Have you seen Extraordinary Attorney Woo? It became a hot topic with the story of Woo Youngwoo, a new lawyer with a genius brain and an autism spectrum at the same time. Drama containing the heavy message, ST hopes that this drama will be a chance for you to learn more about the “autistic spectrum disorder,” and to rethink our perspective on the disabled ..................................Ed
Interest in the disease is also increasing, Extraordinary Attorney Woo, which tells the story of a new lawyer with autism spectrum disorder, continues to be a top-rating phenomenon. This is not the first time that domestic content featuring characters with autism spectrum disorders has been successful. The movie, Marathon, released in 2005, and the drama, Good Doctor, which deals with pediatric surgeons at university hospitals, resemble lawyer Woo Young-woo in showing off their specific abilities. Amid misunderstanding and prejudice about the disease, it helps viewers understand it with a friendly explanation of autism spectrum disorder in the drama.
Autism spectrum disorder refers to a developmental disorder that exhibits continuous difficulty in social interaction and communication, and exhibits limited and repetitive interest, behavior, and activities. The characteristic of the disorder, which dislikes extreme change and overreacts to sensory information, is so severe that daily life is difficult. Autism spectrum disorder has a very broad and complex spectrum, as implied by the term itself. Diagnosis is not easy because symptoms and severity vary depending on pathogenesis, development level, and environment. In the third episode of the drama, I‘ll go with Pengsoo, viewers can understand autism spectrum disorder through her dialogue.
“The official name of autism is autism spectrum disorder. As you can see from the word spectrum, autistic people vary widely. Just like whales.”
The third episode of the drama is about the story in which lawyers handle the incident where the defendant who has autistic spectrum disorder killed his brother. The drama depicts Kim Jeonghoon, a severe autistic person. In the drama, netizens said autism is a murder license. If the incident was real, would the reaction of people be different? Through this, viewers can reflect on the contradictory attitude of seeing someone’s life as a worthless, while is praised as noble.
In the drama, Woo Young-woo said, “Eighty years ago, autism was a disease that wasn‘t worth living. Even now, people press ‘like’ on the post of national loss when medical students die. That‘s the weight of disability that we‘ve been carrying.”
This drama tells the story of prejudice around the disease, along with the explanation of protagonist. ST hope drama will be an opportunity for everyone to spend time with interest in and understanding of autism spectrum disorder.
Lee Yu-jeong (ST Reporter)
fairytouma@soongsil.ac.kr
