Asperger's Syndrome Analysis

In today’s media, there are several movies that inaccurately portray disabilities, such as autism, for comedic value or dramatic effect. However, there are some films that attempt to accurately depict disabilities, such as the 2009 film, Adam. In the movie, Adam is an awkward but intelligent man with Asperger syndrome, a subcategory of autism. According to Lerner and Johns (2015), “Asperger’s syndrome is characterized by a reluctance to accept change; an inflexibility of thought; and all-absorbing, narrow area of interest” (pg. 192). Based on these characteristics, the movie accurately portrays Asperger syndrome. For instance, when it was expected of Adam to move out of his apartment due to lack of finances, he has a meltdown, illustrating …show more content…
According to Jones and Meldal (2001), “The fundamental problem for people with Asperger’s syndrome is said to involve their inability to understand the significance of events in a wider perspective, particularly their incapability of understanding social rules and comprehending what other people think” (pg. 36). For example, Adam meets the father of his love interest, Beth, and asks a question about him going to jail, not understanding that that was a sensitive subject for Beth. When Beth confronts him about it, Adam could not understand why she was upset. Therefore, he did not know what was appropriate or what Beth was thinking, which is usual for a person with Asperger syndrome. Nevertheless, Beth helps Adam with his disability through various ways. For example, Adam has Beth teach him how to mimic the mannerisms in a job interview because he was worried that he would appear different in front of his interviewer. Jones and Meldal (2001) stated that many individuals with Asperger syndrome “had attempted to ‘fit in’ to the dominant culture by attempting to ‘role-play’ being a non-autistic person” (pg. 40). Thus, many people with Asperger syndrome, such as Adam, try to appear neurotypical in everyday