"Finding Amanda": Review

Well, the "Finding Amanda" segment on CNN last night was pretty fascinating.

If I understand it correctly, the producers originally wanted to do something along the lines of a one-hour show JUST about Amanada, but she was more comfortable being part of an ensemble of a group of others with autism-spectrum disorders.

That approach somewhat backfired I think because you really didn't get a chance to get a full picture of Amanda's lifestyle and motivation on some issues.

One area that really seemed to get battered due to editing was the scene where she was giving a presentation in Canada and got so frustrated with the audience for saying to her over and over again, "You're an exception," that she had to leave and go to the ladies' room and scream her head off for ten minutes. You never really got to see the exact circumstances that led to that particular overload/meltdown.

Speaking of sensory overload - they mentioned something about the conference that they didn't use microphones because the feedback from the speakers can drive autistics batty and, even more interesting, it was explained that at such conferences it's not considered rude if people get up and walk around because autistics sometimes have trouble staying seated for long periods.

Yep - I'd have to say The Old Man has this issue.

Mrs. Axinar says that *I* have this issue, and, yes, at times, I'd say she's correct.

Overall it was a quite fascinating segment.

I hope Amanda does sometime summon the strength to do the whole hour. There are many who don't have the wherewithal to do the deep internet research who might benefit from having a video record of the "full story".

Related
Transcript of Anderson Cooper 360 episode featuring "Finding Amanda"