The Autistic Representation Database
The Autistic Representation Database (ARD) is an open access, scholarly resource that indexes appearances of autistic individuals in English-language fiction, autobiographical non-fiction, film, television, and new media.  As the autistic scholar Sonya Loftis notes in Imagining Autism, “Cultural stories—whether told by the news media, the literature taught in classrooms, or a television sitcom—matter. They influence the way we think about people with autism, the way we think about disabled people as a cultural minority group, and the way our society regards, values, or disvalues anyone who is different“ (2015, p. 2).  Today, there are thousands of autistic characters in a range of genres and media—from young adult fiction to action movies. 

Current Holdings
The ARD currently categorizes instances of autistic representation according to: 

• Media (e.g., book, television show, film, podcast)

• Genre and subgenre (e.g., young adult fiction, children's literature, sitcom, documentary) 

• Type of autism (e.g., Asperger syndrome, autism, non-verbal autism, PPD-NOS) 

• Kind of representation (identified,  coded)

• Description of  the autistic character by age, gender identity, race, and sexual orientation)  

• Neurological identity of the author, actor, or creator (neurotypical or autistic)

The ARD currently indexes over 1800 works in four searchable libraries: 

• Autobiographical Non-Fiction

• Fiction

• Film and Television

• New Media (blogs, music, podcasts, video games)