This undated handout image obtained on September 1, 2022 from Netflix in Seoul shows South Korean actress Park Eun-bin playing a role of the high-functioning autistic lawyer Woo Young-woo in K-drama “Extraordinary Attorney Woo”. – A chart-topping Netflix K-drama about a high-functioning autistic lawyer is prompting soul-searching in South Korea, where people on the spectrum say they feel “erased”.
But the 16-episode series, which follows a rookie lawyer whose condition helps her find brilliant solutions to legal conundrums but often leaves her socially isolated, has gone beyond memes to trigger a serious debate in South Korea about autism. “It was the first time that I had absolutely no idea what to do, when it came to how to express things, while I was reading the script,” she added.But in South Korea, some families of autistic people have described the show as pure “fantasy”, saying her character is unrealistic.
About a third of people on the spectrum have average or above-average intelligence, she said, and may not have any noticeable autistic characteristics — or even realise they have the condition.“People don’t recognize the mild forms of autism at all,” she said. “I feel that I’m being erased.” The general public views autism as “a condition that involves severe intellectual disability”, she said, adding this contributed to broader failures to diagnose and offer support early on.