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Community voice, Think Autism Sydney 2025
A British soap fan told Think Autism Sydney Australia was far behind
In short
At Think Autism Sydney in 2025, a viewer who follows EastEnders and Emmerdale urged two autistic performers to look to the UK. A panellist replied that Home and Away had never had an autistic character.
Read it instead, 4 minutesThe transcript
The story
The sharpest comparison at Think Autism Sydney’s media panel in May 2025 came from a member of the audience who had lived in Australia for 38 years after moving from the UK. This viewer still watched EastEnders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale every night, to the point of driving their son up the wall, because, they said, the soaps connected them. And in the viewer’s account those British soaps were doing something Australian television was not. “There’s a big shift happening in the UK relative to autism and neurodiversity,” the audience member told the panel.
The evidence came from what they had been watching. EastEnders, they said, had a 16 year old character from a poor East End family who had not been defined on screen as autistic, but who in their description was classically autistic. Emmerdale, they said, had introduced an autistic character within the previous month. In the viewer’s account, the soaps were making room for autistic characters.
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Sources the story draws on
- Amazon axes Neighbours two years after throwing soap lifeline (opens in a new tab), STV News (PA Media)
- Diamond: The Seventh Cut (opens in a new tab), Creative Diversity Network
- Seeing Ourselves on-screen: Report reveals progress for diversity in Australian TV drama (opens in a new tab), Screen Australia
More from Think Autism Sydney 2025
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