LIFESPAN
Representing autism and sexual orientation in fiction Author develops heroic gay character with ASD By Heidi Cullinan
Humans love stories. Be it a retelling of our day, a cozy mystery or a Hollywood blockbuster, one of our favorite pastimes is wallowing in tales of what has happened, what might happen, or what we wish would happen. We love hearing about people and places we haven’t seen, but there’s a deep pleasure in seeing ourselves in story, especially when we’re featured as heroic, strong, or powerful. As humans, we cherish love stories, because we all dream of connection, of passion. Yet many of us discover finding tales where people like us are cast in the starring role can be difficult to find. There are absolutely works of fiction featuring people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), but not many, and not nearly enough with positive, affirming representations. Finding romances featuring adults with autism is even more difficult. Romances featuring characters with autism and who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender? Very rare indeed.
cloud my sense of personal identity. Because I was close in age to the clients in the summer program, I made more than a paycheck. I made friends. Twenty years later, I was watching the television series Alphas, featuring the character of a young man with ASD who was literally a superhero. He quickly became my favorite part of the show. Not only was he was witty and clever and delightful as a character, but he reminded me of all the adults—young, old and in-between—I’ve known and worked with who have autism. The character of Gary Bell brought out all the things I loved about people with ASD, the strengths and the quirks, reminding that me people on the spectrum have a great deal to remind us about life, about what we value and what we prioritize. In my research, both scholarly and anecdotal, for writing Carry the Ocean, I quickly learned while there may not be many stories featuring LGBT adults with ASD, real life
We all deserve to see ourselves in stories. Not as sidekicks or sad examples, but stars— bright and shining heroes and heroines of our own epic adventures. I wrote a novel featuring a hero who is gay and has autism, and the germ for that idea came from several sources.
tells a very different tale. There have been a number of studies regarding ASD and sexual orientation, even more with gender identity.
The greatest source came from working years in several adult-assisted living settings, including two summer programs for young adults with special needs. In those settings, I regularly met, and fell in love with, clients with ASD. I loved everyone in the program, but I’ll admit it was a tossup over who stole my heart more: the clients with Downs syndrome or the clients with ASD.
Over a dozen studies have linked ASD and gender dysphoria, particularly for genetic females identifying as male or between genders. There’s also the research surrounding ASD and “extreme male brain,” and the work of Lilan Ruta et al finding significantly higher levels of male hormones in both men and women with autism. There are no clear answers from science about the link between gender identity, sexual orientation and autism, but there are certainly a lot of questions.
I was in my early 20s at the time, struggling to start my life and figure myself out. However, each interaction with this population came the reminder of what was important in life and not let what others deemed successful. It allowed me to dismiss my worries about what other people thought of who I was or how successful I managed to be—or even what success was—
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Beyond science, however, is the fundamental issue of sexual orientation as a social construct. Most young adults with autism who find themselves attracted exclusively, or inclusively, to their own gender don’t experience a great deal of existential angst over who they Continued on next page
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