Autism in ‘Grey’s Anatomy’

Greetings Earthlings! 🙂

I’ve recently been re-watching clips from medical drama ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ on Facebook, and came across some old episodes featuring a doctor with Asperger’s syndrome. As I watched these episodes prior to my diagnosis (and never made any connection to my own experiences), this week I’d like to take a closer look at Dr. Dixon and the depiction of autism.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, Grey’s Anatomy is the longest running primetime medical drama of all time (entering into it’s 21st season in the coming weeks), following the personal and professional adventures of Dr. Meredith Grey through her surgical internship (and beyond).

In 2008 during it’s 5th season, the show introduced the character of Dr. Virginia Dixon for 3 episodes- a renowned heart surgeon with Asperger’s syndrome. This was perhaps the first on screen depiction of autism I had ever seen, and it’s easy to see why I didn’t connect with the character at the time.

Despite being a woman with autism (which given this was 2008 was quite progressive), Dr. Dixon’s character has been completely panned by the autistic community and branded as difficult to watch. She’s highly stereotyped with a high IQ, monotone voice, no social skills, rule oriented and completely emotionless– a particular pain point for misunderstood autists everywhere. In addition, the stereotyping isn’t even consistent with how most autistic women present as she doesn’t make any attempt to mask her differences whatsoever. A lot of autists were particularly irked by a scene where Dr. Dixon has a complete meltdown after a patient excitedly hugs her. Given that she is a high functioning adult with autism, her response to the incident has been seen as completely over the top given that most of us by this age have adapted coping mechanisms to deal with these sorts of situations.

Here’s a video with some clips of Dr. Dixon in action:

I personally didn’t find issue with the episodes when I initially watched the show, but given what I now know about autism, I would have to agree with the community. While I can appreciate the attempt to raise awareness about the condition, it really wasn’t handled the best. I found it particularly irksome during the meltdown scene, as when a fellow doctor was asked to hug Dr. Dixon to help calm her, she made a quip about giving a thorazine shot instead (a common anti-psychotic medication). Autists aren’t crazy, it’s just a different operating system 😒.

All in all, it will not be taking a spot on my recommendation list. Great show, bad autism.

Hope you enjoyed this post dear Earthlings!

Have a lovely weekend! 🙂

Aoife