Stuart Murray
Professor of Contemporary Literatures and Film
Leeds Centre for Medical Humanities
University of Leeds
The determination of diagnoses and the problem of overlapping
diagnostic criteria bedevil researchers and clinicians. Worse, the
etiology of these diverse but purportedly related disorders remain
unclear, leaving researchers unable to determine whether all of
these disorders share a common etiology… or whether the phrase
“autistic spectrum disorders” is merely a nominal category, a shorthand indicator, that refers to nothing real in the sense of a
biologically unified and cohesive disorder.
A simple answer to what autism is, that is, what constitutes its
essence, is unattainable.
Majia Holmer Nadesan, Constructing Autism: Unravelling the ‘truth’
and understanding the social (New York and London: Routledge,
2005), p. 14.
I argue that autism is best understood as a social and
cultural construction, that the particular aspects of
autism’s construction are complex and multilayered,
and that people classified autistics as well as those
around them, including the autism field, have choices
to make concerning which constructions to privilege.
Autism is not a given condition or set of realities – at
least it is not “given” or “real” on its own. Rather autism
is and will be, in part, what any of us make it.
Douglas Biklen, Autism and the Myth of the Person
Alone (New York: NYU Press, 2005), p.65
Mirella Dapretto et al., ‘Understanding emotions in others: mirror neuron
dysfunction in children with autism spectrum disorders’. Nature Neuroscience
9, 28 - 30 (2005)
(2) qualitative impairments in communication as manifested by at least
one of the following:
(a) delay in, or total lack of, the development of spoken language (not
accompanied by an attempt to compensate through alternative modes
of communication such as gesture or mime)
(b) in individuals with adequate speech, marked impairment in the
ability to initiate or sustain a conversation with others
(c) stereotyped and repetitive use of language or idiosyncratic language
(d) lack of varied, spontaneous make-believe play or social imitative play
appropriate to developmental level
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition,
Text Revision, (Copyright 2000). American Psychiatric Association.
A high AQ score alone is not a reason to be referred for
a diagnosis. In addition, there has to be evidence that
the person is ‘suffering’ in some way (e.g. they are
being bullied, or are becoming depressed, or have high
levels of anxiety, or are not fulfilling their academic or
occupational potential)
Simon Baron-Cohen, Autism and Asperger Syndrome
(The Facts series, OUP, 2008), p. 29.
The assumption that autistics are cognitively impaired
pervades the popular and scientific literature. Autistics
who are considered minimally verbal or nonverbal…
are considered the most cognitively impaired; it is
commonplace to refer to such individuals as “low
functioning.” And although it has become impolite to
refer to autistics with exceptional abilities as “idiot
savants,” superior performance by autistics is
frequently considered to be a side effect of abnormal
neuroanatomical function, rather than a reflection of
genuine human intelligence.
Michelle Dawson, Isabelle Soulières, Morton Ann
Gernsbacher and Laurent Mottron, “The Level and Nature
of Autistic Intelligence,” Psychological Science, 18:8 (2007),
p.657
A vulnerable Muslin convert was persuaded online by shadowy
Pakistan-based extremists into trying to carry out a suicide bomb
attack on a busy restaurant. Nicky Reilly, 22, who has Asperger’s
syndrome and a mental age of 10, was directed how to build bombs
filled with hundreds of nails, which he attempted to detonate at the
Giraffe restaurant in Exeter in May. The devices went off prematurely,
injuring only him… Reilly admitted yesterday researching how to make
improvised explosive devices, investigating potential targets and
acquiring components for them. His mother insisted, however, that her
son would never have been able to make the explosives himself. Kim
Reilly said: “He would not be able to make the bomb. He would have
had to have some instruction or guidance from someone. I am
absolutely convinced about that. There is no way Nicky was capable to
do that.” Officers said the failed attack was a terrifying echo of the
tactics of extremists in Iraq who use the mentally or physically disabled
to carry out attacks. Neighbours said that Reilly was a recluse who
spent most of his time online in his darkened bedroom. The influence
of extremist websites and jihadists is clear in a suicide note left at
Reilly's home.
Adam Fresco, “Bomber was brainwashed over the internet,” The Times,
October 16, 2008, Home section. See
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4951616.ece