The media landscape has seen increased diversity in various identities, yet the disabled, particularly autistic individuals, are underrepresented. Despite making up a substantial portion of the U.S. population, disabled characters comprised only 2.1% of film characters in 2022, with even fewer portraying autism accurately. Common tropes, such as the autistic savant or the emotionless "robotic" character, perpetuate stigma and misinformation, failing to represent the true diversity and complexity of autism, which affects individuals uniquely without conforming to these narrow narratives.
Most portrayals of autism in media can fall into one of a few different familiar tropes, including the autistic savant, autism as "inhuman," "straight white male" autism, and the autistic burden.
Disabled characters only make up 2.1 percent of characters in film (as of 2022), and the proportion of autistic characters in film and TV is even lower.
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