Autism Spectrum Disorder In The Drama, I Am Sam

The Drama, I am Sam, starring Sean Penn and Dakota Fanning, came to theaters in 2001. The movie stars Sean Penn, a man that was born with autism and single handedly raises his 7-year-old daughter. He is a loving father who works at Starbucks, takes pride in his work, and loves the Beatles. In the midst of his job at Starbucks, he takes care of his daughter Lucy. Lucy’s mother was a homeless woman that Sam was assisting and dating, until the day she had Lucy. After the pair left the hospital with their newborn, she proceeded to abandon Sam to take care of Lucy alone. With the help of his neighbor Annie, Sam has raised Lucy with minimal hiccups and love. But, problems start to occur within the family’s life when Lucy approaches the age of seven.

In the film, his competency to raise Lucy is addressed, but the extent of his disorder is not. Sam has Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This is most commonly found in males and approximately 1 in 68 people are diagnosed with it as children. It affects a person’s social interaction, communication skills, and behavior. People with ASD commonly have certain communication and social problems that include: over-reacting to a stimulating setting, having erratic eye contact, or sharing an over reacted response to objects by pointing or showing things to others ("What Is Autism"). The behaviors found with people living with ASD include: having specific rituals in daily lifestyle, which can unusual behaviors, having excessively focused interests and having a lasting, intense interest in certain topics, such as numbers, details, or facts ("“I Am Sam” with Autism Spectrum

His meticulous work at Starbucks and specific food order at I-Hop are examples. At Starbucks, the sugar packets on all of the tables need to always be perfectly aligned. At I-Hop, Sam never orders anything else, besides French Pancakes, and fruit on the side. This affects his day-to-day life, because any time his rituals or activities are altered, it causes him to have a panic attack, which results in socially awkward behavior. Many autistic people, Like Sam, have a mental-block, which inhibits them to interact socially with the rest of the world. Sam is blind to non-verbal language and lacks the ability to gather intention from other people’s behavior. Sam has the belief that everyone thinks the same as he does. For instance, he prides himself with knowing practically every trivia fact about the Beatles. This can cause him to have awkward encounters with people socially, because he assumes that people will be willing to sit down and let him rant to them for hours about his enjoyment about these facts. His inability to sometimes fail to see that other people have beliefs, feelings, and intentions is called mind blindness, which is a common trait for those with ASD ("What Is Autism"). This mind blindness got him into a fair amount of trouble in the film, when he mistakes prostitutes indications, for kindness. In the film, he is arrested for solicitation and is released in the matter of hours. His obvious innocence and ASD is heavily