people need to understand that neurotypical portrayals of neuroatypical people, and stories told about neuroatypical people from the perspective of neurotypical people generally do more harm than good.

when projects like Sia's Music get made, we get characters like Rain Man, Christopher Boone and Sheldon Cooper, all of which are gross stereotypes that make it okay for disabled people to be othered and mocked.

this kind of thing led a classmate of mine to write a story about an autistic person from the perspective of her "normal" sister framed as a tragedy because "living with disabled people is so terrible". This girl got praised for daring to write such a "meaningful story"

when in reality it was exploiting a disability for tragedy points because The Black Balloon (another film where a NT person plays an autistic stereotype) was topical at the time.

also important to note that most autistic and ADHD characters in media are AMAB. AFAB people are less likely to be diagnosed with autism and ADHD because the stereotype is that it's a boy thing.

I encourage everyone to seek out media about neurodivergence from the perspective of #actuallyneurodivergent people, particularly women, POC and LGBTQ+ people. and please do NOT support auti$m $peak$!!!

*neurodivergent