World Autism Awareness Day

Depiction of the mentally ill in fictional/non-fictional books and movies is very common. It’s almost cliche that in order to win an oscar, you must play a complex twisted and psychotic role. Whether its Russell Crowe’s ‘A Beautiful Mind’ or Angelina Jolie’s performance in ‘Girl Interupted’ or Sean Penn’s ‘I am Sam’ or even the ellusive character of Boo Radley in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, audiences in general, love and appreciate the portrayal of the mentally disturbed.

Quite a few TV series have also been dedicated to the subject. HBO’s drama ‘In Treatment’ is about a psychotherapist Dr. Paul Watson and his weekly sessions with patients. Another TV series which I came across recently is ‘Mental’. Launched in 2009 on FOX, it explores the use of unorthodox methods to prob and treat mental patients.

There are countless other references in various art forms to mental diseases and disorders. The main objective of all these references in books, movies and TV is to create awareness and portray a complex character which helps audiences see their perception of the world and the challenges and problems they face. Sadly, many fall short of this objective.

The portayal is often inaccurate and ends up further strengthening the stereotypes and negative stigmatization of these diseases, which causes an uproar from various organizations advocating awareness about mental health and illness.

1988′s drama ‘Rain Man’ however is an excellent movie which deals with the subject of Autism with wit, and enough sophistication that it offends no one, which is quite an achievement given the sensitive subject it sets out to explore. In fact it recieved critical acclaim from critics everywhere and even earned a Best Actor award for Hoffman at the Oscars. Hoffman’s character was based upon a real-life savant. The story revolves around two brothers, Tom Cruise’s character is a hip car dealer who learns at his father’s death that all the estate has been left to his autistic brother, whom he had no recollection of. From here begins a journey of acceptance and emotional drama that I dare you to watch without shedding a single tear!

Today is ‘World Autism Awareness Day’ and this blog post is dedicated to the patients, loved ones and reasearchers who fight Autism every day.

Learn more about Autism at: http://autism.com/

For Pakistani readers: http://www.autism-pakistan.org/