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Author: Nocturna

Aug 18th 2011 at 3:06:42 PM

HollywoodAutism sounds good. Here are some starting criteria for HollywoodAutism:

In {{real life}}, autism is a complex neurological disability that can [[NoSocialSkills impair the autistic individual's social skills]] among other areas and, while there are more males than females diagnosed with autism, there are plenty of autistic women and girls out there. As a character with HollywoodAutism is [[AlwaysMale most likely to be portrayed as male]], male pronouns are used from here on out.

Type I: The character is quite clearly high functioning and lives a normal life. He is, however, autistic and clearly so. He has some kind of quirk that almost always proves essential to the plot. If he is disabled in any way, he is [[NoSocialSkills socially awkward at best, and quite possibly has no friends,]] or focuses obsessively on one or more areas of interest. The character with Type I HollywoodAutism will be InspirationallyDisadvantaged. He is always Type A InspirationallyDisadvantaged, due to the overall expectation that autistic people will never do the ordinary things that everyone is expected to be able to do. However, when the plot calls for it, the character with Type I HollywoodAutism is a Type B MagicalDifferentlyAbledPerson.

Type II: The person with Type II HollywoodAutism is like the character with Type I HollywoodAutism in that he has a quirk that makes him special in some way, but he is more obviously disabled. Unlike the person with Type I HollywoodAutism, NoSocialSkills does not cover the areas in which he is disabled. He probably goes to a special needs school if he is a child or does not have a driver's license if he is an older teenager or adult. In either case, he is a Type A MagicallyDifferentlyAbledPerson for being able to live a relatively normal life. In the rare case that the plot calls for it, he moves into a Type B MagicallyDifferentlyAbledPerson.

Type III: Unlike the character with Type I or II HollywoodAutism, the person with Type III HollywoodAutism is clearly the low-functioning autistic person commonly portrayed in autism awareness advertisement. He is disabled in just about every way possible. The character with Type III HollywoodAutism is nonverbal, can't do things that most ordinary people their age are able to do, and, in some cases, is not even toilet-trained. In most of these portrayals, he is clearly meant to be pitied. In the rare case that he does something ordinary, like going to a regular school or competing in a sporting event or talent show, he is Type A InspirationallyDisadvantaged.

These are just starting criteria for this trope. Feel free to make any changes to the wording, criteria, or types, but I think this is a good starting point