As we are continuing to prep for production (woohoo!), I’d like to briefly mention the context with which I created the character of Laura Yip, an adult with autism.
Autism is often misunderstood. Although there has been greater visibility in the western media (mostly through news and documentaries), its stamp on our culture is still scant. While Dustin Hoffman’s RAIN MAN and Temple Grandin are examples of individuals with autism that we’ve seen in mainstream film, they are just two individuals. A sample size of two simply isn’t representative of the real diversity of the experiences and stories of those with autism AND the family/friends that love and care for them.
So it is only apt that the symbol for Autism Awareness Month is a puzzle piece – and unlike other social awareness initiatives where the symbol is uniform, the puzzle pieces are deliberately not the same – to reflect the real diversity of the individuals with autism.
Not all individuals with autism exhibit the same symptoms or behavioral traits. It isn’t just about where they fall on the spectrum (high or low functioning), but a host of many factors – their family upbringing, opportunities (or lack thereof) to learn socialization skills to help them better interact with neurotypicals, and individual personality traits. A person with autism still has an inner emotional life that is unique to him or her.
And perhaps that’s the greatest lesson of autism awareness – to treat everyone, whether they are autistic or neurotypical, like the unique individuals that they are.