As has been repeatedly mentioned, drift partner has been in a Mackenzie Davis spiral since Dark Fate came out. This meant that she basically devoured Halt and Catch Fire, the AMC drama that Davis starred in, and that shortly thereafter she got me to watch it, too. She primed me for Cameron, Davis’ character, being super autistic, but no amount of her saying so could have prepared me for how autistic.
That’s right. Your fave Cameron Howe is autistic.
It was actually really interesting to watch the show from the perspective that I knew Cameron was autistic, but nobody around her, including herself, knew that and maybe the writers didn’t either. Part of this is because the show is set in the 1980s/90s; autism wasn’t categorized as a developmental disorder until the DSM-III in 1980, when Cameron would have been in her late teens, and PDD-NOS, or pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified, which is the “milder” diagnosis and probably the one Cameron would be given, wasn’t made official until 1987, which is the end of the third season and when Cameron is in her twenties. (Data from this source.) There’s almost no way she would have been diagnosed as a child given that during her childhood autism was regarded as “a form of childhood schizophrenia marked by a detachment from reality” that “was thought to be rooted in cold and unemotional mothers,” and there’s an even slimmer chance that she would be diagnosed as an adult, largely because it’s difficult to get diagnosed as an adult today, let alone in the early 90s, and even more difficult to get diagnosed if you’re a woman. (Speaking from experience.) While it’s not uncommon, and it’s even encouraged, these days for autistic adults to self-diagnose, it’s not likely that Cameron would have the resources or inclination to do that in the early 90s.
The other reason the characters and probably writers didn’t know Cameron is autistic is, well… it’s difficult to get diagnosed as an adult today, let alone in the early 90s, and even more difficult to get diagnosed if you’re a woman. (I’m also going to interject here and say that the literature I’m referencing is only about men and women, but I’m sure it’s also a struggle to get a diagnosis as a non-binary/etc. person.) According to this article, “up to five times as many men are diagnosed with autism than women,” which stems from the ways that autism has been studied, the ways that girls manifest symptoms differently, and the ways that girls are socialized and socially regarded (often, a girl’s special interests are seen as more normal, it’s considered acceptable for girls to be shyer, so on).
Full story here.