Jem Lester is the father of a 16 year old autistic child and the first question he is always asked when the subject comes up is “Does he have a special talent?” because everyone has read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and seen Rain Man, and assume all autistic children have special powers.
However, in the main, representations of someone with autism in fiction mainly don’t mirror those of real life. And yet many of us assume that all individuals with a diagnosis of autism are all the same, whereas we would never assume that all people without a diagnosis of autism are all the same.
Please click here to read Jem’s article in full.