i’m autistic and went to hook up with a girl over at her place and she said “oh you’re autistic? you’ll love this” and put on this show and we watched two episodes and then i made up an emergency to leave

Another important thing to note about The Good Doctor is that they work with and promote Autism Speaks, which is a really really harmful organization!!

Biggest problem with the show can be condensed pretty well by what Jarvis said about it early on - this character of Shaun is written like an autistic child not an autistic adult who has lived with autism for 30 years and developed a life and skills and adapted to functioning. The traits he displays are the classic markers of autistic children, which is why some autistic people still relate to them, but there is no way someone who hadn't grown and adapted to living in the world would become a doctor with a wife and children. The show is very odd not because it made up autistic traits but because they portray the adult man as if he is mentally a child, which would not ever be the case with someone who managed to become a professional surgeon.

As an autistic person I completely agree with Jordan's criticism and I'm so happy to hear you talk about that! I wish they started hiring autistic actors for autistic characters instead of making actors literally mock our body language. And I'm so mad that they treat an autistic character as a baby. You can respect people without patronising them.

Edit:
Tw: violence, ableism
also, the thing he is mocking when he is screaming is an autistic meltdown. A very painful and mentally draining experience. Having it in public can be dangerous and may lead to awful reaction from people around you (like violence from adults if you are a child or a literal arrest). It feels cruel and wrong to make an allistic person act out a weird copy of it and portay it like a temper tantrum.

Another weird thing about The Good Doctor is also that its not unheard of for a doctor to be autistic 😭

The bit on autism goes for basically any disability. I remember watching breaking bad and being so happy that they actually cast an actor with cerebral palsy to play Walt Jr. Though RJ Mitte said he had to exaggerate some of his mannerism bc the character’s cp was a bit more severe than his.  
There are so many talented actors out there with disabilities that it’s stupid not to cast them for these roles.

i didnt get diagnosed with autism until i was in my 20s. one thing i've learned about our community is that we can be INCREDIBLY good actors, seeing as we have to mask our autistic traits if we don't want to be ostracized for them. thanks for talking about how goofy this show is

Both in undergrad (a bio or socio-anthropology class) and grad school (sped education masters), we had to watch an episode of The Good Doctor to list all the issues in the episode the prof chose and explain why what happened was either incorrect or implausible and how it harmed actual science and advancement in social understanding and acceptance of autistic people and issues with understandings of anatomy and physiology in pop culture.

I am Autistic and I saw a few minutes of The Good Doctor and couldn't stop crying because it was so insulting and spreads so much dangerous misinformation about Autistics. It hurts so bad knowing that Freddie even works with Autism Speaks. I cannot stop shaking thinking about it.

dude jarvis ur haircut is tripping me out I keep thinking ur me 😂

These two talking about their birthday always gives codependent twins vibes

when you learn that the main actor for the good doctor is a huge supporter of autism speaks the clips make more sense - just mindless weird takes on autism that don't apply

The autistic people have super powers trope is so annoying to me as an autistic person. The new predator movie where they directly say autism is the latest step of human evolution. Idk why it upsets me so much.

the whole “there must be actors with autism” there are! ….now…
the FIRST autistic actor to EVER play an autistic main character was kayla cromer playing matilda in “everything’s gonna be okay” in ONLY 2020, just 3 years ago! the FIRST! and she did amazing and the show is amazing and shows so many versions of what autism looks like (which as an autistic person means so much to me) she’s also playing an autistic character in the new monster high cartoon!
chloe hayden is another autistic actress playing an autistic character (quinni in heart break high) who’s a very realistic portrayal of an autistic person, there’s even a scene where she was a meltdown that was so realistic it triggered me into having one which kinda sucks but also love to see the realism lol

growing up as an autistic person who didn't know they were autistic, i never saw people talk about autistic people with kindness. seeing more and more people actually learn and care about autism makes me feel so happy. we deserve better

So fascinating to hear about the good doctor. I’m 28, autistic and live with my mom (largely bc I’m disabled but also bc inflation/the housing crisis). My mom LOVES this show. I have just chosen not to engage bc I feel like it would melt my brain to watch or try to explain why it’s messed up. I also want to thank y’all for talking about autism and disability bc I know that (unfortunately) it can be a somewhat contentious subject

the consistent bisexual sitting is great representation

jarvis explaining the "I AM A STURGEON" joke made me audibly snort, i did not expect that

The stuff with the trans women being played by cis men is that it happens so often, that at this point I'm even happy when it's at least a cis woman playing the role of a trans woman (which is still not ideal lmao, would much rather have trans women in those roles)

any one else weirdly impressed by Jarvis knowing that J was that 10th letter of the alphabet off top or am I just dumb? like normal people don't just know what number each letter is right? Someone CONFIRM I'M NOT STUPID PLS