Read on Twitter
TW-ableism, hate speech
So - the Sia/Music film/Maddie/autism controversy. Going to give my perspective as an #ActuallyAutistic woman in a thread so feel free to mute this if it’s too much.
So - the Sia/Music film/Maddie/autism controversy. Going to give my perspective as an #ActuallyAutistic woman in a thread so feel free to mute this if it’s too much.
Point 1...it’s a spectrum and we are all different so my experiences do not reflect all autistic people. Sia has said she tried one ND actor who couldn’t cope but cast 13 ND actors in other roles. We are humans. We are all as different as NT people and what I find...
...difficult, someone else on the spectrum will find easy. A bit like riding a bike - I can’t manage the multiple processes needed but other ND people absolutely love cycling.
Point 2 - representation is important and there have been great examples of ND people being cast in ND roles. We need this to be the norm as societal stereotypes still often hold the ‘rain man’ version of autism as the only version...
...unless you are ND you don’t have the experience of feeling how it feels and knowing the specifics of what is hard and what is not. This is why Maddies representation looks so daft. She’s clearly stamped it with a version of autism she’s seen in...
...outdated tropes and has portrayed ND people in a way that reinforces the stereotype. Her research was Autism Speaks and meltdown videos which leads to point 3...
Point 3 - harm. Autism Speaks is often spoken out against by ND people as a group without the interests/representation of autistic people at their core. They advocate for ABA, cure models and it’s all a whole other thing you can easily google...
Meltdown videos are filmed by NT people of ND people in crisis who are overwhelmed and at breaking point, and then post them online. It’s often parents filming children. They do not get consent from the ND person. It’s a ND person at their most vulnerable. It’s like sharing...
...secretly filmed footage of someone and it is not a research method. The only time they should be filmed is for the purposes of sharing with a medical professional for the purposes of diagnosis, care or safeguarding.
Point 4 - ableism. This is where you deliberately exclude disabled people by act or assumption.
Picture this...a white person is cast as a black character and ‘blacked up’. It’s happened historically but we know this is wrong.
A cisgender person is cast as a trans woman...
Picture this...a white person is cast as a black character and ‘blacked up’. It’s happened historically but we know this is wrong.
A cisgender person is cast as a trans woman...
...character and made to look ‘butch’. It’s happened historically but we know this is wrong.
So why is it still ok for abled people to (and this is the term used, not my own term) ‘crip up’ and pretend to be disabled when there are so many disabled actors overlooked?
So why is it still ok for abled people to (and this is the term used, not my own term) ‘crip up’ and pretend to be disabled when there are so many disabled actors overlooked?
There are whole agencies dedicated to providing disabled talent and we are seeing this trickle through. But Sia’s response was to dismiss ALL talent based on one experience...I doubt there was ever an intention of anyone but Maddie having the role.
Sia has been particularly abusive to ND commenters who have tried to explain why her decisions are harmful. Clearly she’s proud of her film but she’s not explored the breadth of the spectrum beyond one very small subsection. This is wrong.
The spectrum has a huge range and yes, there are ND people who wouldn’t be able to fill the role. But it doesn’t mean we are “vegetables” as one tweet I’ve seen today described us. We are colourful, vibrant, intelligent and have a huge amount to offer...
I need help with day to day organisation and task initiation. I don’t cope well with sensory overload. But I do have a BA(Hons), a diploma in sewing, a part time remote job, a small business, a husband and child...I’m not the sum of a stereotype.
