Authentic representation matters and when creators, writers and the TV networks get these stories wrong, it distorts how society views people with a disability.

The Netflix series Atypical, which focuses on the life of 18-year-old Sam Gardner who is on the autism spectrum, is in my mind a clear example of misrepresentation. The lead actor Keir Gilchrist isn’t autistic, he’s merely pretending to be autistic for the purposes of the show.

But they’ve got it wrong; autistic people don’t talk like that, they don’t think like that and they don’t behave like that.

I know this because I have autism. And like countless times before this TV show, I’m being confronted by an autistic story without an autistic person in sight.