Prime Video has a new show streaming now called As We See It, and it is something that everyone should watch. It is the story of three people in their 20’s with Autism who are living together in an assisted apartment with an aide who is going to teach them to how to be independent.
The show was created by Jason Katims, who has an autistic child. Therefore, he wanted to make sure that the program was authentic. The series’ lead actors, Rick Glassman, Sue Ann Pien, and Albert Rutecki, are all on the spectrum. Joe Mantegna, who plays the father of Glassman’s character, has a child with Autism in her mid-20’s.
This is not Music. This is as real as you get. Because of that, you get a show that normalizes Autism and demonstrates the struggles they have in their daily lives. Lives that are not much different than ours.
As I said, it is a show about three people with Autism living together. So who are these roommates?
There is Jack (Glassman), who has Asperger’s, and he has no social skills. He has just gotten fired from his job because he pretty much called his boss an idiot. If his day cannot get any worse, his father (Mantenga) tells him that he has cancer. This news sends Jack into a tailspin. He needs to know everything about his father’s health, and he doesn’t care if he pisses off the doctor and his staff. Luckily for Jack, there is a nurse (Délé Ogundiran) in the office who is going to help Jack in more ways than just his dad’s healthcare. She is going to teach him empathy and how to better interact with people.
Jack’s father needs to find a guardian for his son in case the cancer treatment doesn’t work. There is a heartwrenching episode when he asks his sister to take care of her nephew. Also, the scenes between Glassman and Mantegna are so beautiful because you see a dad trying to do everything for his son, but his son can’t show appreciation. However, Jack does find a way to do it. That will just grab at your heartstrings.
Violet (Pien) is the only girl in the apartment, and she desperately wants a boyfriend. She looks like any 25-year-old, but she has the maturity of a 15-year-old. And like a teen of that age, she thinks she can do whatever she wants. That is why her brother (Chris Pang) is really strict and protective of her so that she doesn’t get hurt by boys. Her brother is her guardian because their parents are dead. He cares so much about his sister, it is causing him problems with his girlfriend.
Like most spoiled teens, Violet has uncontrollable outbursts. One of them even costs her job at Arby’s, where she met a guy who is interested in her.
Finally, there is Harrison (Rutecki). He is a sweet man, but he is afraid of going outside. He also has problems interacting with people because he is shy. However, he befriends a neighbor who is a young boy with a single mother. Even though she is not around that much, she doesn’t want her son hanging out with Harrison. Like Violet, he is very immature for his age.
There is one more person in the apartment, and that is their aide Mandy (Sosie Bacon). She wants to go to medical school to work with autistic people, but for now, she is working with these three. She is really good with them because she treats them as equals as she teaches them how to become more independent. She is working with Harrison to go outside. She is a friend to Violet as she shares her wisdom with her about matters like boys. And her most challenging job is teaching Jack how to care about other people besides himself and see how his interactions with people can hurt them.
She is putting all of her heart into them, and it might cost her boyfriend, who is moving away. He wants her to come with him, but she is torn. Should she stay with these three people to who she has grown extremely close, or should he move away and be with the man that she might marry?
No matter what life throws at them, they have each other. By learning to accept their challenges individually, they are also helping each other grow as a group. They are like a family who is always going to be there for each other because no one else will understand what they are going through besides people like them.
Sometimes you watch a show, and you know it is going to make a difference in the world. As We See It is one of the shows. So, see it, and then tell other people to see it.
In the last 45 years, we, as a society, have become more aware of Autism and not something we just hideaway. Therefore, we are seeing a lot more of it, but that doesn’t mean we know a lot about it. It is programs like this that are going to help to normalize it.
Katims is giving us a teaching tool with a lot of heart that is also entertaining. I binged the show in less than a day because I couldn’t wait to find out what happens next. So spend the day watching a series that will change your outlook for the better.
