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I don't know that show, but many of Sheldon's traits on Big Bang are "typical" Asperger's traits (but of course Aspergers is a spectrum, many people won't have these traits and other will have more severe symptoms. In any case, Sheldon's aversion to touch, dependence on routine and structure (Saturday night is laundry night, end of discussion, and you can't sit in his chair), and inability to understand social cues and abstract ideas and communication such as sarcasm are all common in people with Aspergers.
See, and I was going to say that, as fictional, pop culture representations go, Abed is far more realistic and spot-on than Sheldon, in my experience. I've always found Sheldon to be far too much of a caricature. On the other hand, I've taught many "Abeds."
My brother and best friend both have (diagnosed) Asperger's, as does a married couple I know. Of the four of them, only my brother bears much resemblance at all to an Abed or Sheldon. Most Aspies' behaviour isn't nearly so extreme.
There is ongoing discussion in the Aspie community about whether such characters are helpful to the image of people with Asperger's (aka people "on the spectrum"). The majority seem to think not. There's a saying: "If you've met one person with autism/Asperger's, you've met one person with autism/Asperger's." Spend any time on one of the major autism/Asperger's forums and you'll see just how true that really is. There are a number of very successful people with Asperger's who you would never spot as having it, including a number of well-known entertainers.
In 2013, The American Psychiatric Association controversially subsumed Asperger's Disorder into the umbrella diagnosis Autism Spectrum Disorder, but below are the Asperger's criteria from the previous edition of the DSM, for those who are interested.
Note, however, that these criteria were developed for the benefit of individuals whose symptoms cause clinically significant impairment to their functioning. A vast number of adults who have an Asperger's diagnosis may not have every one of these symptoms, and the level of manifestation for symptoms that are present varies widely. There are also many traits associated with Asperger's that aren't listed in diagnostic manuals because they aren't considered critical to daily/social functioning.
In summary, Abed and Sheldon are valid examples of what a person with Asperger's can be like, but not at all typical of what most of them are like.
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Asperger's Disorder (299.80)
(I) Qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of the following:
(A) marked impairments in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body posture, and gestures to regulate social interaction
(B) failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level
(C) a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interest or achievements with other people, (e.g.. by a lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest to other people)
(D) lack of social or emotional reciprocity
(II) Restricted repetitive & stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests and activities, as manifested by at least one of the following:
(A) encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus
(B) apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals
(C) stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g. hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements)
(D) persistent preoccupation with parts of objects
(III) The disturbance causes clinically significant impairments in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
(IV) There is no clinically significant general delay in language (E.G. single words used by age 2 years, communicative phrases used by age 3 years)
(V) There is no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or in the development of age-appropriate self help skills, adaptive behavior (other than in social interaction) and curiosity about the environment in childhood.
(VI) Criteria are not met for another specific Pervasive Developmental Disorder or Schizophrenia."
I am Autistic, and in my community there is a common saying. "When you have met an Autistic, you have met ONE Autistic."
Autistic people are currently almost exclusively being portrayed in a fairly stereotypical way. That is alright as being represented in a way other than either a "tragedy" [ as "Autism Speaks" portrays us to frighten people into funding them] or possibly a mass murderer of children in a public school, is a good start.
Autistic people, just as neurotypical people, are an extremely diverse group. There are some "Sheldons," true, but some, just as myself, who would in fact be considered the opposite of the "Sheldons" of the world, despite sharing many Autistic traits.
I am an Autistic SENIOR CITIZEN with ADH[on steroids]D. Until I tell people I am Autistic, they have no clue. Not that I have ever been perceived as "normal",[ I am "weird as hell"] but I do not 'present" to non-Autistic people in many of the stereotypical ways generally portrayed at this point[ ironically, among Autistic people who have spent extensive periods of times with other Autistics, there is often almost instantaneous "recognition" of "our own" within seconds of being exposed to each other. Also, while Autistics are in "Autistic space," we tend to have great social skills with each other, and we usually do not exclude any non-Autistic people who happen to be in an "Autistic space" area. [ and they, of course, are lacking in our type of social interactions, just as we are when we are in "Neurotypical space."
When "Sheldon," [or any other Autistic person] is in Autistic space, they are almost always less anxious, in less or no physical pain, less depressed or not depressed at all, more "productive", and most importantly, no longer desperately, acutely, " I don't know why I have not died from this lonliness," alone.
So, it is a positive that Autistic people are now being recognized as existing, however limited our portrayels are. But, we are all so intensely different from each other. When you start seeing the "little old lady" who paints some of the rooms in her house in a combination of raspberry, cricket green, magenta and eggplant, spins in circles until she falls to the ground in dizziness [ as 3 year olds do] coordinates Autistic retreats, and participates in [ and created] "Autistic blindfolded, golf-cart rodeo,"that will be a different, but just as accurate type of Autistic. It will be me.
One more thing. An American TV show called Parenthood included two Aspie characters which are much more realistic depictions (in part because they aren't written to get laughs).
The show features a child with severe Asperger's, and an adult with more moderate presentation who only discovers he has it through his involvement with the child. Because Asperger's wasn't included in diagnostic manuals until the mid-1990s, many adults like the one in Parenthood are only recently discovering they have it. Individuals with less severe traits and symptoms may go through life feeling "different" but not know why.
Many Aspies argue that characters like Abed and Sheldon perpetuate stereotypes associated with Asperger's that make adults who don't know they have the disorder less likely to investigate the possibility, since Abed and Sheldon don't seem at all like them. Another argument is that those characters set a standard for what the disorder "should" look like that makes allistic (non-autistic) people disbelieving of less severely-affected individuals who could benefit a great deal from others' validation.
Many Aspies argue that characters like Abed and Sheldon perpetuate stereotypes associated with Asperger's that make adults who don't know they have the disorder less likely to investigate the possibility, since Abed and Sheldon don't seem at all like them. Another argument is that those characters set a standard for what the disorder "should" look like that makes allistic (non-autistic) people disbelieving of less severely-affected individuals who could benefit a great deal from others' validation.
This thread was enough to make one confirmed lurker break his lurk.
I am a diagnosed Aspie, and I support these arguments. I understand why some of my fellow Autistics are pleased to see any representation at all of Aspies or Auties that aren’t tragic, as vicky3vicky is, but to me, these characters do little more than further cement the image of the robotic, non-empathic autistic in the public consciousness, even as neither Abed Nadir nor Sheldon Cooper has ever been explicitly stated as having Asperger’s.
I am successful in a high-profile profession, and only other Autistics and or people with considerable experience of Asperger’s Disorder or other Autism would ever suspect I have it. It took me ten years of trying to get a doctor to even give me a diagnosis…largely because even many clinical professionals have an image of how an Aspie should behave that is informed by stereotypical extremes like Abed and Sheldon.
On the face of it, I look and act like anyone else. I’m actually known as quite a conservative person, aside from a rather intense ‘special interest’ which I have made into a career. I resent that television writers are using Asperger’s traits to add a quirky characters to sit-coms, without confessing openly to where they’ve drawn them from, when what we need is an honest and open conversation about Autism and the diversity of people with Autism Spectrum Disorders. If those writers are willing to make money off our condition, it would be good of them to at least do us a service with the public. This is especially needed in the wake of multiple mass-killings perpetrated by persons reported to be Autistic.
An aside: Good of you to call out Autism Speaks for what they are, vivky3vicky…a corporate fear factory. I wish more people knew just how horrible they are, and that they actually have an antagonistic relationship with the overwhelming majority of Autistics. Their only purpose is to feed on the anguish of parents with profoundly Autistic children who want to find a “cure” for the incurable. As you may know, a growing body of evidence indicates that our brains are structurally different from neurotypical people. That’s not something you can fix, and Autism Speaks is doing its best to shout over the truth of it, at the expense of parents and children alike. Their lobbying of the APA and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has contributed to a reduction in diagnosis, services, and accommodations for thousands of less-severe Autistic children and adults who could still use a degree of support.
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