Patience, representation done right

Lately, I’ve been watching a new television drama on Channel 4 called Patience. It follows the story of a woman named Patience, a police archivist working in the criminal records department. A major theme in the show is how Patience navigates her life, career, and relationships as an autistic person. Patience is played by Ella Maisy Purvis, an actor who is autistic herself.  

As a person with a disability, I’m finding this show very interesting, especially as it shows how other people act towards Patience. The story involves Patience getting wrapped up in the police cases at work, often landing herself in trouble. Although she works very hard, just like anyone else she occasionally makes mistakes. However, it seems like the other characters perceive these mistakes differently because she is autistic. I’ve only seen the first episode so far, but I’ll be staying tuned, as I found the show to be well-acted and engaging, and I’m interested to see how the relationships between the characters develop.

It’s important to have characters with disabilities of all kinds represented on television. Not just stereotypes, but a variety of characters good and bad, in all kinds of situations. When the actor who is playing a character with a disability shares that disability in real life it’s even better, as they can transfer their experiences onto the screen. Proper representation like how it is being done in Patience is great, as seeing disability in the media should be normalised. Gone are the days of society hiding disabilities and pretending they don’t exist! Disability is part of life, and seeing that reflected on the screen is refreshing.