The therapy and assistance offered to the young people featured on the show is similarly out of touch.
It was a bizarre question and supremely uncomfortable to watch. For any readers in doubt, I can assure you: Autistic people have sex, just like anybody else. In one particularly galling moment, the production staff ask Sharnae and Jimmy, an autistic couple who are moving in together, if they have “consummated their relationship” - to which they sort of laugh and confirm that they have.
#LOVE ON THE SPECTRUM SERIES#
The musical cues would be more appropriate for a documentary about clumsy baby giraffes than for a reality series about adult humans. There are more interviews with parents than with the people the show is ostensibly about. The show is also riddled with bad advice and is frequently infantilizing. The results do not reflect how successful autistic people are at large in the dating world. Also, even those marriage results may be skewed: The age range for the study, from 22 to 51 years old, was quite broad, and it would be unusual for a 22-year-old to have ever been married, whether the person is autistic or not. But that’s a far cry from stating that only 5 percent of autistic people ever find love. The factoid probably came from a 2018 study of mid-life social outcomes, which found that 5 percent of the autistic participants had been married at least once. But it isn’t clear how many autistic adults find successful, lasting relationships, let alone how many date or, heaven forfend, have hookups or one-night stands. The production crew doesn’t contradict her, and her statement is framed as fact. Olivia, a fiery-haired woman who loves Harry Potter and her theater company, claims at one point that only 5 percent of autistic people ever find love. One issue I have with the show is how unrealistic it is. Although I was not completely pleased with “Love on the Spectrum,” it is kind, and I respect the creators’ good intentions.
No one is told to pack their anime figurines and go. Unlike most reality television, the production crew isn’t trying to stir up drama. Some may find reassurance in watching “Love on the Spectrum,” a new reality dating show on Netflix that follows several autistic and photogenic 20-somethings as they explore relationships and dating, some for the first time. And that can be a major source of anxiety for our families, and even more so for ourselves. Because autistic people can struggle with social and emotional communication, we don’t form relationships as easily or in the same ways as our neurotypical peers. He just handed me a small ring box and smiled like the sun.Īnecdotally, many parents worry about whether their autistic children will ever find love. After, we sat on a bench to eat sandwiches I’d packed. My partner and I spent the day hiking in the woods and wading in the Patapsco River in Maryland. We don’t have any couples’ pictures - it’s hard to ask someone else to snap a photo for you during a pandemic.
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