¹Divya Hariharan, ²Dr. Sri Krishna Banerjee, ³Dr. Abdul Mohammed Ali Jinnah

¹Research Scholar, Lincoln University College, Malaysia .

²Professor, Department of Arts and Humanities, Lincoln University College Malaysia

³Department of English, Jamal Mohamed College, Trichy, India

DOI : https://doi.org/10.58806/ijsshmr.2025.v4i10n04

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ABSTRACT

In today's media scenario, we are in dire need of more authentic depiction of children suffering from autism. This paper closely looks at two recent efforts: NM. Martin's novel Rain Rain and Netflix series Atipical. While both work wants to tell meaningful stories about young people suffering from autism, their attitude and success rates vary greatly. Rain Rain introduced us to a young girl Rose Howard, whose love and routine needs to be real instead of being forced to be forced. Martin does not shy away from showing both the challenges and its unique strength, painting a fine picture of life with autism. Atypical takes a different view with Sam Gardner, a teenager who navigates the complex world of high school and family life. While the show tries to balance humor and sensitivity, it sometimes comes into familiar stereotypes that oversees autism. These illustrations matter because they shape how society understands and accepts people suffering from autism. By checking how these stories develop their characters and handle major themes, we can see that real impact can be on the creation of thoughtful representation sympathy and breaking the obstacles. To improve, we need more autistic voices in authors' rooms and creative teams, stories that reflect full spectrum of autism experiences, and better training to help the creators avoid harmful stereotypes. Some argue that no representation is better than anyone. But this paper makes this case that it is getting correct - really correct - that is what will actually push us as a society. When books, TV shows, and movies are for authentic depiction, they can change how we think and include people suffering from autism in our communities.

KEYWORDS:

Autism representation, Rain Reign, Atypical, media portrayals, authentic storytelling, disability narratives, character development, inclusive media, autism spectrum, stereotypes.

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VOlUME 04 ISSUE 10 OCTOBER 2025