“To me, it’s wonderful - as long as it’s done correctly,’’ says Lori Shery president of the Asperger Syndrome Education Network, speaking of autism’s increasing visibility. As more content creators discover a personal connection to Asperger’s, for instance, they’re more likely to incorporate autistic characters into their story lines, Shery said.
People with autism typically lack social skills and have a hard time communicating. The condition is classified as a spectrum disorder, with those on the low end the most functionally impaired. Asperger’s syndrome, meanwhile, is a high-functioning form of autism.
In tonight’s episode of “Touch,’’ autism is only briefly mentioned, and the show’s creators maintain that the show is not about autism but about Jake’s supernatural abilities to “see’’ connections others do not. Still, the boy’s lack of social skills suggests he falls somewhere on the autism spectrum, which affects about 1.5 million Americans.
“Extremely Loud’’ - based on the 2005 Jonathan Safran Foer novel - makes no explicit connection to autism, either. Unlike the novel on which it’s based, however, it does contain a scene in which Oskar reveals he was tested for Asperger’s but never diagnosed with it.
Another TV series, NBC’s “Parenthood,’’ features an 11-year old boy with Asperger’s. His family’s struggles to help him adjust to daily life constitute a recurring theme on the two-year-old show. Characters with Asperger’s have also shown up in “The Big Bang Theory,’’ “Grey’s Anatomy,’’ and HBO’s feature “Temple Grandin.’’
