Autism Awareness Article - Wisconsin State Journal

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http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=wsj:2004:04:24:370080:OPINION

Autistics Need Acceptance, Not Cure

Wisconsin State Journal :: OPINION :: A6

Saturday, April 24, 2004

Morton Ann Gernsbacher

This month, which is Autism Awareness Month, I'm hiding my eyes and

those of my autistic 8-year old son from the media.

National headlines that describe autism as an epidemic, or pandemic.

Public service announcements liken autism to being kidnapped.

A government Web site defines autism as a " devastating scourge. " An

autism " expert " decrees that autism is worse " than Sept. 11 and AIDS

combined. " An Autism Society Canada board member proclaims that

autism is worse than cancer -- because people with autism have

normal lifespans.

Have you -- like my son and me -- ever heard parents say how

learning that their child was autistic was like experiencing a death

in their family? Have you ever been at the playground when a mother

classifies her children, standing right there beside her, as this

one who is autistic but these other two who are -- thank goodness --

perfectly normal?

They say that autism entails difficulty taking another person's

perspective, appreciating how another person might feel. But when I

read or hear such hate speech I wonder: Exactly who has a problem

taking another person's perspective? Who can't appreciate the

feelings of others?

My son surely can. He understands quite well that there are so-

called autism " advocates " who despise autism, who march thousand-

fold against it with placards calling for its defeat, its demise.

His demise.

Oh, you say, those people don't want to get rid of my son, they just

want to get rid of that part of him that's autistic. But research

demonstrates that autistic traits are distributed into the non-

autistic population; some people have more of them, some have fewer.

History suggests that many individuals whom we would today diagnose

as autistic -- some severely so -- contributed profoundly to our

art, our math, our science, and our literature.

Most poignantly, many autistics affirm that it would be impossible

to segregate the part of them that is autistic. To take away their

autism is to take away their personhood. Despite our politically

correct labeling, they are autistic; they don't " have " autism any

more than homosexuals have gayness or lesbianism. Like their

predecessors in human rights, many autistics don't want to be cured;

they want to be accepted. And like other predecessors in civil

rights, many autistics don't want to be required to imitate the

majority just to earn their rightful place in society.

I'm a middle-aged psychology professor who holds an endowed chair at

a major research university. But my son has taught me far more than

I ever learned in my lab. Every time he walks by a poster avowing

that autism must be eradicated, he teaches me grace. Every time he

ignores one of the countless scholarly articles that tower above my

desk, asserting he is disordered, he teaches me tolerance. Every

time he embraces a world that so frequently rebuffs him, he teaches

me unconditional love.

What if next year we celebrate the diversity of social interaction

observed within and across all cultures? What if this " awareness "

month marked a time to appreciate the variation that all humans

demonstrate in their style and competence in communication? What if

it heralded an era during which we marveled at the determined focus

that in my occupation often wins indefinite tenure but in a

precocious child gets labeled as diseased?

Then, neither my son nor I would feel compelled to hide.

\ Gernsbacher is Vilas Research Professor and Sir Frederic Bartlett

Professor of Psychology, UW-Madison.

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