In this episode of The Autistic Culture Podcast, hosts Dr. Angela Kingdon and Matt Lowry, LPP dive into the afterlife with NBC’s hit show The Good Place—unpacking its autistic-coded characters, neurodivergent themes, and the profoundly autistic joy of moral philosophy.

🎧 What You’ll Learn:

• Chidi Anagonye as one of TV’s most autistic-coded characters—his special interests, concrete thinking, anxiety, and devotion to personal morality.
• Eleanor Shellstrop as potentially autistic, with her direct communication style, perspective-taking challenges, and trauma-filled backstory (common among late-diagnosed autistic women).
• Jason Mendoza through an ADHD/autistic lens—his monotropic focus and passionate interests.
• Janet’s journey as an AI echoing autistic unmasking: developing preferences, boundaries, and autonomy beyond “the programming.”
• Tahani Al-Jamil’s story as an allegory for masking exhaustion—with real-life parallels to actor Jameela Jamil’s co-occurring conditions.
• Michael the architect’s autistic tendencies—fascination with humans, concrete examples, and system-level thinking.
• Why the show’s obsession with philosophy feels so deeply autistic.
• Around 53:24, Angela spontaneously demonstrates elements of autistic culture in real time (listen for it!).

Resources:

• How to Be Perfect by Michael Schur
• How to be perfect with "The Good Place" creator Michael Schur
• Chidi Anagonye, the Autistic Nerd Character Done Right
• How The Good Place taught moral philosophy to its characters — and its creators
• 5 Moral Philosophy Concepts Featured on The Good Place
• Character analysis It’s literally all of them
• Chidi Autistic traits analysis
• Chidi - I love this line
• I relate to Janet so much
• The Good Place - The Trolley Problem (Episode Highlight)
• Book Club #05: How to be Perfect

Related Episodes: 

Sesame Street is Autistic

The Trouble with Temple Grandin.

🌟 Connect With Us

📱 Follow us on Instagram

🎧 Find us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify

🛍️Our Autism-affirming merch shop

🌐 Learn more at www.autisticculturepodcast.com

🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.