In Neurotribes there are multiple references to how the outside world treated Austism in its early stages of notability and now. In the introduction on page 15 Silberman notes that the daily challenges of autism are not the symptoms of those with Autism but rather “hardships imposed by a society that refuses to make basic accommodations for people with cognitive disabilities.” To paraphrase, cognitive disabilities are not accommodated as a physical disability would be and instead of positioning blame for that lack on the greater whole of societies, autistic people are blamed.
Silberman goes on to discuss on page 145 how Bonhoeffer pointed out the deception in naming conditions because labels “correspond to disease entities” that are independent from the patient and ignore the individuality of each patient’s case and symptoms.
I find these examples as well as others interesting to consider in reflection on Silberman’s discussion on the lack of diagnoses in females by Aspergers because the majority of his patients were those who were sent by teachers or judges. The majority were males who exhibited typical behaviors and were thus labelled before they sought diagnosis. At this point in modern time we have begun the discussion of how faulty a one size fits all labeling system is, and yet we still seek to categorize neurotypical disorders based on common traits that are recognizable and seem to be shared between more than one person. I can not help but return to an earlier thought that I had in the semester that asks when we will be satisfied with the tendency to categorize everything that is outside of ‘typical’, and if “normal” versus typical can every be concrete.
The world of Autism is not one that is outside of the Neurotypical world but ne that is very susceptible to the interference and indifference of how the neurotypical world interacts with those that are a part of the Autistic world.
The effect society can have on a person with a neurological difference is huge. Like you said, cognitive disabilities aren’t really acknowledged like physical ones are. But what I’ve also noticed is that when cognitive disabilities ARE noticed, those individuals are placed into a very small, jewelry ring sized box. In Neurotribes Ari Ne’eman, who was diagnosed with Aspergers at the age of 12, recalls that after he was diagnosed he “Suddenly I went from being someone that people believed had a lot of potential, to someone who surprised people by any positive attribute that I might display”. Once the people around him found out that he had Aspergers, they immediately attached stereotypes to him. It’s crazy how one day he had “potential” and the next day they were surprised that he could do something productive.
I agree, society plays an extremely important and influential role on children with disabilities. That passage in Neurotribes really stuck out to me as well. It was very saddening to see how societies perspective changes. Before his diagnosis he was seen as being full of potential and yet after a diagnosis society changes and applauds the fact that he was able to do great things. I feel this is such a common thing. Not only with autism but a person with any medical issue we begin to feel they are less fortunate and not as capable as we are. Their have been cases when am autistic person has disabilities yet is extremely intelligent in specific areas and society tends to use the excuse “oh well he/she is autistic”. No, they are just very intelligent. Society I feel is slowly adapting to the idea that autism is a common term because more and more children are being diagnosed. In some ways the diagnosis book I feel has a very negative effect. Having worked in a school I have seen children get handed out IEP reports when they were not needed. We are very quick to diagnose children but fail to realize that those diagnoses stay with a child all their life. To refer to the diagnosis book and jump to find a term that best relates to the child seems wrong. Some children act out because of emotional issues as well and perhaps would be better just having someone to talk to. When they are diagnosed with a disorder it stays on their school and medical records forever. So, when they are seen by other doctors or teachers or whatever the case may be, they are not awarded for their achievements , they are merely congratulated for not failing which is the expectation society has given them.