A ‘Neurodiverse’ Lens; an exploration of disability on screen and in photographs.

Abstract

The purpose of this practical dissertation is to provide discussion on the place autism has in the world culturally; the filmic text Rain Man will be discussed, alongside the act of coding ASD characters in film and television. Portraiture photography will be debated as a medium, as well as the uses of having an identity constructed by self-photography, citing the works of Diane Arbus, Robert Mapplethorpe and Cindy Sherman. Using the rationale between the starve for representation of multidimensional autistic characters in media and the utilisation of portraiture to ‘reveal character’, there will be a self-photography portfolio, constructing a type of autistic sensation through photographs.