. . . to be appalled at the way a young man with autism is being presented in the Netflix series 'The Good Doctor'?

Yes, his behaviour is wildly outrageous and unprofessional, but why hasn't someone told him this?

They do, frequently. It’s often farfetched (conjoined twins, anyone?) but the whole premise of the first couple of seasons is that the wider team don’t want him there because of his autism. They don’t believe someone with autism could ever be a Good Doctor, despite it subtly emerging that at least two of the team, including senior doctors, have autism that presents in an entirely different way. It’s not the be all and end all of autism representation on tv but it does illustrate that if you know one person with autism…etc etc.
It’s not as slick or well written as House, but I don’t think it represents people with autism as all being the same. Shaun represents Shaun and no one else. I think Highmore did a good job of not making him a caricature, despite the plot’s best efforts to make him one at times.
I like the way that quite soon the viewer should begin to question who is being referred to as a The Good Doctor, because it’s not only Shaun.

He isn’t sexually harassing them. He doesn’t realise at times why should be and what not should be discussed in public/with colleagues. Doesn’t understand social boundaries. Which is an issue some people with autism struggle with.

I really like this show though I believe they have finished filming the final series.

Yes but then what could OP be APALLED over

Isn’t the point that he is a wonderful doctor and surgeon and does manage to form relationships???

Ultimately it is a programme (an old one at that) but I disagree that he is being portrayed as a sex pest that doesn’t learn and this post just feels virtue signally to me. Us autists are fine without your outrage over this, re direct it to the education system or try and effect real change and that would be much more worthwhile

🤣🤣🤣 His dad murdered his pet and he lived in a bus with his little brother, I don’t think anyone was sitting around teaching social stories.

I have autism and I’ve literally never met you so how do you know how each and every one of us present 😂

But you haven’t even watched it. Stupid comments.

To tell the op that I’m sure she’s right - from the ads it seems like I wouldn’t like their portrayal of the autistic guy

Thanks for the spoiler!!

Freddie Highmore did a lot of research into autism to develop his character, and the show employed a specific consultant too:

Within days of wrapping that show, he was approached for The Good Doctor role.
Though he initially declined, citing exhaustion from his previous commitment, Highmore reconsidered and immersed himself in understanding Shaun's condition.
Discussing his preparation with the Los Angeles Times, Highmore revealed: "There are people in my personal life who have autism.
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"It was a condition I was aware of. I [read a lot].
"I saw a brilliant documentary on Netflix called "Autism in Love," which is great because it focuses on the most human, deepest emotion that we may feel, which is being in love."
However, Highmore didn't tackle this challenging portrayal in isolation.

View 3 Images
The Good Doctor star Freddie Highmore plays Dr Shaun Murphy. (Image: GETTY)
The creators of The Good Doctor enlisted the expertise of behavioural and autism consultant Melissa Reiner to ensure Highmore's portrayal was as authentic as possible.
In a conversation with Kerry Magro, Reiner expressed: "The goal was to ensure that this character would not end up as a caricature in any way, and that this unique and wonderful individual was portrayed precisely as he is, a human being who has challenges and triumphs.

Sounds like it’s just a shit programme 🤷‍♀️

It seems so badly researched imo.

The most surprising fact was how involved Freddie Highmore has been.

He's not only the lead but also a director, writer of some episodes and an executive producer.

Very, very poorly drawn character.

I think he got in because of the position of his 'foster-father' figure, i.e. a bit of nepotism and pulling strings for him behind the scenes.

What on earth is the point of posting on the thread then?!

Not at all, if you actually watch the show these things the OP has quoted are all in context with the plot and the character. Nothing in the show makes autism look 'bad', in fact the whole script was overseen by respected autism experts. It's a really good show, I can recommend watching it.

I didn’t think I’d like it so didn’t bother

It's a terrible show for a number of reasons
1 storylines are crap
2 The acting is crap

I was enjoying this series until we got to the obligatory episode about how a boy should be treated as a girl and that's okay. Shame they didn't have the guts to keep Shaun's sex realist viewpoint in tact. But it was the same in Grey's anatomy, vomitous propaganda

Yes, it's a terrible representation of autistic people. It's simplistic.

While some of the things you mention did make me cringe I thought generally it was quite a good portrayal. I mean there isn’t a typical autistic person so what you may not recognise as a trait may be all too familiar to someone else.

I think it’s great. On series five now and his growth has been astonishing and the sensitivity shown

It's a Television programme,turn it off if you don't like it. I watched 10 mins and realised it wasn't for me. I'm not daft enough to think one guy in a show is an accurate representation of autism and surely everyone's experience of autism is different anyway ?

No it doesn’t justify it but it is a reason that some people with autism say things that wouldn’t usually be in good spirits or socially acceptable, hence the diagnosis.
I always correct my DS, teaching him how to be more pleasant, he is quite rude and grumpy without bad intentions, he doesn’t do soft talk or small talk.