Love on the Spectrum US -- Discussion Thread

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Time to begin the discussion I would think.

Oh well, so nobody else has seen this, or perhaps they're discussing it on a different forum.

I'll just say that the most striking difference from the Australian version (which was created by the same people AFAIK) is the lack of LGBTQ+ representation. You can take that as either a spoiler or warning.

Would still like to see comments.

I kind of liked the Australian version better, but this show was okay as well.

This is nice, I'm always glad to see varied people with different brain builds find each other, but especially autistic people. They can be so different yet so wonderful.

I was put off at first just seeing the title, but after it was trending, I decided to give it a go and I ended up loving it.
I'm not one for marriage because I think it's an outdated institution, but the show actually made me start to actively look for other people on the spectrum for friendships... which is why I'm back on our forums.

I felt there was more LGBTQIA+ than most shows out there. It seemed to be more predominant with the females than their male counterparts. I can relate to be "fluid" with attraction.
"I like the wine and not the label."

The one thing I didn't like it is some of the ideas floated about relationships seemed force-fed... like traditional ideas about relationships. Man + woman = marriage and babies.
A modern relationship is finding people with whom you share something in common, like values. It's important to have the same level of communication or communication style. A healthy couple supports each other. It shouldn't be being with someone just for the sake of being with someone. That part rubbed me the wrong way.

I feel like the American version uses a different range of autistic presentations than the Australian, and is more infantilizing. I relate more to the characters in the Australian version right off. I am kind of scared, tbh, of the infantilizing way that American media is presenting autistics, even when it's considered "good representation." This creates a bad optic for a lot of adult autistics who are trying to navigate ableism in the adult world.

Well-articulated.
That's what I was trying to say when I talked about the force-fed ideas of relationships. I felt like a lot of families were pushing their kids into relationships when they didn't seem ready for it, or cast members were lined up with people who weren't really compatible. The only thing they had in common was a disability.
It didn't feel organic.

I have a hard time remembering who was on which version (USA vs Aus), but I'd love to meet San Francisco Steve. He cracked me up.

It's like these producers have never actually known autistic adults... I feel like a giant chunk of the autistics I've known, met their love (or sex!) partners via online venues, games, subcultural spaces. Many of them are with other autistics and many of them are with NTs or other kinds of NDs. I met my (ADHD) partner through tabletop gaming and a number of previous dates/partners via online spaces.

ffs, just do something like MTV's The Real World inside an actual deeply nerdy subcultural space. The real love and sex lives of autistic adults would actually be a million times more entertaining and I don't think modern, puritanical minds could handle it. Pretty sure my autistic transfem atheist furry best friend who sometimes does bouncer work for a kink club, isn't the kind of autistic adult they want on their show lmao

if anything what we need to see is... autistics who don't know how to connect with people socially, getting to have the love lives they want, if they want them... but autistically