In the Media How autism has been represented in popular culture and in the media. Claire Danes, actress playing Temple Grandin in 2010 TV Film, Temple Grandin: My name is Temple Grandin. I’m not like other people. Visual: HBO Films Presents Claire Danes, actress: I think in pictures, and I connect them. Visual: AUTISM Narrator: Why is it important to know how autism is represented in popular media? Michael Crabtree, actor playing Uncle Mike in 2010 TV Film, Temple Grandin: I’ve just been telling Billy here all about our summer visitor. Claire Danes, actress: Are you a cowboy? Narrator: Anthropologist Roy Richard Grinker claims it shows us how our understanding of autism is strongly shaped by culture. These representations provide a brief history of the progress we’ve made. Tom Cruise, actor playing Charlie Babbitt in 1988 Film, Rain Man: There you go, Ray. Dustin Hoffman, actor playing Raymond Babbitt in 1988 Film, Rain Man: Yeah. Tom Cruise, actor: You’re dancing. This is it. Dustin Hoffman, actor: Yeah. I’m dancing. Visual: Bartleby the Scrivener Herman Melville Barnaby Rudge Charles Dickens The Penguin Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Narrator: In the nineteenth century, before autism had been named by doctors, some of our great writers depicted the condition and its core symptoms. Visual: “Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact” Narrator: But even after Leo Kanner published his famous 1943 scientific article, most people had never heard of autism or had met anyone on the spectrum. It was books and popular movies that made the difference. Visual: Autism Gave Her a Vision. She Gave It a Voice. Temple Grandin Dr. Temple Grandin, person on spectrum: Well when I was a teenager and in my twenties, nobody even knew what autism was. I mean, Rain Man came out, you know, but he was a savant so nobody really connected that with me. Visual: Bruno Bettelheim The Empty Fortress Infantile Autism and the Birth of the Self Narrator: Our cultural history also reveals some of the terrible mistakes we’ve made along the way. First mother: Bruno Bettelheim was someone who put himself forward as an expert. He wrote a book in which he said he knew that autistic children must feel like their parents were like Nazi prison camp guards. That was one of his key similes. Second mother: I remember being amazed that it wasn’t that the child was the patient so much as it was the parents, you know. So, well, what have we done that is so awful that would drive a child into such a regression? First mother: I was the tail end of that generation of mothers that were bombarded by the Bruno Bettelheim garbage. You were on the judgment seat of the mother, and he was your judge; he was your prosecutor; he was everything. He was going to send you to mother-hell, because you made this kid to be autistic. Narrator: Yet these mistakes were challenged by other representations showing the crucial role of parents in treating children with autism. By increasing awareness of autism, this media coverage helps stimulate new research and urges government support for more services. It shows us how pervasive autism is in our everyday lives and how practically everyone now knows a family dealing with this disorder. These cultural representations affect how we perceive and treat individuals with autism, encouraging us to respect their differences and most important, they affect how those on the spectrum see themselves, . . . Alex Plank, person on spectrum: Hi, I’m Alex Plank and this is Autism Talk TV. Narrator: . . . Encouraging them to represent their own points of view.