Perhaps we should take care not to endorse any particular medical or psychiatric view or explanation of our status, since history shows that these theories and explanations are subject to sometimes revolutionary change, total reverse or revision, whereas the fact that we are here and not always well treated does not change.

For example, when I was a small child in the 1950s, and said to have Kanner's Autistic Psychopathy, the explanations offered were all in terms of Freudian theory, and many books and papers were written endorsing this wholly false view.

As we have seen with the recent MMR farago, the intensity of popular belief about the origins of ASDs is no sure guide to their truth or falsehood.

In the Freudian explanation, which was thought to be "scientific" at the time, even ancient Greek legends were incorporated into the explanation -that of the Oedipus Complex - and the fallacy so general that no one noticed how unsound it was to incorporate mythological material into a scientific rationale.

Worrying ourselves over nosology - the classification of diseases by and for the benefit of doctors - does not really help us either. Much agonising about the various diagnostic criteria in the American Diagnostic and Statistical Manualcould be avoided if we remembered that one of its principle functions is to form a basis of justification for private health care insurance payments which dominate American medical practice.

The fact is that we exist, and have a need for social recognition and fair dealing which is not being met, irrespective of how we came to be here.

I hope this helpful,

Stella Maru