Forum - View topicREVIEW: My Brain is Different: Stories of ADHD and Other Developmental Disorders GN
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Cutiebunny
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It was not designed to however, I do not feel that a topic about a manga about children who are neurodivergent is the place to list all possible behaviors and to the degree that those with ADHD/ADD might experience. As you mentioned, not every person diagnosed with this condition suffers each trait and not to the extremes that others might experience. I have had experience with children on the spectrum and in no way think that the traits that one child experiences are exactly the same as everyone else with that same condition. There are many high functioning autistic individuals and there are many lower functioning individuals. I tutored one who, at age 6, figured out college level Calculus in an afternoon and weeks later, would be tutored by math professors at a nearby university. However, he had a hard time communicating outside the world of math and would lash out against his first grade classmates because they couldn't understand those concepts yet. He eventually had to be taken out of public school due to this behavior. My post was in response to the above poster wanting to see more autism and ADHD/ADD diagnosed characters in the media. I don't think that this would work for many reasons. In the case of Sheldon from Big Bang Theory, who, while it is never said that he has been diagnosed to be on the spectrum, exhibits certain characteristics of many who are. Instead of the other characters on the show responding with empathy or trying to learn to understand why Sheldon reacts with anger regarding the sofa sea, he is ridiculed. His condition exists more as a source of comedy for those around him and the audience as well. During its production run, I don't recall there being any protests regarding his portrayal, which to me says that this country is not ready to confront its attitude regarding how to treat those that are neurodivergent. I'm trying to think of a show that handled physical and mental handicaps well (meaning that those who had them didn't serve as comedic relief) and the only one I can think of off the top of my head is Life Goes On, a late 80s-early 90s show revolving around a young man diagnosed with Down Syndrome. I am by no means an expert on US TV programs so I might be missing a few. |
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 2948 Location: Email for assistance only |
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The manga isn't solely about children and my comment wasn't suggesting anyone needs to actually make a comprehensive list. I was attempting to cordially point out that your point was based on stereotypes about autistic family life and not considering the diversity of how autism is expressed in people. You've changed your point now to "people aren't open to autistic depictions in mainstream media because media writes autistic people as jokes." I also disagree with this, even though half of it is true. The media absolutely does "haha quirky" but bad writing doesn't mean it can't be done better or that typical viewers wouldn't accept a more nuanced portrayal. There are some other comments in your post I take issue with, including conflating autism as a mental handicap. I'd also like us to move away from this conversation. I think it's insensitive to have a discussion about why we shouldn't see autistic people in media in the review thread specifically talking about the hardships autistic people face and where many of the commenters are being forthright that they are autistic. To everyone else, it's absolutely fine if you want to share your personal experiences here too. |
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Shay Guy
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So, I was thinking again about the book I mentioned I was reading, Unmasking Autism. There's a couple points in the book where the author mentions sleeping with a stuffed animal, and I thought about the high prevalence of sleep disorders in general among autistic people -- I've been trying to work on my own issues there. And I wondered if that specific inclination toward sleeping with your arms wrapped around a soft inanimate object was an autistic Thing.
And a word popped into my head. "Dakimakura". Would it be entirely crazy to speculate about a connection there? Or hell, is it crazier to assume there isn't a connection? Another thing that occurred to me. For a few years now I've seen it mentioned here and there that there's a correlation between being autistic and being trans. Gee, you think that might be reflected in otaku culture? Like if there's, say, a decades-long history of popular works messing with gender? Or maybe if '90s fandom was utterly dominated by a series whose main character frequently switched between boy and girl? And here's one that's only really applicable to international fandom, but my brain, like a lot of autistic brains, isn't so great at speech processing. I wasn't entirely conscious of it growing up, but these days I put closed captions on whenever they're available. And guess what the first media I encountered was where watching with subtitles was considered the norm? Like... just how much has this whole subculture been shaped by disability? |
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wolf10
 Posts: 906 |
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Every time this particular subject (ASD) shows up on my radar, and people start breaking out stories that sound a little too familiar, I start to wonder... But it also feels a little like Pandora's Box is just sitting there, asking to be left alone.
And then the other part of my brain tells me that, "No, of course not, and also how dare you try and appropriate the struggles of a marginalized group to try and excuse your perfectly ordinary deficiencies as a human being." Since I quite obviously have many of those. Suffice it to say, while certain traits have been pointed out to me over the years by friends and psych majors, I have no formal diagnoses whatsoever, I'm not comfortable with self-diagnosis in general, and I'm not really sure there's a merit to even finding out when the government is already taxing me like a highly-functional adult. Should I read this book? |
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Shay Guy
Posts: 2137 |
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Lemme put it this way. You're talking about "stories that sound a little too familiar"? This is one of them. A lot of people have gone through it. Way I see it, you have nothing to lose by learning more. And you might pick up some useful approaches for anything in your life that's giving you trouble. (Also, one neat thing about "appropriation" when it comes to disability is that it often works the other way around via the curb cut effect. The more demand there is for weighted blankets, the more they get manufactured and distributed, and the easier it is for people who need them to both get them and not be stigmatized for using them. Build a ramp for wheelchair-users, and things become easier for parents pushing strollers, which helps justify the cost of building and maintaining the ramp.) |
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CheerSong
 Posts: 92 Location: Route 7, Kanto |
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Hi, I just thought you'd like to know that your review convinced me to pick up a copy for myself (though in the original Japanese). Now that I've read it I'm going to be lending it to friends, coworkers, and anyone else who will read it! Sure it's not perfect, but it's enlightening and approachable, and taught me how to better talk about myself and the life I live. So thank you!
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