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medpundit |
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Sunday, May 05, 2002“Children on the autistic spectrum, however, are "mind blind"; they appear to think that what is in their mind is identical to what is in everyone else's mind and that how they feel is how everyone else feels. The notion that other people — parents, playmates, teachers — may take a different view of things, that they may harbor concealed motives or duplicitous thoughts, does not readily occur. "It took the longest time for Tommy to tell a lie," recalls Pam Barrett, and when he finally did, she inwardly cheered.” She cheered because he lied? What's wrong with her? The “notion that other people..may take a different view of things, that they may harbor concealed motives or duplicitious thoughts” does not occur “readily” to any child. This is something we all learn as we grow older and get knocked about by the world. It isn’t merely a part of the “autistic spectrum,” it’s part of the spectrum of all human behavior. This is fundamentally what’s wrong with calling Asperger syndrome (also known as "mild autism" or the "geek syndrome") a disease. All human behavior falls along a spectrum of normal to abnormal. The question is, what’s truly abnormal and thus worthy of the “disease” label? Asperger syndrome surely isn’t. Those who can be categorized as having it live healthy, successful, productive lives. We should think twice before shutting down their beautiful minds, whether with medication, genetic engineering, or behavioral therapy, just because they don’t fit some arbitrary definition of normal. As for the explosion of cases of autism, that, too, is a myth. The incidence of autism isn't expanding, only our definition of it is. This may seem like trivial semantics, but by exaggerating the prevalence of a condition, lobbying groups like the Autism Society of America can get public money diverted from more worthy causes into their own coffers. This is just plain irresponsible. It's also irresponsible to try to pin blame for this pseudoepidemic on a childhood vaccine that has done much to decrease morbidity and mortality in childhood, the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. There is absolutely no evidence that the vaccine is related in anyway to autism. It just happens to be a vaccine that is given at the time when children begin to interact with the world in any meaningful way, and so when any deviations from normal behavior would be noticed. Time hasn't done anyone any favors with this article. posted by Sydney on 5/05/2002 02:04:00 PM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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