Carl the Collector is live!
First PBS show with autistic main character
I have the privilege of serving on the board of PBS and seeing new shows as they come along. I have been extremely excited about the new show Carl the Collector since I first heard about it at a PBS board meeting. As someone on the autism spectrum myself who has done a lot of talking to famous autism experts about the field, I was super impressed with the way PBS KIDS was thinking about the project. This week, the show launched on all platforms. The easiest way to watch the episodes is on the PBS KIDS app or on a browser here.
Carl is a raccoon who is on the spectrum. (He and I have a very similar pattern of traits.) The advisers on the show include Stephen Shore who has been writing about and advocating for folks on the spectrum for some time. The show really explores the relationship of Carl with his neurotypical friends, which is so crucial.
This is a great example of how they do it: Carl sees his friend Nico fall down on her bike, but he can’t think quickly about what to do. He's not getting a strong signal about what the right thing is, so even though he’s really sympathetic, he’s paralyzed. Nico gets mad. But here’s what happens next when he apologizes:
A lot of autistic adults could experience a lot of emotion watching this and thinking about similar episodes from our lives. I still get paralyzed when I don’t have enough verbal cues to decide what to do in interpersonal situations. And I’ve missed a lot of these over the years that have caused problems for me or others (or both). But the message of Carl is that with the support of his friends, he finds ways to move on and move forward. I’ve said before that the biggest thing for me was the friend group I had in the first nine grades at St. Pat’s School in Fayetteville. Here’s a bunch of us this summer decades later:
In a big public school, I could have had a hard time and a very different outcome. Every autistic kid deserves that kind of support, which is what drives me and a lot of other self-advocates. Hopefully, Carl the Collector will make it easier for more autistic kids and their friends (and their parents!) to learn together.
The New York Times is out with a great story on Carl and everything that has gone into making the show.
It’s time to watch Carl at any age!