The A Word: fact or fiction?

The A Word is a BBC One drama about a family struggling to come to terms with 5 year old Joe being diagnosed with autism. We asked Autism Spectrum Disorder Nurse Consultant Jacqueline Dziewanowska, who works with adults with autism, what she thought to the programme.

Feeling on the outside

I often hear stories of childhood experiences very similar to those shown in the programme. The parent’s experience of inviting the whole class to a birthday party and their child never being invited to other children’s parties. The experience of other adults judging when the child has a meltdown, people staring in supermarkets and the parent feeling a failure because their child is different.

What was portrayed sensitively was when Joe’s mum stays outside and watches Joe in the playground. The pain she feels as Joe stands by himself against the wall in the playground is a scene that both parents and the person with autism can often remember well.

Getting a diagnosis

The speed in which Joe was diagnosed seemed to me to be very unrealistic. Many parents struggle to get to that point for many years or not at all, which is why there are so many adults seeking diagnosis.

The programme showed the family’s denial and fear that Joe’s diagnosis would become public knowledge. Whilst some parents feel this way, most are desperate to have that recognition and a name that helps them and others to understand their child’s behaviour and needs.

A special interest

Joe has a special interest – I don’t like the word obsession - in music. In this case Joe knows the words, date of release and writer of every song he and his dad have ever listened to. Although on TV autistic people to be portrayed as having “a gift”, this is not always the case. It is absolutely correct that lots of autistic people have great memory and recall on their chosen interest, but equally true that not all have this type of interest. This in no way makes them less intellectually able.

Trying to fix things

The desire to fix things is central to the character of Alison, Joe’s mum.

The family were visited by a speech and language therapist, who showed Alison how to communicate with Joe. However, Alison then wanted the speech and language therapist to fix things and became very angry and frustrated when she wouldn’t.

In our service, when either the person with autism or their parent wants us to fix things, we try to hand the power back to them. We give them the time and space they need to adapt to being autistic.

Ghosts from the past

The support from the speech and language therapist is overshadowed by a shared past between her and Alison. In real life, we would have recognised a conflict of interest and asked another person to do the assessment. I would hope no professional would leave a traumatised mum sitting in a waiting room all day just to make a point! However, this does show how parents can sometimes feel shut down by professionals.

A step in the right direction

Overall, I am enjoying watching the programme and it’s good to see autism portrayed in a positive way in the media. Programmes like this raise awareness and reduce the stigma for people who have autism. Although this is captured in a drama and has some way to go to reflect reality, The A Word has made a good start.