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Debate, Think Autism Sydney 2025
A Think audience member asked whether autistic coded characters should be named
In short
At Think Autism Sydney in 2025, an audience member asked whether it matters that screen characters show autistic traits without being named as autistic. One panellist said name it, and Heather Ridge said cast autistic actors.
Read it instead, 3 minutesThe transcript
The story
The question came from the audience. An audience member at Think Autism Sydney in May 2025 raised the series Geek Girl, in which, the audience member said, “the main character is coded as autistic, so she expresses autistic traits, but it’s not specifically stated”. Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory was offered as another example, and the panel was asked how important it was to have characters who actually talk about being autistic, rather than characters who simply show the traits without it ever being spoken about.
The first answer was direct. If a character has traits of autism, the panellist said, then it should be stated that the character is autistic, because “it is counted as an invisible disability”, and people should be vocal about it. Heather Ridge took the question back to casting. She said she preferred an autistic person actually being the character, rather than a neurotypical person representing them.
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Sources the story draws on
- Geek Girl author Holly Smale hits back at criticism over Netflix show's autism depiction (opens in a new tab), The Independent (Ellie Muir), syndicated by Yahoo News Australia
- Is the world ready for an Asperger's sitcom? (opens in a new tab), Slate (Paul Collins)
- Chloe Hayden's High School Redo (opens in a new tab), Television Academy (Dinah Eng)
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