Dean McIntosh (b. October 27, 1978) is one of the more controversial figures of the autistic civil rights movement. His present activity within the movement is limited to the writing of articles or production of videos. These articles and videos are mostly intended to correct misperceptions of the autistic or send a message to those who harbour them. His second video, essentially featuring him sitting in front of his digital camera and talking for fifteen minutes, details his struggles in childhood and adolescence in a very abusive environment, apparently quite hostile to neurodivergence. His first video, which he allowed Aspies For Freedom leader Amy Nelson to edit and narrate, is a listing of the ten characters from feature films whose behaviour he considers to most closely resemble the real-life behaviours and situations of Aspies. Other videos, he has narrated and edited himself.
After several videos detailing creative hobbies (which invariably end with a statement that he would not be able to do these things with such rigid attention to detail if he were not autistic), he created a second listing of ten characters from feature films whose behaviour and situations resemble those of Aspies. Interestingly, in his opening spiel on this second video, he states that his primary goal when creating the first video was to illustrate the fact that the best portrayals of autistic characters come about by accident. McIntosh is openly hostile to films that have deliberately attempted to portay individuals with Asperger's Syndrome, most particularly Mozart And The Whale. To further illustrate his point, this second top ten list includes captures from such pointed social commentary films as John Carpenter films as ''They Live'' or ''Starman'', as well as the Christmas satire ''Bad Santa''.
McIntosh has recently announced that his next video project, to be released on AutTV imminently, will be a criticism of a bad portrayal of the autistic in cinema. He is also credited on AutTV episodes and the AutTV website as an Assistant Creative Director. He is the only individual other than Aspies For Freedom directors Amy and Gareth Neslon so credited, despite the fact that he used to verbally fight with them like a dog.