“They're never going to tell you the reason they're not hiring you is because you're autistic. They're going to say that you weren't right for the part, you didn't look right, your hair was the wrong colour,” says JJ Green, autistic actor and writer. “There’s nothing illegal about that at all, but behind the scenes, it will be because you're autistic.”
When hosting online-event ‘Moving Forward with Performance Abelism’ with the New Works Playhouse in November, Green’s experiences resonated with fellow neurodivergent attendees. Abelism and misrepresentation are almost a given for autistic actors, with 95% of disabled characters in the media played by non-disabled actors, according to disability charity the Ruderman Family Foundation.
Last month, pop artist Sia Furler released a trailer for upcoming film ’Music’, in which neurotypical actor, Maddie Ziegler, plays ‘Music’, a young, non-verbal autistic girl. For many, an uncomfortable reminder of a long history of neurodiverse parts going to neurotypical actors, with some even going to puppets.
Critics took to social media and beyond asking for the film to be cancelled, flagging-up offensive and inaccurate depictions of autism.
With National Autistic Society (NAS) research indicating that just 16% of autistic adults are in full-time employment, and 32% in any kind of employment, many neurodivergent actors were hit-hard by yet another film that failed to acknowledge them.
These neurodivergent actors felt far-too-familiar with being ignored and misrepresented. Sia responded to backlash, alleging that a previously hired non-verbal autistic actor had become stressed on set, “which is why [she] cast Maddie”, but many did not see this as adequate.
“They hired one, it didn't work. They gave up,” Green says. “Just because one autistic person wasn't right for your creative role or your film role, doesn't mean that they're all not right.”
Common stereotypes, such as autistic people being either extremely capable or undercapable, are often referred to in media portrayals; ‘Rain Man’ a prominent example, in which Dustin Hoffman’s character has savant ‘special’ abilities.
“Either we're underestimated on one hand or we're overestimated on the other,” says Leo Capella, autistic job coach and former script advisor for autism charity, the National Autistic Society.
“If people think we have superpowers, [...] they're actually surprised when, hey, we might need additional help.”
Capella believes incorrect representation impacts many aspects of life for autistic people, including those in performing arts, with many finding directors rarely cater to additional needs.
“The stereotypes that are shown [...] tend to get reinforced in society,” he says. “It has implications [from] funding of research and writing, to the way people access services and the way people are treated.”
Green argues that such perceptions then impact hiring decisions, and, when directors choose not to hire autistic actors, stereotypes are reinforced further.
We're always played in one way,” he says. “I get a lot: ‘I can't believe you're autistic, you're so articulate, you're really good at responding and you can hold a conversation’.”
Many neurodivergent performers find such attitudes create significant employment barriers, according to research by the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, with respondents saying they struggle with neurotypical employers’ perceptions of autism.
Such perceptions are widespread, and repetitive stereotypes set the agenda and reinforce perceptions of autistic identities. Netflix’s ‘Atypical’ is just one example of a high-profile series that fell into the same trap, hiring neurotypical actor, Keir Gilchrist, to play autistic main-character ‘Sam’ as he navigates the world of dating.
While many aspects of the series were criticised, it’s failure to showcase diversity within the autistic community was a key downfall.
“You can be any from any walk of life and still be autistic; [...] any religion, any ethnicity, any gender, any sexuality. But that's not represented at all,” Green says. “We just go with the easiest one; our society default, which is straight, white male.”
Research by Deakin University, Australia, suggests that autistic people are more likely to come out as LGBTQ+, but media representation for autistic LGBTQ+ people is near-to-none.
As an autistic, non-binary actor and writer, Lio Lylark believes representation of both LGBTQ+ and autistic people is lacking, “much less when you have both identities”. When it comes to work, this can be an issue.
“My autistic traits are sometimes viewed more harshly because I'm visibly not [cisgender, heterosexual] passing,” Lylark says. “It's kind of like I'm being given a chance that I shouldn't have had in the first place.”
Lylark says this has huge implications when their autistic traits show on set, feeling that the barriers created by perceptions of autism and gender identity become intersectional.
This feeling is familiar to many autistic actors who are not white, cisgender males; with autistic black, female and ethnic-minority media-portrayals being close to non-existent.
It is important that autistic people are not stripped of their individuality, Capella says. “In terms of services and public understanding, people with different identities are not well understood.”
With NAS research suggesting that 70% of autistic people will suffer from mental health issues at some point in their lives, Green believes misrepresentation can be detrimental, having seen the negative impacts first-hand.
“[Teachers] have come to me and they say; ‘Can you write to my student and tell them that it's going to be okay, and that they should pursue a theatre career?’,” He says. "I sit there for a moment and go; ‘I can write to your student, but I can't promise them it's going to be okay because it's not currently okay.’”
Despite this, Green is hopeful for the future, feeling that things are slowly progressing. Until then, he believes art about autistic people should be written, created, directed and acted by autistic people to break the misrepresentation cycle.
“I'm not going to kick the doors down of Netflix's ‘Atypical’ because they didn't hire me,” he says. “I don't care if it's me, or an autistic actor from anywhere in the world, as long as it's one of us. Because, if you look around the industry, we are missing and that's why it's so important.”
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