Letchuk, A. (2023). MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE: A CRITICAL INVESTIGATION OF MEDIA REPRESENTATION OF AUTISTIC PEOPLE AND SOCIAL/ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS IN ATYPICAL. pp. 1-58. Toronto Metropolitan University
Under the supervision by my DST Instructor, Dr. Lauren Munro, my thesis entails an investigation around how autistic people are represented through mainstream film and television. It specifically questions whether mass media fully represents autistic people together using an intersectionality framework and a critical autism studies perspective. Secondly, I've adopted a methodology of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to examine words, phrases, lexicon, metaphors and texts in character dialogues from the Netflix series, Atypical. I've also used Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis as my research method to code, group, highlight and disseminate words from each dialogue. Based on my findings, I discovered that mainstream film and television favors privileged, heterosexual and masculine ideologies of autistic people; compared to marginalized groups of autistic people who continue to be left underrepresented. This includes autistic women of colour, Indigenous and the LGBTQ2SPIA+ community. My project concluded that further research needs to be conducted on lived experiences of autism and intersectionality in mass media and audiences perception about autistic people.