It is certainly not the case in autism that there is a single gene that could encode for or explain all of the traits of autism.

Indeed you could not even say at the present whether there is a specific set of genes which if present in the same configuration will always cause autism.

What is far more likely is that autism is the complex interaction of various neurological systems and can be arrived at by several routes. Autism is the confluence or admixture of a variety of traits, there may be any number of predisposing genes that give rise to each of the traits.

I think it can be looked at as the analogy of a wave when it breaks upon the shore. Where and how did that wave arise?

The complexity of it can be modelled mathematically using chaos theory. I think that autism will never be fully understood until there are sophisticated mathematical ways of mapping brain development, and equally mapping each region into it’s own separate genetic components.

I go with the theories of autism being a different cognitive style , rather than personality, however at a pragmatic level, that cognitive style runs deep throughout a lifetimes experiences and cannot be separated from personality.

I do not see why you think my post is social construction. Nowhere did I explicitly state that autism was solely a ‘bad thing’ – autism, as far as I have read (though I’ll defer to you and the other autism researchers I know in cases of difference in the literature), has several specific characteristics that constitute a differential diagnosis of it in the DSM-IV. However, I am aware that autistic spectrum disorders are very difficult to diagnose; I have firsthand experience with this myself as someone who is profoundly gifted who was thought to have Asperger’s as well (and, as I said, I have a good chance of having Asperger’s).

Yes, all of this is neurologically configured; I agree with you wholeheartedly on that. I am of the camp that believes more research has to be done on autistic spectrum disorders before one can properly even call them ‘disorders’, if they are such at all – as I said, autism, for example, affects people to different degrees. Temple Grandin is an example of someone who is autistic who has accomplished much. I believe, however, that one has to stop considering it a personality difference when something is of such a degree that it causes problems for some people (not all, definitely, but many). As I said, so far as I have seen it’s a difference of wiring, and whether it affects someone deleteriously or is simply a difference in personality depends on the person.

I remain firm on my first point, though, for posters that seem to have problems with this: VACCINES DO NOT CAUSE AUTISM. AUTISM IS GENETIC.

I am not saying all neurological configurations are optimal for the environments and societies we live in, they are not, but autism is nothing special, it is part of being human, we are not the robots and the chimpanzees Stephen Pinker would have us as. Not some kind of second rate not quite human, to be eliminated.

I’m a neuroscience student. I know several researchers of autism spectrum disorders on my campus, and having read much of the literature myself, I can safely say that autism is not caused by mercury. For one, autism is not always detectable, even in children who are NOT vaccinated, until they are older; for two, it is (to my knowledge) a genetic disorder; for three, autism is most certainly NOT a personality type because the neural differences between someone who has autism and someone without autism are very significant, but depending on one’s level of functioning, one can treat it either as a disorder or a simple difference of wiring (Temple Grandin, for example, is a prominent professor of agriculture; she has autism).

I’m middle-aged, but I feel fairly confident that if I were a child now, I would be diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome. It certainly feels to me that it’s a personality type, and that the drive to treat it with expensive means has more to do with exploitation than the Hippocratic oath. I’d rather be left as I am. But then I’d probably feel that whatever the cause – over here, for example, we have deaf activists who are campaigning for the right to choose a deaf child via IVF.

And it’s not too many generations since some aspects of Asperger’s, at least, were seen as desirable and called “having a stiff upper lip”….

Accountability is needed. That unhinging you describe so well is brave stuff. And overdue!

And thank you, Robert Yourell, for a thought provoking essay. It is also true that those who are convinced that thimerosal and/or vaccines are the primary cause of autism are too fixated on their pet theories just as Bettelheim was. Like cancer, autism is very complex and will probably turn out to have multiple causes, as much as we might like to think otherwise.

Thank you, Robert! Great reading!

Unhinging ourselves from theories… one of the most important topics in science and healing.

I think you’re spot on.

How are these speculations relevant to the situations in your life where you can promote healing in yourself and others.

… Indeed ;0)

Mercury causes Autism. In Texas children who live down wind of cold-fired power plants get autism. And children who get vaccines have autism.

The article discusses theories, and you have just presented two, both without actual, down on the table in front of all proof. Neither warrant the blanket “this is what causes autism” statement that you made.

I have a twenty-one-year-old son with High-Functioning Autism who would beg to differ. He insists that Autism is a personality type, not a disease and takes great offense at the suggestion of “curing” autism. His words to me were that it smacked of genocide. I reminded him that parents of adult autistic children still in diapers might tend to disagree with him.

Naturally, given that he’s a straight-A college honors student at a Big 10 university (mom gives herself pat on back) he has no room to talk, but still I give his theory as much weight as the next person’s, more so because he actually IS autistic!

Just throwing out something to think about. 🙂

Bruno Bettelheim was a lying, misogynist sack of hucksterism who abused the children in his care and caused bitter pain and suffering to thousands of families.