Things in the media that trigger you

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What tv shows/movies/YouTubers are you not able to watch simply because of the way they represent autism.

I despise South Park, especially the episode "A## Burgers" because it says it all in the title; they're making fun of Aspergers, which we all know is a form of autism right?

I also don't like watching the YouTuber LtCorbis because she's made fun of autism in the past, and I don't stand for people who think autism is the same as dumb/cringy. Shame because the rest of her videos are hilarious

I've grown to increasingly dislike South Park. I still watch it sometimes, but their portrayal of autism is basically assholish bullying. Also I've come to notice it's very same-y, their "I've learned something today" at the end is almost always "the way we do things right now is best and anyone criticizing it is just crazy." It's hugely intellectually shallow.

Trump.

A few years ago we had many posts with people dissociating themselves from "Aspergers" and "Aspie" because they were bullied by people using the "assburgers" in a derogatory fashion. For a while there it was a rare Youtube video about Aspergers where in the comments section "assburgers" was not used to bully people. Tragady of it is "ass" is an incorrect pronuntion of Hans Aspergers name.

I automatically roll my eyes and stop paying attention if there's a stereotypical portrayal of autism on the television, especially if it's some socially-awkward person and that is literally the only reason they're being labelled as autistic - because that's not autism, that's being socially awkward. Yeah, sure, that MIGHT a part of it, but that's not all it is. If you're socially awkward, there are so many different pathologies you could have, but you chose autism? Sod off.

Saying that people with Autism, AS, etc. can't deal in sarcasm or jokes - 80% of the verbal exchanges in my house are sarcasm and jokes - mum's got AS and I very likely do. When that stereotype comes up I just laugh. Okay, fair enough, I can do sarcasm, as give it out, but I don't always get when someone is being sarcastic because I don't get tones of voice very well. Some TV dramas seem to use a lack of understand of sarcasm and jokes as a basis for a diagnosis and it's really irritating.

I quite like the recent portrayal of Aspergers in Holby City. The actor himself has the diagnosis, and it's quite nice to see that the character assimilates different aspects of the condition - yes, there's the stereotype of not quite understanding social rules, being extremely ambiguously different in they way he talks/act and having zero filter (talking without regard for the feelings of others), but there is also the strict adherence (fastidious, in fact) to routines, can't empathise very well (although he does come across as understanding of emotional situations in some way) and he does stare a bit - i.e. inappropriate eye contact. He's a bit aloof too, but it's not an overwhelming characteristic like it seems to be in some dramas. Holby's portrayal of Asperger syndrome has always been a bit hit and miss, but I think they've done it justice since introducing Jason.

The 50-year-old bachelor, virgin, etc. trope seems to be played quite a lot and ends up being called Asperger syndrome - that's a huge bugbear. Maybe he's gay or maybe he's just happy being single or maybe he likes living with with mother. Or, you know, the abnormally intelligent trope - I seriously hate it. My mother is intelligent, but she's no more intelligent than the vast majority of the general population, and neither is my uncle or my cousin (both of whom have an AS diagnosis). Or...the old favourites - obsessional interests in trains. I love trains. I'm not obsessed with them. Yes, I know the difference. I've had obsessions throughout my entire life - some have even come in useful in my day to day life.

I would like to see more representation of Aspie females in the media (specifically television), because I do sometimes think they are dramatically under-represented as I see so many male autistic/AS characters. Yeah, fair enough, many females slip through the net, but even so, there are many that don't.

Or, you know, that person who just seems out of touch with the world in general, doesn't talk and just sits there. Personally, I think they're probably suffering some sort of mental health disorder, not a developmental disorder. Depression makes me dissociate, but when I'm not experiencing an "episode" I'm as chatty as the next man.

Oh, and don't get me started on Aspies in tv always getting bullied or easily led...you know, sometimes they are the ones doing the bullying or the leading.

Also, I want more autistic characters not to outwardly look like a stereotype - i.e. no adult men (or women, when they do occur) looking like they were dressed by their mothers. Adult aspies have the ability to dress themselves. Even my cousin with severe "low functioning" autism can dress himself. There are actually some quite stylish Aspie adults that I've come across in my life. My mum wears great clothes - and I don't have to dress her!

And also, whilst we're at it, what's wrong with a socially awkward, clumsy, narrow-interested, adult virgin, strictly-adherent-to-the-rules adult character without sticking a diagnostic label on it? Please.

I love South Park, and they rip on everyone, if anything I'd be more offended if they left aspergers out....never heard of that youtuber though.

South Park is "an equal opportunity" satire, where anyone and anything is fair game, they don't play favourites and it doesn't offend me.

I agree with the above - I'm not a big fan of South Park anymore because it's too crude and nihilistic, but it's a show that tries to make fun of everyone equally.

Plus learning to 'laugh at yourself' a little every now and then rather than being uptight is healthy.

I don't like the word "trigger" anyway.

I don't like using the wrd "trigger" in that way because it trivializes PTSD. However, I've stopped following Upworthy and pages like that because of all the inspiration porn. "Boy with autism brushes his teeth! So brave" "Boy with autism has friends! Who'da thunk?" "Boy with autism cries during concert, may be having a meltdown but we don't know because we didn't educate ourselves before posting"
And it's all little boys with autism too.

Agreed. Nothing is sacred to Parker and Stone; they take this piss out of everything and everybody equally. To get offended about one particular target because it encompasses you directly does make me think a little of Isaac Hayes happily going along with their good-natured satire on white people's stereotypes of black people and then quitting in a huff when they had a pop at scientology.

If anything, I find "The Big bang Theory" more irksome - not necessarily offensive, but just irksome - because it depicts us all as nerds. This gets on my wick as I'm an aspie who doesn't identify with the geek stereotype at all.

Not only that, to my tastes it's nowhere near as funny as "South Park" used to be (for it's first three or four seasons at least).

The media portrayal of emotionally cold genius geek who has horrible fashion sense and when the news tries to class us as unpredictably violent or dangerous. I get really mad that anyone would immediately assume all violent criminals are neurodivergent or mentally ill.

I hate that too. I mean, especially when the media back up societies preconceived idea that criminals must have some sort of pathology that deviates from their perception of normal, better still are those who think that all neurodivergent or mentally ill persons are criminal - newsflash: most schizophrenics aren't a danger to others (that's the one that really infuriates me), they're mostly a danger to themselves, and most schizophrenic people in prison are not violent offenders (I'm fairly sure I read that somewhere). Most people in prison are not mentally ill, but you don't see that portrayed in the media because that wouldn't fit their "moral panic" motives.

I stopped watching soap operas when they started including mental illness as a prominent theme - because most end up in hospital or on psychiatric drugs, when the reality is that a large proportion of mental illness goes unnoticed and there is absolutely no way that THAT many people on one street or in one small village could be so mentally ill. It was okay when it was just Stacy and her bipolar disorder in Eastenders, but now half the square has "mental problems".

I'm really worried that a certain young character in Eastenders is going to be diagnosed with autism and his mother is going to blame it on a head injury. I'm not a regular viewer (only watch on a Tuesday before Holby City), but it's a true concern.

All that considered, however, I think there's a certain character in a northern soap that probably would fit a neurodivergent profile, but they haven't actually given him a label, and I really have to applaud it.

getting triggered, is to say the least, a little pointless

Well, there's a certain segment here where the word "media" alone triggers them, lol.

So basically this thread is about what offends us about autism in the media or something we are tired of seeing. I took the word too literal. I hate how it's misused.


I am tired of seeing aspies being portrayed as being very smart and a genius. I get tired of all the stereotypes like they have every single symptom of AS being all textbook because of the stereotypes. I did like Bones though because even though it's not mentioned she has AS but she was based on someone who has it, she still worked great with people and was a great team member and did good eye contact so at least her social skills were good enough she was still able to function and be "normal." But she lacked sensory issues. But it's debatable rather she had it or not or was just someone who was socially awkward. My parents think she has it though. I don't know if my mom means it literally or if she is using it as a buzzword like she has with other disorders to mean they have some symptoms but not enough for a diagnoses. I don't know if I should really count her as not since they never said she had it but I read they had considered it but decided not to do an episode about it. So that indicates she was meant to have it but decided to not mention it. Also the fact they based her off an AS person in real life.

South Park didn't offend me though I was a little disappointed in the episode but only because I wasn't expecting it to be that way. Basically they were just making fun of the name and the misdiagnoses of it, it wasn't really about the disorder. And the hamburger joke thing was old and him sh*****g them out of his ass was also old so it wasn't funny. Though I think my idea about it was better and then I lost interest in the story because they aired the episode.

SouthPark will always be funny to me and I don't think they were directly insulting people with Asperger syndrome. They were making fun of parents and teachers that are too eager to diagnose young children with a developmental disorder just because they appear depressed or something, which is exactly what happened on the episode. Stan becomes depressed and cynical, loses interest in everything and then his school councilor jumps to the conclusion he must have Asperger syndrome.