Moving, Thinking, and Representing the Autistic Mind/Body
Disability Representation in Extraordinary Attorney Woo
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Abstract
When released, the Korean drama Extraordinary Attorney Woo (ENA, 2022), chronicling the adventures of Woo Young-woo, an autistic lawyer played by neurotypical actor Park Eun-bin, quickly became a global hit. Its positive representations of disability, spotlighting the discrimination faced by autistic individuals, was widely heralded as departing from previously negative stereotypes. Amid a global move toward inclusion driven by the disability rights movement, we undertake a biocultural approach to analyze representations of the embodied (autistic) mind/body in Extraordinary Attorney Woo. We consider how neuroscientific research has evolved and the implications of this evolution for representations of autism. We argue that deep-rooted stereotypes about autism continue to influence progressive media representations of disability and that a deeper acknowledgment of those stereotypes is needed to achieve equitable and sensitive representation.
Contributor Notes
Kuansong Victor Zhuang is Visiting Fellow, University of Sydney, and International Postdoctoral Scholar at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University. He was a Chevening Scholar in 2013–2014, and a 2022–2023 Princeton University Fung Global Fellow. His research lies at the intersections of communications, media, cultural studies, and disability studies, especially as it pertains to inclusion and the workings of technology. He hopes to use his research to contribute to current debates about how inclusion happens both in Singapore and around the world. Email: victor.zhuang@ntu.edu.sg
Sze-Hwee Jace Tay is an autistic Graduate Student in Communication Studies at Nanyang Technological University. Their main area of interest is disability history and the disability movement, with a particular focus on neurodiversity and neurodivergence. They are currently working to advocate disability and neurodivergent rights in Singapore, as well as highlighting disabled perspectives within Singaporean history. Email: w230043@e.ntu.edu.sg
Gerard Goggin is Professor in the Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University. He has published widely on media, culture, technology, and disability. His books include Routledge Companion to Disability and Media (2020), Normality and Disability (2018), Disability and the Media (2005; with Katie Ellis), and, with Christopher Newell, Disability in Australia (2005) and Digital Disability (2003). Email: g.goggin@westernsydney.edu.au