Why I Disagree with Therapist Mickey Atkins on Love on the Spectrum.

I used to watch Mickey's channel every now and then, but stopped at some point because I felt like their takes were often very black-and-white with little room for nuance.

Magique Mushroom

I enjoyed your commentary, Meg, but I found this therapist to be kind of annoying. They seemed to determined to interpret both the dating coach and some of the cast members’ families in a negative light. Dani’s Aunt & Uncle’s comments in the clips seemed perfectly reasonable and sensitive to me. In the first clip with the dating coach, they thought it was teaching masking, but I disagreed. (All Jennifer did was point out that it might be difficult to talk if you walk in front of your date.) After the second clip with the coach, the therapist gave an example of some advice that she would recommend. I wondered, “well why is the first example teaching masking but your own example isn’t?” I haven’t watched the show either, but I do think someone filming a reaction video should watch it first. I think it’s wrong to claim that the parents just want to marry their children off to get them out of the house, based on a handful of clips.

Gina Delfina

I feel like you really shouldn't review a show unless you've watched it; like you said, there's no real context if you're just watching clips.

Liz W

I have never watched the show, but I have seen all of Meg's videos on it, and I didn't really enjoy this creator's commentary. It seems quite clear that they haven't seen enough to give well thought out opinions. It kind of felt like trying to do a movie review based on it's trailer. Even watching one episode and commenting on that, would make more sense than watching some compilation made by whoever. I don't really like "what's your favourite X" type of questions, because I could give a simple answer that doesn't really tell anything or a monologue about different favourites applicable for different situations, which probably isn't what people are looking for with the question.

EG

Glad you enjoyed the video! 💛 I was under the impression that they use she/they, so went with a mix of both - huge apologies if that's incorrect!

I'm Autistic, Now What

Robin

It seems like she keeps making the assumption that the individuals on the show are dating neurotypical people. Which maybe they do, I haven’t watched the show. But from what I have seen, the matches seem to be with other autistic or neurodiverse individuals so a lot of her comments just seem irrelevant.

Indy

What I liked about Love on the Spectrum is that I can learn about autism by watching the cast members. They seem quite different from me, and in real life, I only know neurotypical people. There aren't any other easy-to-access ways to see autistic adults behaving as they would in day-to-day life. So I didn't feel like the show's creators wanted me to laugh at the cast members when they show the more awkward moments. I felt like those moments showed how the cast members behave differently than a neurotypical person and what sort of social challenges they face. I didn't find it funny. Though I didn't connect the childish music to infantilizing the cast members until I heard it on this channel, and that does seem obvious now. So maybe I'm not the best at figuring these things out.

Jaxian

As a retired neurodivergent therapist, my opinion is that she is incredibly irresponsible. She makes wild claims based on a superficial glance at the show and the people on it. Her comments say more about herself than about the show or even about neurodivergent people.

Doe Daughtrey

Ok, the lack of nuance of the original content is infuriating, but I think British creators tend to be more thoughtful and nuanced in reactions than American creators. I appreciate that your own opinion is not blanket negative, but more that the negative outweighed the positive, and you discussed both. I think it comes down to simply having more autistic voices on the production team. More "confessionals" to get the subject's perspective. Treat the autistic dating show the same as you would a standard dating show (not that standard dating shows aren't toxic and exploitative lol).

Autistic Goblin

This video bugged me, because she keeps saying that a coach should say "just so you knoooooow..." But how is it not patronizing to assume that the autistic person doesn't know. I think the coach is way more in tune with what autistic people need to find success in dating. I would echo what everyone else said, that she should watch the whole show instead of just a compilation.

Autistic Goblin