Examining the Authenticity of Autistic Portrayals in US Adult and Children's Television Shows Using Medical and Social Models of Disability.
TV spotlights social quirks but hides repetitive behaviors, so viewers get a lopsided picture of autism.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team watched 252 TV scenes from U.S. shows for kids and adults. They coded every autism trait they saw.
They used two lenses: the medical model (fix the person) and the social model (fix the world).
What they found
Almost every autistic character showed social-communication quirks. Repetitive actions were rare.
Kids’ shows painted autistic characters in a warmer light than adult shows.
How this fits with other research
Gilbert (2003) already showed that social-play gaps are real but shrink when you add structure. TV leaves out the “shrink” part.
Brukner-Wertman et al. (2016) warned that DSM-5’s split between social deficits and repetitive behaviors can mislead. The new data prove media leans hard into only one side of that split.
Jain et al. (2025) found huge adaptive gaps in real kids with ASD versus SCD. TV glosses over those daily-life struggles.
Why it matters
If caregivers learn about autism from screens, they may expect only shy eye contact and miss the motor rituals or sensory needs. When you teach staff or parents, pair video clips with real-life examples of repetitive behaviors and adaptive living gaps. Ask, “What did the show leave out?” so learners get a fuller picture and do not set narrow intervention goals.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Television programs have introduced viewers to characters on the autism spectrum (e.g., Sesame Street, The Good Doctor), impacting audiences' knowledge and attitudes. Thus, it is essential that character representations convey accurate health information. This study explores how autistic portrayals across six adult and children's television programs align with the medical (e.g., American Psychiatric Association in Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 5th ed., text rev., 2022, https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787 ) and social models of disability. A content analysis methodology was used to investigate defining characteristics of autism (i.e., medical model) and how characters navigated their environment (i.e., social model) in 252 scenes (across six characters in 22 episodes). Measures included the frequency with which autism characteristics (e.g., social-communicative difficulties, restrictive repetitive behaviors) were present across autistic portrayals and the valence (e.g., positive, negative, neutral) with which characters interacted with their environment (e.g., character and neurodiversity affirming valence). Findings indicate that (a) television portrayals depict social-communication difficulties significantly more than behavioral characteristics, (b) children's programming portrays autistic characters with significantly more positive personal attributes (i.e., character valence) than adult programs, and (c) the majority of programs portray characters navigating autism in positive or neutral ways (i.e., neurodiversity affirming valence). Results offer stakeholders (e.g., writers, advocates, neurodiverse community) insight into how autistic characters are portrayed on television, adding to a growing body of literature examining how such representations impact public knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors towards individuals on the autism spectrum. Collectively, such studies highlight how changes in diagnostic criteria, legal protections, and social inclusivity are presented to viewers, who are seeking entertainment but gaining public health information.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2025 · doi:10.1080/026074