An Actually Autistic review of Ezra 

Just btw, from an autistic horse girl, the way to greet a new horse(or any horse) is to blow into their nostrils. That’s how they say hello to each other. They get enormous info from this. No eye contact needed

Ok, comment 2. I feel horrible about the early intervention classes I put my autistic son into from the ages of 2-3. (He was diagnosed b4 the age of 2, -now 23-I didn’t find out I was until 2 years ago.) We didn’t know any better back then! He got “better” in terms of his abilities w eye contact, playing w other children and affection. But I can’t help wondering now if that would have happened anyway? I’m very, very grateful that our community has come together to figure out our own healing and lives-Autism Speaks NOT needed. My son is doing great, btw. Healthy, happy. He has a gf, a job and he’s an amateur filmmaker thinking of going to film school. So incredibly proud

The horse thing is infuriating. Can we have a film that does the opposite? An allistic character is arbitrarily put in situations with various excuses to make the character 'prove' that they are actually capable of adapting to autistic behaviours if they try. like a cat for them to NOT make eye contact with. words to take literally. information to share directly. and a bunch of scenarios for them to practice minding their own business and accept that not everyone or everything has to be just like them.

As a parent to an autistic child who suspects I may have some undiagnosed neurodivergences of my own, I'm so sick of the "it's so hard to parent an autistic kid" narrative. I've been focusing my research on listening to autistic people talk about their experiences so that I can help my child instead of them being brushed off as lazy and disrespectful like I was. This has resulted in me feeling incredibly lonely, however, because the spaces made for parents of neurotypical kids don't have information relevant to our situation, and spaces for parents of autistic kids are largely "woe is me" echo chambers. I hate it, but I would rather be isolated and lonely than associate with groups of people who would look at my bubbly, curious, wonderful child as inherently less than just because he flaps his arms and eats with his hands.

After 4 decades of the 'right' motivation I still haven't overcome being autistic... maybe I'm doing the motivation part wrong.

Me, an autistic with a whole family of undiagnosed autistics with friends that are also autistic, can be ableist af because that’s the default. It’s the factory setting and I HATE it bc it’s just one more layer of programming (programming that ACTIVELY harms me and those I love) that I have to weed out and unlearn one line of code at a time. It’s waking from the borg but still hearing it every time you go to make a decision or a choice or just how you look at a person. It has been the hardest and most painful reprogramming but it’ll likely be the most rewarding from a humanity standpoint ♥️

Exactly the thoughts I had. Thanks for the video

Thank you for noting that this is your own personal opinion, but I actually agree 100%.

While I definitely agree and see many of your points, I don't agree that Ezra's perspective is never shared. While this movie does share Dad's perspective for the majority of the movie, it could be argued that this reveals the common and problematic pitfalls parents fall into while parenting kids with Autism. I fail to see how, by sharing his narrative for most of the film that this makes his position or approach "right." Ezra, though not afforded much agency, does call his dad out for using him tokenizing-ly as his "good luck charm." There's absolutely a need for not only kids with Autism but for Autistic people across the lifespan to be depicted in film with more agency. While not glorifying Dad, it seems to honestly tell a story of a dad who has his own hang-ups with his dad, while struggling to support his kid in a more person-centered approach than his ex-wife. I think this shows the nuance of the conversation: people who parent can (even unintentionally) cause harm, but still can work to do better. It does obviously reinforce tropes of saviorism and that the character in the title of the movie isn't featured as much as should be, but I also think this brings to light the reality that each character around Ezra is capable of helping or harming, and often both. I very much see your plea for better stories to be told, but I also think stories that tell the truth about the co-dependent interpersonal relationships as well as the lack of real support from the systems in place do help educate the general public to challenges they otherwise may not be familiar.

I'd love to tell DeNiro that I'm autistic as wasn't vaxed until fifteen.

My two cents @13:00, as an adult, I noted that ALL of my filters (incoming and outgoing) came down after the novel two-part one, making me behave drunk; and then after a subsequent 10year top-up (not using the b-word or the v-word), got electrical zingers radiating out from that point for a day. Really distracting and disconcerting, nothing else like it! I totally get how folks make that correlation- especially after the filter-down event!

My daughter did the drastic switch up at two. My interpretation is that she was finally able to express herself. She was concerningly unbothered and unsettlingly silent most of the time. Although her eyes showed unlimited micro expressions.

Nooo😱 not Robert de Niro 😭😭😭 Another lost "hero". Damn. But Your review again was excellent, I think You should better be hired.

So like, The Twilight Zone with doctors saying "Something is wrong with you!" ? I'm a 47 year old autistic and I think I wont watch this video past 2:46, unless someone tells me this video wont upset me. So far, I dont think I want to watch Ezra. ----- I've seen Rainman, reminds me of my level 3 friend (I am level 1). I refuse to watch Sai's "Music". I LOATHE Tropical Thunder (never seen TT, but I been teased based on that "Comedy") Jeremy's videos are better representation than any movie I have seen that purposefully represents Autism. "Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs" felt like a good represenation, but "Autism" was not the focus in that Pixar movie. His Dad was horrible to him like my dad was to me, obsessed with his own interests like WORK. But for me, I didnt get a happy ending with my dad. I always try to not to go past three lines in a single comment on RU-vid, but my feelings on this matter cant seem to fit into three lines of text.

Thanks for the heads-up on this one. I won't be watching. I haven't seen the rain person film either.

Thank you for mentioning the harm De Niro did and the staggeringly bad choice to cast him, although you left out the fact that he invited Andrew Wakefield (the father of the autism/vaccine zombie lie itself) to screen a “documentary” at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2017 and then went on The Today Show to repeat the zombie lie and whine about how he felt coerced into withdrawing Wakefield’s invitation by the threat of a filmmaker boycott. While I appreciate your openness to dialoguing with De Niro, I don’t think that would be productive and certainly don’t think he would be open to such dialogue. Turning a martyr parent like him into an ally is virtually impossible. You can’t change the minds of martyr parents with a warm hand and a smile. And, on a related note, for everyone creaming their pants over the big Taxi Driver anniversary this year, get a life and better taste in actors.

Well, if you'd like a better story you might like to take a look at "Dear Miss Landau" (Chaplin Books, 2012), an actual story of a real life road trip across the U. S., undertaken and written by a real Asperger. No one else has...

Sounds like an aba promotional tool. Hollywood is utterly unwatchable

Never heard of this movie, but based on this discussion, wow this movie hates us. Why can't we have a movie with the autistic kid learning to get and use accomodations and manage sensory overload? Or a parent learning they are autistic and becoming better at living comfortably by understanding their kid and fighting for them? Or literally any movie that doesn't glorify forcibly changing kids to make them fit in??

I havent seen Ezra. I pause at 0:37 of this video (I have seen many of your past videos. I am a level 1 autistic and I had a level 3 autistic friend. "yikes" huh? I may not be able to hold myself back as I watch your video. unpauses. 1:21 So far, I agree. "The system" really is terrible for me, a 47 year old autistic female (officially Dx'd). 1:48 I WANT AN ASH KETCHAM JACKET LIKE YOURS. Damn, I got distracted. 2:07 I was put into special ed most of my childhoold life. It was not specialized, it was ..... a living nghtmare of being bullied by super bullies, and not specialized for my way of learning. I'm only 2 minutes in on a 14 minute video. Welp, looks like I might be reviewing your review as part of shoring the world.... HOW I FEEL IN SOCIETY. 2:46 Oh crap. Welp, to spare myself from screaming at my computer, I think I may need to not finish. I had parents who never accepted me as I was, never stopped corecting me, and I am about to scream. My parents..... I cant.... they just.... never stopped trying to normalize me, I have PTSD so bad, that I have suffered two ..... shurtdowns this year which left me unconscious for several days. "The system" has threatened to put me into a group home. I am legit scared that the right kind of theme is what I need to save my autonomy. The cops, dont understand what I need. I do NOT need to be put in a group home. I NEED THE SYSTEM TO STOP PUSHING ME PAST OVERWHELM. I dont need a group home. I need to be treated WITHOUT traumatizing me. I'm about to cry. I like your shirts. Thank you for watching the movie I am afraid I cannot be "calm enough" to see "Ezra" myself. The System needs to stop threatening me with cops for not being "calm" enough for their damned NT needs. I hide. I hide, and have almost no outside life. Because I am too much for "The system" and "the system" is too much for me. Text helps me hide, text helps me share. Texting here gives me hope I can get a better life, someday, if someone reads. With text, You cant hear me sob. You cant hear me scream. But you can see my words. ----- I had to go to the DMV last week. I lost consciousness at the DMV. I PASSED OUT!!!!! Woke up in a hospital, having been injected with several funky meds making me dizzy and extra "crazy" (more/less crazy than my baseline). And I was threatened with a group home if I pass out again. Want to know more? Search words: "5150 California Hold" Notice.... I CANNOT REFUSE IT WITHOUT A LAWYER I CANT AFFORD HOLY **** (my heart palps) I passed out last week, because "The system" is too much. I'm trembling in fear. Will proper representation of what I need, ever be put into movies before I die? Only time will tell. (I will submit comment once I can get my fingers to stop shaking, after edits are made to correct my typos) ----- TO JEREMY: Jeremy, thank you for what you do. You are one of the best representations I have seen. Maybe you need to write a movie. but I am not the boss of you. ----- And society (the system) needs to stop being bossy to me. I've seen a group home. Seems like a place that would be worse than hell. (what is hell? LIFE under "THIS SYSTEM" is Hell on earth imo.) I dont know how to avoid passing out again... Because I could not get some of my needs met without a valid ID. I could not get a valid ID without going to the DMV. Summary: I passed out at the DMV. The environment was too much for "MY SYSTEM" (my body). I passed out. Sad. Terrified. Anyone think I should or should not watch the rest of this video? I'm open to kind replies. Thank you for reading whomever got this far. TL:DR; My comment is NOT a reading requirement. P.S. I am aware I am typing a public comment. Creative commons, feel free to use my words for free.

So that's what happens when the movie making is controlled by 'neurotypical' film makers.