A few weeks back, I had the privilege of giving a presentation at an event at my college regarding portrayals of Autistic characters in American pop culture. One recurring facet I paid a notable amount of attention to in these portrayals is how in many many depictions of Autism, the Autistic characters are relegated to the roles of sidekicks, they're always supporting a lead character who most assuredly does not have Autism. We've seen this trend bucked a few times in recent productions like
The Big Short and
Life, Animated but it's still a recurring problem and you can see a similar issue in how people with any sort of neurological or mental handicap are always pushed into supporting roles for characters who don't have such ailments.
