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Month: October 2018

On Biomarkers

On Biomarkers

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The research world seems to love “biomarkers.”  Not only does “biomarker” appear to be a very fashionable buzzword in certain circles, but it seems like projects that aim to find biomarkers are very attractive to agencies that fund research.[1]  Among researchers, biomarkers are in the vogue. What is a “biomarker,” exactly? Well, properly speaking, it refers to some kind of biological marker – something like a physiological, functional, chemical, or molecular signal.  This biological marker might tell us that a…

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Rational Paranoia

Rational Paranoia

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Dealing with autistic adults and adolescents can sometimes be difficult.  I know many of us can be quick to take offense, even where none was intended – which is rather curious when you think about it, because autistic children tend to start out being socially naïve.  At some point, these naïve children can become nervous, reactive adults.  Why is that?  It seems kind of like a transformation from one extreme to the opposite extreme. Well, the problem with naïveté is…

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Inclusion and Mainstreaming: What is To Be Done?

Inclusion and Mainstreaming: What is To Be Done?

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Over the last few months, I’ve written a lot of posts sharing my thoughts on inclusion and mainstreaming.  In those posts, I’ve spent a lot of time complaining about the way things are done today (especially in North America), but I’ve spent relatively little time describing the urgent changes I think we need. Probably the most complete description of my thoughts so far is found in this post, where I explain how I disagree with both of the major views…

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Autism Spectrum Development

Autism Spectrum Development

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What term should we use to describe autism? To be clear, I’m perfectly happy to just say “autism” and “autistic”.  I’m all for identity-first language.  However, I also recognize that some people will want to keep a technical, fancy term around – and if we’re going to have a technical term, we should at least try to make it a good one. The current convention is, of course, “Autism Spectrum Disorder.”  This language of “disorder” is extremely unhelpful.  Autistic people…

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The Meaning of Inclusion

The Meaning of Inclusion

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On this blog, I’ve spent a lot of time criticizing the idea that everyone should be forced to attend mainstream schools, regardless of whether they want to or not.  In doing so, I’ve sometimes suggested that I am opposed to “inclusion” itself, but that’s not exactly correct.  Previously, I’ve never really unpacked the difference between the concepts of mainstreaming or integration and the concept of inclusion, even though there is a very important distinction between them.  I want to clarify…

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Building Autistic Community

Building Autistic Community

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Many autistic people have spoken or written about the benefits of autistic community.  For example, Jim Sinclair has some eloquent thoughts on the subject.  I firmly agree that these communities have much to offer us.  I’ve facilitated two communities for autistic college students at two different universities, and I’ve also been part of some other autistic groups, and had generally positive experiences in them. We live in a neurotypical world: a world in which autism is habitually treated as pathology,…

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The Social Model and Neurodiversity

The Social Model and Neurodiversity

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A while ago, I described my view of what the neurodiversity paradigm means.  In that post, my ideas owe some very clear debts not only to others who have thought about the concept of neurodiversity, but also to the thinkers who developed the social model of disability. Indeed, in Judy Singer’s new introduction to the original thesis (1998/2016) which she used to propose the idea of neurodiversity, she credits the social model with providing the “framework” of the thesis.  However,…

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