April is Autism Acceptance Month, and so, something I want to do is put together a list of films that feature characters who, in one way or another, I relate to. Characters that, from my perspective, relate to my personal experiences as an autistic person. Since today is my birthday, I figured this would be a fun way to celebrate both.
These are films that, at one point or another in my life, I watched because there was a character in the film that I felt spoke to me. Even before I had the word to describe my experiences, I understood that I was different and that these characters had aspects that I related to, since they were treated or…
April is Autism Acceptance Month, and so, something I want to do is put together a list of films that feature characters who, in one way or another, I relate to. Characters that, from my perspective, relate to my personal experiences as an autistic person. Since today is my birthday, I figured this would be a fun way to celebrate both.
These are films that, at one point or another in my life, I watched because there was a character in the film that I felt spoke to me. Even before I had the word to describe my experiences, I understood that I was different and that these characters had aspects that I related to, since they were treated or seen as different due to aspects of their personality or mindset that were unique from society's.
Most of these characters are not canonically considered autistic, though a few are, and not every autistic person will relate to these characters since of course every autistic person is different, but these are the ones I related to and I would say are coded as such.
I will also add in the disclaimer that me saying I related to these characters does not mean that they should be seen as good representation or that the movie itself is a good movie. There have been rather stereotypical and somewhat harmful depictions of autism, or neurodivergent coded characters, that throughout my life I have connected to simply because pop culture is not exactly overflowing with options. For example, if I could add shows, I would add Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory, even though the way he is depicted is a rather stereotypical and problematic depiction of autism (though not canonically labeled as such). But I would include him because growing up, I was often compared to him because of my speech patterns and my awkward nature, and so I related to him. He was what autism looked like to me growing up before I knew the word for it.
In the end, this is just a personal list of characters I relate to. Some are canonically autistic, some are not. Some are good representation, some are not. Some are from good films, some are not. But all of them have at one point or another meant something to me.
