Autism Myths: An Autistic Person’s Attempt to Debunk Them

(Originally posted for The Voice of Heard on September 30, 2011)

When it comes to general knowledge of autism, rumors and myths tend to get mixed in with information on the disorder circulated by newspapers, TV shows, movies, books, and the Internet. When evaluation of such information is too difficult for some people, they would tend to look for the most basic and noticeable signs of autism, mainly odd hand movements, lack of communication, limited interaction with people, and very narrow interests. Once they find those said signs, they would end up making assumptions about autistic people in general and lead to stereotypes that are inaccurate at best and offensive at worst. As an autistic person myself, I feel that I have an obligation to clear up the misconceptions regarding autism in general in any way I can. I know other people have already compiled lists of autism myths on the Internet but I thought that maybe I could take a crack at making one. In this post, I will go over the myths, some of which have been debunked while others remain prevalent in the minds of the general public, based on my understanding of autism and my experience with autism.

Myth 1) All autistic people are the same.

This myth seems to imply that every single person with autism is exactly the same in terms of displaying repetitive or ritualistic behavior, impaired communication, and limited social interactions. It also appears to imply that there is only one form of autism and that autistic people appear to have no individuality whatsoever. Actually, almost all autistic people are individually different as any other person without the condition would be; they have their own personalities, religious views, intellectual abilities, food preferences, and hobbies. An autistic classmate I have known since my days at grade school, for instance, is a Christian who is a big fan of the TV series Stargate SG-1 while I myself am sort of a cross between an atheist and agnostic who enjoys video games, preferably first-person and third-person shooters, fighting, role playing games (RPGs), survival horror, and other action games. There also many forms of autism ranging from mild to severe on the spectrum, so the basic symptoms also vary according to the severity of autism. For instance, I have a mild form of autism known as Asperger’s Syndrome, which impairs my social and communication skills and causes me to display ritualistic behaviors, such as walking around the house frequently and talking to myself. However, it did not affect my studies in high school and college, both from which I graduated with high grades and a high place on the honor roll and dean’s list, my job performance at a local supermarket in my hometown, and the capacity to take care of myself at home. On the other hand, a man who was with me in a special program for autistic children in kindergarten has a form of autism on the other side of the spectrum, almost like the polar opposite of me, serious enough to have him placed in a nursing home and is therefore not able to lead an independent life.

Myth 2) Autism and other related disorders are emotional/mental health disorders and forms of mental retardation.

Autism is a complex developmental and neurological disorder of the brain that impairs social and communication skills. It is diagnosed in children ranging from infancy (18-24 months) to early childhood (24 months to 6 years old), the latter of which is more common since the characteristic behaviors are more noticeable. Just because autistic people have social and communication difficulties does not mean that they also have mental health issues. Also, mental retardation is a condition characterized by impaired intelligence. Since most autistic people either do well or poorly in school like other normal people, their intelligence is not impaired. One more note I should make here is that autism was once believed to have been caused by cold and unemotional parents, a belief that had been promoted by Dr. Bruno Bettelheim, a Freudian psychoanalyst from the early days when autism was first being investigated. Using his position as the head of the Orthogenic School in Chicago from 1944 to 1978 and the publication of his book The Empty Fortress, Bettelheim had suggested that autistic children be separated from their unloving parents, especially the so-called “refrigerator mothers,” for extended periods of time (nine months, for example) as part of a policy called ‘parentectomy.’ Through the promotion of his claims, his theories of autism as an emotional disorder were widely accepted. The majority of controlled research, however, had failed to find any evidence supporting the refrigerator mother theory of autism and Bettelheim claims of success through his treatments and his professional background were revealed to be fraudulent. Even worse, mothers were struck with guilt and shame when they were accused of causing their children’s autism by neglecting them.

Myth 3) Autism is an epidemic that can be treated and cured by treatments that most hospitals lack.

Once again, autism is a neurological disorder that alters the wiring a few specific areas of the brain, affecting behavior, social, and communication skills. It is not a disease in the category of the bubonic plague in medieval Europe, the small pox outbreak in Mexico during European colonization, and the polio epidemic in early 20th Century America. No bacteria, virus, fungus, or parasite was ever involved in the development of autism. Still, organizations like Autism Speaks and Defeat Autism Now (DAN) treat the increased visibility of the disorder as an “epidemic.” Blame has been placed on childhood vaccines and the mercury preservative in the vaccine, convincing some parents to deny their children any vaccination altogether with disastrous consequences. The myth of vaccines and mercury being the direct causes of autism has been constantly disproved by the scientific community. Other causes have been suspected, including vitamin deficiencies, specific proteins, and lack of oxygen in the brain, again disproved by skeptics and scientists. Parents desperate for the well-being of their autistic children have sought many different treatments, some said to even “cure” autism. These treatments range from grain- and dairy-free diets and secretin to hyperbaric and chelation therapies. They have not proven effective in treating the autistic children and some have turned out to be dangerous. The proposed treatments were also time consuming and expensive; some of them were also not approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) in the treatment of autism. Since autism was never a disease and is just basically how the brain gets wired during embryonic development, there is no cure and there never will be.

Myth 4) Autistic people are mostly nonverbal and have no language skills. Therefore, communication with them is difficult, if not impossible.

Autistic people can learn all sorts of communication skills when taught at the proper age and in an appropriate environment. There are speech therapy programs available in some schools that help autistic children and youths navigate through their impairments based on their individualized education programs (IEPs). In my experience, I was placed in a room separate from the classrooms according to schedules set during normal school routines and was taught social and communication skills and how to use these skills appropriately with a speech therapist, first with one-on-one sessions in elementary school and later with a group of autistic youths in high school. My time in these sessions have proven to be well spent as I became better able to make friends, socialize with them, and improve relationships with my family. Although I rarely hang out with them as frequently as my older brother would, I keep in touch with them via my email and Facebook accounts.

Myth 5) Children and adults with autism feel no emotions, have no social skills and prefer to be self-isolated, thus building even a single stable relationship is impossible.

This myth is also inaccurate. Autistic people of all ages do have emotions and social skills; it’s just that they have difficulty in communicating these emotions properly. They all have feelings of happiness, sadness, anger, and fear just like everyone else, just expressed differently sometimes. I, for example, would feel guilt after a few arguments with my parents over what are generally considered trivial matters. Sometimes when at work, I would fear a customer might overhear my self-talk and feel offended by me saying something that just happened to come out of my mouth and not really aimed at anyone. Given the proper learning, it is possible for autistic people to build and maintain stable relationships with family, friends, and co-workers, myself included. Some autistic people even find boyfriends/girlfriends, fall in love, get married, and have children of their own.

Myth 6) Autistic individuals have hidden, exceptional, or special abilities/talents and are therefore savants.

While some such individuals, including myself and a few other autistic classmates, do have a sort of talent (writing and being a quick learner in my case), there are many others who have no talents at all and are therefore not savants. The root of this myth is most likely from Dustin Hoffman’s portrayal of the “idiot savant” character in the movie Rain Man. The publicized careers of a few successful autistic individuals like Temple Grandin and John Elder Robinson, while inspirational at times, don’t really help matters either. The idea that all autistic individuals are all specially gifted savants sets unrealistic educational and career expectations for many autistic people from society. Just like everyone else, they have their own strengths and weaknesses. Some may be adept at spelling and math skills while others may also have difficulties understanding some social concepts, like how to eat properly at a public restaurant.

Myth 7) Autistic people can’t do much of anything, so it’s unlikely that they will be found contributing to society or even being among it.

It would be foolish to assume that autistic people can’t be found walking around town, riding a car, airplane, or train; driving a car, eating at public restaurants, working, socializing with a group of friends, attending parties, shopping, going to the bank to cash a paycheck, deposit money, or withdraw some of it from their accounts; posting messages on Facebook, browsing through the library, or attending classes in college. I, for one, have done or am currently doing most of these things (except driving a car, of course). Successful autistic people like John Elder Robinson, Temple Grandin, and Ari Ne’eman, who was nominated by President Obama to the National Council on Disability (NCD), making him the first openly autistic White House appointee in history, also contradict this myth.

Myth 8) Autistic people are prone to instant outbursts of rage and emotional “meltdowns” triggered by even the slightest change in routine like a sudden fault in a nuclear reactor, making them dangerous to society at large.

The image produced from this myth appears frequently in most people’s minds when they hear the word “autism.” This gets reinforced by news stories of autistic individuals committing acts of violence, including last year’s coverage of the unfortunate murder trial of John Odgren. This myth also discourages managers from hiring autistic individuals as they were being viewed as “unstable nuclear bombs.” Now I would like to make it clear that routines provide comfort for autistic people. While they can sometimes be inevitable disrupted, that does not mean that they would explode with rage over it. Their reactions to change can vary according to the spectrum. Autistic individuals can sometimes be taught and encouraged to adapt to and deal with change, as I have learned to do.

At this moment, I have done my best efforts to demystify the rumors surrounding autism on my part. To be honest, I would like to consider the myths debunked were it not for their prevalence in the mass media, in popular culture, and in the minds of the general public. If you want to know more about the myths and facts of autism, you can start by looking at a few web pages of autism from PubMed Health and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. I would also recommend checking out Neurodiversity, a resource site containing lots of different material from different websites on autism not only in regards to how autism is defined, but also in regards to learning, education, family, treatments, myths, society, and book recommendations. I would also take a look at the website run by the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network (ASAN) which “seeks to advance the principles of the disability rights movement with regard to autism.” If you feel that I have presented any inaccurate information or missed some details, please let me know in the comments below. If you already have knowledge of autism, including facts, myths, rumors, and additional resources, feel free to present them in the comments as well.

Original Comments w/ edits

Catherine Walters 

September 30th, 2011 at 9:42 pmVery nice job of debunking these myths from your own perspective and the research you have done! You are indeed a good writer. Thank you for sharing this piece!

Alicia 

May 10th, 2012 at 5:31 am
Hi Sharon,Sorry for being a U.S.American (and I mean that sincerely) but I have a [question]. Certainly the ASA uses these tainted words and much worse in all their campaigns. I have heard others say that there are hopes that the ASA will work (at least to some degree) toward becoming more like the NAS. I would hope that would be the case.I wonder (since others have that hope as I do) in what ways if any is the NAS making it clear that they do feel differently about autistics, have different [views], and a different agenda than that of the ASA? From what I’m seeing here I’m not seeing a real clear departure myself. ( I hope you don’t just tell me we are in trouble. I already know that. :) )

Matt 

November 11th, 2011 at 12:30 am
great review, Tim! A very interesting read from an autistic person, and very informative for those who don’t know so much about autism.
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Chillout 

March 24th, 2012 at 9:23 am
I have seen Temple live at a conference in NY last year. I [watched] this video with a couple of teachers and a Director of Special Education. They thought it was a great presentation and agreed with Temple and myself that the courses that use manipulative are going away due to monetary constraints in districts. Thank goodness my district still has Autoshop, WoodShop, Robotics, Digital Photography and many different type of Art classes. And yes I agree with Walter’s comment, all educators should view this video. 

VenkatramReddy 

May 10th, 2012 at 2:17 pm
I didn’t want to be churlish and put this [cannot] in my main post, but I wish the NAS had avoided the use of the tainted word ‘devastating’ in the opening letter of the campaign pack. It is explained that autism can be devastating without appropriate support, but it’s just a word I don’t like to see used about autism.I also was disappointed that in all the extensive information in the campaign pack, especially about helping autistic children get the best education, there’s no mention of the option to home-educate, which was worked out so well for so many of us.