By Kayhan Parsi

The Good Doctor recently debuted on ABC.  Billed as an unconventional medical drama, it features an autistic surgical resident, Dr. Shaun Murphy, played by Freddie Highmore.  As a parent of an autistic adolescent, I welcome more varied depictions of autistic individuals in popular culture.  Unfortunately, the trailer for the show concerned me, as it played up some now familiar tropes in depicting individuals with autism.  Dr. Murphy is not only autistic but is a savant as well.  The autistic savant is an irresistible cliché for creators of film and television programs.  For example, Dustin Hoffman’s depiction of Raymond in Rain Man is the granddaddy of savants in popular culture.  Raymond was able to count cards at an incredible level, something his estranged brother (played by Tom Cruise) tried to exploit to his own advantage.  The savant trope also reared its head in the recently released Netflix series Atypical featuring an adolescent male with autism (played by Keir Gilchrist).  Although he doesn’t exhibit the kind of genius-level savant characteristics that Dr. Murphy displays, Sam in Atypical goes to a mainstream school, holds down a part-time job, and is struggling with dating…
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