Subproject 2: Romance and Autism

Our second subproject, focused on romance and autism, challenges the notion that autistic individuals suffer deficits in their expression of love, instead reflecting autistic lived experiences of their own underrecognized love languages. We have observed that many reflexive accounts of autistic love languaging reference the popular reality dating series Love on the Spectrum, so we have examined the show and its reception as a prominent case study that exemplifies both reductive and affirming perspectives on neurodiverse romance (Moore 2022; Ryalls 2023; Willey et al. 2015). 

Our research questions are as follows: How do specific production choices in Love on the Spectrum index competing stances on the legitimacy of autistic romance? How do audiences (fans and detractors) interpret these representations? How do these interpretations reflect broader sociocultural assumptions regarding neurodiverse love languaging? 

The ALL Team presented initial findings at CU Boulder's 2026 Annual Studio Lab Poster Session. The poster, titled "Love and Legibility: Autistic Romance and Its Humanizing-Infantilizing Representations," is coauthored by Adilana Anderson, Landry Saul, Vivaan Kalura, Emmalyn Nono, Claire Kenny, Molly Mathews, Kaitlyn McGurran, Kinley Oppenheimer, Lina Cahill, and Kira Hall. We are thrilled to announce that the poster received the award of "Best Overall Poster" at the Poster Session. Congratulations to the ALL Team!