:: So what’s the problem? Shouldn’t we be thrilled to see neurodivergent characters on screen at all? No.
Dear Friends,
It’s Hollywood awards season again, and we’re going to get inundated with fancy movies before the end of the year, each one hoping to bring home a statue.
I haven’t watched the Oscars or Golden Globes in years because they’re deeply troubling to me. While the Academy has made some progress on diversity, discrimination still continues. For example, Hollywood still, after all of these years, treats neurodivergent and disabled characters as Oscar bait while excluding actually neurodivergent and disabled actors from prestigious roles.
The list of neurotypical actors winning awards for portraying neurodivergent characters stretches back decades: Rain Man (autism), As Good As It Gets (OCD), A Beautiful Mind (schizophrenia), Silver Linings Playbook (bipolar disorder), The Theory of Everything (ALS), Joker (multiple psychiatric conditions), The Whale (trauma and eating disorder). None of these Oscar-winning actors were actually neurodivergent in the ways they portrayed (that we know of).
So what’s the problem? Shouldn’t we be thrilled to see neurodivergent characters on screen at all? No.
Too many films trade on neurodivergent characters to make money and gain prestige while systematically excluding neurodivergent people from that world of money and prestige. These aren’t just missed opportunities for authentic representation—they’re active forms of exclusion that perpetuate harmful stereotypes.
The problem gets even trickier with psychiatric disabilities and neurodivergence. Few people in Hollywood can talk openly about being autistic, having ADHD, bipolar disorder, OCD, or PTSD without fear of repercussions.
The film industry is one of many where mental health stigma runs deep, where actors worry that disclosing their neurodivergence could cost them roles. That means the very people whose experiences are being mined for Oscar glory are expected to stay silent about their own lived realities.
There are bright spots. R.J. Mitte, who has cerebral palsy, broke ground playing a character with cerebral palsy on Breaking Bad. CODA won Best Picture with a predominantly deaf cast. But these examples remain exceptions, not the rule.
The solution isn’t to stop telling stories about neurodivergent and other disabled characters. It’s to include actually neurodivergent actors in these stories. It’s to hire neurodivergent writers, directors, and producers. It’s to recognize that authentic representation isn’t just morally right—it makes for better, more truthful art.
Until that happens, watching neurotypical actors collect Oscars for playing us will continue to sting.
And honestly? It’s getting really old.
What can we do?
- We can choose to watch shows and movies with neurodivergent and other disabled characters played by disabled actors.
- We can avoid shows (ahem, The Big Bang Theory, ahem), where disability representation is harmful.
- We can read books about neurodiversity written by neurodivergent authors.
I’d love to hear your ideas, too. Drop them in the comments for everyone to see.
Love,
Katie
Recommendations:
- My latest book is out! YOUR KID BELONGS HERE: An Insider’s Guide to Parenting Neurodiverse Children.
- My current audiobook read: Oathbound by Tracy Deonn. (The third in the Legendborn Trilogy, and so, so good.)
- What’s on my nightstand: Meander, Spiral, Explode: Design and Pattern in Narrative by Jane Allison.
- My latest piece in Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/living-neurodivergence/202511/neurodiversity-and-the-individual-attention-fallacy.
- All of my Hollywood Lights romances are back in Kindle Unlimited. hollywoodlightsseries.com.
