The best ones don’t come from where you’d expect

Started out using people’s interests, along with my knowledgefrom my own large consumption of nerdy media to helpfurther communication to aid in diagnosis of ASD

This has culminated in my work becoming a real and excellentdialogue between clinicians and Autistic individuals. I havealso started an Anime podcast with 2 individuals on thespectrum to extend post diagnostic support

This led up to the moment when I was at the European AutismConference in 2016 in Edinburgh where an American ForensicPsychologist made a statement that the Anime aesthetic andAnime by proxy was a “gateway” to individuals on thespectrum accessing child pornography

This fueled me to create my passion project: a 627 page bookcalled ‘The Nerd Consultant’s Guide to Anime’ to counteractthat image for parents, clinicians and experts about whatAnime was, why people like and dislike it and enable furthercommunication between people

The absolutely terrible The absolutely amazing

Bad to mixed portrayals inHollywood blockbusters

Good Autism allegory in animationwith Steven Universe, thoughanimation had other issuesBlatant Oscar bait

‘The Pet Girl of Sakurasou’ also does a good job portraying itsautistic character with accurate, if occasionally overexaggeratedtraits, though that’s largely a factor of the expressive Anime styleand is sympathetic whilst balancing this with a comedic side

‘Sakurasou’ is very understanding and sympathetic towards itsautistic character, showing that her way of thinking hascontributed to her being a talented artist but that she also hastrouble with some day to day activities and interaction which shedevelops throughout the series without sacrificing what makesher unique

It shows her growing as a person through her friendships andher discovering new factors about herself through fall outs withher friends about her getting ahead with her projects over themand how that effects them, as well falling in love for the first timeand how it affects her

Her Autism is not the only defining factor of her character and isjust one factor of it, moving her from being an audience proxy toher own identity

This means she is shown to have large capabilities of traits andthere is even a storyline about people wanting to box her inbecause she’s not progressing in her skills the way they want herto

It also contributes to the main message of the show which is thatyou can never judge a book by its cover and people can surpriseyou (paraphrasing a comment made by Jack Johnson, YouTubeessayist)

This is why I believe it can connect with an audience with adecently large autistic following - in my experience - and neverfeels insulting

My opinion is that if we want great Autistic characters we need to make characterswho are Autistic but are not defined by it as it can lead to a boxed in idea of Autismwhich limits neurotypical public opinion on the capabilities of individuals on thespectrum

These characters must have the struggles but also the strengths too: a factor whichmost writers don’t get

This is important because when it comes to writing these characters in the futurewe are likely to be consulted and that leads to better writing and betterneurotypical public perception

More importantly what’s not up for debate is that we are living in a time where ourfavourite media makes up a big part of our lives and identity. The message I’d liketo see go out is that valuing that is an amazing way to communicate with people ona level that respects their life