High-Functioning Autism through Rain Man

High-Functioning Autism through Rain Man

A man and his brother walk down the terminal in an airport. They engage in a heated argument over whether they should board an airplane for Los Angeles. The older brother complains about taking an airplane and fears for his life, telling his brother about the crashes that every airline has had. The younger brother becomes annoyed and tells him that every airline has crashed at one point or another. To this, the older brother exclaims, “Qantas never crashed.” Upset at his obstinacy and refusing to fly to Australia just to travel to Los Angeles, the younger brother attempts to pull the older. He responds in the only way he knows—by screaming. Not wishing to undergo his painful screams, the younger brother stops and reassures his brother that they will drive to Los Angeles instead.

This scene may sound weird to neurologically-typical (NT), or “normal”, people, but it does demonstrate the coping strategies of people with autism, as exhibited through this scene from Rain Man. Charlie Babbitt, a neurologically typical adult, does not understand how his brother, Raymond Babbitt, who is a high-functioning autistic, functions in his little world that he has created. Manifestations of autism such as this indicate to people how an autistic was seen as “like a wolf” (Pollak 258) in older definitions. Recently, though, people are beginning to understand that the problem is organic, or biologically based, as opposed to the psychogenic, or psychologically based, hypothesis of the past. With the release of Rain Man came the increased understanding of autistics and a willingness to find out what autistics are thinking, thus i...

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