PBS documentary on life on the spectrum

Posted byhaddayrPosted inautism

PLEASE let this be good or at least decent!

A new documentary set to premiere on PBS takes a look at life with autism from the perspective of those with the developmental disorder.

The film, “Neurotypical,” looks at individuals with autism at different stages of life. It focuses on Violet, 4, who is struggling to communicate, a teenager named Nicholas who is shy and has trouble relating to girls and Paula, a wife and mother who received a diagnosis as an adult after reading about the condition. Read more.

Published by haddayr

Writer, parent, cripple, queer; worker, dancer. City dweller. Bicyclist. I love whiskey, tea, and cussing.

One thought on “PBS documentary on life on the spectrum”

  1. The PBS site for it (it’s part of the POV documentary series) raises my hopes. Speaking of the autistic adults who comment,

    begin quote  In one, middle-aged autism advocate Wolf avows that romance is impossible because it involves so much innuendo and hinting–exactly the kind of non-verbal cues and body language autistics have so much trouble reading. He’s perfectly happy without physical intimacy because of his extreme sensitivity to touch. Yet Maddi, a senior in high school, desires a relationship. “Just because Temple Grandin doesn’t do it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen,” she deadpans, referring to perhaps the most famous individual with autism, whose autobiography was one of the first windows into the autistic experience. [… snip …]
    Thirty-something John, who with his long hair looks like he could be an older version of 14-year-old Nicholas, talks about his difficulties following conversations. To compensate, he’s learned two simple tricks–say someone’s name as often as possible, because “a person’s own name is their favorite word in the whole wide world,” and repeat the last three or four words of whatever the person says. “It works like magic,” John declares. “They’ll go on for hours, and they will talk about you as if you were the greatest thing next to the iPhone.” The result is that he has a reputation for being a good listener and has also succeeded on the romantic front. quote ends

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