BBC One decided to do a drama based around an Austic boy and the community around him, and as a Aspie; a girl with Aspergers/ Autism, I feel it HAVE to give my thoughts. So… here’s my thoughts on how it went!

Okay, so we’re 40 minutes into this show, and we’re yet to have any detail on the point of view of the kid. I know it sounds pedantic, but surely the point was to show how the kid feels and how autism affects him, no? We’ve seen him have a meltdown, thrown some echolalia into the mix but everyone’s okay with that?

The mother, true to life, seems to be touchy about anyone thinking anything is wrong with her child, and that’s fair. There is nothing wrong with him. Just different.

We see the kid go off to school and then had no feedback about what happens to him at school. Where’s the bullying? Where’s the struggling to sit down and stay still in a stifling classroom? All we have the point of view of the family. None of the kid. I’m sorry to say, I am finding it lacking.

That said; in terms of the diversity of the family – yes. The family is certainly having a diverse reaction to the autism, so if the point was to show how diverse family is to having an autistic kid, yes, that was acheived. However, diversity in autism has not been shown. We’ve seen a neurotypical’s perspective of autism, not an austistic’s perspective of the world…

That said!

We have, through the eyes of the family, discovered that Joe likes music and water themes. He, like me, adores his music and never takes his headphones off. The diagnosis was spot on. The reaction of the parents was spot on. I particularly noted how a lot of the time the parents spoke about the kid as if he wasn’t there. The parents struggled to accept his diagnosis and still want to mould him into something he isn’t. The kid wasn’t invited to something all the other kids were. That I can relate to heavily; and it’s a fact of the truth. It happens.

In relation to me, I could relate highly to the prioritising auditory responses. In fact, the doctor’s waiting room and the whole diagnosis part was spot on. But I need more from the kid!

I did like the point about how the other kids/families did not invite him to their parties. That is a given. It happens. I want to see more from the kid’s perspective, I want them to show how the kid feels about things.

Show me how the kid feels about the world, not how the world feels about him.

Christoper Eccleston however, – I found him absolutely hilarious. You could tell his character was ignorant to the whole thing, but he was trying so hard. more so, I think, than the parents.

I expect good things from this from what I’ve seen! And more about his school life. And more about him. There is no way he doesn’t understand that everyone is acting different around him. We are sticklers for normality; tension and deviations from the norm is one of the first things (I) noticed.

In terms of realism, 10/10. In terms of perspective, I need more from the kid.Overall? Good show.