’Rain Man was the best thing that ever happened to autism,” says psychiatrist Dr Darold Treffert. “No gigantic public education or PR effort could have produced the sensational awareness that Rain Man brought to the national and international radar screen.” Treffert, an expert on autism and savant syndrome, worked on Rain Man as a script consultant, which may explain his view on a film that has become divisive in terms of its impact and influence on perceptions of autism.

When the Oscar-winning screenwriter Barry Morrow had the idea for Rain Man, he had barely heard of the condition. “The word ‘autism’ never appeared in my original screenplay,” he says. “Looking back, Rain Man was never a story about autism. It was a tale of two estranged brothers, their journey and then their fragile redemption.”

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