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LizK

Mysterious Creatures

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I know there was a thread about this programme below so hope it's ok to post about it again though it's about something different.

 

It's how it is being advertised in the newspapers and on TV that I feel unhappy about. The TV guide says it is done sensitively but after reading the thread below about it and seeing the two widely different interpretations of the real life story I feel very uneasy about the whole thing. More over I've read reviews about it describing Aspergers as a mental illness or vilifying the daughter for her Aspergers and wonder how much good this programme will do for raising public awareness. Just get so sick of the incorrect or negative portrayals of autism in the media. Was reading an article about autism in a medical journal last week which in reality was mainly about Kanners autism, pretty negative and the photos used were of children with an obvious disability, so much for autism being a hidden disability. I've lost count of the number of people who express complete surprise that Adam is autistic because he is not like the Rainman or not severely disabled.

 

Life is hard with an autistic child, it is challenging and vastly different to the life I intended to lead with my children but it is certainly not all doom and gloom. I have my low moments but I feel fairly positive about his autism. I want others to understand the problems and difficulties he and we face, to realise he has a neurodevelopmental not behavioural or mental condition. I also want them to see him and all the things he does and can offer in a positive light. When I was pregnant with Adam I used to say I could cope with a child with Down Syndrome but didn't want a child with autism. Oh cruel irony but the reality is not like how I thought it would be. I was scared of autism, I see the same look cross the face of others when I tell them Adam is autistic but how can anyone be scared of my lovely sweet little boy?

 

Not sure that makes a lot of sense actually but I know what I mean!

 

Lx

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Its funny when I read the Suns TV Guide I had the exact same discussion with DH as they had refered to her having "a mental illness" and then later said Aspergers a form of autism.

 

I will be wathcing the programme so we should be able to have an interesting discussion after that.

It suprised me they were making a programme about it as I am sure it did not happen that long ago and still must be very raw for the family.

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hi all -

 

I just saw an ad for this (Ben's watching 'WWTBA Millionaire'!), and finally got round to doing what I've been meaning to do all week - Phone ITV...

I've just spoken to an operator on their Duty Office (0870-600-6766) to see if they would be posting any disclaimer or anything. She told me that at this point it is not certain whether the schedules will be including this programme, but she could not give me any details for the reasons behind this... She did tell me that it is not the norm for a programme to be unconfirmed this close to broadcast, so make of that what you will...

I'm not usually one to make judgements without having seen something for myself, but from everything I've read to date it does seem likely that if this is broadcast I'm likely to find it highly offensive...

 

L&P

 

BD :D

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Sounds like possible legal action to me- i DID read somewhere this week that the daughter has given an interview denying that she even has an ASD.

 

Also that paperwork relating to her release from detention under Mental Health Law (obtained by journalist), categorically stated doctors' opinion that she was not suffering from any developmental disability OR mental illness AND that a 'catastrophically inadequate parenting regime' was responsible for her problems.

 

Not that i'd always trust the 'professionals' judgement unquestionally, BUT when you remember the back story, you wonder, i think.

 

There are plenty of parents of ASD children on this forum, and i don't get the impression that any of you are robbing vast sums of money from your workplaces to fund your childrens' special interest in shoes or anything else (which is what this chap did) ; i know i don't.

 

Tragic story but i really question whether ASD has anything to do with it.

 

Natasha

 

Mum to DS, 8 (ASD) & DD, 7 (NT, albeit an obsessive interest in all things pink)

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Yep, I'm thinking the same,

have followed a couple of links to this drama earlier this week that said it was unconfirmed whether or not it would be shown.

makes you wonder why ITV producers hadn't considered possible legal action before they made this film ? surely they had to get the agreement of all involved, and still living before they went ahead ?

It's not a story I want to watch made into 'entertainment' :unsure:

 

ITV have another drama coming up about autism, 'After Thomas', not looked into this in detail as yet......

 

wac

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This concerns me. I did read the article in which the daughter said none of it was true, she didn't even particularly like shoes etc and it came across as debatable whether she had AS at all. Either way though, if the programme is aired the damage will be done. Mud sticks, and people who watch it will tend to be left with the memory of "Oh, Asperger Syndrome - that was what that girl had, the one with all the shoes."

 

The issue for me isn't the truth of this particular story, but the general impression it's going to leave with the public at large about what AS means.

 

Karen

x

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This is a drama/documentary about a families private issues that are still going on, with the most recent suicide attempt being two weeks ago.

 

Even if potential legal action wasn't an issue, respect for thise involved means this documatary should be shelved and the family given their privacy back.

 

Simon

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I think as it comes under the heading "drama" the truth is subject to poetic license.

The brief synopsis I have read relates to the lack of help offered to this family by health/social services. I welcome any debate this programme may bring about.

As the parent of a 21 year old the lack of provision is terrifying. School, college, however long lifes realities can be delayed and then.... A postcode lottery on a grand scale. Local authorities are reducing services and the criteria for recieving said services are changing throughout the country.

Education is a ball game compared to the realities of life without the safety net.

Loraine

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Hi lorry -

 

I agree completely that the lack of provision, postcode lotteries etc very much need highlighting, but the main thrust of this programme is that it does so (allegedly) by demonising the person needing that support, and does so on the basis of very little factual evidence c/w very 'suspect' anecdotal evidence. Whatever way you look at it, that's not going to help anyone...

If you look at mental health provision there has been cutback after cutback after cutback, and to make that process more publically 'acceptable' there has been an ongoing political and media agenda to demonise and sensationalise the more extreme aspects of mental health issues while simultaneaously chipping away at the credibilty of those suffering more mild symtoms by branding them belly-achers, whingers and moaners who are too feckless to help themselves... How the public perceive and respond to autism is hugely important to how much they are willing to accommodate it, the circumstances of how they will do so, and how 'sympathetic' they are to ideas like education and support and the provision of funding and services... If they are presented with monsters they will believe in monsters, and you only have to look at the historical precedents of any targeted minority group (single mums, asylum seekers, gays, ethnic minorities etc etc etc) to see the dangers here...

Already, the media attention surrounding this programme seems to have fallen into certain traps: Categorising autism/as as mental 'illnesses' and perpetuating the already widely held beliefs that OCD/Selfishness/Emotional detatchment (i.e. sociopathy at the extremes often implied)/Aggression are all synonymous with the dx. I don't see those things in my son, and only very rarely in other autistic people I have cared for or come into contact with over the years ['Stims'/ repetitive behaviours are part of the AS condition, they are not 'OCD's per se. Value judgements like 'selfishness' and 'emotional detatchment' are based on Neurotypical medical models which simply do not apply: How they are perceived is totally dependent on the make up of the 'viewer' rather than the intent or 'state' of the person demonstrating the behaviour - the 'Interactional Paradigm'!]

Personally, I don't think it would be too hard to produce programmes that presented some of the realities (and the problems surrounding it like funding/education etc) of autism in a way that was accessible: The recent (soppy ending! :lol::lol: ) drama based on the Jacksons came close, and 'Snow cake' seems to have done so too from everything I've heard...

Even if 'Mysterious Creatures' is, in fact, an accurate representation of a real life situation (and there seems a lot of evidence to suggest otherwise) the 'reality' it presents is such a personal and unusual one that it really bares no relationship to the 'general' reality of autism or caring for autistic people, and the 'model' on offer - which will be accepted as a 'universal construct' (just think 'rainman' :lol::lol::lol: ) - is a dangerous one in terms of how people on the spectrum will be perceived.

Most dangerous of all - there are people out there who would embrace those stereotypes completely, because they are what they already WANT to believe. Every parent who's ever overheard other parents at the school gate of a mainstream school will know the depths of prejudice, pettiness, inconsideration, selfishness - the downright nastiness - that society is capable of, and the really scary thing is the way that gets turned around and projected onto people for whom, in the most part, they are lost concepts...

 

L&P

 

BD :D>:D<<'> (blimey - i'd forgotten I had that soapbox, it's been such a long time... Hope you all had a good laugh as my size nine went straight through the woodworm and rot-riddled slats to leave me sprawled in a puddle in the gutter!) :lol::lol::lol: Apologies too for all the 'inverted commas' - A horrible habit, but I can't be 'ar**ed' to go back now and delete them! :lol::lol::lol:

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This is a drama/documentary about a families private issues that are still going on, with the most recent suicide attempt being two weeks ago.

 

Even if potential legal action wasn't an issue, respect for thise involved means this documatary should be shelved and the family given their privacy back.

 

Simon

 

I agree.

 

Nellie xx

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Buzylizzie,

Its on ITV at 9 tonight.

To be honest I wasnt aware it involved ASD until I came on here this morning. I had seen clips on telly and assumed it was about a family dealing with a life threatening illness and made a mental note to avoid.

Lorainexx

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To be honest I wasnt aware it involved ASD until I came on here this morning. I had seen clips on telly and assumed it was about a family dealing with a life threatening illness and made a mental note to avoid.

Lorainexx

 

Me too!

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I stopped watching about 15-20 minutes ago, 'Lisa' had just been de-sectioned and was happy that she didn't have to go and stay with "those retards" in Wales.

 

I know it's a representation of real life events and so if someone says "retards" or "mental handicap" or "the autistics and what not" in the real life situation then the dramatisation has to depict the words that were said. But. We live in a world where some people out there think that Coronation St characters are real people, would it not hurt to have some people, some background character....a health assistant, the solicitor, another patient at the hospital, woud it not hurt for them to speak correctly and truly give a fair picture of autism/aspergers syndrome? Just as a nod to us y'know, to sort of say, yes we know that these people are saying these things but look, we also know it's wrong and we, as people who are speaking directly to the general public, realise what a negative impact that can have and so this is our attempt to address the balance.

 

All in all, for what I saw, I thought it was an inaccurate portrayal of someone with AS, if in fact Lisa even has AS, and if it is clear to the programme makers that she has no traits associated with AS then they shouldn't have included all the stuff about AS just as they didn't all the other medical conditions her mum thought she had.

 

For the record: I don't ever sit around laughing manically to myself like some deranged nutcase. I don't hold my hands in a different way to what most people hold their hands. I also have never come across any other Aspie who does this or heard about this being a trait. I thought it was a symptom of Cerebal Palsy, but that's close enough to Autism right? Why not throw that in there, it looks good for tv.

 

Another line bothered me as well, when Lisa is interviewed by the mental health team at the hospital regarding her status there. After leaving the room one of the team turns around to the other and says "I thought Asperger's patients were supposed to have difficulty communicating".

 

*breathe*

 

Just because I have difficulty communicating doesn't mean that I am non-verbal. It also does not mean that I do not have the intelligance to speak. I can speak just fine, look at me, I'm doing it right now. I know, I know, it's just a TV programme but people will believe this rubbish. I know my boyfriend's parents, if they watched it, wil think well Emily can talk does that mean she's not AS? They are the kind of people who don't understand enough anyway, who can't get it round their heads, who can't accept me for who I am and blame their unwillingness to change on the fact that they "just don't understand". I know that AS affects people to varying degrees but communication difficulties does not mean can not speak to people. I can speak I just don't get jokes, sometimes misinterpret sarcasm or jokey sayings, I can sometimes be too formal or too informal in my approaches to things, for example, I wrote an email to a music venue the other day asking for disabled seating at a concert I have tickets for and reading it back today and comparing their response to my initial request I have realised that I wrote the email to them in the same way that I would email my mom and ask her the same thing. I wasn't formal enough whereas their reply was all Dear Miss and what not. I can have a conversation just fine, I can even do small talk, I just hate doing it. It is, to me, what 24 hours of hard manual labour would be to most people. If your job every day was to get your index finger and run it around the rim of a toilet....that kind of uncomfortableness is how I feel.

 

I'm fed up now lol, I've prayed and prayed that they wouldn't show this programme and I'm an atheist and now it's been shown I'm angry and upset and yet bored of it, and my feelings about it already.

 

I'm in full rant mode, sorry, it's not making a lot of sense. But regardless rant over and thanks for listening and I know alot of others will feel the same and some will feel differently and that's life.

 

I just wish I could do something to show people that I'm not like that, I'm not mad, I'm not ill or anything of the sort. I'm just different.

 

Just different. Is that such a hard thing to accept?

 

Emily

xxx

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Hi

 

Phoned all my relatives to tell them this programme was on ... Why did I do that? I stupidly thought that it might give them more of an insight into our lives. Wrong!!! After having just watched and I think it's done nothing but portray people with an ASD as being off their heads and manipulative. I also felt it portrayed (blames) the parents as being weak and irresponsible. This drama merely skimmed how an ASD affects the person that has it as well as the family.

 

What it needs is a fly on the wall documentary about families living with autism!

 

Caroline.

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Baddad, your post summed up far more eloquently what I was trying to say. My fear is that people will just take soundbites from this programme and either see those with AS as manipulative, obsessional people and so awful it drives their carers to suicide or at the other extreme see AS as the result of poor parenting and overindulgence. I know the programme makers claimed to be showing neither but I don't think the public will interpret it in that way........................................

 

Just different. Is that such a hard thing to accept?

 

Emily, your last line says it all. I did wonder too if she even had AS or whether it was some sort of personality issue in herself and/or her parents though am obviously not in a position to judge. As an aside I know you said you sometimes don't know how to pitch letters or emails but your posts I've read on here have always been eloquent and thought provoking.

 

Now must go off to bed!

 

Liz x

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Switched off the tv after the first 15 minutes, glad I did after reading the above posts !

Was only watching it whilst waiting for DS2 to drop off, was fairly sure there wouldn't be any canned laughter ( his biggest bugbear ) and sure enough he was fast asleep before the first ads came on :pray:

 

 

wac

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Oh dear. I was flicking through the Radio Times and spotted the magic 'A' word in the write up for this so set the the video to record it (was going to watch it tonight)

 

Kept flicking across in between frames in the snooker (see? far more important) and what I saw didn't look very encouraging. Must have been abour 20 minutes in and the girl (Lisa?) was being sectioned. I know it was only a two minute 'snapshot' but I started to feel uneasy about the way that a lot of people would automatically connect AS and mental health

 

Maybe I'll give it a try after all...or maybe I won't. Whatever the case I'm sure that ITV's effort won't have done much to actually help the image of AS and ASDs :angry:

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Carefully didn't watch it because I knew I would find it too upsetting...so watched the Royle Family special instead to cheer myself up...

 

...only to find it was all about Nana dying, which just brought everything back about losing my dad this summer as the circumstances were quite similar! :o:crying:

 

Bid :(

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I was really disappointed with this programme, I felt that the average person watching with no prior knowledge of autism would be scared silly by this portryal, it did not represent my experience. I managed to watch it through but I felt more worried than ever about what might happen 'out there' for my son today, would his tutors have watched, what about relatives, friends, and would they now display a certain attitude based on this? we have worked so hard to be positive, to fight to have his real ability to be recognised and to take part in society.

 

am I right, the diagnosis of Lisa is still unclear? assuming she was on the spectrum, was she given appropriate support, no - she was put into an environment that would produce certain behaviours and then she was judged on those behaviours?? the failure of the system to identify her need and the inevitable MSPB type questions were obvious to me, the parents utter desperation and how the 'doctors' perceieved them was shown but I feel most people will come away with the impression that Lisa was just mad and bad.

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I started to watch, but after ten minutes couldn't be bothered with it and switched over. I did flick back a few times, but knew I'd just wind myself up if I watched it so watched Friends instead! :P

 

~ Mel ~

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I watched it till the end and in my opinion it?s not portraying AS or autism, but it?s about the drama of the parents? breakdown who received no help for over 30 years. It is not clear what Lisa?s real problem is, as even the doctors were not sure about the diagnosis. In my opinion she doesn't have Aspergers but a personality problem, but I'm not an expert... I watched it with a bit of fear, because my son? behaviour towards me can be at times hard to take and I worry what he will be like as an adult. I am glad that I watched it . Fortunately for my son he has a dx, a statement, medications and counselling. Sadly this couple did not get any of that for their daughter, and having her sectioned was a desperate measure, but not the right measure. I am glad that my son is getting help now that he?s 13 which even if it?s not enough, it is a bit of provision that will hopefully help him live an independent and fulfilling life in the future.

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We went to Scotland at the weekend, and on the way back on Sunday DH and I were having a conversation re this programme. When I first heard about this programme I had been really interested in watching it, hoping it may highlight AS. However, by the weekend I begun to feel alittle uneasy......unsure why....think it probably had something to do with the daughter disputing the events and me feeling I was unsure if it were an accurate portrayal. No-one apart from those involved knows what actually took place, and I don't want to judge either way. Plus, if reports are to be believed, the mother is stilll actively trying to commit suicide, which makes me feel really strange about watching a "drama" about their lives. DH said he felt very uncomfortable about watching it, and said he'd rather watch Royale Family instead....which we ended up doing. Must say I was really intrigued to come onto forum when we did get back and find this thread and to read that many others were feeling similar.

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I felt very confused.mixed emotions after watching this.

 

I felt for the mother and at times for the father too as Lisa seemed to have rejected him and there was nothing being done to help bring her and her father together at all.

 

It seems a big mess regarding Lisa's diagnosis and I know the experts in the programe pointed out making a correct diagnosis takes time (as we all know) but there did not seem to be any attempt to make a concrete diagnosis at all, they all had different ideas what it MIGHT be.

 

I was infuriated by the solicitor especially when once he had got the section lifted was suprised Lisa did not intend to go to Wales 9I also hated it when she mentioned the retard word)

WHAT DID HE THINK SHE WAS GOING TO DO??

 

Lisa seems very much in denial that there is anything wrong with her at all which of course could be part of whatever mixture of conditions she may have, but surely experts dealing with her SHOULD see this themselves.

 

As for the parents paying for her shoes etc and the theft, yes we can all see this is not the best way to handle things but I really do not think they had a clue what else to do and were clearly asking experts (or people they believed to be experts) what the best way was and not getting any real answers.

 

I remember reading their story at the time and thinking of how desperate they must have become, the poor mother surviving when her husband did not.

Was it her who made another suicide attempt 2 weeks ago or Lisa?

Are they still getting no support?

 

If anything I just HOPE this programe might show people who think there is so much help/support for people out there the reality!

 

I think my inlaws may have been watching this as halfway through they suddenly remembered my son was starting secondary school TODAY and phoned (they did not mention the programe)

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i watched the programme last night and ended up with me cringeing and my stomach knotting, i dont know what to make of it.i think the specialists this girl saw should be ashamed of themselves.somewhere in the programe it was said she is not ill enough to be looked after by doctors and not sad enough to be looked after by the social work department??again a sly comments by writters who have no idea what it is like to look after a kid who dosent fit in.....i felt sad by this programme...noogsy

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What a terrible programme! I wish i had watched the royle family!! As a parent with my boy in mainstream i now feel paranoid that my boy will never be asked to tea again by other parents as they will expect him to have 2 heads and be clinicaly insane!! We need a really good informative programme about the spectrum of autism, not media hype and scare mongering. Its a really tragic story whatever the issues are. Shame on ITV!!

That really finished off my bad day yesterday!! :(

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It seems a big mess regarding Lisa's diagnosis and I know the experts in the programe pointed out making a correct diagnosis takes time (as we all know) but there did not seem to be any attempt to make a concrete diagnosis at all, they all had different ideas what it MIGHT be.

 

I was infuriated by the solicitor especially when once he had got the section lifted was suprised Lisa did not intend to go to Wales 9I also hated it when she mentioned the retard word)

WHAT DID HE THINK SHE WAS GOING TO DO??

 

Lisa seems very much in denial that there is anything wrong with her at all which of course could be part of whatever mixture of conditions she may have, but surely experts dealing with her SHOULD see this themselves.

 

As for the parents paying for her shoes etc and the theft, yes we can all see this is not the best way to handle things but I really do not think they had a clue what else to do and were clearly asking experts (or people they believed to be experts) what the best way was and not getting any real answers.

 

I remember reading their story at the time and thinking of how desperate they must have become, the poor mother surviving when her husband did not.

Was it her who made another suicide attempt 2 weeks ago or Lisa?

Are they still getting no support?

 

If anything I just HOPE this programe might show people who think there is so much help/support for people out there the reality!

 

I think my inlaws may have been watching this as halfway through they suddenly remembered my son was starting secondary school TODAY and phoned (they did not mention the programe)

 

 

Hi PSA -

 

I'd agree with all of the points above, but would qualify that by saying they possibly only apply to the 'factional' characters the programme makers decided to populate their drama with...

The support that was offered, the responses of the medical professionals/legal advisors etc may be completely inaccurate, or at the very least manipulated for dramatic effect. The one medical scenario we did see was that where the girls parents succeeded in getting her sectioned. The findings of the board investigating that sectioning overturned it not on 'reasonable doubt' but the plain fact that by the terms of the law she was wrongly institutionalised. It was alluded to (but only by the girl herself: not any of the professionals who - even in a 'factional' portrayal - would have had more credibility) briefly, but the daughter had been dragged round many many (30+ I think) private specialists all of whom failed to find anything wrong with her... that's not a 'complicated' dx it is a non existent one!

I have no idea who the writers/researchers spoke to when creating this drama, but the press coverage seems to suggest we have mainly heard the mother's account of events, which - by definition, is unlikely to be entirely unbiased regardless of any underlying implications (I.E. MSBP, Theft, Embezzlement etc)...

 

So far as Lisa's 'condition', and the appropriateness of an AS/ASD dx or otherwise, the fact is that this is not a typical situation by any means, and that wasn't made entirely clear. For those knowing little about AS/ASD the portrait provided will probably be as readily (and inaccurately) generalised as that of Dustin Hoffmann in THAT movie.

It is a fact that in any kind of ongoing abusive environment (and I'm not saying for one moment that Lisa's situation was/is abusive, just acknowledging that the facts aren't known) the behaviours and responses of the abused person will be effected dramatically, and this will include the normalisation and acceptance of the role and position placed upon them. Additionally, in such an environment, the development of obsessions and routines will almost invariably arise as both a form of defence and self-reassurance: The need for consistency is a fundamental human trait, and where there's only chaos anything offering a degree of certainty will be clutched at, no matter how inappropriate it might seem.

 

As I said, I have no idea of the accuracy or otherwise of this 'docudrama' - what I do know is that it has not helped autistic people or their carers, either in terms of the real problems they face in our society or the ways in which the media portrays them. That makes this programme nothing more than a bit of titillating and DANGEROUS 'fluff', and I can't for the life of me (outside of that titillation factor) imagine why anyone would want to make, contribute or broadcast it... Money maybe? Or is that where we came in?

 

L&P

 

BD :(

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I was shocked that two actors of the calibre of Brenda Blethyn and Timothy Spall would be involved in a drama where one of the people portrayed is still trying to kill herself, never mind the demonisation of autism and the questionable 'facts' the drama is based upon :(

 

Bid :(

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I also feel uneasy about this programme having been made now, but I watched it as I knew my mum in law was taping it and might ask about it sometime! I decided to take it at face value as a drama rather than as an accurate portrayal of someone's life.

 

I sympathise with people who were offended by the portrayal of AS but my feeling was that AS wasn't very much to the fore, it clearly came across that there were some doubts about the dx anyway.

 

There were bits of it I identified with a little too closely for comfort, the desperation of the mother who couldn't cope and needed support and respite but was faced with a system that couldn't offer adequate support. As one stage a couple of years ago my daughter came very close to being hospitalised, and although I was in crisis I would probably have chained myself to the door rather than see her taken away under section.

 

Leaving aside the question of whether it's an accurate portrayal of this family, I thought this drama got across very well the plight of families with dependent adult children who don't get the right help, due to ignorance, prejudice, lack of resources or the blithe assumption by others that they can and must make their own choices, however destructive these might be, to themselves or anyone else.

 

"Not mad enough for mental health system, not sad enough for social services - which box does she fit into? ". This is how I feel. It was was the mother's bitter comment to the social worker, about on a system which leaves young adults who appear independent, to muddle along on their own or with stressed families as their only support. Because the daughter rejected the help that was offered - the mother once again became the sole source of support.

 

I hope the daughter and the mother this drama is based on find some kind of stability and the help they need, together or separately. :(

 

We're all very different, and this happened to come uncomfortably close to my life right now, (having just been to the GP to nag her once more into getting something sorted out for my soon to be adult daughter). I appreciate that others didn't like it. But I don't think one particular programme is ever going to present the definitive view of AS or any other life experience - why should we expect it to?

 

K x

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Very, very difficult viewing :tearful:

 

It upset me far more than i thought it would. For many reasons. I do think it was a powerful drama - but, should (IMO) not have been promoted using the heading of AS/ASD...... Most of the behaviour was very similar to my mums (dx'd schizophrenia). But, i expect each persons personal experience will influence their own view of it.............................

 

Difficult to watch - difficult to comment on as these are real people :( .

 

Wish i'd ignored it - i didn't get any sleep :(:wacko:

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Very, very difficult viewing :tearful:

 

It upset me far more than i thought it would. For many reasons. I do think it was a powerful drama - but, should (IMO) not have been promoted using the heading of AS/ASD...... Most of the behaviour was very similar to my mums (dx'd schizophrenia). But, i expect each persons personal experience will influence their own view of it.............................

 

Difficult to watch - difficult to comment on as these are real people :( .

 

Wish i'd ignored it - i didn't get any sleep :(:wacko:

 

Smiley,

 

I felt like you when I viewed it, because my mother also had similar behaviour (borderline) and all the family suffered. :( It kept me up remembering things from the past too... :crying:

 

Although it was difficult viewing I think it was worth watching and I found it more realistic than the idealised and soppy drama The Magnificent Seven (apologies for not agreeing with other members) - as you say personal experiences influence what you think of it.

 

Curra

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Although it was difficult viewing I think it was worth watching and I found it more realistic than the idealised and soppy drama The Magnificent Seven (apologies for not agreeing with other members) - as you say personal experiences influence what you think of it.

 

I am with you Curra. Lot's of it hit home to me and was just a little too close for comfort. Whatever the problem the services let them down and looking after an adult with AS is a world away from looking after a child with it - but then I suppose you have to reach that point before you can fully understand.

 

Oracle

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Hi Oracle,

 

I think that probably most parents with children on the spectrum can 'fully understand' exactly what things will be like once they are adults...that's why they fight so hard to get a correct dx and the right education provision, etc, etc.

 

My son is now a young adult, but I knew exactly what would happen to him if I didn't fight for him...

 

Bid

Edited by bid

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Hi Oracle,

 

I think that probably most parents with children on the spectrum can 'fully understand' exactly what things will be like once they are adults...that's why they fight so hard to get a correct dx and the right education provision, etc, etc.

 

 

Problem is that the system doesn't allow parents to think beyond into adulthood. Paremts are so focused (rightly) on their children's school education that they don't have time to look beyond and are unprepared for the post 16, further education world where there are no legal safeguards at all. No statements, no reviews, no appeals: just the goodwill of the college your child happens to be at, and the expertise the tutors happened to have picked up along the way.

 

K x

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While parents of young children may not know about the exact details of post-16 life for their children and the appalling lack of provision, I think those of us who had a dx at a relatively young age for their child were all too aware of what could happen in adult life.

 

It is that worry and fear about what will happen to your child once they are adult that drives parents to fight for their child's needs, from potty-training to food problems to behavioural difficulties to education...you know you are fighting for your child's future :(

 

Bid

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It is that worry and fear about what will happen to your child once they are adult that drives parents to fight for their child's needs, from potty-training to food problems to behavioural difficulties to education...you know you are fighting for your child's future :(

 

Bid

 

Adam is only five but that is so true for me. I shudder when I think about his future which isn't that far away and worry how he'll get on without the supports in place now. Wonder what will happen to him when we are gone :( I hope the premise behind early intervention pays off and does make a difference but you just don't know. People I have met with older kids with AS or HFA seem to find it goes one way or the other. A group of the kids seem to reach their teens, mature and cope much better with every day life and come into their own whereas the other group seem to find the stresses of puberty, teens and life beyond that so much harder to deal with and are crushed by the adult life they have to live.

 

Lx

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