It’s also very refreshing to see an Asian character on the autism spectrum as depictions on screen has always been white characters by default. How much does that mean to you?

It’s mindblowing that [casting director] Cami Patton, Jason’s team and Amazon had the guts to cast so diversely especially me, an Asian autistic woman. In my culture, if my Asian family doesn’t see something represented in the media or the world around them, they do not tend to approve of or accept it.

That’s why this show is going to bring so much light to the autism community, especially those from Asian families. I hope it will truly make a difference for young people growing up who are autistic within Asian households. I have Asian friends now reaching out to me and revealing their child is autistic, which is something that might have caused a lot of stigmas or seen as something to hide in the past.

One of the most important relationships that Violet have is with her older brother, Van. Can you describe that relationship and Violet’s attitude towards Van and vice versa?

This is a beautiful relationship that shows the colours of love and how misunderstandings arise not because there is a lack of love, but because the way one loves can be so different from the family members closest to them. It’s something I relate to at a very personal level and is played out with all of its complexity, heartbreaking authenticity, and revealing nuances between Violet and Van.

How’s it like working with Chris Pang on those scenes because they’re very emotional?

Chris is such a kind-hearted, beautiful actor from the inside out. His gentleness and generosity created a very safe space for me to risk a lot of deeper emotional vulnerabilities that I needed to access to carry Violet through in their scenes.

Were there any particular scenes that resonated with you a lot?

Violet’s entire arc was a beautiful ode to many unseen moments in my own youthful past that came from my autism. Jason captured the coming-of-age journey perfectly as a writer—so much so, that friends who knew me as a teenager would reach out after watching the show and mention how it was like re-living our youth together. Things like dating, clubbing, having friends dress me up, wanting to be “normal” but not finding the right switch for that in myself.

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The depiction of your relationship with Van is very refreshing to see on TV because there are a lot of different layers to it that hasn’t been shown before. How much of it was true to your own experience as an Asian autistic woman?

Van’s need to protect his younger sister is something I encountered from my caretakers growing up. Oftentimes, my mother would come to my kindergarten to pick me up and then I’d burst into tears because one of the boys out of nowhere had punched me and nobody cared. Like Van, she became my most fervent protector because it was so obvious to her that I was unlike the other children but it was also frustrating when I wasn’t able to see the obvious dangers in the world that are so innate to her and “normal” people.

Also, I think you see the cultural divide between Asian American, Canadian or Australian generations when first born Asian family members have a hard time navigating that crossover with their “traditional” relatives. Sometimes people aren’t even speaking the same language in their household, so that’s going to be challenging on its own.

Making a connection with somebody else is a huge part of Violet’s character. What does that mean to her?

Violet is very socially motivated and extroverted which means she finds fulfilment in being seen as part of the life around her. She’s very different from Harrison’s character who is more introverted and prefers his time alone. It’s just like how different neurotypical people have different desires for social interactions with other people. When her efforts to be like her neurotypical peers are restricted, it becomes an unfair and frustrating obstacle to her natural desire to grow as a young adult and be a part of the world around her. It’s like she’s put in jail but she didn’t do anything wrong to get there. That’s how I approached Violet in those scenes where her freedom was taken away from her unjustly from her perspective.

Violet also being the only woman between Jack and Harrison shows how her experience is different from theirs. Do you think that makes a difference?

Absolutely! Society’s unspoken expectations of women will dictate how people around Violet treat her but also there’s another level of danger that dating brings to the table for women, especially differently-abled women. Men may also have these encounters, but in society at large, it’s a pattern that women have fallen prey to unsavoury sexual advances. Also, we’re just finding out that women are very different from men in terms of how they respond to their autistic differences. It’s a reason why women have been misdiagnosed or missed altogether because autistic women express themselves differently than men do and not enough research was done on this in the past.

Hopefully just having a female character, and one who’s also Asian will open up the community to just how varied autistic people can be. A girl may not be obsessed with train tables, but instead may have an overt passion for celebrities, fashion, or animals that may seem more “normal” on the outside until you see the extensive lists of celebrity names they’ve written down over the years to categorize every celebrity that’s ever existed. I’m not really speaking from experience...but okay, maybe just a little.

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I see As We See It as a coming-of-age story in some way even if the main characters are in their mid-twenties. If you could describe the show in your way, what would it be?

It’s three people who have to live together, but maybe they don’t always really want to. But they accept it because they’re not paying for it and they’re just trying to find a way to break free of the foolish rules that their families, jobs, and the world at large make them follow in really frustrating and ridiculous ways that make no sense to them sometimes. Luckily, a few people actually have the patience to understand them, like their aide, Mandy (Sosie Bacon), even when she gets it so wrong other times.

In what ways is As We See It a show that anyone/everyone can watch?

It’s universal in the ways that all of us go through dating crises, job drama, and family misunderstandings. If you watch As We See It, I’m certain you’ll find a part of yourself reflected in your own life’s challenging moments and joyful triumphs. And also, everyone that has watched it has binged it and said how incredible it is, so you kind of have to see for yourself why everyone—and not just autistic people—are loving it so much!

What do you hope viewers will get out of watching As We See It?

That you share the world with billions of others, and some of those billions of others are so different, you can’t even imagine what their lives are like. That’s why you should watch this show and be blown away by how beautifully diverse our human population is, and respect that, love it, and be kind to it.

Who knows, you might be reborn differently in another lifetime and you’ll be on the receiving end of either extra compassion, or extra rejection. What comes around goes around! Hopefully, the message is just to open your hearts to all types of humans exactly as we were made to be.

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As We See It is now available to watch on Amazon TV

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