone, not rape them of course, but to take it further. In the way the defense was presented, whomever wrote the script is completely incorrect and it is a misrepresentation of Asperger's, in my own opinion.

Tallgirl.

While I agree in principle there are exceptions. When I'm driving, for example, I signal every lane change, come to a full stop at every stop sign, and won't go through a red light even in the middle of nowhere at 3AM. But no matter how hard I try I simply can't drive at the speed limit. I'm bad enough in the gutless 4x4 but a complete terror on my racing motorcycle.... I think I justify it on the basis that the speed limits in some areas violate my sense of right and wrong because they are arbitrary and usually well below the road design speed. If I can so easily justify breaking a minor law, who's to say that someone else won't be able to justify breaking more serious laws?

Good point, Tallgirl.

But a possible answer in this fictional story is that the character got a warped idea of right and wrong from the way he says his mother dealt with his sexuality - by having the young immigrant maids 'take care of it' for him.

Add that to some co-morbid disorder and you get a plausible story line - he's mentally ill as well as learning disabled and so a certain type of person 'flips the switch' psychologically and sexually for him.

A plausible story line but certainly one that doesn't represent most people with AS!

Why would anyone feel the need to justify or rationalize any action, unless one knew it was wrong and was just trying to make themselves feel better about the violation, i.e. the rules are arbitrary?...It's still wrong.

I think any Aspie knows that rape is wrong.
Tallgirl.

Sadly enough, I only caught the last fifteen minutes of it when my mother called me to inform me it was on.

Does anyone know whether it is possible to order the two Law and Order back-to-back shows via the network? I know one can do that for news shows. Is that at all possible with tv shows? (I suspect the answer is no because they want me to purchase the entire season when it comes out on DVD in five or so years... sigh.)

Does anyone else have any ideas as to how I can see and get the two episodes???

(avid collector of ASD stuff)

Not again. Shame on the Law and Order writers. Law and Order is one of my favourite programmes. And twice now the Aspie has been the villian. Does anyone else feel a bit sick about this? The only two appearances of an Aspie character and both times a negative portrayal. Both times a murderer.

That sickens me..i was never that big a fan of the show to begin with (and now they have 4!)..i prefer the CSI shows..hopefully if they have someone with autism, aspergers, etc. hopefully it'll be protrayed in a positive light..hollywood ain't in touch with the rest of america anyways..

Well I'd have 1 as a detective. Like Sherlock Homes style

CSI did have an autistic character. Gil Grissom interviewed him in the first series. He worked with a woman who was murdered and Grissom found out what had really happened. It was a much more sympathetic portrayal. Good on them.

Theres a dirfence between a cleer sense of rite and wrong and a need to religiusly follow regulation. I think your a bit confused there... And actaully, i try my best to see the world in its true grey shades, rather than black and white.

This is unfortunate because it fosters ignorance. I'm going to try to watch this show. Then I'm going to send NBC a nastygram.

Saw the first part of this one again - it's so unlikely that one of us with AS would rape and kill somebody, then stuff a bunch of money (notes, bills) in her mouth.

But if somebody with AS did that, the AS wouldn't exactly be an excuse. We know right from wrong. The character should have got a 'guilty but mentally ill' verdict even though I now realise how heinous the worst of his crimes was. Doing time in jail and getting treatment would have been just.

The NTs are still more comfortable demonising us.