Autism in the Media Essay -- Media Argumentative Persuasive Argument

Autism in the Media Weepinbell, w-e-e-p-i-n-b-e-l-l Tentacool, t-e-n-t-a-c-o-o-l Geodude . . . , yelled Connor. We were playing his favorite game - identify and spell the names of all 156 Pokmon characters. Connor is a three-year-old boy I worked with as class of the SonRise therapy that his mother organized after he was diagnosed with autism. During my thrice-weekly Connor-directed playtime visits, I entered his world instead of making him enter mine and encouraged eye contact to substantiate Connors connection with others. I begin this critique of autism depiction in mass media relating my relationship with Connor because he informs my understanding of autism and colors my critique of media representations. For people who do non know autistic individuals personally, however, perceptions of autism have been shaped, by and large, by character depictions in a series of feature films over the last fifteen years, most notably Rain Man (1988), House of Cards (1993), and Molly (1999). I here examine these three films, each with an autistic main character, to evaluate the image of autism presented to the open and to discuss how that image has changed in the last fifteen years. However, before an analysis of the films, I will briefly overview autism as it is currently diagnosed and treated. Autism is the label given to a set of behaviors summarized by the International Classification of Disease ICD-10 Handbook as1 1. Impairment in reciprocal social interaction. 2. Impairment in verbal and non-verbal communication and in imaginative activity. 3. Markedly restricted variety in activities and interests. Generally, autistic children be first identified by ... ...ons of autism over the last fifteen years beam popular notions and hopes for cures to psychological disorders. Because mass media representations of autism reach a thousand fold the number of individuals who ready Psychology Review Today and other academic journals, films are an important source of information and a possible forum for advocacy and should be used as such. Bibliography 1. Frith, U. 1989. Autism Explaining the Enigma. Cambridge Basil Blackwell. 2. Hobson, P. 1993. Autism and the Development of Mind. Hillsdale Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 3. Mesibov, G., Lynn, A. and Klinger, L. 1997. Autism Understanding the Disorder. New York Plenum crushed leather 4. Grandin, T. 1995. An Inside View of Autism. http//www.autism.org/temple/inside.html Feature Films Rain Man (1989) Molly (1999) House of Cards (1993)