10-21-2007, 06:48 PM
Autism claim draws fire from family, mum
Quote:
Autism claim draws fire from family, mum
NOT AUSTRALIAN: Doctor Sarah Abrahamson, the researcher who believes New Zealand writer Janet Frame may have been autistic, was born and brought up in Christchurch not Australia.
Doctor Sarah Abrahamson never expected to be in the media spotlight but suggesting that author Janet Frame may have been autistic got her more publicity than she bargained for. She speaks to ARWEN HANN.
When The Press ran an article this month about "Australian" researcher Sarah Abrahamson's claim that Janet Frame may have been autistic the newspaper received responses from two families.
One was from Frame's relatives, disputing Abrahamson's claim. The other was from Abrahamson's mother, disputing the description of her daughter as Australian.
She is not. She was born and brought up in Christchurch and so Abrahamson, to her surprise, found herself talking to The Press for the second time in two weeks as we sought to find out a little bit more about the researcher behind the controversy.
She did not object to being called Australian. She has, after all, lived there since 1999 and holds Australian citizenship.
However, she admits the description probably did not help during the minor controversy caused by her article on Frame, published in the latest issue of the New Zealand Medical Journal.
In it she suggested that Frame's three-volume autobiography showed she had high-functioning autism.
The article about one of the country's best-loved writers caught the media's attention and was followed with a rebuke from Frame's family, who dismissed the claim as "ridiculous" and said they were disappointed they had not been told it was being published.
"I did wonder if some people might have wondered what an Australian person was doing talking about a New Zealand author and be a bit upset," Abrahamson says.
"It shouldn't really make any difference though; after all, Janet was a citizen of the world, really. She lived overseas and her books are available there."
Medicine runs in Abrahamson's blood her grandfather was a Christchurch GP and she spent time working in his practice as a receptionist but while she was schooled in Christchurch, completed her medical studies at Canterbury and Otago universities and did a one-year stint as a doctor in Auckland, the 34-year-old has forged her career across the Tasman.
She says the money was not a big factor but the better working conditions were an attraction.
"The main reason I chose to go is that at home (in New Zealand) the hours for junior doctors were so excessive and you don't get paid for all the extra hours," she says.
"I also wanted to do some more exams and I just saw so many people working really hard in New Zealand trying to study and do their full-time doctor's job. People were running themselves into the ground."
She has no immediate plans to return home, having happily settled in Victoria and finding specialist work as a rehabilitation physician working mainly with people who have suffered from brain injuries and strokes.
The ability to specialise is another tick in Australia's box. Fewer opportunities exist in New Zealand for specialists in this area, she says, with most patients being looked after by other medical staff.
It has given her more scope to enjoy life outside medicine tramping, watching movies and reading and a chance to further her studies and specialise.
It was the freedom to specialise and undertake research that sparked Abrahamson's interest in autism spectrum disorders.
"I began to think that there would be a lot of people who would generally have these difficulties but I didn't even know what that would be called. Then I remembered a throwaway line from a first-year psychology book and based on that I picked up a book and started reading about autism spectrum disorder."
That led to Abrahamson doing her own research, of which the Frame article was part.
"I remembered seeing An Angel At My Table in the 1990s and I thought if any famous people showed signs of autism it was Janet as it was presented in the film. I thought people would be interested in the idea that someone could spend nine years in psychiatric institutions and appear to have nothing wrong with them."
She had hoped to raise discussion about autism and similar disorders but says she didn't expect such a strong reaction from Frame's family.
Frame's niece, Pamela Gordon, called it a "discredit to Janet Frame's memory" and said it was a "spurious claim based on no evidence".
"I didn't think someone would say `that's completely wrong and you have no right to say that because you only read her books'," Abrahamson says.
"Everybody is entitled to their opinion. I was really hoping that people in the sector like psychiatrists would take it on board and question whether other people who were believed to have some kind of personality disorder could actually be diagnosed in this way."
Gordon questioned whether it was possible to diagnose someone as autistic simply from reading their books. However, Abrahamson says some of the best-known autistic figures were diagnosed by people who had read their work.
She also says that people with autism spectrum disorder can exhibit a range of symptoms and seem quite different, which may explain why her suggestion that Frame was autistic did not sit well with Gordon, whose own daughter is autistic but displays different symptoms.
Abrahamson 's experiences with the Frame article have not put her off research but she concedes she may "think twice" before tackling other famous characters.
NOT AUSTRALIAN: Doctor Sarah Abrahamson, the researcher who believes New Zealand writer Janet Frame may have been autistic, was born and brought up in Christchurch not Australia.
Doctor Sarah Abrahamson never expected to be in the media spotlight but suggesting that author Janet Frame may have been autistic got her more publicity than she bargained for. She speaks to ARWEN HANN.
When The Press ran an article this month about "Australian" researcher Sarah Abrahamson's claim that Janet Frame may have been autistic the newspaper received responses from two families.
One was from Frame's relatives, disputing Abrahamson's claim. The other was from Abrahamson's mother, disputing the description of her daughter as Australian.
She is not. She was born and brought up in Christchurch and so Abrahamson, to her surprise, found herself talking to The Press for the second time in two weeks as we sought to find out a little bit more about the researcher behind the controversy.
She did not object to being called Australian. She has, after all, lived there since 1999 and holds Australian citizenship.
However, she admits the description probably did not help during the minor controversy caused by her article on Frame, published in the latest issue of the New Zealand Medical Journal.
In it she suggested that Frame's three-volume autobiography showed she had high-functioning autism.
The article about one of the country's best-loved writers caught the media's attention and was followed with a rebuke from Frame's family, who dismissed the claim as "ridiculous" and said they were disappointed they had not been told it was being published.
"I did wonder if some people might have wondered what an Australian person was doing talking about a New Zealand author and be a bit upset," Abrahamson says.
"It shouldn't really make any difference though; after all, Janet was a citizen of the world, really. She lived overseas and her books are available there."
Medicine runs in Abrahamson's blood her grandfather was a Christchurch GP and she spent time working in his practice as a receptionist but while she was schooled in Christchurch, completed her medical studies at Canterbury and Otago universities and did a one-year stint as a doctor in Auckland, the 34-year-old has forged her career across the Tasman.
She says the money was not a big factor but the better working conditions were an attraction.
"The main reason I chose to go is that at home (in New Zealand) the hours for junior doctors were so excessive and you don't get paid for all the extra hours," she says.
"I also wanted to do some more exams and I just saw so many people working really hard in New Zealand trying to study and do their full-time doctor's job. People were running themselves into the ground."
She has no immediate plans to return home, having happily settled in Victoria and finding specialist work as a rehabilitation physician working mainly with people who have suffered from brain injuries and strokes.
The ability to specialise is another tick in Australia's box. Fewer opportunities exist in New Zealand for specialists in this area, she says, with most patients being looked after by other medical staff.
It has given her more scope to enjoy life outside medicine tramping, watching movies and reading and a chance to further her studies and specialise.
It was the freedom to specialise and undertake research that sparked Abrahamson's interest in autism spectrum disorders.
"I began to think that there would be a lot of people who would generally have these difficulties but I didn't even know what that would be called. Then I remembered a throwaway line from a first-year psychology book and based on that I picked up a book and started reading about autism spectrum disorder."
That led to Abrahamson doing her own research, of which the Frame article was part.
"I remembered seeing An Angel At My Table in the 1990s and I thought if any famous people showed signs of autism it was Janet as it was presented in the film. I thought people would be interested in the idea that someone could spend nine years in psychiatric institutions and appear to have nothing wrong with them."
She had hoped to raise discussion about autism and similar disorders but says she didn't expect such a strong reaction from Frame's family.
Frame's niece, Pamela Gordon, called it a "discredit to Janet Frame's memory" and said it was a "spurious claim based on no evidence".
"I didn't think someone would say `that's completely wrong and you have no right to say that because you only read her books'," Abrahamson says.
"Everybody is entitled to their opinion. I was really hoping that people in the sector like psychiatrists would take it on board and question whether other people who were believed to have some kind of personality disorder could actually be diagnosed in this way."
Gordon questioned whether it was possible to diagnose someone as autistic simply from reading their books. However, Abrahamson says some of the best-known autistic figures were diagnosed by people who had read their work.
She also says that people with autism spectrum disorder can exhibit a range of symptoms and seem quite different, which may explain why her suggestion that Frame was autistic did not sit well with Gordon, whose own daughter is autistic but displays different symptoms.
Abrahamson 's experiences with the Frame article have not put her off research but she concedes she may "think twice" before tackling other famous characters.
