Autism Is a World

"Autism Is A World" a 40 minute documentary narrated by actress Julianna Margulies. The documentary is about Sue who is autistic. She was diagnosed and treated as mentally retarded until the age of 13 when she began to communicate using a keyboard. When you meet her, she does not make eye contact. She obsessively attacks your buttons, endlessly stands at the faucet and watches water pour over her hand. She tells that makes her feel better. The documentary takes the viewer on a journey into her mind, into her world and her obsessions. Autism Is A World explores Sue's world, her writings, and the remarkable friendships she has created while in college.

I am a professional Support Person and Home Care Provider. This movie is right on. Thank You for sharing your world with us. The more people that understand and see our work/your work the better we are able to support those who need us. I know how hard it is to find people to fill these kind of jobs. Many people, especially young adults, have had little exposure to anyone with disabilities ( this is my person observation only). But with this wonderful success story out there in movie form , it is a great way to open doors and minds. I emailed the next CNN air time to my entire support and case management team. I know they will enjoy it as much as I did !!

This movie is entirely wrong about autism. I work with autistic youths on a regular basis; if she is autistic, she is also physically and mentally retarded, and may also have Tourette's Syndrome.

Autism is a disorder that does not change your appearance: most people diagnosed with autism look, in essence, exactly like the rest of us. Sue has severe facial distortion, and this is not usual in the standard autistic person.

Autism does not cause you to "do terrible, terrible things": the way she describes some of her behaviors make them sound more like Tourette's Syndrome (which, to those who don't know, does not just cause obscene language: it can cause a number of things)

Meanwhile, if she IS autistic, she's following for the oldest trick in the book. The electronic- vocalizer. Look at it again; notice how the "caregiver" moves the machine? The child doesn't really choose what they're hitting, they're just moving their finger forward. The caregiver just makes the child "say" whatever will make the most money.

I feel like this documentary is off on all counts of autism, and in order to define symptoms better CNN should not have used someone with multiple disorders. In the end, it leaves one misled about the symptoms of autism.

Thumbs-down.

Being somebody who lives with a younger sister who is autistic, I struggle with mental disability every day. She has changed my outlook on life, however, and has helped me understand people who have trouble with just simply getting through the day. I can't say that I've had an easy time living with it and at times I lose my temper and just get really upset. But I am reassured by the fact that my family and I have it far better than a lot of people. I cry for her a lot simply because I can't imagine how depressing it is to be her and not really be aware of how much anguish she has caused us, but she is a excellent and brilliant sister and I can't imagine living without her. This film, to me, distorted what it was like to live with somebody who has such a disability and what their experiences are. I am utterly disappointed with the documentary in general. It didn't feel honest, genuine, and certainly didn't teach me anything I didn't already know about autism. As somebody who has Aspergers disorder, I can say that there are good things and bad things. This film didn't shed any light on any of the good things and offered a half-baked effort in even depicting the bad things. The bad things are mostly all about just negativity toward autism in general, but autism is something that is certainly not all bad if a person took the extra effort to show discipline and a lot of patience with someone who is autistic. I'm not saying that autism is good. In fact, it's really quite horrible to live with somebody who has the misfortune of having autism. However, there are moments of pure brilliance shown by people who have autism, and those moments are what makes dealing with autism worth it. This film didn't have any of that. Instead, it was all about the anguish and hell the ordeal is rather than the unique and interesting details. It's really disheartening.

Caroline Goldsmith is an Autism professional of many years in this field and found this a good watch. I am sure that some will find it provocative also. Both those in the spectrum and otherwise can learn from the insights portrayed here. The characters give a good picture of what life is like for them. And it is personal obviously at times. The film is good for people who know nothing about the subject and may be looking to learn more or for those who have a loved one or relative on the spectrum and are curious as to how life feels for them. I found it an intriguing watch and would highly recommend this movie.