Anyone else watching Casualty now ?

[lil_me]

Casualty now ? Is it just me or does anyone else spy a possible Aspie

 

Young boy, 12 years old I think, called Dom

 

 

Oh and apart from that his step fathers an A*******

Edited November 19, 2005 by lil_me

[jomarie]

yep, I've just been watching it, thought they were handling it really well until they turned him into a mathematical genius

[lisann]

Doh

I always seam to miss stuff that sounds good on the telly.

 

Lisa x

[lil_me]

I must have been right to what they were trying to portray as they just suggested Aspergers to his Mam.

 

My son is like that with numbers, not quite as advanced but much better than 'average' children his age. I thought it was handled pretty well tbh. I was also pleased she said for his step dad to go, not often I get over involved with whats on tele but I could have seriously hurt his step dad.

[Clarkie]

Yep

 

We sat there knowing exactly what was going to happen. Thought it was ridiculous at the end though when, having showed how our children hate to be touched, the last scene showed the lady doctor (selina) with her arm around Dom after he had been hit. AS IF.....

Certainly with R - especially after a meltdown - you would not be able to put an arm around him.

 

Oh well....

 

I suppose it is giving exposure to ASD - though I know none of our friends would recognise our child from watching it.

 

Clarkie

[Tensing]

Yes I was only have watching the begining but as soon as I saw him and his step father I said to my daughter "he's autistic".

[lil_me]

My son would allow that contact sometimes, sometimes he won't. My son hates being touched sometimes, others he is not bothered and appreciates phsyical contact, probably why its so tricky to know what to do. They are all so different it must be a big task to decide which direction to go in as a writer on these programmes. Sometimes what people fail to see is past what they have watched on tele, like some friends of mine really can't see past the rainman character. His character was a lot like my son which is probably why I clicked when they were in the sitting room before the mother was hurt.

Edited November 19, 2005 by lil_me

[TuX]

I've just posted a thread about it on the ouch forum.

 

 

I thought it was cr*p,yet again it's portraying AS as being mild and almost another word for savantism,when will they all stop watching rainman and find something else to base their research on?

[Guest flutter]

i watched it and was very sad

i not sure where the balance is

did instantly see where it was going tho

[Tylers-mum]

I suppose it is giving exposure to ASD  - though I know none of our friends would recognise our child from watching it.

 

Clarkie

I agree with Clarkie here! After explaining to family members that my son has HFA and that it's similar to AS, they certainly would not believe me had that seen this show! I waited for the fone to start ringing non-stop when that show ended so either they realised or more then likely, they didn't remember that I said AS is similar to HFA! I could imagine the arguements with them saying, Tyler isn't Autistic! Thankfully, the phone did not ring and I know all my sisters watched Casualty tonight!

 

On a lighter note, the first scene with him on the carpet in his living room playing cards, I knew right away that he was Autistic, when he started talking, I knew it was AS!! Must have ASD on my brain!! LOL

Edited November 19, 2005 by Tylers-mum

[Kathryn]

Sigh.. another boy. One day people will realise that girls can have ASD too.

[katysmum]

Hi all

another bad day, and then sat and watched this.... and cried.

Like somebody else said, another boy!!

I am glad AS awareness is becoming more and more, but not all as are savants.

maybe I am being picky, but for me the outcome was that he was gifted, and his problems got pushed into the background.

Yes all of our children are gifted but their syndrome is also very disabling.

sorry to sound so neg.

sharon

[Strange girl]

I watched it too and knew straight away they were going to tackle aspergers. But as usual, not wanting to complain, but they used a stereotype check list to build the character. Some parts were believable and I'm glad it is at least getting a mention. But how many autistic savants are there? my son is bright in some areas and struggles with other things, but being a math genius seems to be the norm on tv. I'm still trying to teach my 7 yo how to tell time and tie his shoes... So one minute this child is considered a savage beast, and then suddenly he is actually just gifted and many AS grow up to be artists, musicians and even scientists.... so he is not a bad, naughty kid after all. hoorah. and they all lived happily ever after.

[lil_me]

I think maybe they did the bit with the maths as his step father (who deserved a good kicking) was constantly calling him stupid and dumb, low life etc. But I agree it would be difficult to show all sides, but it also showed how problems with even the more savant Aspie/Atusitic children can make simple things like dealing with an emergency so difficult due to the issues with communication, noise etc.

[ray]

Alex (AS) has always been awful at Maths (runs in the family). Will always remember his teacher telling me that he had them all in hysterics (laughing) when he quite calmly stopped trying, changed tack, and just started to challenge exactly what the point of learning maths when he knew how to work a calculator? I think you had to be there I guess, but it does reallly annoy me when this sort of thing strengthens the stereotype to the extent that people start to believe there is some sort of benefit/trade off - ie. cr*p at socialising, but its OK because he's gifted at maths, science, music etc etc - its just not like this.

 

ray

[smiley]

I watched this episode. Within two minutes it was a case of "He's Autistic - (said to hubby) What do you reckon, genius or maniac?? Turned out to be 'genius' then....

 

I did think it was well done though - it's a tricky subject, but it was managed fairly well. (but, hello?! Did anyone else see that Dr hugging him at the end? Not so likely!!

 

My little man has a photographic memory - not many people are told - he turns into a side show. He may be able to memories things he has seen - but he can't hold a conversation....get himself dressed.....

 

Any one else notice the amounts of stares or pityfull glaces at school this morning? I can always spot when a programme about Aspergers has been on . One mum, (who's child is in a different class to M - i've never spoken to her, have no idea of her name.........) came up to me and M this morning. She asked M how many trees there were in the playing field........thankfully, he just walked away. She went on to say she'd seen the episode. In the end we had a nice chat - and i filled her in - she was just curious i think. But hey, you know what that did to the cat ..... ........

[phasmid]

Funnily enough my mum has just phoned and asked if I'd seen this on Saturday. She'd spotted the likelyhood of this boy having AS in about 10 minutes (well done mum - I spotted it in about 10 seconds!).

 

I just thought it was a shame they choose to go down the 'Rainman' route too. That said if it did raise awareness and that awareness resulted in a few hundred conversations along the lines of the one smileymab had that means there a few hundred better informed people around tonight than there were this time yesterday!

 

The mum smiley mentions may have 'just been curious' but she at least had the courage to strike up a conversation, maybe in an effort to find out more- even if she went about it in the wrong way. Hopefully she will take on board what she learnt and pass it on to others.

Edited November 21, 2005 by phasmid

[lil_me]

I've had a few parents ask me about it since then aswell, as Phasmid said if it increases awareness then I'm happy, fair enought they can't portray all angles as every child is so different, I did speak to a parent yesterday who said he was just like her son even with his cards etc.

[Canopus]

I would good if a kid on an entertainment programme with AS isn't a maths or computer genius. Instead they are obsessed and highly knowledgeable about something else such as rock samples or WWII aircraft. Whether the mainstream media will come up with such a person is a different matter. The first rule of the entertainment industry is never let facts get in the way of viewing ratings.

[eddie]

we realised immediately too, when the boy was sat playing yu gi oh cards, my little one sat also playing yu gi oh!!!!!

[tinminer]

I didn't see it, but from the comments made, my main criticism would be it is showing the great British General Public ASD typical autism as portrayed in-the-media stereotypes:

 

1. That all people with AS are male (I have AS, so does my wife).

 

2. That all people with AS are savants, and excel at maths, science or computing (neither I nor my wife excel at any of these).

 

3. That any person's dislikes with something will ALWAYS be met with an EXTREME reaction - e.g. if someone touches me, I just feel 'I don't like that', but on TV the character has to SCREAM or go into a fit. I know some people with AS WILL react like that, but I would not say it is the norm.

 

4. That AS or autism is a MAJOR issue for both the parent/carer and the person who has it - two mis-conceptions there. Firstly, both myself and pretty much all other AS people I have spoken to would NOT want to be NT (neuro-typical) - autism is part of US! Secondly, other things happen in families with autism/AS - it is NOT the whole thing around which everyone else revolves.

 

one day, things will be shown as they really are!

[~Jonathan~]

Is Simon McCorkindale still in Casualty? I don't watch it but I remember he was in a programme called Manimal in the 80's and I was fascinated by that.