Storylines that didn't age well

[Bobby Forever Missed]

37 minutes ago, early years fan said:

Yes watching it in 1988 as a naive 15 year old, as opposed to now as a 50 year old with children, one of whom has ASD,  is quite different.

just found it quite heartbreaking to see how he was treated having the advantage of hindsight and personal experience

I first saw Nico when i was 16 in 08 and even 2008 me would agree with you but i especially agree with you now in 2023 when we're trying to be more inclusive as a society i have on occasion found myself wondering if Nico's stereotypical treatment by other characters had gotten complaints even in 88?

[cymbaline]

Did they ever say that he had autism? I don't know enough about the condition to spot the signs in Nico. I just assumed that they had given him something generic to suit the story. You're dead right about how badly the entire thing was treated. He should've been getting more help, though maybe having a non-English-speaking grandmother would always be a stumbling block.

There'll always be louts like Lance and Martin in this world but Fisher was way out of line. When I started watching H&A from scratch a couple of years ago, I was surprised at how badly written Fisher's character was. Nico was just one person he was horrible to.

They had Bill Cunningham (Luke's brother) a few years later. He had an acquired brain injury if I remember rightly. I haven't seen those episodes for a while but I remember that being handled better. He still had a rough time in school (not sure he should've been sent there) and I thought Michael was very hard on him when he broke into the house to see Fin. But it did touch on the issue of a teenage boy developing feelings for a girl of his own age despite being child-like in other ways. 

[Bobby Forever Missed]

6 hours ago, cymbaline said:

Did they ever say that he had autism? I don't know enough about the condition to spot the signs in Nico. I just assumed that they had given him something generic to suit the story. You're dead right about how badly the entire thing was treated. He should've been getting more help, though maybe having a non-English-speaking grandmother would always be a stumbling block.

There'll always be louts like Lance and Martin in this world but Fisher was way out of line. When I started watching H&A from scratch a couple of years ago, I was surprised at how badly written Fisher's character was. Nico was just one person he was horrible to.

They had Bill Cunningham (Luke's brother) a few years later. He had an acquired brain injury if I remember rightly. I haven't seen those episodes for a while but I remember that being handled better. He still had a rough time in school (not sure he should've been sent there) and I thought Michael was very hard on him when he broke into the house to see Fin. But it did touch on the issue of a teenage boy developing feelings for a girl of his own age despite being child-like in other ways. 

Comments like “not sure he should’ve been sent there” are insanely ignorant and offensive I’m sorry but Bill was entitled to an education like any other student, the problem was that Luke was so insistent that he do everything for Bill that neither Fisher nor Roxy as the other teachers in the school were able to properly get to understand Bill’s needs, I have CP and my mother sure didn’t go to the schools and do everything for me and so every teacher and aide I had was able to get a handle on my needs (though admittedly I wasn’t in the same boat as Bill I was just using my situation as an example)

[early years fan]

6 hours ago, cymbaline said:

Did they ever say that he had autism? I don't know enough about the condition to spot the signs in Nico. I just assumed that they had given him something generic to suit the story. You're dead right about how badly the entire thing was treated. He should've been getting more help, though maybe having a non-English-speaking grandmother would always be a stumbling block.

There'll always be louts like Lance and Martin in this world but Fisher was way out of line. When I started watching H&A from scratch a couple of years ago, I was surprised at how badly written Fisher's character was. Nico was just one person he was horrible to.

They had Bill Cunningham (Luke's brother) a few years later. He had an acquired brain injury if I remember rightly. I haven't seen those episodes for a while but I remember that being handled better. He still had a rough time in school (not sure he should've been sent there) and I thought Michael was very hard on him when he broke into the house to see Fin. But it did touch on the issue of a teenage boy developing feelings for a girl of his own age despite being child-like in other ways. 

If you search Lynne Davenport in the character writeups on this site, it mentions that he has autism, although it doesn’t seem to mention this in the episodes, just other derogatory terms.

i am sure the cultural barriers would not have helped his inclusion in a small community such as summer bay.

so many more services and support would have been available these days for Nico.

[Homeandawayfan.]

I worked with a man Tim, who was a bit like Bill Cunningham. He was quite slow and sluggish and was a bit lecherous and used to grab women by the arm in the canteen a lot, but he knew how to stick up for himself whereas Nico and Bill couldn't. My aforementioned old colleague Tim could handle opposition better than others with mild intellectual disability. Tim would have sent Fisher, Lance and Martin packing if they tried anything on him.

Yes Fisher was a local corporate JR type character in the first few moths.

[cymbaline]

15 hours ago, Bobby Forever Missed said:

Comments like “not sure he should’ve been sent there” are insanely ignorant and offensive I’m sorry but Bill was entitled to an education like any other student, the problem was that Luke was so insistent that he do everything for Bill that neither Fisher nor Roxy as the other teachers in the school were able to properly get to understand Bill’s needs, I have CP and my mother sure didn’t go to the schools and do everything for me and so every teacher and aide I had was able to get a handle on my needs (though admittedly I wasn’t in the same boat as Bill I was just using my situation as an example)

I never said Bill wasn't entitled to an education. But was it right to send a young man with an obvious intellectual disability to a school that wasn't set up to help him properly? That was the point I clearly made a mess of making. I'm sorry if I offended you. 

[early years fan]

So more controversial topics arising from watching season one which hopefully would be handled a bit better in 2023.  The attitudes towards Carly’s rape.  Seems to be a fair bit of victim blaming going on for her choosing to hitch hike.

and also the lack of support for Barlow’s wife and daughter, everyone seems to know he is belting them up but they seem to turn a blind eye and not want to get involved. 

[CaptainHulk]

On 04/12/2023 at 12:13, early years fan said:

So more controversial topics arising from watching season one which hopefully would be handled a bit better in 2023.  The attitudes towards Carly’s rape.  Seems to be a fair bit of victim blaming going on for her choosing to hitch hike.

and also the lack of support for Barlow’s wife and daughter, everyone seems to know he is belting them up but they seem to turn a blind eye and not want to get involved. 

The only men Barlow feared were  Barnett (he made it clear he would run him in) and Tom after he gave him a kicking.

 

 

[adam436]

Alf threatening to give Roo "a hiding" after her vendetta against Ailsa came to a head. I know they did the domestic storyline around the same time with the Barlows, but it felt different coming from Alf given he was a main character. 

[nenehcherry2]

5 hours ago, adam436 said:

Alf threatening to give Roo "a hiding" after her vendetta against Ailsa came to a head. I know they did the domestic storyline around the same time with the Barlows, but it felt different coming from Alf given he was a main character. 

I thought this too. Similar to Tom threatening Carly with the same punishment.