Authentic representations or stereotyped ‘outliers’: using the CARS2 to assess film portrayals of Autism Spectrum Disorders

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

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Garner, A., Jones, S. C., & 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

Journal or book title
International Journal of Culture and Mental Health
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Volume
8
Issue
4
Pages
414-425
Publication date: 22 Jun 2015 Added to AutiHub: 6 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) OpenAlex source

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
3
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 3 (33.3%)
  1. Andrea Garner
  2. Sandra C. Jones *
  3. Valerie Harwood

Abstract

There is a growing body of literature that discusses the stereotyped representations of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in film. Existing literature questions the integrity of filmic representations, listing stereotypes in image, formulaic plots, homogeneous archetypes and unrealistic relationships as a few of the contentious issues. This paper, the first to our knowledge, utilizes an empirical assessment tool, the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS2), which is accepted and used by professionals working in the field of ASD, to analyse the character representations of ASD. Two independent raters from different professional backgrounds were able to accurately assess character portrayals from 15 films using the CARS2. Through this analysis, they were able to determine the distribution of filmic autism symptomology relative to the normal distribution of symptomology expected in the actual population with a diagnosis. The paper discusses the film-related findings, the implications and the educative potential of this exercise for practitioners.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 2 Oct 2026 13:58.

Cited references
41
With a DOI
20
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
18
0 / 41 (0.0%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
3 / 41 (7.3%)
References with detected author names
40 / 41 (97.6%)
Without detected author names
1
Without a structured title
2
Without a stable identifier
18
References with raw author names still to review
0
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
58
From DOI or external metadata
58
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
3 / 58 (5.2%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 55 / 58 (94.8%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
0 / 58 (0.0%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 0 / 3 (0.0%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 0 / 49 (0.0%).
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