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

[The13thFairy]

Shaun is a surgeon. He gives a running commentary to other surgeons (and some patients) on his relationship, how it's becoming sexual and in what way. Everyone is informed when he first has sex, and that he climaxed and his girlfriend did not ~ we see him reading a book called 'The G spot'. He has sent round a survey ~ only to the other surgeons, not patients this time, ' shower sex, yes or no?' And now it's going to be his girlfriend's birthday. He sees fit to place a sex toy (it buzzes) on a female surgeon's desk and ask her, and a female colleague, if this is something they would like themselves.

This dreadful behaviour is presented as a bit annoying, but cute.

have you watched it? This couldn't be further from the truth.

Go on then, explain?

Don't be silly. I do happen to have experience (both personal and professional) but that isn't really relevant to my opinion I don't think.

I don't need to know every autistic person to know that having autism doesn't mean HR policies go out of the window. I don't need to know every autistic person to see that an infantilising "aw he's cute and he can't help it, so nd people will have to help him" narrative is unrealistic and unhelpful. I don't need to know everyone with autism to know that autism doesn't excuse behaving in a way that's harmful to others.

Given it came out 9 years ago you’re a bit late to the party.

Of course! Context and presentation is paramount, not just a vague description from a stranger.

I had a guy with autism in my halls the first year of uni who was obsessed with sex ( I don't believe he'd ever had it) and telling us about masturbation. It can happen.

Not every autistic character in every show will represent every autistic person in real life. It is impossible

I’m autistic and so is my oldest nephew. He is always sending me clips and reels of it making fun of it. It’s a bad portrayal of autism but at the end of the day most medical dramas are hardly accurate, Dr House would have been locked up for all that medical malpractice, Dr Ross would have had his license taken away many times, and the Doctors in Greys Anatomy would be too tired from all the boozing and sexing to get any real medicine done (apart from Dr Bailey she had her head in the game and the vilified her for it).

We've watched most of this - @The13thFairy context is important and with the bits you've highlighted it is made very very clear to the character that certain things are wildly inappropriate, and why, and that his autism might be the reason he doesn't know that, but they're not an excuse to repeat the behaviour.

Of course its not an accurate representation of anything, it pulls various elements and stereotypes and turns it into an entertaining plot and set of characters. When have enjoyable TV shows ever been an accurate and faithful representation of any human characteristic or job?

YABU to comment if you haven't watched it!

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.

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 ?

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

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 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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Sounds like it’s just a shit programme 🤷‍♀️

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.

Thanks for the spoiler!!

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

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