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Argument, Autistic Pride Day Symposium 2024
Sandra Thom-Jones said Love on the Spectrum turns autistic dating into entertainment
In short
At the 2024 Autistic Pride Day Symposium in Sydney, Sandra Thom-Jones criticised the dating show for its narrow casting and its coaches. A year later, someone who had been on it gave the other side.
Read it instead, 4 minutesThe transcript
The story
Kyriakos Gold, who hosted the session, asked the media panel at the Autistic Pride Day Symposium in Sydney in June 2024 about Love on the Spectrum, which he described as a recent addition to his binge watching. Sandra Thom-Jones called it a very controversial one, and said that she personally was not a fan. Gold told her he was relieved, because he was not a fan either.
The program she was criticising is an Australian production. According to its producer, Northern Pictures, Love on the Spectrum first aired on the ABC in November 2019, directed by Cian O’Clery with support from Screen Australia, and Netflix then took it worldwide as a Netflix original.
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Sources the story draws on
- Love on the Spectrum (opens in a new tab), Northern Pictures
- Review: 'Love on the Spectrum' is kind, but unrepresentative (opens in a new tab), The Transmitter (Simons Foundation)
- Northern Pictures wins big at the 76th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards (opens in a new tab), Mediaweek
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