Ethics and autism
The recent media debate about the ethical questions that would have to be dealt with if a reliable pre-natal test for autism became available was notable for one reason. It acknowledged that there was an ethical dimension.
In part this rests on our changing perceptions of autism as more autistic voices are heard in the media. There is still a long way to go. As far as I know, no autistic persons’ views were heard during the broadcast debates. One parent from the Autism Hub, Sharon from the Voyage took part in a radio discussion and made an outstanding contribution by comparison to the experts on the panel. And the Guardian did publish an excellent piece on its website by Anya Ustaszewski. I do not know if this made it into the print edition. It deserved to.
This is a short piece because I am in the midst of annual reviews where I sit down with parents and discuss their child’s progress and what we can do to improve their prospects for the future. I love these meetings. They are a chance to celebrate my pupils’ achievements and consider the wishes of both the parents and their children who all make some contribution to the meeting. Pre-natal testing will not be on the agenda.
Comment by RAJ | January 22nd, 2009
Mike;
Fitzgerald is a purveyor of pop psychology woo, retrospectively diagnosing many historical figures with ‘Asperger Syndrome’. Small wonder the neurodiversity movement considers him an icon. However, while ND the crowd will take great pride in Fitzgerald’s nonsense claiming all sorts of admired historical and popular figures as ‘one of us’ such as the nonsense that Einstein, Gates and many others as being ‘on the spectrum’. Fitgerald also retrospectively diagnosed Adolph Hitler with Asperger Syndrome.
Perhaps if the foolish notion about a prenatal test for ‘autism’ a condition whose etiolgy is not known, had been in place long ago, the world would have also been spared from Adolph Hitler.
You can read his book and his chapter on Aolph Hitler or the follwing commentary about Fitzgerald’s nonsense:
“Michael Fitzgerald, an expert in autism spectrum disorders, concludes that Hitler suffered from, and met all the criteria of Asperger syndrome as documented by Hans Asperger.[8] As evidence of Asperger’s Fitzgerald cites Hitler’s poor sleep patterns, food fads, dislike of physical contact, inability to forge genuine friendships, and an emptiness in his human relations. His conversations in the Men’s Home in Vienna were really harangues and invited no reciprocity, for which he lacked this capacity. In Munich he was distant, self-contained, withdrawn and without friends. His comrades noted that he had no humanitarian feelings. He was obsessive and rarely made good or interesting company, except in the eyes of those who shared his obsessions or those in awe of, or dependent on him. He was single minded and inflexible. He spent a great deal of time with Albert Speer, examining architectural plans, and this remained a major focus of his life throughout. His other major interest was in the music of Wagner. His greatest interest, clearly, was in control over people and power over people.[9]
Fitzgerald further states that Hitler was an ideologue with unshakable convictions, and had a bed compulsion, which demands that the bed be made in a particular way with the quilt folded according to a prescribed pattern and that a man must make the bed before he could go to sleep. He did not use language for the purpose of interaction with others, but only for the purpose of dominating others. He endlessly engaged in long-winded and pedantic speeches, with “illogical arguments full of crude comparisons and cheap allusions.”[9] He was unable to carry on a normal conversation or discussion with people. Even if only one other person was present, he had to do all the talking. His manner of speech soon loses any conversational qualities it might have had and takes on all the characteristics of a lecture that may easily develop into a tirade. He simply forgets his companions and behaves as though he were addressing a multitude, repeating the same stories over and over again in exactly the same form, almost as though he had memorised them. After the First World War “his awkward mannerisms” were noted. At that time he wore his gangster hat and trenchcoat over his dinner jacket, toting a pistol and carrying as usual his dog whip, he cut a bizarre figure in the salons of Munich’s upper-crust. But his very eccentricity of dress and exaggerated mannerisms… saw him lionized by condescending hosts and fellow guests. In his early days he wore the Bavarian costume. His clothes were not clean; with his mouth full of brown, rotted teeth and his long fingernails he presented a rather grotesque figure. His gait was a very lady-like walk. Dainty little steps. Every few steps he cocked his right shoulder nervously, his left leg snapping up as he did so. He also had a tic in his face that caused the corner of his lips to curl upwards. People found his look “staring and dead.”
Fitzgerald claims, therefore, that Adolf Hitler meets the criteria for autistic psychopathy described by Hans Asperger and was not schizophrenic.[9] Fitzgerald has claimed that many famous people in history had Asperger’s so some doubt the validity of his (posthumous) diagnoses
‘
Comment by abfh | January 22nd, 2009
RAJ, you’re way off the mark in claiming that the neurodiversity movement considers Fitzgerald an icon. I criticized his nonsense on my blog almost three years ago:
http://autisticbfh.blogspot.com/2006/05/alices-adventures-in-disorderland.html
Comment by Sharon | January 22nd, 2009
Thanks Mike for that very kind assessment.
There was a woman called Ann Marie taking part in the discussion with me who has a diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome. I’d checked before I agreed to take part that they would have an autistic adult speaking too. If they hadn’t been able to find anyone, I’d love to have suggested either Harry or Larry, that would have been an interesting debate!
RAJ, I presume you looked at the link to my blog to discover that Fitzgerald was involved. How can you then go one to claim that the “neurodiversity movement considers him an icon?” (By neurodiversity movement, I presume you mean, those who think that all people including that subset of humanity with atypical neurologies, deserve to have their human rights respected and protected.)
I clearly disagreed with his views. I describe him rather disparagingly as the man who diagnosis the dead, and described him as wittering on about his theory. There may be some truth these but I don’t think they’re that important. My view is that you don’t have to be a super-genius autistic person to be valuable. People with learning disabilities deserve to be born too.
Abfh has pointed out where she critisied him too. I’m sure we’re not the only 2 from the “ND lot” who’ve done so.
Comment by Mike | January 22nd, 2009
@Raj
I agree with both abfh and Sharon. Diagnosing the dead is unreliable and unhelpful to those of us who are sympathetic to the ideas of neurodiversity.
@Sharon
Thank you for the correction regarding Ann Marie.
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Comment by J.J, | June 3rd, 2010
I find this scary.As person with this disorder it doesn’t shock but it is scary.I never killed anyone but I am pretty misanthropic.And I have had fascination with cloning and breeding.I defintely have anger issues and bad paranoia.