Steph Herold

Short report: Autistic adults’ recommendations on how to improve autistic portrayals in TV-series and movies TV-series and movies are important sources of knowledge about autism for the general public. Aims: This study’s purpose was to elicit autistic adults’…

Autistic adults recommend that movie and TV productions should leverage autistic peoples’ expertise in the development and enactment of autistic portrayals, and that these portrayals must represent the broad diversity of the autistic community www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Pros and Cons of Character Portrayals of Autism on TV and Film - Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders Portrayals of characters with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and/or with autistic traits on film and in TV-series are increasing. Such portrayals may contribute in increasing awareness of the conditio...

These representations matter; portrayals of autstic people can be useful in educational settings to promote knowledge of autism, but can also increase stereotypes link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Hey look, I’m (not) on TV: autistic people reflect on autism portrayals in entertainment media Portrayals of autistic characters in entertainment are becoming increasingly common across a range of media platforms, including movies, television series and novels. No longer is the autistic char...

"What is missing... is the voices of autistic people: what do we think when we (don’t) see ourselves portrayed in entertainment media?" www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Representation of autism in fictional media: A systematic review of media content and its impact on viewer knowledge and understanding of autism - Sandra C Jones, Chloe S Gordon, Simone Mizzi, 2023 Media depictions of autism have the potential to have either positive or detrimental impacts on the lives of autistic people. This systematic review aimed to ex...

Can't help tracking the conversation on #HeatedRivalry and how tv represents autistic people - here's what the research says, fwiw.

TV portrayals are often negative / inaccurate / stereotypical, with autistic characters having little agency

journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

One thing that irks me: people keep calling the folks on the streets in Minneapolis protestors. They are not generally there to protest, they are there to observe and document. This is the product of organizing and mutual aid. It is telling that these acts of citizenship are seen as protest!

The 5-year-old arrested by ICE In Minnesota is detained at Dilley. We reported on conditions there in the below article.

Parents said the food was contaminated with mold and worms & that children were so under so much stress that they were hitting their own faces & wetting themselves.

Putting Pregnancy, Abortion, and Care into Context on Screen TV and film viewers are eager to see more realistic, authentic depictions of reproductive health decisions on screen.

We also include data showing that TV and film viewers in the U.S. across all genres of viewers support legal access to abortion care. There is no excuse not to have more abortion storylines onscreen -- audiences want to see them!

www.newamerica.org/better-life-...

Putting Pregnancy, Abortion, and Care into Context on Screen TV and film viewers are eager to see more realistic, authentic depictions of reproductive health decisions on screen.

A new report from ANSIRH & @newamerica.org analyzes the last 10 years of TV & film. Although viewers are eager for more realistic abortion depictions, data shows they are often oversimplified, treated as one-offs, or unrepresentative of people’s lived experiences. www.newamerica.org/better-life-...

Putting Pregnancy, Abortion, and Care into Context on Screen TV and film viewers are eager to see more realistic, authentic depictions of reproductive health decisions on screen.

New research from me & @newamerica.org! Audiences crave more realistic, holistic depictions of abortion on screen that TV and film have not been delivering.

www.newamerica.org/better-life-...

Women With High-Risk Pregnancies Have Limited Options Under Abortion Bans Our reporting has found that abortion bans generally don’t include exceptions that cover health concerns pregnant women with chronic conditions can face — or if they do, doctors aren’t using them.

"Neither of these mothers could get the care she needed. When the emergency arrived, it was too late. " Heartbreaking and infuriating.

www.propublica.org/article/high...

😻😻😻😻😻😻😻

Oh I like this! #parshachat

How can my immigration status affect abortion access? A guide from @ineedana.bsky.social for noncitizens and our communities: www.ineedana.com/blog/how-can...

For those of you waking up to news that someone burned the synagogue in Jackson, Mississippi, here's a link to donate to fire recovery efforts.

Wow what!!

ANSIRH's Year in Review: Scientific Resilience Email from UCSF, ANSIRH The Work Continues in 2026 View as Webpage Dear Friends, We began this year in the middle of a shifting political landscape. In a bid to restrict government-funded research, th

Proud of all this kickass work from my @ansirh.bsky.social colleagues! myemail.constantcontact.com/ANSIRH-s-Yea...

Highly recommend consistently volunteering to read Torah at your shul so you can’t just doomscroll for eternity, you have studying to do!

Would love to do that. Will DM you my email.

Fewer characters on TV had abortions this year — and more stories reinforced shame Researchers at the University of California San Francisco track how abortion comes up on television. They say the trends from 2025 are concerning.

Researchers at the University of California San Francisco track how abortion comes up on television. They say the trends from 2025 are concerning. n.pr/4oQlr52

Yep! Totally wild. (Hi from the researcher behind this data!)

Jewish groups are circulating the hebrew names of the injured for the traditional prayers for healing. Just got sent these:

* Reuven Ben Manya
* Chaya Mushka bas Shterna Sara
* Feivel Eliezer ben Dobra Bella
* Arsan ben Amelia
* Yaakov Dov ben Pnina
* Yaakov ben Ethel
* Moshe Yonatan ben Tziporah

Baruch Dayan HaEmet. We’re horrified to wake up to the news of an antisemitic shooting in Sydney that killed 11 people. Our hearts go out to the Sydney Jewish community.

What prayer do we say for this? How many times, how many times, how many times. 🕎✡️

Are you ok? Is your family ok? Was anyone there? Is our local Chanukah event public? Do we have security? Should we still go? What do we tell the kids? Do we tell the kids anything? How do we keep them safe? Should we do a private Chanukah instead? Should we light the menorah in the window, still?

Waking up to news of another antisemitic mass shooting, this time at a Hanukkah event in Australia.

I’m heartbroken and angry and I don’t know how many other ways to say it: antisemitism is a crisis that is threatening Jews, every single one of us, and the core of our society.

Fewer characters on TV had abortions this year — and more stories reinforced shame Researchers at the University of California San Francisco track how abortion comes up on television. They say the trends from 2025 are concerning.

Thanks for writing about our research, @npr.org!

www.npr.org/2025/12/13/n...

Characters are considering having abortions, but fewer than ever are actually having abortions, and when they do, it’s often a lonely experience. What’s going on? Read our new analysis of abortion depictions on TV in 2025: www.ansirh.org/research/res...

Instead of responding to our current abortion access crisis with bold, visionary abortion plotlines, what we’re seeing on TV, at least this year, is a return to troubling tropes of the past that link abortion with shame, stigma, and even death.

The Pitt, Ginny & Georgia, All’s Fair – how did this year’s biggest TV shows tackle abortion? We tracked this year’s hits and misses in our Abortion Onscreen report. www.ansirh.org/research/res...

Abortion Onscreen in 2025 This year, we tracked 65 abortion plotlines across cable, broadcast, and streaming channels. While we documented some familiar trends, we also observed a return to concerning tropes.

You can read the whole thing, and see if your favorite shows made the cut, here: www.ansirh.org/research/res...