I can, however, comment on the commentators, particularly the ones who express blatant bigotry. Such as Rex Reed of The New York Observer, for instance. Reed writes:
Far from just another exotic Disease of the Week, Asperger’s is an incurable neurological disorder similar to autism that turns outwardly normal-looking people into high-class idiot savants. I know at least two people with Asperger’s. They are incapable of thinking of anyone or anything outside of themselves. Challenged by social interactions and given to obsessive routines that revolve around a single subject of interest, they do not like to be touched, they feel incapable of explaining things and they cannot cope with people in general. Emotionally blocked, they say things that hurt and sting without meaning to be rude, and are weak at understanding, receiving or exchanging the emotions of others. They cannot look you in the eye. Adam is a fascinating study of a rare affliction in which all of these qualities are evident, in carefully researched scenes that are humorous and touching. It is lethal to get involved romantically with any person with Asperger’s syndrome, since they care nothing about other people’s feelings, needs or priorities. Almost without exception, they leave you perplexed, riddled with doubt and totally depressed.
Reed appears to have "researched" AS by reading Maxine Aston and like-minded souls. Let us count the errors and bigoted misrepresentations:
1. AS is "similar to" autism; actually AS is autism.
2. AS turns "normal people" into "idiot savants." Wrong on multiple counts. AS doesn't "turn" anyone into anything; it is merely a term used to describe how a person naturally is. And "idiot savants" is a bigoted, outdated term. And not all autistic people have "savant" skills even in the strict clinical sense of the word. I'm not sure that Adam's knowledge of astronomy would count. At any rate, no one would ever call a neurotypical person who knows a lot about astronomy an "idiot savant." See the neurotypical privilege list, which I can never link to too many times.
3. AS people are incapable of thinking of other people, caring for other people, other assorted stereotypes. Wrong, wrong, and wrong again.
4. AS people are "emotionally blocked." Huh? No. If anything, I have always felt things with an intensity which appeared abnormal in comparison to others around me.
5. The big whopper: it is "lethal" to get romantically involved with an aspie. The first thing that came to mind when I read this comment was that I'm pretty sure that it's been falsified many, many times already. But no doubt Reed and other bigots would write that off as an overly literal statement from a defective person. Even in the figurative sense, however, the claim is just laughably wrong.
Underlying all of these claims is the tired idea that autistic people can't be empathic, a flawed and prejudiced notion which is unfortunately sanctioned by reputable members of the scientific community. (Not that Reed appears to have done much actual research, aside from reading Aston perhaps.) But the article actually shows deficits in empathy on behalf of Reed and the NY Observor, who are apparently completely incapable of taking the perspective of an autistic person who might actually read this article. The article takes a particularly noxious non-autistic-person-as-default position. Apparently it's "lethal" (for a non-autistic person) to get romantically involved with an autistic person. But Reed and the NY Observor couldn't care less about the autistic's persons feelings in such a situation.
If so inclined, I might use this article as evidence that non-autistic people are incapable of empathy. After all, Reed claims to understand AS on the basis of knowing two individuals. I won't do that, however. I'll just ask readers to contact the NY Observor at editorial@observer.com . Clearly the paper is in need of some empathy and education.
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14 comments:
Asperger's is SIMILAR to autism. If it was AUTISM you would be diagnosed as my youngest is with AUTISTIC DISORDER.
My elder is diagnosed with Non-verbal learning disorder which is also SIMILAR to autism.
Because they (Asperger's and NLD) are SIMILAR and not the SAME they are both on the autistic SPECTRUM due to these SIMILARITIES.
Which is why I don't think those with NLD nor Asperger's have the right to speak for those with Autistic Disorder.. since you know nothing of what it is like to live with AUTISM.
Trust me... I live with both ends of the spectrum... they are not the SAME they are SIMILAR.
As for the rest... I personally wouldn't give him what he craves the most... a reaction. Shunning works better.
Just for the record, it's Observer, with an 'e', not Observor-- that goes for both the magazine title and the e-mail address.
Oh, and the Observer is not at all related to the Post-- that also needs to be corrected.
Lack of empathy and Theory of Mind probably too. I don't think the author realizes what kind of damage these stereotypes can inflict on real people living out there in the real world.
@farmwifetwo: Your personal experience notwithstanding, that's not what published research says. People who tend to be diagnosed with Asperger's as opposed to Autism are apparently no more and no less than autistic people who happen to have good cognitive ability. There might be other differences beyond cognitive ability (and early speech delay) but that's not too clear.
There's also the issue that DSM-IV Asperger's might be an invalid diagnosis, and anyone with a diagnosis of Asperger's should actually have a diagnosis of Autistic Disorder (due to the way it's defined.) It won't be surprising if Asperger's disappears altogether from the DSM-V.
Wow, I really can't spell today. Or keep my NY tabloids straight. Thanks for the corrections.
I agree with Joseph on the Asperger's/autism issue, and also note that for adults who aren't diagnosed until later in life, the categories seem to get even murkier. It seems to be the default for all verbal autistic adults to receive the AS diagnosis regardless of early history. I know several autistic adults (my partner included) who were diagnosed with AS as adults after already having been diagnosed with autism as kids. Research on which traits separate the two conditions is questionable, and diagnostic practices seem to be inconsistent at best.
Moreover, it seems to me as though a lot of people want to have it both ways when it comes to Asperger's being autism. A lot of people are happy to count us when quoting prevalence rates, or when talking about how terrible autism is (see the author of "The Unvarnished Truth of Autism"). So I really do find this debate rather tiresome.
In any event, Asperger's is almost universally considered to be a form of autism by scientists and is listed as such in the DSM. So I still maintain that Reed's statements are just factually incorrect.
re FW2's suggestion of "shunning" Reed, who would even notice that? I hadn't even heard of the old bastard for years, and thought he was dead!
As an antidote to Reed, there's a much more insightful and evenhanded article at Salon; actually, it's more an analysis of the current state of media representation of autism than it is a review of "Adam". Link: http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/btm/feature/2009/07/29/adam/
I have to highlight this quote:
"Autistic and Asperger's characters in movies are only beginning to move beyond the "Sidney Poitier phase," in which members of previously despised or misunderstood minorities are presented as symbols, saints or seers -- whose most important function is to provide other, more relatable and "normal" characters with the opportunity for moral and spiritual growth. African-Americans, gays and American Indians have already enjoyed this dubious cinematic-shaman role, which is undeniably superior to old-fashioned bigotry but a long way short of actual equality."
This makes me long--as I have since Autreat 08 gave me the idea--for a media advocacy group modeled on GLAAD. GLAAD has enough clout to consult on movies in the pre-production phase, and their awards for positive portrayals are a BIG deal in Hollywood. I would love to see this done for the autistic community--or the cross-disability community in general--but I don't know how to make it happen!
"Asperger's is SIMILAR to autism. If it was AUTISM you would be diagnosed as my youngest is with AUTISTIC DISORDER."
Nice try, FW2, but until you've actually studied all this diagnostics issue for about five years, you're not gonna convince me that the two are not essentially the same. And, FYI, I have_ studied all this. For longer than five years. The characteristic items set for Asperger syndrome is a proper subset on the set for Kanner syndrome, and this is reflected particularly well in the ICD 10 criteria sets where F84.5 and F84.0 are the respective codes for these diagnoses. DSM IV (including the text revision) has still not -as far as I know - resolved the issue of whether Asperger syndrome can actually be diagnosed according to its criteria, since this is - in that text - an exlusion diagnosis: it is diagnosed if and only if the criteria for Autism are not fulfilled. A study by Ozanoff and Miller checked out the children in Asperger's 1944 study against the criteria for both Asperger syndrome (299.80 DSM IV) and Autism (299.0 DSM IV), and found that the DSM criteria for diagnosing Asperger syndrome did not apply to these children: the criteria for Autism did, however.
What Hans Asperger and Leo Kanner were researching were essentially the same sort of thing: autism. Indeed, in his follow-up in 1973, Kanner gave descriptions of 11 of the children he'd dealt with in the 30s and 40s that certainly would have resulted in diagnoses of Asperger syndrome. My own situation is the same: had I been diagnosed with the ICD 10 criteria as a five year old, I would have been diagnosed F84.0; I was diagnosed as an adult: F84.5; and this is because - no matter what the previous picture looks like, Tantam diagnoses on current functioning level. If F84.0 and F84.5 were only similar, that type of developmental trajectory would be bloody impossible! Learn something here. Difference between your assertion and mine: mine comes with training and experience of both making the diagnoses and living on a trajectory that went from one of the diagnostic criteria sets to the other, whilst yours is just an arrogance used to try to tell Asperger autistic to shut the fuck up about Kanner autism.
And don't even think about trying to deny that charge, because you've siad it yourself:
"Which is why I don't think those with NLD nor Asperger's have the right to speak for those with Autistic Disorder.. since you know nothing of what it is like to live with AUTISM."
Well, fuck you... we DO!
"@farmwifetwo: Your personal experience notwithstanding, that's not what published research says. People who tend to be diagnosed with Asperger's as opposed to Autism are apparently no more and no less than autistic people who happen to have good cognitive ability. There might be other differences beyond cognitive ability (and early speech delay) but that's not too clear."
Thank you, Joseph. Didn't see your response to her blatant attempt at bigotry, but what I say may actually amplify your response, since I actually trained to make this diagnosis (and a bloody good few others too) as an educational psychologist. Bigots like that one really fuck me off, because they assume too much about their own 'expertise' without actually considering the finer details. She's no better than Lurker, in that respect.
Rex Reed can be contacted directly here rreed@observer.com
@farmwifetwo:
You say that nonverbals and Aspies are on the autism spectrum, yet you say that those in that crowd have no idea what it's like to be autistic. That is hypocritical in itself. That is a tool used to discredit those who are fighting for civil rights for autistics. By saying, "Oh, you have Asperger's, not autism." If you had actually read the DSM-IV (as I did since we have a copy in our house), you would see that there is little distinction between Kanner's, autism, Aspergers, nonverbality, etc. Genetic samples are being collected from people in all those groups for "autism research." We are all marked for prenatal abortion, prevention, and "cure." All this will lead to will be a "final solution" with millions of autistics either slaughtered by the abortionists or by jack-booted fascists dragging us off to the concentration camp. And about referring to autism as AUTISTIC DISORDER, you have reinforced the viewpoint that everyone on the autism spectrum is defective and in need of a cure. This further leads to the viewpoint that we are undeserving of civil rights because we're just an "epidemic" to be wiped off the face of the planet.
And before you whine about my "not having any experience with both sides of the spectrum," I have the label of "high-functioning autism," as do two of my brothers. My oldest brother, along with my two sisters, have the label of "low-functioning autism" and my youngest brother is the only kid who is not autistic. My mom and dad have no autism labels in their own right, though I think my dad might be on the spectrum. So keep your mouth shut about my "lack of experience." I already have a fucking lot more experience than you.
So take your bigotry and shove it up your privileged, non-autistic ass.
It's always incredibly hard to work out how the "You only have aspergers , so shut up about autism" arguement is even supposed to work.
"You only have similar cognitive traits, social traits, sensory profile, language and communication impairments, proprioceptive traits, difficulty with abstract thought, high semantic memory but impaired episodic memory, difficulty working out other people and temporal cognition.
You therefore know nothing about it"
You don't even need to consider that there may be a disproportionately high number of people with aspergers who have autistic children. It's just stand-alone stupid.
- Dedj
I don't understand why everyone is jumping on the tangential issue of whether AS and Autism are the same. The point of this story is that Rex Reed is making stereotypical, inaccurate, and negative statements about people with AS that could do a lot of damage to people with AS. He should not be doing that.
I am AS and my wife and I have been happily marrried for 3 years (with a baby on the way). I am very attuned to her feelings and needs, as she is the light of my life; and I serioulsy doubt that she would characterize our relationship as lethal. Rex Reed should be ashamed of himself for his bigoted statements, and the author of this blog quite correctly took him to task.
Dear Sarah,
I have just read your post on the New York Times Motherlode blog, and I want to say "you go girl!" Tell people the truth.
I know what it is to have parents who are disappointed with the child they got -- me, a gay man -- and mourned for the grandchildren they weren't going to get and the loss of what they wanted me to be. Though we've come a long way, I still experience my mom as being resigned rather than embracing. I have been able to accept that that is the extent of what she can offer, and I love her completely. But you're right -- it hurts.
Thanks for teaching us something new about people.
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