Another Excerpt From The Autistic Sleuth!
Here is another excerpt from The Autistic Sleuth. It’s from the chapter “Looking Through an Autistic Lens,” where certain characters who are often criticized for their behavior and actions are reframed from a far more sympathetic perspective than usual.
For years, autism advocates have argued that while autism may qualify as a disability, an autistic mind is not inherently inferior to a neurotypical mind, and to expect that all brains should function in the same way is prejudiced and unrealistic. In many of the series shown here, the autistic sleuths are criticized, denigrated, mocked, or chided for their actions and behaviors, which are clearly influenced by their mental processes. In many cases, the message is implicit: The person with autism needs to adjust in order to fit in better, or that the autistic person needs to learn how to treat others better. The autistic person must learn how to be more “normal.”
But what if this perspective simply is not fair? What if the autistic person, despite having trouble understanding how to function socially, is being targeted simply for being different? What if the people telling the autistic person to change are setting unfair expectations, and perhaps overlooking worse transgressions in others? If this is the case, then viewers need to refocus how they view these characters, and in order to do so, their characters need to be defended, partly through looking at them through their own point of view, or at least a perspective that is determined to take their sides.
In order to explain how a sympathetic autism lens can reshape how we understand these characters, a few of the most frequently criticized and maligned autistic sleuths will be profiled here: Cumberbatch’s Sherlock, Doc Martin, and Christopher Boone.
If you want to read more, the book will be released on September 19th!
–Chris Chan
Chris Chan’s book The Autistic Sleuth, written with his mother Dr. Patricia Meyer Chan, will be released on September 19th! He is the author of the Funderburke and Kaiming novels Ghosting My Friend and She Ruined Our Lives, released by Level Best Books. He is also the author of the comedic novels Sherlock’s Secretary and Nessie’s Nemesis, published by MX Publishing, as was his anthology Of Course He Pushed Him and Other Sherlock Holmes Stories Volumes 1 & 2. His Agatha-nominated book Murder Most Grotesque: The Comedic Crime Fiction of Joyce Porter was published by Level Best Books. His first non-fiction book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there). It is also available in a Kindle edition.
