David Zwick

This past Sunday, an unexpected honor was indirectly bestowed upon the Autism Spectrum Disorder community. It was not within the realm of psychological discovery, but rather signaled by Jim Parsons (pictured right) through his second-straight Emmy win for his portrayal of Sheldon Cooper on CBS' Big Bang Theory. Although it has never been said forthright on the show, it is a commonly held belief that Sheldon has Asperger's Syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism. On the show, he plays a geeky physicist with little interest and ability in his social interactions with his friends and neighbors, particularly with his roommate Leonard (played by Johnny Galecki). While it could be argued that he just displays typical nerdiness, he also displays other common symptoms of the disorder such as affected speech patterns, small and unexpandable circle of interest, and difficult two-way interactions. Parsons himself readily admits to the fact that Sheldon may very well have Asperger's on this Variety blog, though he has personally asked the writers of the show who claim otherwise. This may be due in part to the fact that the show's creators, Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, claim that they are not intentionally depicting Sheldon with Asperger's. Rather, they are making light of the tech-savvy co-workers that Prady had as a former computer programmer. Prady has gone so far to say, in a quote to TV scribe Joel Keller, that, "We write the character as the character. A lot of people see various things in him and make the connections. Our feeling is that Sheldon's mother never got a diagnosis, so we don't have one." While they may be avoiding a PR snafu or not wanting to pigeonhole the character within the symptoms of a disorder, by not admitting the nature and origin of Sheldon's symptoms, they could be doing damage to public understanding of the disorder. While there is no inherent need for a television show to acknowledge that a character has Asperger's, they have a social responsibility to address it in order to prevent the public from receiving misinformation.

While the issue of diagnoses for character behavior has not been addressed on the show, behind close doors, writers and executives have not callously ignored the issue, but rather defend the decision as a simpler way of continuing to produce the same content. The defense against labeling a character with a diagnosis is that it stifles the content that can be produced by a show. Prady has stated to writer Alan Sepinwell of the New Jersey Star-Ledger that, "calling it Asperger's creates too much of a burden to get the details right. There's also the danger that the other characters' insults about Sheldon's behavior - in other words, 90 percent of the show's comedy - would seem mean if they were mocking a medical condition as opposed to generic eccentricity...it's more responsibility than they feel a relatively light comedy can handle." For Prady and his writers, they believe that there is too much of a creative burden to even consider addressing something that Prady's quote indicates could readily be seen within the content of the show. In the same article, there was a similar quote from Dan Harmon, the creator of Community, a show in which one of the characters, Abed, has been speculated from the outset of the pilot to have Asperger's. In this clip from the pilot, you can note that it is addressed as an insult in the first episode of the pilot. Harmon says, "I don't know that that character is representative of anything...I'd rather he be a unique thing than some kind of symbol for people to write letters about...he's just a very unique guy with a strange social mannerisms." Both Harmon and Prady want audiences to enjoy their characters for who they are, and in a way, there is a nobility to that. People in the ASD community would like nothing more than to be treated like everyone else. With that in mind though, there is a danger in not addressing it on the show because people could get the wrong impression about the disorder, and at the very least it should be addressed in order to raise public awareness and put the issue to bed.

By addressing speculation about a character's diagnosis, other shows have been able to either bed the issue or by heightening the dramatic relevance of the disorder by handling it with tact and accuracy. On Fox's House M. D., there had long been speculation that the Hugh Laurie was depicting the titular character with Asperger's. House himself had speculated on the fact, that was until a third season episode entitled "Lines in the Sand," in which Wilson, one of House's colleagues, says, "You're not autistic; you don't even have Asperger's. You wish you did, it would exempt you from the rules, give you freedom, absolve you of responsibility." While House had always been portrayed as a socially aloof character, they put the issue to rest and thereby made him into a richer and complex character still struggling to figure out why he acts the way he does. The other side of the token is what took place on NBC's Parenthood (pictured above), where they took the issue of diagnosing a child with Asperger's head on, as the parents (pictured above with their son) struggled with the aftermath of explaining the disorder to their son following his diagnosis with the social disorder. Once they had spoken with doctors and specialists, they explained to their son in this touching clip that he has Asperger's. Since then, the show has had a welcoming attitude for Asperger's characters, such as Michael Emerson's depiction of an independent functional adult with Asperger's. By focusing on the positive, the show has created an environment of acceptance for its characters. With such a depiction, it gives hope the thousands of children with Asperger's out there that they're not alone.

While Parenthood demonstrates the positivity that can come from addressing character speculation, Boston Legal presents where a depiction can go awry. On that show, a depiction of a defendant with Asperger's was chided not only because the character was portrayed inaccurately, shown as callously morose and inept emotionally, as well as caustically violent, but also, because his Asperger's was used as a defense for his crime. There, the justification for why Harmon and Prady fear incorporating Asperger's as an element of their characters seems justified. For them, there is too much responsibility that would come with announcing that an established character has Asperger's, because all previous and concurrent actions of the character would not be viewed through the same lens. As addressed by Psychology Today writer Lynne Soraya, negative depictions can have serious consequences. She says, "If Boston Legal portrays an elderly woman who murders her neighbor, people have enough experience with elderly women to know that this type of behavior is not typical. However, portray a character with Asperger's as a person who threatens the boss with a cake knife, simply because she gave the job he wanted to someone else, well, you might not have the same result." Since Asperger's has become more relevant, these sorts of extrapolations can occur. Thusly, these shows have a responsibility to not paint a negative and inaccurate picture of the disorder that can promote fear but rather, offer a fair depiction that allows for promoting understanding. By not admitting that a character has Asperger's, the public will speculate until the show addresses it one way or another, since so many people already view the characters that way. The choice simply is to either follow the example set by Parenthood, or end speculation entirely by addressing outright on the show like House did. Till then, the speculation is not going to go away.

Producer Emily Gerson Saines, who recently produced HBO's recent Emmy-winning biopic about celebrated autistic author Temple Grandin, states that, "When you have an incidence rate of 1 in 100 and 1 in 70 boys, I think it's misrepresentative not to have more storylines about autism." Whether the public is ready or not, this increase in incidence is going to mean more stories are going to have a focus on situations arising from characters in the Autism Spectrum Disorder community. As producers and writers of network television, it is their responsibility in entertaining audiences to be both accurate in their depictions as well as create last impressions about how Asperger's can be perceived. Admittedly, there is no moral handbook or guide to depicting Asperger's that exists out there. In defense of a group that struggles to stand up for itself on its own, it is important to take extra steps in terms of defending the honor of people who struggle to speak for themselves. With Sheldon, we have a voice in the Asperger's community who in a way has been silenced by a lack of discussion for the way he is. There are numerous blogs, such as this one, where self-ascribed "Aspies" look to Sheldon as a beacon of hope, an individual with seemingly rather clear Asperger's syndrome who has made a success of himself. This is a community that is being shut out and disrespected by feigning admission to the rather clear public diagnoses of these characters. While Parenthood demonstrates one of many ways of bringing the discussion to the forefront of its content, and not skirting behind comedy, it does not have to be the only way. Big Bang Theory and Community has already created an environment in which Sheldon and Abed succeed not just professionally, but also in creating a social environment that work for their specific needs. Both are lucky enough on their respective shows to be surrounded by a peer group that goes out of their way to put up with them, and not just tolerating but respecting them. The only thing left for these shows to do is to admit that a lot of public good can come from being honest with what they are presenting every week, keeping the laughter coming.
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