(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.
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