What topic would you like to see featured on CSI?

Dang! I hadn't been watching then. Okay, so lets move that one over to New York or Miami. I know Horatio dealt with a rather challenged man in Witness to Murder. The actor was fantastic and Eugene was such a sympathetic character.

 

I really need to see that episode. If you check my profile, autism is what I do....well not all, but a major part. My speciality right now is with children with communication difficulties. It's not like being a speech pathologist, but an interpretor of sorts. Autistic people often have a difficulty communicating verbally with peers and others, despite their ability to read or write. My late Principal (may all the Gods rest her soul) often referred to me as "Her Miracle Worker" or "The Autism Whisperer". It's no magical thing. I accept them for who they are and give them my respect as another human being. We work from there.

Back on topic: I need to see that episode. the CSI franchise, for the most part, does really well with learning and developmental disabilities in their guest characters. I was impressed by Eugene in Witness to Murder. He was so believable, even knowing the actor was not mentally challenged. There are people in the world just like him. I've met some. I'm so sorry that they killed him off because he could have been a wonderful re-occuring character to keep Horatio human.

I would like to see someone with Downs, too. There are fabulous actors who have Downs out there. Or what about Cerebal Palsy? So maybe what I'd like to see is more folks featured with "disabilities" as guest stars or actors portraying some less obvious things like autism or other mental/emotional challenges and the writers doing it well and right.

 

I wrote a fanfic (and hope to post it here eventually) about a radio talk show host who is murdered on the air just seconds after revealing a damaging secret about a high-ranking official in MDPD (in this case, Supervisor Scott O'Shay). In my story, there are two talk radio hosts, and one of them somehow found out some unsavory secrets about Supervisor O'Shay (Is anyone surprised by this?) What started out as a little harmless fun in keeping the public informed turns into a political firestorm among Miami's high-ranking officials.
I won't give away too much at this point, as I'd like to post it on this forum sometime soon, but there are some things loosely based on a true story here.

I wonder sometimes as well, whether TPTB are worried about offending people, so they stay away from subjects they deem "controversial." I too remember "Curse of the Coffin", and though I don't agree with Santeria, I believe they were very even-handed about it. One thing I've always appreciated about the CSI series, all three of them--whether or not they agree with a particular religion, they at least respect it.

Hey Ladyd10. Nice to see you out here. I remember your story, btw. And yes, Vegas did have a show with a young man who was autistic. Miami did an episode called "Witness to Murder" (I think). I don't think Eugene (the witness) was autistic.

 

Which story? I have about 20 posted on ff.net.

I'd also like to see a few more stories dealing with the average Miami citizen or, for that matter, the Cuban community. We haven' had that in a long time.

 

I think i'd want aspergers covered, which is pretty much autism but less to the extreme, or a high functioning autistic who wasn't savantish. Basically something that bridged the gap a bit between neurotypical and photographic memory sterotypical portrayal.

Mainly to face the issue of faliure to show emotions / mis-shown emotions being thought of as having no emotions. Also the misconception of poor social skills = poor intellectual skills. It would also be nice to bring up positives of autism and raise the question of whether its really right for companies like autism speaks to both speak for autistics without employing anyone actually with a diagnosis and to seek a cure without asking hard questions about why one is needed.

Perhaps another case of parent kills autistic child painted in a different light, or autistic child kills overwhelmed parent in self defense (down a fall of some kind maybe?) - bringing into play a right to live arguement. Then teacher or someone who knows kid backs child all the way and later reveals themselves to be on the spectrum - bringing up the issue that these kids grow up and learn new skills, some enough to adapt enough to function in society.

Though I'd just really love one time for a kick ass autistic on the tv to actually say something along the lines of "I can have issues structuring conversation in a coheshive fashion so I'm only going to say this once. My fluency in body language and expression are about as competant as my latin, pretty much zinch. I don't take hints, take things a little literally and find talking about the weather about as stimulating as watching paint dry. Just give me enough room to breathe, enough time to organise my thoughts and I'll be able to answer your questions. Just don't look too taken aback when I don't look you in the eye while doing so."

 

Your story "Autism is a World". That was excellent.

And I agree with you about more within the Cuban community. There were plenty of those during S1 and S2 as memory serves, but that just seemed to fall away.

 

I'm Wiccan and they did briefly touch on Paganism a bit in the episode Spellbound (the Vegas CSI). What Grissom said about Pagans' beliefs regarding life after death and what happens after they die is completely accurate. I can't remember if the rest of the episode was very accurate - I think I remembered being annoyed by something in the episode, but I can't remember what it was. I'll have to watch it again. I know that Wicca was never mentioned in the episode, but there were allusions made to it.

 

i agree with all this - i would love it if they did mental health stuff properly, actually did a lot of research and gave a fair representation but so far the only times they've mentioned it it's been a bit stereotypical and under researched.

in fact the one thing in csi:ny that bothers me more than *any* other thing they've ever done was when (in super men they found risperidone and lithium in a tox report and called lithium an antidepressant. they got the label info of risperidone just about right but then said lithium was for depressive disorders - no, it's a mood stabiliser typically used in manic presentation. and that's just a small detail, it's really not that hard to get it right. as someone who's been on lithium for 10 years that really bugged me - probably more than it should've actually :lol:

actually i do do those things seriously, i have been known to in the past when i was really ill but now i'm drugged up to the eyeballs i'm perfectly normal...:guffaw: i'm kidding, i would love it if they did a genuinely realistic impression of bipolar, but i think it's unlikely. i would love it if csi or a show like it managed to get it right and blew apart some of the stereotypes - i think they could really make waves with it.

 

At this point, I'd really like to see them explore the diversity of the cities in which the shows take place. I remember being totally frustrated by Mascara, aside from all the other reasons for hating Mascara, because of how poorly Hispanic culture was presented. They found two things that were more 'out there' -- Lucha Libre and Santería -- and exploited them for shock value. I'd like to see Hispanic culture portrayed more sympathetically and, more than anything, more often. Maybe this is just me projecting general frustrations with society onto CSI, but I find it more than a little frustrating when it feels like the majority of major Hispanic characters portrayed on the show look like Marisol Delko -- i.e. really, really pale.

As for persons with mental handicaps, I thought CSI did a really good job with 'Disarmed and Dangerous'. That episode blew me away and reminded me again what made CSI (Vegas) so special -- its sympathetic portrayal of underdog characters who are often written off by society.