JJ from Skins

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If anyone watches Skins, I think JJ has Aspergers. If you watch the trailer for his episode next week he gets diagnosed with something and he does have quite a few AS traits.

What do you think?

Is he a new character? I've always thought Sid has it.

edit: after checking a bunch of videos on youtube i would have to agree, he does seem to have AS traits.

I have been watching it and I too think he has an ASD. The minute I was convinced was when Freddie told Effy off for not looking after him, and that he gets "locked".. I do that too in highly stressful and overstimulated situations.

I think the show even refers to him as having autism - in promos. Tonight's episode is about JJay (I think that is how they spell it??) and about the medication his doctor has him on. So I have a feeling the exact "diagnosis" will be revealed tonight.

By the way, side question - maybe one that has been asked and answered a billion times, but why is the UK so much more aware/focused on autism research than anywhere else? Are there statistically more people with autism there? Anytime I look up articles, about 80% of them are links to UK websites.

i thought he was a.s.

butterfly- i think this is just a language thing. autism- in french- autisme, spansih and italian- autismo, russian is-аути́зм.,a nd i think its a german word anyway. i imagine most research is still not translated, but posted in its origional language. references are made to studies elsewhere, esp as stats, but less so as qualatative conclusions.


so if the englsih speaking world- ie- uk, ireland, usa, canada, oz, nz- oz, nz and ireland have smaller populations, therefore few autistics, therefore less of an issue.
the UK also has a free health service,a nd a welfare state to care for those in need, so here people with autism appear on the radar a little more often tahn they may do in the US, which does not have free health care, and much less social care.
scientific and medical funding is also arranged differently in the US and UK- out gov funds some research, as well as business- i imagine more so than happens in the us, or at least with a duiffernet emphasis than the us.
in canada-i dont know- i imagine they're all out moose hunting. ( i have very nice canadian rellies, im just jokin).

but it really doesnt feel very autistc focused if you're here- we are pretty much swept under the carpet, and though there was a recent press campaign to raise awareness from the national autistic society, i dont think it made much of a dent. there is still a long way to go.

I just watched the newest episode. He just got a diagnosis for it(his Mum had lots of files over the table in regards to him getting an AD diagnosis). He also called himself an, 'autistic twat' or something.
EMZ=]

I think I'm going to start using 'locked on'. My friends, my newer friends watch Skins and we're about to watch the JJay episode, and I think they might be able to understand more of what I go through.
I hope it's uploaded to youtube soon.

No, it never occurred to me and I still don't think he does.

The 'doc' is a f*****g moron. I thought it was more of a comment on the whole mental health system.

Everything JJ said is completely normal for a person his age--hell anyones age for that matter.

JJ is just a nice guy in a crowd of morons.

The scenes with him and Em were great.

this promo site helped me out though. http://www.e4.com/skins/the-gang/profile-jj.html

it's still too much like watching the hills. or the oc.
i can't even recognise the new guys, havent seen any of them, but if i have the time, i'll 'acquire' the series.
(though, between lost, twilight or skins, no promises)

the last ep i saw of skins (on aus tv) was with sketch and maxie at the school play (s2ep2 ?)

I think he does have it.
He talks with prosody.
Hasn't got the best social skills.
Does magic tricks and builds models.
He's good at pub trivia.
Doesn't put great effort in what he wears.
Has said the wrong thing in some scenes.
Does not want to do the wrong thing, even though Cook usually forces him into it.
Gets picked on quite a lot by Cook.
Is very loyal to his two friends.
Has angry outbursts...I haven't seen much of these because I'm still waiting to watch episode 7.

I think the writers knew he had AS long before he was diagnosed with it. So if he's written in as AS, then he must be.

Oh and Freddie is no moron.

What does "locked on" actually mean? All I can think of is a lock... taking it literally! I am assuming it's nothing to do with a lock a more to do with behaviour but what is it? A meltdown?

Here is the catch-up epdisode (although I don't know if you can get it in Australia:
http://www.channel4.com/video/skins/catchup.html




I agree that the doctor is a moron. He didn't try to understand JJ at all, he just wanted to "fix" him with pills. However I do think that he does have AS traits. I know that not everyone with AS has the traits that he has (for example, I speak much more casual then JJ) but he is definately the stereotype of ASD for television and in my opinion, he is the best ASD character I have seen on TV who isn't some kind of crazy mathematical savant (check out BBC's Waterloo Road)

Last edited by __biro on 07 Mar 2009, 8:39 am, edited 1 time in total.

He does have it, I paused the trailer at the stage of the diagnosis paper and if you look, you'll see it says "autism" and "Aspergers" on there.

You're right about the character, it rings REALLY true with my experiences. So much so that I started googling peoples reactions to him, and... here we are, found this site! Hello.

The scenes with the psychiatrist remind me of my GP, honestly, he is a complete tool. No, in fact, tools are something one can use in a productive manner, so that would be an insult to tools! My neuro-typical, female friend thinks the same too. One of these days I can see myself really losing it with him and getting banned from the surgery. I don't get annoyed by much really, but when I do, people get very surprised. Remind you of any scene from that episode?

The mental health system is worse than useless for AS, as far as I was told "we don't treat ASD on the NHS" - psychiatrist. Who draws the line that decides that, then? If it's for economic reasons, then, looking wider, how many un-diagnosed ASD, mentally-ill-as-a-consequence prisoners are being paid for by the same tax pot (@ ~£30K P.A. EACH)?
On the other hand, why does a private London Psychiatrist SPECIALISING in ASD think that he deserves £200 p.h. when there's people living down the road from him on less than that per week?

Sorry if I'm being depressive in my first post, but has anyone else ever thought along these lines about the mental health system?

Anyway, hopefully this character on a mainstream TV programme will help enlighten some people eventually, in some small way. I salute this.

What is 'locked-on' supposed to refer to, by the way?

BTW, if you haven't watched the episode and want to: who cares about what country you're in if you can install a Bittorrent client (and Peerguardian2) you can get around crappy streaming websites' geographic restrictions. Better quality, too.

Then head (for example) to isohunt.

I think when JJ gets overstimulated and starts talking repetitively and it's hard for him to break out of that train of mind.

I can think of a few scenes:
When JJ sees the porn magazine.
When he sees Effie undressed.
When he's sitting outside with Emily.
When he's left at the girls sleepover and Freddie finds him and tell Effie 'you know JJ gets locked on".

I think it could have to do with a meltdown too. When Emily is talking about her sister being angry JJ asks if she's locked on, referring it to his own behaviour.
So yeah, locked on: overstimulation/ meltdowns. At least that's my interpretation.

For those that haven't seen it, you can watch the episode here:
http://www.sidereel.com/Skins/_season/3 ... /7/_search

edit: oh and my GP is pretty much like the doctor too. All he wants to do is force meds on me. He doesn't even think I have AS.

that episode remind me of J.J when i was sixteen
because On Obsessions and the frustrations
also lonesome

Anyone watch it tonight ?