#autTGD

[ladyautie]

I think the new episode of the Good doctor was very interesting, although some things could have been handled better. This time, it showcases Shaun’s relationship with lies. 

Contrary to popular belief about autistic people, Shaun is able to understand what a lie is and know that people don’t always tell the truth. Since he has troubles reading people, he has to rely on some form of logic and this logic can be very flawed and based on prejudice. 

Shaun jumping to the the conclusion that his patient might be a terrorist is a terrible thing, but an understanding one in his situation. I don’t say that it’s a good thing or that he shouldn’t be criticized for it, I just think it’s explainable.

 From what I was able to gather from his memories in the course of the show, he lived a secluded life, making one person the center of his universe : his brother, first, then Glassman and, last but not least, Leah. 

Now, while he knows that he’s not alone, he doesn’t have this deep connection with anyone else and has to rely on himself and him alone to get how the world works. And it’s not simple.

Before that, he probably would have gone to Glassman or even Leah and ask them why what he was saying was shunned like that by everyone else. 

They could have explain to him the whole situation and, maybe, he would have been able to see the situation from another angle. He would have been able to fight against what I think is a very bigoted vision of things.

However, Shaun felt alone and not listened and, as such, kept pursuing this idea to the point of “arranging” the truth to suit his theory. A heart attack’s signs became an anxiety attack’s signs to him because it felt “logical”. It felt “right”. It comforts him in his idea about people lying and why they’re doing so.

I think that Shaun should have apologized for his behavior and I hope they’ll talk about this situation again later. It wasn’t right and the poor woman was probably terrified that they might hand her to authorities, based on a few prejudices.

The episode is mentioning a lot the fact that Melendez is distracted by his situation, but I think it’s the same for Shaun too. He wasn’t able to find closure about Leah’s departure, continuing to knock at her door everytime he passed in front of it. 

He felt alone and Glassman definitely closed a metaphorical door on him, which I think is really cruel of him to do. 

His routine totally destroyed, Shaun tried to make sense of his new life, but made terrible mistakes by doing so, treating harshly people around him, projecting on them his insecurities and locking himself into his way of perceiving the world, as flawed it can be.

Shaun isn’t perfect and I’m grateful for that. He can make mistakes, he can have prejudices, he can say and do things that are very wrong. He’s a human being and, as such, is flawed. 

It might seem weird to say that, but after so many portrayals of autistic characters that were portrayed as “little angels who can do no wrong”, it’s very refreshing. I just wish the show made him apologize for what he said to this woman.

I was also very happy with Claire’s storyline and how she handled the whole situation. She’s a rare and good female character, because she’s strong in many ways, but she can still be emotional and very empathic. 

I’m curious about the relationship she’ll have with the new woman on the show, since she was under Coyle’s authority before all of it happens.

I’m also a bit wary about this new addition, who made me facepalm myself when I heard her say “Who’s the autistic one ?”. 

I hate this kind of remarks and I hate this kind of people. I don’t know which road they’ll take with her, but I’m curious to see it and I hope Claire and everyone else won’t let her be ableist without consequences.

Last thing : I’m happy that Leah’s appartment is filled again and I hope we’ll see the neighbor a bit more. He seems interesting and his presence brought closure to Shaun, which he really needed.

[transastronautistic]

I have some friends that watch the good doctor and I’ve only seen one episode but I wanted to know if you think it’s good representation of autism and if there is anything I should know before I watch it because it looks really good?

Ah yes hello!! Overall I think The Good Doctor is a fantastic portrayal of one autistic person – it does not try to represent All Autistic People, and that’s a good thing. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty great. I find a lot of Shaun’s actions and experiences very relateable as an autistic person.

I’ll start with some general content warnings so that you know what to watch out for when starting the show; then I’ll go through the pros and cons of its portrayal of autism.

Content warnings for the show:

Anti-autistic ableism. Other characters are often ableist towards Shaun. This is usually portrayed well, in my opinion – it’s what I would expect from other surgeons and from some patients when an autistic surgical resident comes into a hospital; but it’s not always fun to watch. As the season has gone on, ableism from the main characters has (mostly) decreased, luckily! They’re learning. However, spoilers for a later episode, one character pushes Shaun into a meltdown at one point

Abuse, animal cruelty. In some of the earliest episodes, there’s emotional abuse of Shaun by his dad as well as very cruel bullying from his peers, and there’s also brief animal cruelty.

Death of a sapphic woman. In one episode, a sapphic woman dies after being injured and we see her wife grief. That was really hard for me to watch; if you message me I can tell you which ep and give you more details.

Death and surgical gore stuff, as you would expect in a medical drama.

Weaknesses in its portrayal of autism:

Non-autistic actors and consultants. Shaun is played by Freddie Highmore, who is not autistic. It definitely would have been cooler to have an actually autistic actor. And the main “autism consultant” of the show is Melissa Reiner, who isn’t autistic herself but works with “families who have children on the Autism spectrum.” (The explanation of her work with autistic kids is not worded super great but at least aba isn’t mentioned, so hey, maybe her therapy is actually good?) Still, the portrayal of autism feels real and accurate enough that I’m surprised that the actor and consultant are not autistic; wherever they’re getting their information, it’s working for them.

Not a diverse portrayal of autism. Shaun is a white man, most likely cis and probably straight – just like most portrayals of autism already in fiction. Some people genuinely don’t realize that people other than white men can be autistic, and lack of diverse representation doesn’t help fight that misconception. The only other canonically autistic character so far was also white and male. (I do want to note that the actual show has a lot of racial diversity and some great female characters, though. So it’s not horrible in terms of overall diversity.)

Claiming Shaun has savant syndrome. I don’t think Shaun has any traits that can’t be explained simply by autism; they didn’t have to give him savant syndrome. I feel like they did it just to explain his high intelligence…as if autistic people…can’t be smart? idk. What do other autistic folks think about that?

Functioning labels are used in the show. I don’t recall Shaun ever calling himself high-functioning, but other characters sometimes call him that.

Infringements on Shaun’s agency. A character who is near and dear to Shaun keeps pushing Shaun to get a caregiver despite Shaun clearly not wanting one, and it’s annoying me. Still, if the overall message ends up being that this is a bad thing (the arch isn’t complete yet so I’m not sure if it will or won’t), then I’d move this point over to the show’s strengths.

Strengths in its portrayal of autism:

Switching between person first and identity first language. Since autistic people ourselves will often switch around saying we’re autistic, have autism, or are on the spectrum, I like that the characters switch around their language too. I tried to keep count of which language Shaun used most, I think it was fairly evenly split between have autism and autistic. 

Autistic traits without overdoing it. Some fiction crams a ton of traits into one character as if to be autistic you have to express the whole list of traits…I don’t feel like this show does that with Shaun. But here are some of the traits he does express:

 sensory overload – Shaun responds to unfamiliar and/or overwhelming environments by rocking or fiddling with his toy knife, and seems to be semi-verbal during them: unable to answer questions but able to reply to statements. He rocks when distressed.

special interests – it is clear that human anatomy is a special interest for Shaun; when a traumatic thing happens engaging in this interest is the only comfort he has. I write more on the show’s treatment of special interests in this post (with show spoilers).

routine

samefoods!

high spatial intelligence

difficulty understanding sarcasm and flirting

trouble expressing to others what he plans to do sometimes

uncomfortable with physical contact, though he usually tolerates it and at at least one point initiates it on his own terms

at least one shutdown and one meltdown are depicted

repeating phrases – some being instances of echolalia, others being an attempt to make people understand

fixation on what needs to be done; he calls it perseveration – he won’t stop thinking about a thing if it spikes his interest or seems out of place to him or is a puzzle to be solved

Stimming! The word stimming has only been used one time in the show so far; I do wish it was used more often, especially since the one instance of its use was for the behavior of the teen-aged autistic patient featured in one episode – that was an example of anxious, overwhelmed stimming, so it would be nice to have them use that word to name an instance of positive stimming as well, in my opinion. But anyway, whether or not they call it stimming Shaun stims a lot! It’s usually in more subtle ways, which gives me the feeling he’s been taught to repress more overt stims, which makes sense with his history of abuse and bullying. Some of his main stims include holding his hands folded, pacing, and rocking. When he’s upset or overstimulated he raises his hands near his head and at one point when melting down hits his head.

Breaking down some stereotypes.

Even though they call him “high functioning,” Shaun does not fit the usual definition of that label. He needs less support for some things, and more for other things. There are times when he is selectively verbal.

Shaun evinces deep compassion for people, which is nice when “emotionless, heartless robot” is a common stereotype about autistic people. At the same time, the way he expresses that compassion and his emotions is not a neurotypical way, and some characters miss it.

Shaun gets crushes and seems to have a sex drive. Fiction tends to make autistic characters completely desexualized or else over-sexualized in a creepy way (like in Netflix’s Atypical, where the guy doesn’t respect boundaries or consent). While I personally am not a fan of some of the ways they portray Shaun’s sexuality, it is cool that they’re trying to dismantle the usual stereotypes.

Shaun is able to establish meaningful relationships, contrary to a really hurtful stigma about autistic people. His relationship with his brother as a kid, his relationship with Dr. Glassman, and his friendship with Claire are some examples. Something I appreciate about his friendship with Claire is that she doesn’t expect him to make all the effort at communicating her way – she tries to communicate his way, too.

Portraying anti-autistic ableism as a civil rights issue. In the first episode, the discussion around whether an autistic person should be “allowed” to be a surgeon is framed as a civil rights issue – Aaron talks about how not long ago a Black surgeon or a woman surgeon would not have been accepted at the hospital, and it’s likewise bigoted to reject a surgeon simply for being autistic. He notes how the same arguments were used – did they have the emotional control, what would the patients think – to bar women and Black people that the hospital is now using against Shaun.

Do other autistic folks have any thoughts on the pros and cons of autistic representation in The Good Doctor?

[mousetaur]

I do like the way they showed he had to get "approval" for hire. Despite having all the requirements, he's Autistic and therefore bad. It was frustrating to watch, but good representation of a real problem.

[transastronautistic]

@coldsayou i was thinking the same thing!! in that one scene in Islands Part 2 where Jared’s lawyer interrupts another character saying the hospital doesn’t tolerate physical assaults with “actually you do” my stomach dropped because i thought the lawyer (and therefore Jared) was going to use Shaun hitting Glassman as a case to bring Jared back. i was relieved that wasn’t where it went. maybe Glassman would have had to press charges or something for it to have been a problem for Shaun?

[transastronautistic]

special(ized) interests in The Good Doctor

The Good Doctor gets some things wrong – a main thing being choosing a non-autistic actor to play an autistic character and having a non-autistic person as the main consultant – but also it gets a lot of stuff right. I really like its depiction of Shaun’s special interest in anatomy!

For autistic people, a special interest (or, for a term I prefer as it sounds less patronizing, specialized interest) is a subject of intense interest to the person – it differs from a typical hobby/interest in intensity or focus, to the point that it could be called an obsession.

For an example, I personally have a “typical” interest in various eras of history – I enjoy learning about them, and will totally read or watch something about them if the opportunity arises; meanwhile, I have a special(ized) interest in the Bible and in linguistics – these are areas of intense and lasting interest to me, subjects that I intentionally seek out very frequently, about which I am always excited, about which I will infodump endlessly when given the chance, and that I can go to when I’m bored, upset, overstimulated, or stressed.

While talking about other topics can be difficult and exhausting, getting to talk about or engage in a special interest is actually energizing to many autistic people. We often retreat to our special interest when we need to recharge.

For more on what a special(ized) interest is, see this article.

Anyhow, on to specialized interests in The Good Doctor: one of Shaun’s specialized interests is clearly anatomy / surgery.

(SPOILER FOR FIRST EP OF THE SHOW AHEAD)

When Shaun’s brother dies when they’re both young teens, Shaun is griefstricken. He has a meltdown in the police car that takes him home, and then shuts down – he doesn’t talk, he doesn’t eat, he probably doesn’t sleep. But Dr. Glassman noticed earlier that Shaun was interested by an anatomy textbook; so Glassman pulls it out and opens it to the page Shaun had been on. Shaun immediately loses himself in the book.

It’s not that his grief over his brother goes away, swallowed up by the special interest; rather, the special interest allows Shaun to survive the grief.

Years later, in the timeframe that most of the show takes place, Shaun has become a surgical resident – his specialized interest has taken him all the way through medical school! It allows him to connect to others on his own terms, getting to talk about topics that he likes to discuss. It allows him to help other people live happy lives, something he is passionate about. And he continues to use that old anatomy book as a comfort item; when a disagreement with Dr. Glassman causes him to retreat into a closet to be by himself, he has the book with him to immerse himself in.

Now, while many autistic people become extremely knowledgeable about and are able to make careers out of their specialized interests, not all of our specialized interests have to be “useful” in that way – they can be just for us, and they’re just as valuable that way!

For instance, the weather channel might be another specialized interest of Shaun’s, as he references it fairly often in the show and perseverated over finding a perfect television for watching it. That’s not a particularly “useful” interest, but Shaun enjoys it and finds enjoyment and comfort in it. That’s what matters.

[transastronautistic]

there needs to be a tag for actually autistic people who watch The Good Doctor. i’m tired of seeing a ton of infantilizing “aww Shaun did a cute thing!” posts from allistics, or allistics going “omg shaun why did you do X thing” when the answer is that it’s an autistic thing...

i should clarify that i think it’s cool lots of allistic people are watching and enjoying the show! but it would be cool to have a tag specifically for autistic folks watching -- we can post positive or negative criticism, headcanons and meta, anything we want, as long as we are actually autistic and actually watch the show.

is there already a tag? if not i propose something like

#autisticwatchingTheGoodDoctor

that’s kind of a long tag so if people have a better idea throw it out there!

edit: i like the suggestion offered by @cena316aa -- #AutTGD since it’s short but still fairly clear what it’s about.

I’m going to start using both #AutTGD and #autisticwatchingTheGoodDoctor and see which one, if either, catches on :)

[transastronautistic]

I’ve heard a few non-autistics hating on Lea and saying she doesn’t “get” Shaun but....as an autistic person that’s not how I feel about her. i’m curious to hear other autistic people’s opinions!

if you are autistic and watch The Good Doctor, pick one of the following for how you feel about Lea and write it in a reply or reblogged comment:

1. I hate her

2. I dislike her

3. I’m not sure how i feel about her / i’m sort of “eh” about her

4. I like her

5. I love her

Please only answer if you are yourself autistic (self-diagnosed folks absolutely included!). Feel free to explain your answer or to leave it as is.

[transastronautistic]

okay so I’m glad that Shaun isn’t in huge trouble for skipping work for a road trip BUT i am also very confused that Shaun isn’t in huge trouble for skipping work for a road trip

[mousetaur]

I’ve decided to watvh The Good Doctor, because recommendations have been high from fellow autistics