Studies about autism in fiction

The first studies examining portrayals of autism in fiction came out in the early 2000s. Though it remains a very niche field of research, it has grown significantly since then. It includes both qualitative and quantitative research.


 * Murray, S. (2006). Autism and the Contemporary Sentimental: Fiction and the Narrative Fascination of the Present. Literature and Medicine, 25(1), 24–45. https://doi.org/10.1353/LM.2006.0025
 * Jackson, L. K., & Atance, C. M. (2008). Autism: The Musical. Journal on Developmental Disabilities, 14(3), 94–97.
 * Draaisma, D. (2009). Stereotypes of autism. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364(1522), 1475–1480. https://doi.org/10.1098/RSTB.2008.0324
 * Conn, R., & Bhugra, D. (2012). The portrayal of autism in Hollywood films. International Journal of Culture and Mental Health, 5(1), 54–62. https://doi.org/10.1080/17542863.2011.553369
 * Garner, A. R. (2014). What’ s showing: film industry portrayals of autism spectrum conditions and their influences on preservice teachers in Australia. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/4282
 * Maich, K. (2014). Autism Spectrum Disorders in Popular Media: Storied Reflections of Societal Views. Brock Education Journal, 23(2), 97–115. https://doi.org/10.26522/brocked.v23i2.311
 * Garner, A., Jones, S., & Harwood, V. (2015). Authentic representations or stereotyped ‘outliers’: using the CARS2 to assess film portrayals of Autism Spectrum Disorders. International Journal of Culture and Mental Health, 8(4), 414–425. https://doi.org/10.1080/17542863.2015.1041993
 * Nordahl-Hansen, A. (2017). Atypical: a typical portrayal of autism? The Lancet Psychiatry, 4(11), 837–838. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(17)30397-8 - Open access
 * Nordahl-Hansen, A., Tøndevold, M., & Fletcher-Watson, S. (2018). Mental health on screen: A DSM-5 dissection of portrayals of autism spectrum disorders in film and TV. Psychiatry Research, 262, 351–353. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.PSYCHRES.2017.08.050 - Open access preprint version
 * Dean, M., & Nordahl-Hansen, A. (2021). A Review of Research Studying Film and Television Representations of ASD. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 0123456789. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40489-021-00273-8