At this point in the quarter, I have read fictional books about living with autism at different stages in life. The book Marcelo in The Real World, portrays a smart gifted boy with autism. The book the Wish portrays a boy with severe autism. The book The Curious incident of the Dog in the Nighttime's main character is a very smart boy with autism. And finally the book The Rosie Project follows a gifted man with autism.
Going off of the videos I watched over break. I noticed a few gaps in my own reading.
So far all the characters in the books I have read with autism are male. Although more males are more likely to have autism, equal representation of both sexes is necessary. This representation would allow a broader audience to connect to the book. This absence of female representation in the fictional portrayal is also present in movies and television shows. Most of the movies and television shows I have seen all have male autistic characters. For example the television shows The Big Bang Theory and The Good Doctor both portray men in the role of the autistic character. This high lights the failure of the media to portray the female population with autism.
In addition to the failure to represent autistic women, books and movies both tend to favor a type of autism which is uncommon and unrealistic. It is uncommon for all autistic people to be gifted as they are in the books and movies. This creates and unrealistic expectation for what it is like to have autism. The fact that true representation is hard to come by ostracizes people with autism and creates unrealistic expectations.
Great topic, though I think you could go into more depth here. What are the percentages by gender in real life?
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