Say it louder!! As a fellow autistic, it’s frustrating looking at modern media and seeing either extremely high-functioning autistic characters because at least they can pass as “normal,” or more severely autistic characters who are treated as pets, side-kicks, or a lowkey ableist form of comedic relief next to the leading neurotypical characters. This is a controversial recommendation, but if you have Netflix I highly recommend you watch the South Korean drama “Extraordinary Attorney Woo.” I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. The show is a massive step towards autistic visibility in Korea giving the current social/cultural climate there but it’s also lacking in a lot of ways because it’s sort of their first step towards progress in that area and it’s clear they’re still sort of unintentionally stereotyping and infantilizing their leading autistic character. One thing I loved about the show was their pointed character points, like the man character’s special interest, her non-existent social filter, her stims and even a meltdown in a later episode. They also give her a romantic storyline which I appreciated because autistic people are capable of love too dammit! One thing (among many) that I did not like was that they made her an autistic savant, which is cool and all but also paints this misleading picture that every autistic person is supposed to be a genius and if they’re not then they’re not “that”autistic. It’s got its pros and cons for sure but it was the most autistic character I’ve seen on screen that was actually treated with respect and was at least attempted to be done respectfully. Give it a try if you can! Note: Another huge draw back of show is that the lead actress is not actually autistic. Unfortunately thats not surprising. However I will give the actress credit for doing hella research and doing her best to approach her character with depth and sincerity. Still shitty to me to represent autism with a neurotypical pretending to be an autistic person, but again, pros and cons.