The Good Doctor Kinda Sucks (but i also love it) 

Thanks for watching. 3 questions: who's your favorite autistic character, who's your least favorite, and why don't you follow me on Instagram? (don't say it's because I never post. We're ignoring that.)

No way! They made a whole show based on the surgeon meme???

The issue with the overrepresentation of savant syndrome is also that people are weirdly unkind to autistic people who don't have it. There's this idea of "well, what's the point of you if you're not a savant." We have to prove that our autism is a super power and can be used by other people or we're worthless to them. It puts an insanely high pressure on all of us, including the people with savant syndrome because if they don't keep performing for other people they get thrown away too.

Freddie’s portrayal of meltdowns and stimming felt very real for me. As an autistic person who also does some acting, I would not want to portray a meltdown because I’d probably end up in a real one.

I just find “Savantism” to be a problematic narrative trope with limited scientific basis. Is Magnus Carlsen a “Savant” because he can win ten simultaneous chess games blindfolded? Is Serena Williams a “Savant” due to unparalleled tennis prowess and genius? The implication of “Savantism” is that genius must be the redeeming superpower that justifies accommodating special needs with dignity and financial expenditure. Atypical, which had plenty of problems, did a better job as a series of leaning less on the trope of Savantism. I could be called “Savant” in some aptitudes, but I remain profoundly challenged and there isn’t any romantic CGI animation validating my unorthodox thinking to an allistic world.

Also, the autistic doctor not understanding someone being trans feels inaccurate considering the higher correlation between autism and non-cis gender identities as compared to non-autistic people. It points to a larger issue with the show; it fails to understand that there is an autistic community.

The good doctor is the show that made me realize that I was autistic. I was in the midst of burnout and I started watching the show and got curious about autism which eventually led me to get a diagnosis. I used to love the show but I just can't look at it the same way again with the knowledge I have now.

For me watching meltdowns on screen isn't even to do with whether the person performing it is autistic themselves or not. I just find it very upsetting because it reminds me of the trauma of experiencing one. I understand why it is important to show non-autistic people what it's like to be autistic and having meltdowns is a big part of that, but I just find it really difficult to watch and would rather not see it.

What has been bothering me about the memes recently was that so many people tried to be allies by criticizing the show, but they only mocked the autistic traits that Shaun Murphy exhibits while the actual points of criticism you mentioned here go mostly unacknowledged. "Why does he talk so weird?" and "Why does he move like C-3PO?" are things that (some) real autistic people have to hear all the time. I don't really want to criticize Highmore's acting too much because I think it's actually pretty good and because I'd end up invalidating all those autistic people who see themselves represented by him. There's also the element of optics in the casting choice. Casting the "psycho" from Bates Motel as your autistic character doesn't look very good even if it was unintentional. The core problem of the show I'd say is that it frames Shaun Murphy as the one autistic character in an ocean of neurotypicals. The traits he exhibits and the character arcs he goes through all make somewhat sense, but they end up framing all of Shaun's traits as universal to autistic people rather than specific to this one character. And it's also strange that it's always Shaun who has to learn and improve and "overcome his autism". Why can't he be the one who is supportive of trans people and some of his colleagues be transphobic and then they shut him down because "he's autistic, he doesn't understand"? That would just as easily fill the plot of an episode and also would be more accurate to reality considering the recent political discourse surrounding autism and trans people. It would also be a fight against ableism that doesn't require Shaun to prove that he is worthy of respect. That's the most frustrating part about the show. Even minor changes like that could already massively improve it. But the way it is is just kinda okay.

as an autistic person whose main special interest is medicine, i honestly really liked the show (though i kinda dropped off.) it gave my family a character to associate w me that wasn't sheldon cooper or rainman. shaun is nowhere near perfect, but he's portrayed as having his own place, a partner, and he isn't perfect! i like that he's complex and not a perfect person. i hate the meme going around tbh as it's mocking a meltdown. i don't like that an allistic actor did it, but allistics laughing at the meme see it as a "cope and seethe" thing, not a man upset with his life's purpose being challenged.

15:35 this scene makes literally no sense, because even if Shaun had 0 knowledge about gender, he'd learn about intersex people in medical school and would therefore know that sex isn't binary and is more complex than that. If any patient gave mixed signals about their biological sex (they were on puberty blockers or on htr already, or anything), if he's the medical genius he's supposed to be, he'd had the right to jump into the conclusion, he's dealing with an intersex person; in case of Quinn, that he's either dealing with klinefelter syndrome or genital masculinization in XX individual; and never would assert the person lying in front of him is "XY male, period"; if that is what the creators think is the "hard fact", they would use a reality check... Or at least to open the textbook Shaun's supposed to have instead of his brain. We learnt this in high-school biology, don't tell me they don't teach it in more depth at universities :))

The eye contact issue is annoying. One of my therapists was like, “your eye contact is getting better, I’m assuming the medicine is working” (I wasn’t taking it) And I’m just thinking to myself, well duh, you’ve brought up my poor eye contact a dozen times by now, so I’m actively working on my eye contact so you will shut up about it. 😂 I swear. And my eye contact is still poor, it’s just not as bad as it was. I can make eye contact with someone while THEY’RE speaking. I’m having a hard time retaining the information but I do try. However, when I speak, I will stare at the floor or the wall because I need to visualize what I’m saying like I’m watch it in animation before my eyes. Otherwise, I can’t speak well. At all. Lol

Hey Foster, I was wondering if you could touch on the topic of being autistic and not getting your driver’s license by choice? Living in a car dependent society, it’s very hard for some autistic people to drive as it’s a very overstimulating process to do. I as an autistic adult get shamed for not having my license yet or showing interest in getting it as it’s a sensory hell for me. And I feel like no one gets it not even my autistic boyfriend who loves driving.

15:15 “I don’t want to see a non-autistic person have a meltdown” same; and also I don’t wanna see an autistic actor be required to do that either. My own meltdowns are incredibly hard to deal with and have ruined goals and burned bridges for me in my life, and to be reminded of those times is like…god damn, please no. I can’t imagine if an autistic actor was asked to perform a meltdown, it would be like asking someone to trigger PTSD on demand. Side comment, gotta “love” how displaying the tragedy of being autistic is so essential to this sort of media. I wanna see more autistic joy; the euphoria of being able to express your thoughts and interests unfettered and feel that others are engaged in the same thing as you. Personally a thing I constantly try to seek for myself. I don’t like sharing my knowledge to “wow” people, it’s because I want to find who’s willing to engage with my thoughts.

I know this wasn't the point of your video, I can't get over that Shaun is a medical savant and in that clip you showed of him being transphobic he talked about XX and XY, like a savant wouldn't know that there are more variants and would hopefully know that there are people who were assigned female at birth and have XY chromosomes.

Shaun's meltdown during that scene reminds me of the ones I used to have as a kid, and I had grew up deeply ashamed of them cause I didn't know why I was like that until much later. But even knowing the reason why now, I still feel guilty and shameful of my past and it's made me go out of my way to suppress any negative emotion lest they end up a big public debacle. It's hard to watch those parts cause I'd get reminded of my past even though I know now that I was having trouble regulating intense emotions. It's even harder when I see other autistic people denounce his meltdown as unrealistic and say things like "I would never do that even if I was in this situation and I'm autistic!" "That's not a meltdown, that's a temper tantrum! I know because I'm actually autistic!" Like cool, I'm glad you never had to experience a public meltdown or experience a meltdown with that intensity, but that does happen to autistic people in real life though. I feel disheartened that even our own community can make us feel ashamed of being autistic when it's not just the "good" parts of autism being shown. I'm glad to see more autistic people with similar experiences speaking up against this part of the whole meme in more recent videos about this show. Even though I don't have meltdowns to that extent anymore, it still makes me wary about people's intentions when they joke and meme about that part.

So many times I've run into my imposter syndrome because I'm most definitely not a savant. I hate that I've internalized what people have said to me over the years when I share my Autism diagnosis, ("But you don't look autistic..." "I have a cousin who's autistic & you're nothing like him") Shoot, I do it to myself unprovoked by comparing myself to other ND people in my family. All my blathering is to say thank you for sharing your experiences and insights.

The reason why they don't raise plot points that would make people uncomfortable is because the show's aim is to make money, not tell a good story. Deep lessons on how _YOU SPECIFICALLY_ (the audience member, not you, specifically) are an able-ist asshole do not sell well, which threatens the bottom line which is why the show exists in the first place. Hence, the only way we get shows on the devious forms of ablism is if the people in charge don't actually care about making money.

Have you ever seen the original Korean version of The Good Doctor? (It's called Good Doctor, dropping the "The".) I honestly think that the culture around disability and psychology in general in South Korea, as well as the laws around it, informs a lot about the way that the American adaptation has ended up playing out, and having watched the first season or so of it back when it first aired, I feel like a lot of it hasn't been adapted much according to American society, which I theorise is largely what gives it that sense of incongruity. I honestly much, much preferred the representation of autism in the Korean drama as another autistic person, despite it being pretty outdated now. It had a lot more of a heart to me, and I think it gave me a lot more to think about-as well having more of a beginning, middle, and end allowing for there to be a lot more obvious character development, and a cute romantic arc. He's a lot more of an objectively good and kindhearted character, but his strong sense of justice and his honesty does still land him in a lot of trouble sometimes. It's not perfect, but I honestly really, really loved it. Another, more recent show I would recommend is A Kind Of Spark. It's British, so it might be difficult to watch in other places, but it's autistic-acted (with multiple autistic characters, and at least one autistic actress intentionally cast in a non-autistic role), autistic-written, and focuses especially on autistic girls-it's a lot that I feel like people have been asking for, but I haven't seen a whole lot of buzz about it yet. I thought it was a sweet and wholesome watch without feeling like it was veering into inspiration porn territory, and I'd say it's worth a watch.

This is really random but I’m on the spectrum and the best autistic rep I’ve ever seen was in a South Korean Legal Drama. I don’t know why that is but I related to Extraordinary Attorney Woo so much despite being in a completely different part of the world. Watching that has been super important to me…

thanks for including that acab screen, feels like I'm crazy sometimes seeing everybody I follow online disagree with that

Back 8 years ago when my eldest child was diagnosed a family member asked what my child was gifted in. When we told them that our child wasn’t a savant they couldn’t understand. I watched the first few seasons but the infantilisation of Shaun (or ‘Shauny’) got on my nerves as an autistic person in my 30’s who has been infantilised too many times.

My boyfriend has been watching this show to overcome fainting at the sight of needles in order to be there for me at the doctor. While watching there was a point where diagnosis words were flashing on screen. One of those words was "Dermatomyositis," which I have. Weve never seen it mentioned before and all I get is a word flashing by on a screen. So many people are invisible in this world as we try to set a standard for what a human being should be.

"You may know him as A Surgeon" frickin sent me

Sheldon Cooper is an interesting case here, because while he does display a lot of autistic (and ADHD in some cases) traits, the show never confirmed him to have autism or disabilities of any kind, except for OCD, I think. After googling both Sheldon and his actor, well obviously the actor doesn't have any disabilities himself, but the creators of Big Bang Theory also stated that Sheldon actually doesn't have autism (nor ADHD), which is... strange? But at the same time interesting. So the show doesn't claim Sheldon to have autism nor being a savant, that's simply something we viewers determine through our own analysis of the show and characters, which I think is an interesting approach to representation of disabilities on TV. They do say, "Show, don't tell." That's one of the reasons why I love cartoons so much. There are plethoras of neurodiverse characters in cartoons, but they are pretty much never stated in-show to have disabilities, but still display the traits, so it's up to the viewers to decide if they "check enough boxes" to be seen as autistic or something else, since allistic people *can* have autistic traits without actually having the disorder themselves, but also there are autistic people with more or less of these traits, and of course those that mask their traits and those who can't mask. Though it would be interesting to see a kids cartoon introduce a character with realistic autistic traits (preferably of an average autistic person and not a savant) and also confirm they are autistic, but also show them to be pretty much a "normal" person and not have super powers, just being nerdy in some things. I wonder how well that would be received? Considering Transformers EarthSpark introduced the first nonbinary Transformer and even said the word "nonbinary" in the show, and then a lot of conservatives raged about representation of enbys in a kids show (despite NB not being the character's whole personality, they are more of a scientist and owl, stealthy ninja-like hero, only introduces themself as they/them 3 times throughout 10 episodes), I can imagine conservatives would also rage if a confirmed autistic character were to appear in a kids cartoon, regardless of how ridiculous that rage is. I feel similarly about The Good Doctor as you do, I like the show, but it also makes me uncomfortable sometimes, like during the "mind textbook" moments and during the meltdowns.

I wanna see a portrayal of an autistic person who was labeled as a "savant" as a kid and is going through an identity crisis as they realize they weren’t the magical genius everyone told them they were

I would really love to hear your take on Extraordinary Attorney Woo. It has some of the same problems as The Good Doctor, but I think it handles everything quite a bit better.

Finally a review of this show from an the point of view of an autistic person! I’ve been waiting for someone to address this show coz it’s bugged me for so long how this show represents autism

I’m an autistic and former teacher. The old days of measuring intelligence with IQ tests are mostly dead and have been in the education and scientific communities for many years now. Once it became undeniable that IQ scores meant nothing when it came to application of mind power they were abandoned by reputable institutions. Whenever someone autistic or otherwise talks about how intelligent overall they are or another is not, especially mentioning IQ compared to others, it is a great red flag that they don’t know what they are talking about. Today most use words like Functionality to replace Intelligence as it’s more accurate. On a side note, old school shows, movies, radio dramas, and pulp novels often used the trope of the hyper-intelligent scientist or professor who was ultra-brilliant in their field but couldn’t be trusted to be alone without burning down their home making tea or couldn’t be trusted to interact with other average people long before autism was a diagnosis for them. The autistic savant trope is just a carryover of the absent minded professor tropes and mad scientist tropes, which are as old as literature so writers already have a blueprint for high functioning autistic. Meanwhile the lower functioning autistics don’t pop up as much in stories historically and even then stories like Billy Buddy by Melville and many of Hans Christian Anderson’s characters like The Little Mermaid are dismissed as being labeled autistic because it’s considered bigoted by most typical people, and some of our people, to point out low functioning autistic characters as being autistic. Even though Anderson was obviously autistic himself. One day people will realize Ernie’s husband Bert is the perfect medium example of an average autistic with strengths and weaknesses in literature.

Also, it kinda hurts with this meme blowing up. I started watching TGD when it first came out and back then I never knew I was autistic. I watch the show with new eyes now and I think the first few seasons are the toughest for obvious ableism. I think when I started to relate to how Shaun reacted in certain situations I felt like I was watching myself on screen (before and after diagnosis). Having not only other people in our community make fun of that scene (as someone who literally does and will repeat words or phrases when I'm starting to meltdown) but neurotypicals as well was ROUGH to my mental health.

Hearing you talk about a Good doctor made me think about Korean series called "Attorney Woo young Woo" and that representation really well was done there. I did not appreciated that fact as much as i should

On the internalised abelism. Damn I fell kinda called out. I am autistic and I caught myself wanting more "normal" autistic characters. Although some autistic people are really way more normal than those TV shows tend to suggest and very high functioning autistic people are also not represented a lot. So it is not purely internalised abelism. Having more independent autistic characters would represent autistic people, which can also get told "that they don't look autistic", which happens a lot to specifically female autistic people. I also think that me saying, that I don't want to be seen as completely disabled like some severe cases of autism is entirely abelist. It's just inaccurate to assosiate me with a person, that can't talk, can't hear more than two sounds at a time etc... So while I get the abelism part about seeing disabled people as lesser, not wanting to be seen as severly disabled, simply because I really am not severly disabled is not at all abelist, when I think about it.

I completely agree with everything you talk about in the video, and while i do think the show has evolved somewhat over time it still has a long way to go for all the reasons you mention. One of my biggest gripes with the show is Shaun's mentor, Dr Glassman. He is supposed to be the one person that understands Shaun the most, always in his corner, but he's such a bad ally! He's always pushing Shaun to get out of his comfort zone so he can "learn" (read: be less autistic), frequently loses patience with him, frikken disappears for no reason when he thinks Shaun should "not need him" (this makes me anxious to even think about). Its ok for a mentor figure to be flawed but he's literally just a bigotted, stubborn old man with no character growth.

I'm not on instagram, I went cold turkey on all social media a couple of years ago. My ADHD brain (and general job performance/managing my life) is better off staying away from that dopamine trap. I love the content you are putting out. I was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult following a job change that was not a good fit for how my brain does and does not work. I think youtube put this on my radar, because of all the general neurodivergent educational content I've been consuming since my diagnosis. I never thought I would watch more than a few of these videos, but I love the way you present the information. You are simultaneously very real, while delivering really well-structured and informative content. As a former public defender (now legal aid attorney) I have had plenty of clients who either were autistic themselves or needed assistance relating to the needs of autistic family members- I have definitely seen some of the issues you have discussed relating to parents of children with autism and general stereotypes of autistic persons. Your channel has been a really good resource and motivation for me to better educate myself. I've never been diagnosed as autistic, and I don't foresee myself ever seeking that diagnosis. With that said, I definitely have my quirks that may just be ADHD or even somewhere on the tail end of "the spectrum" or maybe just some form of generalized "neurodivergence" (My apologies if my language is insensitive or inaccurate, please correct me/educate me as might be appropriate.) I wonder what your thoughts are on the utility of the buckets/diagnoses we use? When are they helpful? When are they not? Where is the line between an autism diagnosis and someone who is allistic but still struggles with many of the same things that autistic persons struggle with? What does the venn diagram for ADHD and Autism look like? Sorry for the tangent. I just wanted to express my appreciation for your channel. I look forward to your next video.

i really appreciate your point about higher intelligence autistics not wanting to be associated with people that have a below average intelligence, i genuinely think people really fail to mention that in the representation debate. overall, great video! i am curious, have you seen heartbreak high? chloé hayden plays an actually autistic character, and i love her so much, genuinely a comfort character. there's also the show 'a kind of spark', that one also has great canon rep. are you planning to make a video on good rep in the future? have a good day!

I think that with celebrities and other public figures that support Autism Speaks, it's about ignorance on their and their PR team's end. It breaks my heart to know Freddie, Gaga, and so many more "support" them and it's hard to tell to what extent. Did they ignorantly not research, or do they know what they've supported in the past and how wrong it is? None of it is an excuse by any means though.

My favorite ableist comment is “You are a waste of materials, and space.” Two girls said something similar to me at a water park ( I am in a wheelchair ) my autistic friend was holding my hands so I could walk to the water slides that my friend shouldn’t help me because I will never get better I am just glad they didn’t realize that she WAS ALSO DISABLED because if they said something to her I would’ve done some damage

I had the misfortune of overhearing a conversation of classmates debating whether someone’s self id as autistic was valid and they said “she can’t have autism because she doesn’t have any special talent”.

I'm an autistic scientist but I can honestly say, I've only met one autistic person out of all the ones I've met (which is many) who I'd say had savant syndrome (sadly, he passed in 2020). Being intelligent, skilled and autistic just doesn't feel that special. I met 3 non-autistic people with eidetic memory though! Side note: I hate people online accusing others of faking more than I do those who diagnose others online. If you're healthy and able bodied, it isn't as devastating to be constantly accused of having BPD as someone with MS being bombarded with hatred because they *might* be faking.

Only about a minute in and I wanted to share. I watched the original Korean drama and the Japanese adaptation and quite enjoyed both(even though the Korean one really did not do good with language, calling autism and illness etc) TGD started airing at a time where I was recovering from burnout and having the show releasing weekly helped me find some routine and joy. But at this point I'm so much more invested in other characters, just not Shaun. Like. I'm so over the white straight attractive autistic savant trope. Personally I really loved that the Asian versions as a whole represented the autistic character differently from Shaun, with more struggles to speak, more awkward body language and stims, which I always related to way more than Shaun.

When he gets the meltdown because of work overload and the doubt towards Lea, I GOT IT! That meltdown was the one that made me realize, what “box“ I fitted in (been working with autistic diagnosticians for a half decade) Those meltdowns looked and feelt just as severe as mine - I knew I had adhd, but had been doubting the asd for 3-4 years, convincing my self it was only the adhd… But right there and then, I got it. This is the reason, im falling so much more apart - now after this realisation, finnally I can start to heal and recover

"My brother in avoiding eye-contact" is hilarious. Fuck puzzle-piece symbols (specifically, and in general), our symbol should be an eye, looking somewhere other than at the viewer!

thank you so much for this video! i too love/hate this show; it has some very charming moments. but sometimes i find myself praising the writers for getting very basic things right, like i’ll get swept up by something and think “oh, that’s so thoughtful and/or inclusive” when in reality it’s just bare-minimum powerpoint DEI slideshow type stuff. shallow and performative; it feels less sincere and more . . . _mandatory._ anyway, you perfectly summarised so many of the things that bother me, and extra tomatoes to Freddie Highmore for promoting Autism Speaks! 🍅🍅🍅 has nobody told him, or is he just not listening???

i’ve never heard the term inspiration prn and it just put into words something that has always made me feel so icky that i just couldn’t describe. thank you for sharing that!

I watch quite a few RU-vid shows on autism as three of my children and I are autistic. Yours is my favorite I really can relate to your criticism of moms who continue with the "savant" myths. Since I'm 51 they are my peer group. When the word "gifted" in reference to their child I leave. I book it almost as fast as I do when someone tells me they're a flat earther.😣

i need to say how much i loved this video you said so many things ive tought about before mainly the one about autistic people themselves being so inconsiderate with thinking "well i dont relate to this character so its bad rep" makes me insane

The character in the show that deserves a spin off is the lawyer that sean hired. She has OCD and you see (visually) the struggles she goes through on a daily basis and her boss being frustrated with her, but through communication understand each other. Her boss even gets contempt in court to help the lawyer due to the squeaking of the chair being uneven. She does this because she knows the lawyer is great and has potential to do well and wanted to stand up for her. I think this character is what people wanted through Sean.

I hate portrayals of the "mind palace" because it's become such a hacky trope. Neurotypical people also never portray it right, because they frame it as a superpower. At the same time, I have a mind palace. It just sits there, hears any music playing anywhere, and if I have to sit with it for long enough I end up picking apart every lyric and instrumental element. It was very annoying when I used to work Christmases at a department store. And maybe even if I hear a snatch of it I end up rotating it around my head. That's not a superpower. It kinda sucks. "I get my peaches down in Georgia, eh, I get my weed from California, eh" - I have spent so much time with that lyric. It won't leave me alone, it's so inane. The entire song "Remix to Ignition" sometimes just swims up in my head. At the same time, I can remember every note in "En Gallop" by Joanna Newsom. Focusing on it, picking it apart, really helped me in a crisis. Noble Beast by Andrew Bird is an incredibly comforting experience. System of a Down and Rage Against the Machine and Nine Treasures *send me.* To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar and Animism by Tanya Tagaq are transcendent experiences to me. So it's good and bad. The mind palace is real, and strong, and my friend but it's not a superpower. It's just something the brain does if you're a highly visual thinker. Why can't they get it right?

Actually the trope about visual thinking was really helpful for me during explaining how my brain and memory works. Big thanks for that.

"You may also know him as A Surgeon [cut to meme]" fucking KILLED me on the spot, i choked on my food 😭

19:23 THANK YOU, do you know how annoying it is for me when other people on the spectrum say that representing people with autism needing help is a bad thing annoys me? I need help a lot of times with social cues and I struggle a lot with issues that allistic people don’t. Anyways love your videos :)

For characters, can you do some on: Lucas Wolenczuk from 'Seaquest DSV', Fry from 'Futurama', Darwin from 'The Amazing World of Gumball', River Tam from 'Firefly', Pacey Witter from 'Dawson's Creek', Buck from '9-1-1', some of the characters from 'Degrassi' and Tyler Down from '13 Reasons Why'? Personally, I believe they're autistic because of some traits.

Whenever Shaun does this textbook brain i say "go go magic autism brain" and then get instantly sad because i didnt get magic autism brain 😅

you've so quickly become one of my favorite creators on this platform. thank you!

This video is so amazing, I could watch your channel all day.

🎶 Like a surgeon… HEY! Cuttin’ for the very first time 🎶

Ooof you’re spot on about the way this and many shows present ableism. Encouraging viewers to examine their own actions and reactions is a dangerous road to do down. That’s a shame as people need to examine their own perceptions and interactions.

Good video, I agree with a lot of what was said. It is so obvious that such series were written by neurotypical people. Someone who would have done a little research would have discovered that precisely among autistics there are quite large percentages of non-binary people or other "non-straight normal" people and the same for autism enough for me to even start talking about them. But what do I know? I'm autistic so I probably don't understand the social complexity of the series and surprisingly I'm not its target audience either. Regarding representation I love and hate: Abed Nadir and Sheldon Cooper (and in my opinion I don't even need to say who is which)

I've never seen the good doctor. However, Freddie Highmore is a great actor! I've never seen him in anything bad. At least that I'm aware of.

love this analysis 👏 would definitely be curious on your thoughts on the most recent seasons because they do touch on the topics of ableism and accessibility more (usually with physical disabilities tho not intellectual)

I very much enjoy the way that you speak and this is the first video I have seen from you. I am also autistic and this video made me subscribe. Also your shirt.. I want it. It’s very good.

Love this video!! your vibe is my favorite on the internet, I love how candid you are, it's genuinely refreshing. 🖤💚🖤

I have nothing to add right now other than that I love this video and you're completely right, and thank you for making it. x

“No is an English word, not a social cue” THIS THIS THIS

I really appreciate this more nuanced take. I have a lot of frustration with the way the complaints about the show are put. Like, it usually does seem to be complaining about him having support needs, or honestly, appearing autistic. I finally broke and watched the meltdown scene that kept getting memed. I’m thrilled for people who never have their scripts break down and never get stuck repeating the only words they can get out, which is exactly what I saw happening, but that for sure ain’t me.

Your sarcasm is so funny and off the cuff 😂😂😂 16:45

I loved your little anti-transphobe moment, like I've totally felt like doing that on my art instagram. 😂 I also adore this show; I relate to Shaun a lot and I think he's a good portrayal of an autistic character. What's disturbing to me is watching my family member who watches the show with me be completely oblivious to Shaun's autism and be super critical of it, which can feel so hurtful. I need to watch your autism speaks video though becauase I had no idea what that organization even was until now.

I will say that I relate tp Sean's way of visualising things in his head. I can see things in my mind and imagine how things might occur. One of my SpIns is evolution and althoughh I don't have the communication skills to explain the processes, I can visualise in my head how strructures like the eye formed. I can literally see it in my mind. And i can imagine vividly how other things evolved and developed too.

I went to the er sick with Pneumonia several years ago, and the nurses asked if i was on drugs. It didn't even make sense at the time,. I couldn't figure out why they asked me that until now. Thanks for clearing that up lol. @9:45

I absolutely love listening to you, your thoughts and your opinions! Never stop sharing your mind!!! ❤

Thanks for doing your research, and putting so much care into this.

As a physician with a toddler son who I believe is autistic, I appreciate your channel immensely. When I was a freshman In college I was playing video games.. you are making money from this . Kudos to you

I think that I should probably watch a few episodes before I really comment on the show but I did have reservations about the premise. The medical field has many autistic doctors in its ranks. Many of those MDs mask really well, and some who don't are just accepted as nerds among nerds. It surprises me that it should be seen as strange that there are autistic people in science based professions. When I watch "House MD" I see that character as autistic and a better rendition of the traits. What I like about it is that House is depicted as a relatable person who is going through tough times and has a hard time connecting with other people.

“No is an English word, not a social cue” was brilliant

I find his transphobia especially bad because doctors have a lot more scientific education than the general population and more advanced biology shows that there's more than just two sexes or combinations of chromosomes! It's the grade 6 version of biology that he's using!

Side note, I was distracted by what you were saying when you were hand stimming because it became a nice visual stim. xD

"No is an english word, not a social cue" 👏 whatta line

I've never been mistaken for being high before, but I have had loss prevention follow me a few times at stores because of my odd movement. 😮

Would love to hear you talk about Atypical more

I wish autism was being a super genius. I can’t even think of math. Like I’m literally unable to think of adding numbers in my head. And these shows make it seem like autistic people can just hallucinate math in front of them 😭

17:51 i love that you said this because YES! This is something i try to talk about because autistics can be targeted by alt right groups online and its important for autistics to realize that "strong sense of justice" just means hard-headed (not degregatory, but like just hard to change your mind about whats right and wrong). it doesnt meant "on the left always"

15:40 just did not hold back

7:00 thanks for this thought. I never thought about this.

Thank you, I have high support needs and I need a (almost) full time assistant in school

Like when I got diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder and my doctor started saying how it makes sense cause I am very creative and artistic and tons of Bipolar people are great artists! Like thanks, now I'm not proud of it anymore since apparently I'm only good at art cause I'm mentally ill. Yay.

My one thing that I feel like people should focus more on is that a actor portraying autism doesn’t need to be autistic (although that would be preferred) I fully believe that the main writer of that character should be. That’s the reason why abed from community was such a cool icon because the writer is autistic

Got diagnosed with autism. Parents immediately started watching this show because 'he's autistic like you! Look how realistic' (which was great cus i have issues with gore). They looked at Savants, told me that's what autism was, clearly believed that themselves, and expected that from me. (I am not a savant. I have things i am really good with, things i have huge interest in, but that's ASD, ADHD, and natural interests in things, yk, as a person.) Kinda forgot about that part of my life. Huh. I've also met a lot of people who define autism AS being a savant, so, thanks for clearing that up. Also: I can dog on said paeents because they suck, so dw.

Hi, great video! Watching the show I was always confused about how on earth he didn't know about trans people. And additionally there are syndromes like XXX XYY X0 or XY with a damaged Y that doesn't express itself sooo. Also I'm not autistic but personally the meltdown scenes are very hard to watch. I have anxety and sometimes when multiple things come up at the same time I feel overwelmed and I can't do anything but cry in my room. I know it's not the same thing but meltdowns are hard to watch for me.

Genuinely thought you loved car alarms for a split second

Oh so I'm not the only one that's had that issue with a cop (not surprising haha) glad a show highlighted it then even if overall the show isn't great. I mean, I remember only like five or so years back I had a friend hang out with me all night so we ended up leaving the house and were still out in the early hours of the morning. I won't get into too many details of what actually happened, but essentially while we were talking two guys came up to us asking directions and if they could get a ride to X location. They then hung around us awhile before asking if we'd like to join them, I was super uncomfortable (thanks autism) and could hardly speak but tried to hint that it wasn't a good idea to my friend but she wanted to and as much as I still feel awful for it today I said hell nah to that, declined and walked back home. I was renting a room from my mother at the time so when I got back I just popped my head in her room to let her know my friend had gone with some guys and to not panic if she hears someone coming into the house cause I'd hidden a spare key for my friend. Well now to the point. Cut to later in the morning when my mother wakes me calling me downstairs because she'd called the cops and they wanted to talk to me. (Apparently they'd actually been kidnappings happening in our area, I was unaware) This one lady cop that was there, was *awful* despite being completely caught off guard I was more than happy to try and help, I was so worried about my friend but she was so hostile to me right off the bat that my autistic traits were just pouring out of me like I was a popped balloon. She seemed to take particular offense to my lack of eye contact, insisting to my mother that I was hiding something and telling her, with me right there, that I'd be in serious trouble if I didn't confess and she needed to help them "get it out of me" (she thought I knew where my friend was and was covering it up, for context) There was also an issue with some texts where her father after harassing my number out of a mutual friend of ours asked me where she was as well as asking things about me and my friend asked me not to tell him anything and I didn't, for various reasons. The cop was convinced this was intentionally malicious rather than...Whatever it was that made me decide this was okay. I get I wasn't fully in the right by doing this but my friend seemed so distressed when she asked it felt like the right thing at the time, regardless of what social norms said. It was also pretty fun, when the cops "left" I decided to walk to another friend's apartment hoping my friend might have gone to visit her. As soon as I left my house the cops confronted me again lmfao, they'd been sitting in their car watching my house to see if I left, convinced I'd sneak off to where my friend was hiding. I told them where I was going and they drove me there (essentially blowing their own operation really, what if I had lied?) Anyway, long story short while I was there my mother called, my friend had shown up and was fine. I had a meltdown and everyone at my friend's place (including that one cop) looked at like I was a freak :) It turned out the cop knew who my friend was, apparently she had a reputation for "disappearing from her home" and "wasting police time" so she judged me based on her misconception of my friend and assumed my autistic traits were just confirmations. My friend's reasoning for disappearing so much were wanting to get away from her over controlling, emotionally abusive parents but I guess my bud knew she'd be wasting her time trying to explain that to a cop that had already made up her mind about her situation. So, I obviously wasn't her only target. Phew. Sorry for this giant rambly probably barely readable mess anyway guys guess I've wanted to get that off my chest for awhile even if no one can read the whole thing haha.

Inspirational-Corn 😂 I must admit,....😂 you are inspirational.🤪

good vid. been wanting to watch someone who is on the spectrum speak about this show.

I’m sorry I can’t stop thinking of Connor Murphy from deh every time you say Sean Murphy 😭😭😭

I discovered I'm autistic in my 40s, recently. Masking is second nature, though i didn't know it for a long time. I listened to books, listened to autistic people online. Some of my favourite books are by Peter Wharmby who recommended "the reason I jumped" by Naoki Higashida. Naoki is a non speaking autistic author. When I listened to his book, I related to him more than i could have guessed. I also find Shaun Murphy relatable in various ways (definitely not the savant part). I guess those who feel autistic people should be seen as low support/high intelligence/etc... are missing out on some of the community. We're all different but we have a lot in common too, no matter our skills or support needs.

I know it isn’t related but I loved Eddie Redmaynes portrayal of autism in Newt Scamander, although Eddie is not autistic himself but his brother ist

Oh someone i knew brought up Sheldon every time i mentioned my autism :| It annoyed the hell out of me Because i am not Sheldon. She also copied my symptoms and used the label to get away with shitty behavior and bad jokes :(( Like I'm not saying we should invalidate people, but it was clear as day I hope she gets help because i am convinced she has something going on

This is so random but I'm watching and enjoying this video and then I noticed the rainbow guy in the back and I love itttttttttttt just wanted you to know lol

Hi Foster! I just started watching your channel and I think it’s really cool! Background: I am an undiagnosed trans guy, in high school and I am pretty sure I have ADHD and I think I might have autism but idk about that. One thing that I use when I feel uncomfortable or if the senses aren’t sensing correctly is my headphones, but recently my dad said I use my headphones excessively (I disagree) and that I can’t bring them into grocery stores (I used to do this a lot bcz it looks less weird that the weird stims I do). I tried explaining to him why I use headphones and he didn’t believe me because I didn’t act this way when I was younger. What do I do? Maybe talking to him more might help, but also how can I deal with the actual issues that caused me to use headphones? Sorry for the long comment!

the only meltdown scene i remember after trying to un-remember the entire show was the robbery where he was able to use his mouth words

How recently were Freddie Highmore's promotions with Autism Speaks?