Autism Rep in Heartbreak High

 ive never done a blog post so forgive me for how basic/ugly this might look ooof 

having a tough emotional day today, so i decided to stay in bed and watch heartbreak high since ive seen some people talk about it, plus its australian. 

im up to ep4 as im writing this and omg its so good, but my favourite part is definitely the autism representation - Quinni. 

without spoiling too much, quinni goes out on a date and her date takes her to a restaurant, where its so so noisy, she cant focus on anything her date is saying or even her own thoughts. her date is a bit disappointed with her, because quinni looks bored. after the date, they go back to a party where they (kinda) part ways. 

best scene - quinni goes to the bathroom to find her friends (Darren and Amerie), shes overstimulated and has what looks like a meltdown. darren does breathing exercises with her and amerie goes to hug her, to which darren tells her, "no, we don't touch quinni", and that she can go out and have a nice time while they (darren is enby, we love the rep) stay with quinni. darren stays with quinni until she calms down, then they go back out together.

SPOILERS - kinda?

so quinni goes to find her date, her date is frustrated with her because of how bored and disinterested quinni looked through their date. quinni then confesses to her that shes autistic (i love how she actually says it, canon > coding imo). her date is a bit ignorant, she says something along the lines of "i've met autistic people, its just that youre so emotionally intelligent" (lord have all us autistics been there). quinni is, quite reasonably, offended at this coming back with "okay, sia" (lol), however her date apologises saying she clearly needs to do more research and she asks out quinni, they start dating.

her date (now girlfriend) seems to have actually done more research. shes asked the teacher beforehand for their group to go outside for group activities since its more quiet, and shes very responsive to quinnis needs (if theyre kissing under the blanket, she'll take the blanket off when quinni is overheated, for example). very wholesome stuff

i love love love how autism is portrayed in this show, i feel like other shows have tried but this one has been the best ive seen. so excited to keep watching and see what happens next!!