What does being different mean?

The good doctor is a medical drama television series. It’s about a surgical resident called Shaun Murphy. He has autism; autism is characterized by troubles with social interaction and communication. He also has savant syndrome, a condition in which someone has certain abilities extremely developed. It is usually related with photographic memory, which he also has.

The story starts when Shaun tries to get a job as a surgical resident, the hospital directorate doesn’t want him. They don’t believe that he is capable of doing the job, even when he has demonstrated his abilities. He had to break all the prejudices that people had about his illness, even when they actually didn’t know in what consisted. He finally got the job, but he had to confront the prejudgments, teasing and mistrust of everyone. His superior didn't let him operate,  his colleagues thought that he was "weird", everybody was expecting him to fail. But he was naive. While all the others were judging him, he just wanted to save lives, he didn't desire bad to anyone, even if they had hurt him. There are some points that made me feel absolutely despicable, Shaun is good by nature, he doesn't lie, he doesn't understand sarcasm, but what people teach him while he works at the hospital is to lie, to shut up and to make wait he is told. I thought "this is what society teaches to the kids? That you have to make bad things like the others to fit in?".

I felt tenderness with some of his reactions, eagerness when he couldn't express what he wanted, anger when he was treated badly. But most of the time Shaun looked just stoic, he didn't express what he felt. But it didn't mean that he was not feeling. He is extremely objective and sometimes he may look as if he doesn´t feel. But it is not true, he feels, he loves, maybe more than we would ever imagine. And that's  what I like the most about this series, it shows us that people with autism are just like us. They may look a bit different, act different but it doesn't mean that they are different. They might have some problems, but they also have unique strengths. Their way of thinking it’s different and it can lead to brilliant ideas that we would have never imagined, as Shaun shows in many occasions. They can teach us a different perspective of life.

P.D. There’s a book called The curious incident of a dog in the nighttime, it is also about a boy with autism, it helped me a lot to understand their way of thinking and feeling.

Luna Henseler Gallego