Kids TV Characters with Developmental and Emotional Disorders

First, I need to say that the comments on Monday's post just made me happy. There were a few different opinions, but everybody was really respectful and thoughtful, and I'm really honored that you guys took the time to share your views.

I've emailed many of you who commented, but I wanted to share some of my thoughts about this issue. I presented an example of a character in a children's television show who was portrayed in a rather stereotyped fashion and asked, essentially, if it was better than nothing.

Some of you said yes--at least the writers tried to include a character with a developmental disorder like Asperger's, and it's better than pretending individuals with such disorders don't exist. The assumption here is that it's important to include diverse characters (and obviously, I'm talking about stuff way beyond racial/ethnic diversity) in children's television. I agree with this assumption. Our world is diverse. Religiously, sexually, ethnically, neurologically ... people are enormously complex--and in each of our dimensions, we vary tremendously, and that's really cool. It ain't just heterosexual-neurotypical-white folk watching the telly, right? Right. So we should have television characters that reflect that diversity.

Some of you said no--this type of stereotypical portrayal is not good at all. It's insulting and potentially harmful. Aaaaand ... I agree. Let me tell you a story (and by that, I mean a mash-up of an experience I've had way too many times): I'm sitting with the parents of a five-year-old, and I'm telling them that I'm diagnosing their child with autistic disorder. You know what they say? "But he acts NOTHING LIKE RAIN MAN!" I can almost see their thoughts--they are picturing their adorable child as an adult living in an institution and counting matchsticks.

That alone is heartbreaking. But you know what's worse? Sometimes, a parent has had concerns for a few years. Maybe they even worked up the courage to speak it aloud to a grandmother-aunt-neighbor-friend-stranger. And that person said, "Pshah. He acts nothing like Rain Man. You don't need to have him evaluated."

I've worked with people who put evaluations off for a year or two in part because of this very thing--media portrayals that are extreme or very stereotyped. Sometimes it means that the child has missed one or two years of treatment.

In that case, I would say that stereotyped portrayals have done some damage. The problem is, when we only see the extreme or the stereotyped, it's easy to be blinded to the complete continuum.



This is the late Kim Peek. Dustin Hoffman's character in Rain Man was based on him. He was what is known as a "savant" and memorized about 9000 books before his death in 2009. He also couldn't button his clothes. His presentation was NOT typical of individuals with autism spectrum disorders. He was an extreme. I'm not saying it was wrong to make that movie--by all accounts the portrayal was accurate. But if it's one of the few out there, it leaves viewers thinking "this is what people with autism spectrum disorders are like."


Usually, my first response to controversial stuff on TV is to say "if parents are going to let their kids watch it, they should watch it with their kids and talk about it." I feel that way about this issue, but it doesn't get rid of my concerns. Because what if the parent doesn't know much more about autism spectrum disorders than the kid? That parent is dependent upon the writers and creators of those shows to present an accurate picture of an individual with one of these diagnoses. I happen to think this is ESPECIALLY TRUE of children's television shows where the clear goal of the portrayal is to raise awareness and sensitivity, as was the case with that episode of Dino Squad. The things is, so often the symptoms of this disorder (and many others) are subtle and not easily recognized unless you know exactly what to look for.

I won't go on and on. This is a tricky issue--both in adult and children's television. We need diversity, but it needs to be nuanced and sensitive, well-researched and informed by real-world experience. I'm pretty sure we can all agree on that.

On the Sisterhood of the Traveling Blog front, check out Deb's post on "In my writing, I always/never ___"!

Traumatizing Your Characters Part 3 Factors That Determine Severity of the Trauma

Welcome back! If you're just coming upon this post, the first two parts of this series are:

Part 1: general information about trauma
Part 2: types of trauma and examples of each

Today I'd like to discuss factors that make trauma worse or ... better (er ... relatively speaking).

But first, I want to stop here and acknowledge that some of you have been through traumatic events in your lives. Some of you are dealing with the aftereffects every day and every moment. Although these posts are in no way meant to be taken as medical or psychological advice, I just want to put it out there that some things I post might be triggering, and if that happens to you, please talk to someone about it. We'll go over factors that make characters (and people) more vulnerable in the next post, but social supports are KEY in recovering from and coping with trauma, so please seek that support if you need it. If you don't already have someone in your life who gives you that, there are several national hotlines of various types. It doesn't mean you have to talk about things before you're ready. It just means you might need someone to understand that things are hard sometimes, and no one should be alone.

Okay.

Lots of factors determine how likely it is that a person will experience lingering negative effects.* 

• Proximity. There's a continuum. The closer you are, the harder it is. 

Personal victimàloved one/friendàWitnessàSaw on televisionàHeard about it

Here's an example: We ALL went through the recent bombings at the Boston Marathon (which is actually why I'm not going to post a picture to remind you of it). Most of us were nowhere near the actual event, but we saw it on TV and on Twitter and pretty much anywhere we looked--it was nearly inescapable. Horrific images, emotional narratives ... but the people who were THERE smelled it, and felt it against their skin, and heard it ringing in their ears. Some of them witnessed it. Some of them saw their friends or family members hurt. Some of them were hurt.

People, and especially children, can develop PTSD symptoms after repeated viewing of traumatic images. That was proven after 9/11, when some children in Europe developed symptoms after watching all the television coverage (KEEP THE CHILDREN AWAY FROM THE TV DURING THESE EVENTS PLEASE I BEG YOU THE MEDIA SHOWS ZERO RESTRAINT THESE DAYS). However, the "distance" from the event means less risk overall.

Other factors that determine severity:

• Interpersonal trauma--like a physical or sexual assault--is more effecting (in general) than trauma caused by something like a natural disaster or a car accident. 
• Trauma at the hands of an intimate partner or family member increases risk for PTSD.
• As mentioned in the last post, chronic trauma is far more complicated to treat than single event trauma, and generally takes longer to recover from because of the pervasive nature of chronic trauma. Again, we'll devote an entire post to chronic trauma, particularly when it occurs in childhood. 
• How invasive the trauma is also affects risk for PTSD. You can experience sexual trauma if someone flashes you, but it's (obviously, I think) harder to recover from a more invasive sexual trauma, such as one that involved penetration.
• If the trauma resulted in lasting injuries, it might increase risk for developing symptoms of PTSD. Lasting injuries can act as reminders, and sometimes triggers, of what the individual has gone through.

If you're writing about a character who's experienced a traumatic event, think about these factors. Identify how close they were, who was responsible (if anyone), how intimately linked the perpetrator was to your character, how long the trauma lasted, how invasive it was, and whether it left lingering physical scars.

Then spend some time thinking about what the character experienced during the event. Here's where you put on your WRITERPANTS. What did your character see, feel, smell, and hear? Be specific. Be detailed. This is what will make your story more authentic and your character's reaction more interesting. It will also help you when we reach the post where we discuss TRIGGERS. 

*When I say something's "better" or "worse" or use qualitative words like that, I'm speaking very narrowly. What I mean is that something is more or less likely to result in long-term PTSD symptoms. I am not in any way dismissing any person's experience of a specific event or series of events.