Autism awareness has
increased several times over in the last two decades. Autism is now a
household word. This awareness, however, has not significantly
decreased some of the misconceptions about autism.
It's easy to find
material about what autism is. You probably already know a fair
amount. It's a developmental disability marked by deficits in
communication and social navigation, as well as displaying intense,
narrow interests.
Unfortunately, it
can be more difficult to find information about what autism is not.
That's what I would like to focus on in this piece. I've chosen ten
of the most destructive myths about autism.
1. Autistic
people do not experience empathy.
Let's start with one of the more pervasive myths. This is still
frequently quoted by experts when describing autism. However, it's
simply not true.
Empathy is usually described as the ability to copy another person's
emotions. Doing this correctly requires at least some understanding
of how th other person's mind works. That is always more difficult
when the other person has a different neurotype.
It may appear that autistic people have more trouble with that
because most of the people around us have minds that work different
from ours. Once we can learn how the neuronormal mind works, empathy
becomes much easier, and in fact, it tends to be easier with other
autistic people.
2. Autistic
people do not experience emotions.
Perhaps the root of this myth has to do with the fact that autistic
people, especially children, do not tend to use nonverbal
communication the same way as the people around them. This means that
we tend to show emotions in different ways that most people are not
used to seeing. In addition, the same situation will often trigger
different emotions in autistic people from what it might cause in a
neuronormal person.
3. Autistic
people can't form relationships.
From what I can tell, most autistic people do place more importance
on our own personal interests than other people. However, that does
not mean that relationships, whether familial, friendship, or
romantic, are any less important to us.
Don't forget that a relationship is a two-way process. If an autistic
person is interested in pursuing a relationship with a person, and
the other person is willing to reciprocate, autistic people can and
do form meaningful relationships with others.
4. Autism is
usually accompanied by an intellectual disability.
There have been times when the majority, or even all, of recognized
autism diagnoses came with an intellectual disability. For a time,
that was even part of the definition. It was reinforced by the fact
that autistic children were often institutionalized and placed in a
setting where learning opportunities were not present.
With the recognition of “high-functioning” autism and the
addition of Asperger's syndrome, we know that autistic people are
often quite intelligent. In fact, upwards of 70% of recognized cases
of autism have no intellectual disability.
This has also led to a belief that all autistic people are geniuses,
which is equally untrue. We are all individuals, and each of us is
different. Autistic people exist along the entire range of human
intelligence.
5. Autistic
people are all the same.
This usually takes the form of, “I've seen [insert TV show or movie
here],” or, “My [insert relation here] is autistic, so I know all
about autism.” It can even take the form of, “I'm autistic, so
all autistic people can be like me.”
The truth is that there appears to be several different kinds of
autism. Even within that, we're all individuals. Each of us has
different abilities and different needs. Some of us struggle with
things that others find easy. A common saying in the Autistic
community states that “if you know one autistic person, you know
one autistic person.”
6. There is a
normal child trapped inside an autistic shell.
This
can be a particularly destructive myth. It's
typically quoted by those claiming to provide a cure or a miracle
treatment, playing on parents' desperation. It often leads to parents
focusing so much on trying to save their child from being swallowed
up by autism that they forget to build a relationship with their
child.
The truth is that building a relationship is the most important thing
you can do. Nurturing the child's interests, planning activities with
the child, and just generally having fun are the best ways to cause
the child to open up and grow as a person. The child will always be
autistic, but that doesn't have to be a setback.
7. There is
something in the environment that caused autism or aggravated
symptoms.
Whether it's vaccines, lead, smoking while pregnant, or any number of
others, something must have caused this autism.
In all likelihood, autism appears to be genetic. Unfortunately, the
myth of an environmental cause often diverts resources away from
needed supports and services, and directs them instead to trying to
find the source of the autism. It can also lead to some off the same
problems caused by myth #6 in this list.
This myth is also built on the next one:
8. There is a massive autism epidemic.
Autism rates have increased from 1 in 10,000 in the 1960's to 1 in 68
now. That's a huge increase.
For
this, it's important to recognize the difference between autism and
an autism diagnosis. The definition of autism has increased
dramatically since it was first described by Leo Kanner. The vast
majority of us are in a part of the spectrum that wasn't even
recognized in most of the world until the 1980's, and wasn't broadly
known by professionals until the 1990's.
Furthermore, several studies have shown that when you use consistent
definitions across the generations, there appears to be no
significant increase.
9. Autism is a childhood disorder.
Autistic children grow up into autistic adults. It should seem obvious when
you think about it. The problem is that most people don't think about
it. That can lead to inadequate services for adults.
10. Autistic people can't achieve success.
This is usually
based on the idea that there are no benefits to autism. We have
plenty of advantages that we can use. Logical thinking, intense
focus, and attention to detail, just to name a few. Additionally, as
I've said before, we're all different, and we all have our own
strengths and weaknesses. If given a chance, there is no reason an
autistic person can't succeed in life.
I've had to condense
most of these to fit them all in one piece. If you want to know more
about any of them, keep checking back, or read any of the many other
autistic bloggers out there. I look forward to exploring these myths
further, as well as other autism-related thoughts, in the future.
