New Hulu series, created by a woman with autism, lauded for avoiding stereotypes

One of the hardest aspects of living with autism, according to Scottish comedian Ashley Storrie, is “masking”–trying to hide it from everyone else. You would think then that creating and starring in a television series partly based on her life would be terrifying. Instead she found it liberating.

“Being Nina has made me realize that I should just be me and spend less time trying to make everybody feel more comfortable around my weirdness,” says Storrie about the character she plays on Dinosaur.

The title refers to Nina’s infatuation with dinosaurs and her job as a paleontologist, which she loves. But the six-episode series also shows Nina’s struggles to deal with both small and large disruptions to her routines.  is propelled by a major disruption in Nina’s life as the sister she lives with gets engaged and prepares to move out. 

The website “The Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism” called the series “excellent” and declared it superior to the “stereotyped-laced” Netflix series Atypical about an autistic adolescent boy. Read an interview with Ashley Storrie on that site.