TV Shows & Movies

🧩 Neurodivergent Representation

Abbott Elementary (Hulu) - The janitor Mr. Johnson is heavily AuDHD-coded - his tangents, hyperfixations, and deadpan delivery are a fan favorite. The show also handles a well-done autistic student storyline in later seasons.

As We See It (Amazon Prime) - A dramedy about three autistic roommates navigating work, dating, and independent living. Cast includes autistic actors. Handles the daily reality of autism without sentimentality.

Atypical (Netflix) - A coming-of-age story about Sam, an autistic teenager navigating dating, independence, and family dynamics. Not perfect, but earnest and gets better each season. One of the first mainstream shows to center an autistic protagonist.

Community (Netflix / Peacock) - Abed Nadir is one of TV's most beloved autistic-coded characters. His special interest in film, literal communication style, difficulty reading social situations, and honesty about how his brain works are written with care and humor. Dan Harmon wrote Abed based on his own autistic traits.

Degrassi (various platforms) - The long-running teen drama tackled autism through Connor DeLaurier, an autistic student shown as a fully rounded character with a special interest in robotics, not a stereotype. The show handled his sensory issues and social struggles with genuine care over multiple seasons.

Everything's Gonna Be Okay (Freeform / Hulu) - Created by and starring Josh Thomas. Follows a neurodivergent family dealing with grief, love, and growing up. Features an autistic teenager played by an autistic actress (Kayla Cromer). Honest, funny, tender.

Extraordinary Attorney Woo (Netflix) - A warm, brilliant legal drama about Woo Young-woo, an autistic attorney with an eidetic memory. One of the most beloved autistic portrayals on television - the show celebrates her strengths while honestly showing her struggles with sensory sensitivity, social cues, and routine. Wholesome without being saccharine.

Geek Girl (Netflix) - Based on Holly Smale's book series (she wrote it before her own late autism diagnosis). The main character Harriet is autistic-coded, and the show leans into that with care. Starring an autistic actress.

Heartbreak High (Netflix) - Quinni's autism storyline in season 2 is one of the best portrayals of an autistic teenage girl on television. Written and performed with genuine understanding. The stimming, the special interests, the sensory struggles - it all rings true.

Love on the Spectrum (Netflix) - A documentary series following autistic people navigating dating and relationships. Gentle, affirming, never exploitative. Features a diverse range of autistic experiences.

The Good Doctor (ABC / Hulu) - Shaun Murphy is a surgical resident with autism and savant syndrome, including a photographic memory and exceptional medical intuition. The show is one of the most visible autistic portrayals on TV, but it has been widely criticized by autistic advocates for reinforcing the "autistic savant" stereotype -- the idea that autistic people compensate for social struggles with a genius-level gift. Most autistic people do not have savant abilities, and the trope creates unrealistic expectations about what autism looks like. Shaun was also played by a non-autistic actor. Worth watching critically.

Young Sheldon (Netflix / Max) - A prequel to The Big Bang Theory following a young Sheldon Cooper as a gifted, rigid, socially naïve child navigating Texas public school and a working-class family. While Sheldon is never explicitly called autistic, the character is heavily autistic-coded -- his need for routine, literal interpretation of language, sensory sensitivities, special interest in science, and difficulty reading social cues are all consistent with an autism profile. The show handles this more gently than The Big Bang Theory did, showing Sheldon's family both struggling with and accommodating him.

💚 Mental Health Representation

After Life (Netflix) - Ricky Gervais plays a man grappling with grief and depression after his wife's death. Raw, darkly funny, and surprisingly tender. Shows what depression actually looks like day to day - the apathy, the anger, the tiny moments that pull you back.

BoJack Horseman (Netflix) - An animated show about a depressed horse-man that somehow has the most honest depiction of depression, addiction, and generational trauma ever put on screen. The episode "Free Churro" is a masterclass in grief. Not light viewing, but profoundly real.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (Netflix) - A musical comedy-drama that starts as a satire of rom-com tropes and evolves into a serious, researched exploration of BPD, anxiety, and mental health treatment. The songs are genuinely great. The therapy scenes are better.

Degrassi (various platforms) - Practically a case study in teen mental health. Over its many seasons it covered depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, cutting, eating disorders, postpartum depression, and suicide with more honesty than most teen dramas. It was often the first time young viewers saw those experiences named on screen.

Euphoria (Max) - A stylized but unflinching look at addiction, BPD, trauma, and mental illness in teenagers. Rue's addiction storyline and Cassie's BPD-coded arc are raw and difficult to watch - which is exactly the point. Not for everyone, but deeply honest.

Girl, Interrupted (1999) - Based on Susanna Kaysen's memoir of her time in a psychiatric hospital in the 1960s. Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie give raw performances. Covers BPD, depression, and the blurred line between "crazy" and society's refusal to accept difference.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) - A deeply honest portrayal of trauma, depression, and finding your people. Charlie's experience of PTSD, anxiety, and the weight of repressed memories is handled with extraordinary care. The "we accept the love we think we deserve" line hits hard for a reason.

Mr. Robot (Amazon Prime) - Elliot Alderson is a cybersecurity engineer and vigilante hacker grappling with social anxiety, clinical depression, and dissociative identity disorder. The show is widely praised for its unflinching, grounded portrayal of mental illness - the isolation, the distorted perception of reality, the therapy sessions that actually go somewhere. Rami Malek's performance captures what it feels like to be trapped inside your own head. Heavy, but brilliant.

The Pitt (Max) - A gritty, real-time medical drama that doesn't shy away from the mental health toll of emergency medicine. Several characters grapple with anxiety, PTSD, and burnout, and the show handles addiction recovery with nuance - including Dr. Robby's history of substance use and the daily reality of staying clean in a high-stress environment.

Shameless (US, various platforms) - Ian Gallagher's bipolar storyline is one of the most thorough and honest portrayals of the condition on television. Spanning multiple seasons, it covers mania, psychosis, medication struggles, acceptance, and relapse without glamour or stigma.

Silver Linings Playbook (2012) - One of the better mainstream portrayals of bipolar disorder. Pat's mania, his medication struggles, and the strain on his family are shown without glamour or mockery. Tiffany's grief and emotional dysregulation are just as real.

Ted Lasso (Apple TV) - Ted's panic attacks are some of the most realistic depictions of anxiety on television. The show normalizes therapy, vulnerability, and men talking about their feelings without making it a Very Special Episode.