Aspies For Freedom

I have noticed over the last few days a trend in ITV1's coverage of the upcoming drama special Mysterious Creatures. This trend pertains in particular to the Teletext service.

In two published interviews with Brenda Bleythn and Tim Spall, and in a preview page for the programme itself, Apsergers is repeatedly reffered to as a mental illness.

The story of the drama in question is not one i am familiar with, but involes the Ainscow family. This story is repeatedly called a tragedy, but little distinction is made as to wether the parental decisions in the case were tragic, or wether the fact that the daughter is an aspie is the 'tragedy' of the case.

In addition, adjectives such as 'suffer' 'pain', 'torment', 'troubled' and 'extreme' are used throughout, in most cases implicitly linked to the daughter who is an aspie.

As i said, i don't know the details of the case, so don't know if she is comorbid, but considering the whole spiel of the promotion has been that this is a programme that will educate people about aspergers, it seems ironic, typically ignorant and downright discgusting to print such things.

Just thought i would post this here in case people have not seen the coverage. I fear to tonight's broadcast may be the nasty, spiteful horseshit that they intially seemed very keen to avoid.

I don't feel able to watch tonights programme.

I read the interview with Timothy Spall (an actor who I usually admire) in the Radio Times, and I know I will find the programme abhorrant.

Wanting to know other folks reaction after the programme has been shown...

Well, i have been flicking back and forth while watching the royle family (i have been recording MC to scrutinise it properly) and have seen abuse and attempted inprisonment, overreaction and a bloody nasty trap sprung on the girl.

Surely her reactions are VERY predictable given this level of provocation. regardless of her initial behaviours (which seemed linked to a justfiable sense of paranoia and abandonment), if the parents really did these things then no wonder they found her behaviour difficult. Not sure i'd like to be conned like that.

Edit: they just had an interesting scene where they questioned the diagnosis, and pointed out that aspergers is NOT mental illness (guess the reviewers do not pay attention to their own shows). Course, when they went through what it was we got 'lacking empathy' rather than mentioning difficulties with expressing empathy - which seems closer to the truth - anyway, very few of her issues seem ro be aspie related other than the permanent disruption others seem to wish to inflict on her routines.

further update.

It was pretty bad of the programme makers to allow it to be labelled as an A/S drama in the tv guides. It was also just pretty bad and had lousy camera work to boot. I felt a degree of motion sickness trying to watch it at times.

The camera work was very poor. I am not sure why, some of it seemed to be made on a home video camera.

The mother and father seemed mentally ill to me. That came across clearly.
The daughter seemed to show BPD more than anything, with some aspie aspects too, like the obsessive interest and sensory overload.

Overall it showed that the mother had no clue of how to be assertive and of how to change her own pattern of behaviour.

In real life the daughter had stated through her solicitor that she does not have Asperger's.

A member of my family pointed out to me that when the father went under a lot of stress he rocked backk and forth in his chair. My relative touted the diea that maybe the father had a form of Autism.

Amy, I agree entirely about the mother and whislt I sympathise for her loss and pain I hold her culpable for her daughter being uncontrollable.

The moral of this story is

A) ITV1 still can't produce a watchable and sensitviely handled drama.
B) They need new cameramen.

That show was raised today at university and I had to effectively put a stop to the BS of how oh terrible poor parents attitude that was coming out. For people who know im a person with aspergers they didnt half say some stupid things and amy pretty much summed up what I thought of it. Straight away it was I just thought jesus what is wrong with these parents there so apathetic and oh yes "sigh" our daughter has been this way since forever how terrible "sigh" if my mother had dealt with me that way as a child I think would of ended up the same way as well

The real-life event on which Mysterious Creatures is supposedly based has been discussed earlier in this forum:

Suicide pact mother on lonely journey home
http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/phpBB2/v....php?t=416

A very strange case
http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/phpBB2/v....php?t=367

I'm not familiar with ITV1, is it like a UK TV channel? It does sound like, they're doing a horrible job with this story. Apperantly the insensitive freaks who wrote the show, cares so little about children..that they're pitying outright child abusers. Oh, the child was disabled, so it was ok for the parents to put them through hell. I don't understand what kind of sick people can justify a programme that makes the abusers look like victims.

I googled "Lisa Ainscow" and found two articles from regional newspapers. As they're not likely to remain online for very long, I'll cut and paste them here....

Manchester Evening News
Friday, 27th October 2006
Rebekah's tough Mysterious Creatures challenge
Ian Wylie


STATE OF ANXIETY: Rebekah as Asperger's syndrome sufferer Lisa Ainscow

REBEKAH Staton found one of the keys to her greatest acting challenge while out shopping in Manchester.

“I saw a gentleman looking very still, but his hand was making a movement. And I thought, ‘I could use that’.”

Still researching her role, she later went into a clothes store and tried on a strange combination of several outfits. “People started staring at me and asking the staff if I was OK. And I went, ‘I think we’ve got it.’“

Mysterious Creatures (ITV1, Sunday, 9pm) tells the story of Lisa Ainscow, played by Rebekah, and her parents Bill (Tim Spall) and Wendy (Brenda Blethyn).

Lisa, 35, has been diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, though her condition is more complex. At one time she owned more than 2,000 pairs of shoes, was obsessed with cuddly toys and demanded to eat in Merseyside’s top restaurants.

Her behaviour, along with what a mental health tribunal described as “a catastrophic parenting regime”, led to despair.

Earlier this month, her mother Wendy tried to take her own life for a fourth time. This latest failed suicide attempt came off the island of Tenerife, where Lisa’s father Bill took his own life two years ago.

Wendy was rescued in that November 2004 attempt, but returned to the same place months later to try again. Her latest bid at the same spot also follows the couple’s first failed suicide pact in a hotel bedroom.

ITV say the Birmingham-based supply teacher is now recovering and fully supports the decision to screen the drama, which explains the background to both Wendy and Bill’s decisions, and Lisa’s own trauma.

Lisa now has her own flat on Merseyside. “I wanted her side of things to be heard very clearly and her perspective to be observed,” explains RADA-trained Rebekah. “I want you to make your decision about her.

“Lisa feels very anxious. That is her sickness. So she turns to her parent and says, ‘If you get me these shoes, I will feel better. If I have that meal, I will feel better. And that is your duty to me’. Children do that with their parents all the time. Her actions are very pure.”

It is distressing to see a plainly terrified Lisa, who can’t stand to be touched, forcibly taken into custody and committed under the Mental Health Act. “This is one of the worst things that ever happened to Lisa in her entire life,” says Rebekah.

Utterly terrifying experience

“It was an utterly terrifying experience which she still talks about now.

“I just wanted the viewers to see how frightened she really was. It was terribly shocking for her and you can see in that moment that she is actually rather helpless.”

Staffordshire-raised Rebekah, whose previous credits include Jane Eyre, State of Play, Life Begins and Outlaws, adds: “I had worried that I wouldn’t be able to come up with the emotion. But then I realised that the tears were coming anyway.”

Writer Gwyneth Hughes and the producers of the film met Lisa and Wendy many times. “We spent an awful lot of time with them, talking to them, researching the script,” says co-producer Amanda Jenks.

“We felt that everything the actors needed to know about the characters, hopefully, was on the page. The film is about a very specific point in their lives.”

Rebekah decided not to meet Lisa. “To be honest, I’m not sure whether she’d want to meet me either. I’ve got an understanding of the Lisa in the script and I feel that this is how things should remain.

“Lisa lives in a world of high anxiety and is often genuinely scared. It’s all too easy to demonise her, but she’s a very complicated human being. Her world views and her own perception of her place within society are all very different to how others think she should be.

“She feels she should be allowed to be her own person and genuinely can’t see that her behaviour has such a cause and effect.”

All those involved in the film hope it will help others gain a greater understanding of the “unique and individual nature” of Lisa’s story and that of her parents.

“Hopefully it will affect people in a positive way,” reflects Rebekah. “And I hope that families who have to deal with similar situations recognise a little of themselves in it and can take comfort or find humour in this film. I hope we’ve remained true to them too.”

For all the latest news from the world of television, check out Ian Wylie's blog, The Life of Wylie.


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http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/e..._id=226652

I turned down film role to star in TV suicide drama
Oct 24 2006

By Sam Lister, Liverpool Daily Post

ACTRESS Brenda Blethyn last night told how she was so moved by the story of a Wirral suicide pact couple that she turned down a major film role to star in a television docu-drama about them.

Mysterious Creatures depicts the troubled lives of Bill and Wendy Ainscow who repeatedly attempted to kill themselves because they claimed they could no longer cope with their daughter's obsessive behaviour.

The husband and wife blamed Lisa's extravagant spending sprees, during which she bought thousands of pounds worth of shoes, and extreme moods for driving them to consider suicide – with Mr Ainscow eventually succeeding in his attempt .

Blethyn said: "I turned down an interesting film to do this. I just thought it was a challenging role for an actor to play. It was well researched and both Wendy and Lisa had been consulted – the story is how they tell it.

"And when we went to meet the director he was saying that he didn't feel it needed any dramatisation, any enhancement, or any manipulation to tug at the heart strings. There was no focus where it wasn't meant to be, and I felt confident in committing to it because of that."

In November 2004 the couple sent a suicide note saying they could no longer cope with their 33-year-old daughter after she was released from a section order.

They took a cocktail of drugs and walked into the sea in Tenerife. Wendy survived eventually being rescued by a fishing boat.

Earlier this month Wendy, 65, again attempted suicide for the fourth time on a visit to Tenerife – this time saved by a passer-by.

Blethyn said she felt a huge responsibility as an actor, if not trepidation, in portraying a real life person.

"I've never played a person who is living before and as an actor you just try and present the character as honestly as you can, whether it's fictional or non-fictional," she said.

"But there is that thing at the back of your head because the real person is still alive – you know they're going to see it." she says.

"I didn't meet her because I didn't want to end up doing an impersonation of her. No matter how good it is, it's never going to be good enough. I just wanted to play her as I found her from the research I did, as you do any other character.

"In watching Mysterious Creatures you can see the difficulties there and it's only an hour long. Imagine having those difficulties for several years.

"To discipline Lisa exacerbated the problem, and made her more distressed. Wendy is not a psychologist – her experience of saying no makes Lisa worse. They've conditioned each other into this situation."

The ITV1 drama is screened on Sunday, October 29 but representatives for Lisa Ainscow fear she will be unfairly portrayed.

Thea Henley, from the Rights and Advice Consultancy which is acting for Lisa, has raised concerns about her portrayal in the film.

Last night she said: "Brenda Blethyn has worked from a script that has been given to her and as far as I'm aware she has not met with Lisa or Wendy.

"I have no criticism of her, she is working to the information she has been given. What I would question is whether the information she has been given is sufficient.

"Lisa is not the character her mother has painted her to be. She has not been diagnosed with autism or Asperger's and anyone who meets her can see that for themselves straight away."

samlister@dailypost.co.uk

Violet-Yoshi

ITV1 (formerly just ITV) was the first commercial channel to be created in the UK.  Before that, the Uk had just the BBC channels, BBC1 and BBC2. ITV was free toa ir viewing whereas the BBC is directly funded by a compulsory Television license (even if you don't want to watch BBC you still have to buy the license).

BBC1 was the first channle to air in the Uk, then BBC2, then ITV, then Channel four came aroundin 1982 (which was the second commercial channel) then Sky and other digital satellite and cable providers got going about 1987-88.

And in case anyone is wondering, the British system has what is called a 'watershed' at 9 PM which means that after this time, more mature/adult content can be shown.

As for the drama that started this thread, note that the real names have been changed to prevent the survivors from being pestered.

Are we talking about the same drama here? The Mysterious Creatures I saw hadn't changed any names - it was all about Bill, Wendy and Lisa Ainscow. From which I can only infer that Wendy Ainscow is quite content to be pestered.

Yes,s it's the same one. I heard them say that names and locations had been changed. My error. I presumedthat it was referring the main people in the programme which is a usual thing for programme makers to do.  

The televison and news article links I found all refer to her as hving A/S too which is discomfiting.

Thanks for the explanation. :wink: