Hollywood really likes to be inclusive in their movies nowadays. We’ve seen this with live action Disney movies like The Little Mermaid, where they cast a Black actress to star as Ariel and a boy with Cleidocranial Dysplasia to play Dustin Henderson in Netflix’s Stranger Things. But perhaps an underrated category are movies that represent the autistic community.

There are a lot of movies and TV shows out there that attempt to shed some light on this community. Some are really good representations and portray the disorder accurately, but there are some that don’t do a good job and end up being super offensive. 

First, let’s define what exactly autism is. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, autism is defined as “a neurological and developmental disorder that affects how people interact with others, communicate, learn, and behave.” I’m on the spectrum myself; and as a child, I’d scream a lot and have trouble talking clearly, which led to a lot of people not really understanding what I was thinking or saying. I had to attend special education programs that would help with my autism before going to a normal school. Activities I did during childhood like reading, writing, playing video games, and playing pretend with my sisters helped me develop the creative side of my brain; and I was finally able to express myself clearly. 

I always hoped there was a movie or TV show out there that I could relate to –a character I could connect with because they share my story. Unfortunately, most adaptations have been disappointing to me and many other members of the community.

Let’s start with The Unbreakable Boy, which was released on February 21, 2025. It is based on a true story, written by Scott LeRette in 2017, titled The Unbreakable Boy: A Father’s Fear, a Son’s Courage, and a Story of Unconditional Love. IMDB lists the plot as “A young boy with both a rare brittle-bone disease and autism transforms everyone around him with his joyous, funny, and life-affirming world view.” The cast consists of Zachary Levi as Scott LeRette, Jacob Laval as Austin LeRette, and Meghann Fahy as Teresa. The film received 5.8/10 stars and 44% Rotten Tomatoes. My main issue with this movie is how Scott and Teresa decide to treat their son’s condition. Austin likes to talk about his obsessions a lot. There’s a scene where Scott and Teresa hide in the closet, so they don’t have to listen to him. It’s quite painful to witness, and I can’t imagine how Austin felt about that in real life. Throughout the movie, Scott and Theresa are trying to treat Austin’s autism with medicine; and in one scene, they give him the wrong one and he starts cursing and lashing out. After that, he is sent to a mental institution. The worst part is that Scott has an “imaginary friend” telling him that what he’s doing is right and that he shouldn’t be ashamed. The movie attempts to make Scott look like the hero in all this, but he’s really anything but. 

Next is Sia’s musical, Music. IMDB lists the plot as “Zu is newly sober when she receives news that she is to become the sole guardian of her half-sister named Music, a young girl on the autism spectrum. The film explores two of Sia’s favorite themes: finding your voice and creating family.” The cast consists of Maddie Ziegler as Music Gamble, Kate Hudson as Kazu Gamble, and Leslie Odom Jr. as Ebo Odom. The film received 3.2/10 stars and 7% Rotten Tomatoes. Now, autism is a spectrum; so that means that there are many different forms. This is what Sia failed to understand, so she made Music’s character a stereotype of what people think autism is: non-verbal, sensitive to noise, unaware of people’s feelings, and imaginative. Of course, these are traits that come with autism. But like I said, it’s a spectrum, so there’s much more to it and behavior can vary every day. According to an article titled “Sia ‘Music’ backlash grows, star deletes Twitter and adds disclaimer” by David Oliver at USA Today, Sia received much criticism on Twitter after the film’s release. One Tweet from a user that said, “Several actors, myself included…We all said we could have acted in it on short notice. These excuses are just that – excuses. The fact of the matter is zero effort was made to include anyone who is actually autistic.” Sia responded, “Maybe you’re just a bad actor.” Additionally, Sia stated that she worked with autistic people on the film, but found the experience “too stressful.” Maddie Ziegler also stated that her research consisted of watching Youtube videos of autistic children having meltdowns. 

But now for a more lighthearted topic, let’s look at a show that represents the autism community in a good way. It’s a Netflix show called Love on the Spectrum, a reality show released in 2022. Netflix lists the plot as “In this romantic documentary series, people on the autism spectrum look for love and navigate the challenging world of dating and relationships.” According to IMDB, the show has received 8.6/10 stars and 100% Rotten Tomatoes –and for good reason. The show does a great job of showing the daily lives of each of the characters; and the love stories are really well written. I really like Dani Bowman because she’s an animator; she’s very emotional, and very expressive in her speech. It was great to see someone I could relate to. I also like Abbey Lutes because she likes Disney princesses. In the first episode of season 1, she says she likes Ariel because she relates to her situation of not being able to talk clearly. This really stood out to me. In my opinion, this is the right way to do autism representation and I highly recommend it.