‘As We See It’ Is Not a Typical Portrayal of Autism

Pien agreed. “Usually I have to act on top of acting,” she said. “I have to pretend I’m a normal person; I have to watch my mannerisms; I have to hold my face a certain way. Being on a set where I didn’t have to hide my autism was heavenly.”

With three actors on the spectrum playing characters on the spectrum, there were bound to be moments where the lines between real life and the show’s fictional world blurred. There were scenes where Pien’s character, Violet, was having a meltdown, and Rutecki would want to break character to come over and soothe her, Pien said. Another time, between takes, Rutecki clasped his hands over his ears to shut out the loud sounds on the set; Pien came over and put her own hands over her ears, in solidarity.

“I had so many wonderful experiences on set,” Rutecki said.

For some scenes, Glassman used his own triggers — like his aversion to loud chewing sounds — to get into character.

“My dad chews loud, and it drives me insane,” he said. “So I asked the director if we could have the person next to me chew loud, because I was supposed to be very frantic in the scene, and I knew that listening to this man chew would drive me nuts.”

Katims did wonder at first what sorts of challenges having many cast and crew members on the spectrum might present. Would the production, say, have to work different hours or create numerous new protocols on set? “We didn’t,” he said. “And these three leads came so prepared. There’s a lot of actors I’ve worked with on other shows, and I wonder if they could be as prepared.”

Katims has already starting thinking about new stories for a hoped-for second season, while the cast is hopeful that their performances will ease the way for more neurodiverse actors to make their way into films and series.

“I don’t want to stand on this hill and say only people with autism should play people with autism,” Glassman said. “But I do think that the pendulum needs to swing a bit, and TV shows like this shed light on the idea that, oh, look, they can do this.”