As We See It review – a very sweet autism drama with lots of heart

It is by no means the first coming-of-age series on autism, but the new show from the maker of Friday Night Lights is eye-opening, warm and well worth your time

The first few minutes of As We See It (Amazon Prime) show a remarkable demonstration of how auditory processing can be difficult for some people on the autism spectrum. Harrison, a man in his 20s, is carefully coaxed out of his Los Angeles apartment by his live-in aide, Mandy. She calls him on his phone, so that she can talk him through his walk around the block, and slowly, carefully, he begins. Traffic might be a little loud, she warns him. He worries that a woman with a crying baby is looking at him. With each step, Mandy reassures him that it's fine. And then a dog appears, starts barking, and chaos ensues. Harrison flees back indoors. Each noise and potential trigger is cleverly pushed in the mix, to give viewers who may not understand Harrison's fears a chance to experience them.

This new drama follows three roommates on the spectrum, all played by actors who are on the spectrum themselves. Their families pay Mandy (Sosie Bacon, last seen as the mother of Kate Winslet's grandson in Mare of Easttown) a salary to live in as their support worker. Harrison barely leaves the flat, while Jack has a job as a programmer, and Violet works at a fast-food restaurant (it's a real chain, and it gets a lot of mentions). All three are living with Mandy in order to work towards greater independence, and all have goals they are supposed to achieve each week, whether that is making new friends, or asking how a relative is feeling about a difficult emotional situation.