Because that's what Monk has. Didn't know House was indicated in the spectrum as well (just thought he was a cranky drug addict).

I'm only half kidding. Do you think these guys really fit into the category, or do you just think showing these people with serious personality disorders who nonetheless have both admirable and irritating (individual) personality traits is a preferable method, and that autistic characters would be served better by a similar approach?

Oh, thank you! That's a great description of a cheap dramatic trope that really bugs me.

Twenty or so years ago, there was a particularly egregious example called "The Boy Who Could Fly." I don't recall if the teen of the title was labeled as autistic, but that's almost certainly what he was. And he could literally fly, thanks to not being hemmed in by normal-people expectations. And his beautiful example inspires everybody.

The TV show has not been "coy" about House. They've said outright he doesn't have autism or Asperger's in a third season episode. (Though there are some people on the 'net who refuse to accept that.) He's just an ass who doesn't care about social preferences.

No actors, dialog, action or plot. A triumph of Salon.

Why do we never see Neurotypical Pride marches? Are they ashamed of something?

I thought that House episode was more ambiguous than that. Wilson argues to Cuddy that House has an ASD and then Wilson argues to House that House doesn't have an ASD. Wilson is lying to somebody, but it's not clear whether it's Cuddy or House.

For the record, I don't think House has an ASD. He's gifted, depressed, addicted, suffering from chronic pain, and the survivor of an abusive childhood. That's probably enough.

He could have been, I don't know, a corrupt stock-market tycoon, a serial heartbreaker, a house-music impresario or a meth dealer.

Trying to project the above mentioned negative stereotypes onto people with Asperger Syndrome (AS) and/or any other Autism disorder, is wishful thinking.

Those stereotypes are far more common amongst the so called 'neurotypicals' (aka 'normal' people) Wanting to portray AS people in those bad stereotypes would be akin to what Hollywood has done to albino people. Have you ever seen a movie where an albino person has been portrayed in a positive light?

What is wrong with portraying someone the way reality is? Sure it may be boring, but I feel sorry for people who believe that 'reality' TV programming represents 'real' people.

For society it is much more comfortable to latch on to the negative stereotypes; after all doesn't that allow for a sense of superiority?

Asperger Syndrome is not a disability; it is a different ability. This applies to many other so-called mental disorders as well. It's a matter of perspective. When you stop wanting others to be just like you ( as in 'normal'), you'll realize what you've been missing out on, all those years.

Oh... I almost forgot to mention it: I am one of the people who has Asperger Syndrome. Taking into consideration the shortcomings I deal with, and tallying all the benefits I have thanks to AS, I wouldn't want to be a Neurotypical. Now THAT would be boring.

The only problem is the same as it has always been: a hook and a culturally-sensitive script doesn't make for a good movie.

Better to come up with the "good movie" idea FIRST, then add the hook, and check the script for cultural sensitivity afterwards.

according to most women? It seems to be quite low.

This was the final stage of the made-for-TV movie, in which a disease or social problem was the plot, the point, and the only reason for the movie. Apparently the networks didn't want to make entertaining TV-movies, so they insisted the producing studios had to have some politically-correct justification for the films.

Especially on CBS, there was a deluge of problem films. Most of them, if you care to see them, are run continually on Lifetime.

That's what this is. The filmmakers apparently have nothing human to say, so they drape a couple of characters around a cause. And if this is what indy films are becoming, it's time to abandon them and look for treats like "The Turkish Wizard of Oz" in the video bargain bins.

Can't a FICTIONAL CHARACTER even have personality quirks without a diagnosis these days?

A self-diagnosed developmental disorder contracted from reading the wikipedia page about the condition. Having Asperger's means you are smarter than everyone else and it totally forgives all of the lazy anti-social choices you make.

I wasn't aware that being a house-music impresario was a "negative stereotype." I guess if you go back to those days when they burned disco records at Comiskey Park, it is ...

For that matter, being a heartbreaker may not be the most universally desirable personality trait, but it's hardly a crime. (And you can't really pull it off if other people don't find you attractive.)

I was simply wondering why there couldn't be some complicating factors to Adam's personality that did not clearly and directly relate to his neurological diagnosis. Surely you will agree that, in the abstract, thos exist.

And to other readers: I have no idea whether House and Monk are supposed to have spectrum disorders! I was just saying that the show-runners seem to have capitalized on that uncertainty or possibility, that's all. We have all known people where the distinction between diagnosable Asperger's and awkward-but-neurotypical was pretty ambiguous, especially before the terminology became widespread.

OCD is not an autistic spectrum disorder, but autism can cause obsessive or repetative behavior that can appear similar to OCD.

No, we're not the new black, because generally, you need to hire black people to play black people, but they so far have never (as far as I know) cast an autistic person to play an autistic person. I'm autistic, and I've seen the trailer, and I'm not impressed. The only movie about an autistic person I've liked was Ben X, mostly because the movie was about bullying rather than autism.

I don't think autism is something you can fake. We're still not entirely sure what it is, and how do you fake something that is invisible? It's too easy to get everything wrong.