Depiction of Autism in Samantha Cotterill's This Beach Is Loud!

Abstract

Years of stereotyped portrayal in media have continued to feed into social inequality faced by the autistic community. This issue pushed the need for a positive representation of autism, especially in children’s literature. This study aims to discover how This Beach Is Loud! by Samantha Cotterill represented hypersensitivity as part of autism criteria. By assessing the content of This Beach Is Loud! with a semiotic approach and considering the author’s position in the autism discourse, the result suggests the book follows the DSM-5 criteria for hypersensitivity, although arguably lacking in positive reinforcing characterization. Thus, having This Beach Is Loud! as part of reading material for children is sufficient as an early step to introduce autism to children.