A post in Reddit's "Choosing Beggars" forum is condemning Netflix for putting out calls for autistic participants for the streaming service's Love on the Spectrum, an Australian reality show produced by ABC TV, but refusing to pay them. The show follows a number of autistic people as they navigate relationships and dating.
Although Netflix categorizes the show as a "docuseries," others have classified it as a reality show due to the fact that its structure mirrors that genre. This has caused some debate over whether or not the participants should be paid for their time and labor, as documentaries are considered part of the realm of journalism, and therefore paying interviewees would be considered unethical.
The Reddit post features tweets showing the casting call for the series, which specifically states that the participants will not be paid.
"We are looking for single people on the spectrum who are interested in dating, as well as couples, at any stage of a relationship," the listing reads. "So this isn't an acting gig, it's all about people being themselves!"
"As we are a documentary series we cannot pay for participation, but we do cover any meals and transport costs incurred," it says in the production notes. "We work around people's schedules to make it work."
While journalistic ethics may be a real concern, it's also concerning that autistic people around the world face heavy discrimination, especially in the working world, where a stark lack of accommodations prevents many who want to work from doing so. At the same time, inadequate disability pay as well as difficulty even accessing those benefits tends to keep these individuals in poverty.
Many have questioned whether it's ethical to ask autistic folks to work to educate neurotypical people in an entertaining fashion for free.
"Here is a good rule of thumb, if a stranger is doing work for you that benefits you but they aren't being paid, then it is exploitation in the vast majority of circumstances," wrote one Reddit commenter.
Love on the Spectrum has already received criticism from many autistic viewers who have accused the show of being exploitative, worrying that its depiction of autistic people reinforces stereotypes and focuses too much on "caregivers." Another commenter who identified as autistic elaborated.
"I think the most evil, heinous thing here, at its core, is manipulating people who are desperate for intimacy and using them to feed a narrative that has helped the world put them in that position," they wrote.
"Autistics desperately need a chance to control our own narrative in entertainment and media and the arts in general. They make us look like children, they make us look weak, they make us into jokes and fools. The autistics I know in real life are accomplished academics, some of them are happily married. It’s a broad spectrum, but as kids we need people to model ourselves off of, versions of ourselves we want to become."
Others in the thread pointed out that participants on standard dating shows also don't tend to be paid, but of course there are substantial cash prizes for shows like The Bachelor and other reality programs. Of course, the people chosen to be on programs like this are often already rich and privileged enough to be able to skip work for the months it takes to film, and autistic people are much less likely to have that kind of money.
There is a lot of debate in the thread over whether reality show participants get paid for more than just travel expenses, but according to the entertainment news website The Things, many of them get paid quite a lot. American cast members on 90 Day Fiancé, another romance-related reality show, get paid between $1,000 and $1,500 per day, and that's far on the low end of the compensation spectrum for the programs listed.
The question remains, however, whether Love on the Spectrum could truly be called a documentary, as well as how oppressed people should be compensated for educating the people who have privilege over them.
The post Netflix’s ‘Love On The Spectrum’ Catches Heat For Not Paying Autistic Participants appeared first on The Mother of All Nerds.
Netflix’s ‘Love On The Spectrum’ Catches Heat For Not Paying Autistic Participants
Source: Pinoy Inquirer News
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