Aspies For Freedom

From Schafer report
Monday, January 24, 2005                          Vol. 9  No. 12
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LETTERS

On Autisticism

     "[Those with real autism] find it less than helpful when others, like
the Don't-Cure-Us bunch spread the word that autism ain't so bad anyway and
demand "don't treat us or cure us!"  And the services bureaucrats gleefully
respond, "sure, no problem!" Commentary -L. S."

     Back in 1995, I first encountered a group of Asperger's patients who
were pushing the idea of autism as a culture. At the time, I recognized that
they were technically incorrect, but my thought was, "Live and let live,
whatever turns your crank." Unfortunately, in recent months, this group of
misguided people has grown militant enough to be causing harm to our
children, and this I cannot stand idly by and watch. A lawyer representing
one of these people stood up in the Supreme Court of Canada and tried to get
the Court to legally bar parents from seeking treatment for their own
children. Let's look at the claims, and the facts.
     First of all, it is very simple to show that autism is not and cannot
be a culture. There are many recognized criteria that describe and define
culture, one of which is the sharing of a language. Children with autism not
only do not have a common language, but gathered in a room and left to their
own devices, they do not communicate with each other at all. Only after
treatment will the vast majority possibly have the ability to converse; only
at that point can they join a culture of any kind. The second defining
characteristic of a culture is generational transmission, and again autism
falls short of the mark, as it is not transferred in any direct form from
generation to generation.
     So where do the autism-as-culture people get this concept? They rely
on two other "culture" battles. First is the case of the deaf. It can be
debated that those with hearing deficits share a culture since they do share
a language - sign language - and it can also be argued that deafness has
generational transmission, since some deafness is genetic and can be passed
from parents to children. The second area where the autism-as-culture
movement leans is upon the "culture of disability" movement, which avers
that the entire group of disabled people are part of a single culture
because of the way they are treated by society at large. We could argue that
children with autism might be able to join this culture of disability, but
only after treatment, because only then do they have the ability to
communicate.
     In this unfortunate battle that is brewing between parents of children
with autism and the autism-as-culture mythmakers, the most unfortunate
problem is that these so-called, self-proclaimed "autistics" are not
autistic at all. Some of them may suffer from Asperger's Syndrome, but even
that is doubtful. It has been observed by some of the most respected
diagnosticians in the autism world that the loudest proponents of this myth
clearly evidence traits and abilities whose absence are the defining
characteristics of autism. To put it simply, untreated children with autism
are incapable of the very activism these so-called "autistics" demonstrate.
     If people with Asperger's Syndrome, who already have the language
necessary to join the culture of disability, wish to do so, that is their
right. But to attempt to deny our children with autism the chance to be as
articulate as they are is criminal. This group needs to stop masquerading as
autistics, and to stop their attempts to deny our children their one hope to
attain the ability for self-advocacy these people are lucky enough to have.
     - Sabrina Freeman skfreeman@featbc.org

First of all, it is very simple to show that autism is not and cannot
be a culture. There are many recognized criteria that describe and define
culture, one of which is the sharing of a language. Children with autism not only do not have a common language, but gathered in a room and left to their own devices, they do not communicate with each other at all.

Can they not see that it is ALL the members of a culture that define it, not just the children. We do share a language and communicate in our own style, look at how communication online is a huge part of our lives for so many of us. It is my only time of social communication, being isolated in real life, and this online community is invaluable.

The second defining characteristic of a culture is generational transmission, and again autism falls short of the mark, as it is not transferred in any direct form from generation to generation.

:shock: Baffling....have they not heard of the fact that autism is genetic???
Have they seen the latest report that over 90% of autism is genetically inherited?

what pedantic old tripe this is!

not "technically correct" to talk of autistic culture etc.... autistic culture is happening right here on this page, and what we see here is culture clash....

Many disabled atheletes in wheelchairs are undoubtedly fitter and stronger and more able in many ways than those who walk on legs of their own,  but no one would deny them their right to speak for the more grieviously disabled.

The writer of this  humbug overlooks the fact that florid childhood behaviours like echolalia, rocking and extreme perseveration are often mitigated by time.

SK Freeman continues his pompous tirade:  It has been observed by some of the most respected diagnosticians in the autism world that the loudest proponents of this myth clearly evidence traits and abilities whose absence are the defining characteristics of autism. So we see there is "an autism world"  but no "culture" to inhabit it!  And  who are its anonymous "respected diagnosticians?" employees of the Judge Rotenberg Center perhaps?

If ASDs are not a disease, and are removed from the APA DSM as homosexuality was, then clearly no health insurance pay-outs are owed to the parents of ASD children.  Need we look further for an explanation of some parents' hostility to our ideas in the USA? their seemingly greater hostility in America than in England, where some vestiges of the Welfare State still remain?  without health insurance pay-outs the entire raison d'etre of the Judge Rotenberg Center - making money out of old rope - would come to an end overnight.

Stella