Special Mom’s blog

Advocacy

I used to watch Grey’s Anatomy religiously! Then, I stopped watching it. Last weekend, out of boredom, I switched on to watch the same on Netflix!

Yesterday the episode I watched had a storyline! There was an accident. An autistic young man was hurt and his aide who was with him, seriously injured needing a surgery.

The autistic young man is portrayed as a non verbal person with an AAC device. The director had tried to show that person as one with severe disability. The interns and residents needed to communicate with him and they had a tough time, approaching him.

As a mother of an autistic non verbal adult, I thought this was good with regard to advocacy but there were a lot of portions not true. My son cannot communicate so fluently like the one shown in the episode with a device. He would be completely lost. As the episode progressed, they did try to add some sensory needs to the same but it was just somethings not researched. The person in the episode just felt like a dumb person who needed a device than an autistic individual.

It also showed how the medical community reacts to an autistic individual! There aren’t any doctors who specialize for these individuals. Blood draw to major illnesses, other than a sympathetic look, doctors have no clue! As if, they have left autism out in their choice during their exams!

That is all for this Tuesday morning!

Ending the blog with an Aunty Acid meme, just to make it light!

9 responses to “Advocacy”

  1. Ab Avatar
    Ab

    I find Grey’s does a good job with these special issue episodes. It does make me think about how non verbal autistic people would communicate in these severe situations. Very scary and sobering to think about!

    Reply
    1. ganga1996 Avatar
      ganga1996

      Yes Grey’s Anatomy do a lot of special episodes! I felt they went soft on this topic! Anyhow some advocacy is better than no advocacy!
      Yes, it is really hard for people like my son if such a situation comes around! I think that is were all my prayers are going to, just for the situation not to happen!

      Reply
      1. Ab Avatar
        Ab

        While I have not seen this specific episode, I agree that “special issues” episodes tend to take it softer with disabilities. A harder look would certainly paint a more realistic picture of what caregivers, individuals and families experience!

  2. vermavkv Avatar
    vermavkv

    Thank you for sharing such an honest and important perspective. ❤️ Your experience brings a depth to this episode that viewers without firsthand experience might easily miss.

    I appreciate how you acknowledged the positive intention behind the storyline while also pointing out where the portrayal fell short. That balance is so valuable. Representation matters, but accurate representation matters even more—especially when portraying non-speaking autistic individuals and their communication, sensory needs, and experiences in medical settings

    Reply
    1. ganga1996 Avatar
      ganga1996

      Thanks for posting this reply! 🙏

      Reply
  3. gc1963 Avatar
    gc1963

    Aunty Acid is too good.

    Coming back to the post there are many good serials and movies on autism like The Good Doctor, The Sign (?) by Night Shyamalam. But I have a strong feeling that an autistic or any specially abled person has some distinct creative proficiency. It just has to be tapped. But it’s just a feeling. No scientific based. Yet…

    Also, like you I get the same feeling when they show movies or serials on dementia or Alzheimer’s. Most are overdramatized and under-informed. My mother was a profound dementia patient in her later years. It’s a complicated and complex disease about which most don’t know anything and there is no specialized line of treatment at least in India.

    Reply
    1. ganga1996 Avatar
      ganga1996

      There are a particular group of autistic people who are savants and my son doesn’t belong in there. His visual processing is so poor and so many of mainstream therapies never worked. Those are the individuals who are considered severely autistic! Anyhow that is the population the episode was trying to portray and it was so not well done! As you said that is how it is!
      The anxiety and OCD are so severe and many on this level are not even completely potty trained! There is no back and forth normal conversation unless there is a prompt! The situation they portrayed was so severe! What happens when there is an accident and the caregiver is injured and the autistic peryis not! For a medical show a lot more could have been put forth!

      Reply
  4. Alex Avatar
    Alex

    Thank you for sharing this! Your perspective is so important because I think TV shows like to glamorize some things just for the sake of entertainment and skip over some details.

    Reply
    1. ganga1996 Avatar
      ganga1996

      Medical shows like Grey’s Anatomy boosts about working for a cause and I felt they didn’t do a good job portraying this! Yes, at the end of the day it is all glamour!

      Reply

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