Uta Frith: why I no longer think autism is a spectrum

[Alexej]

I thought this might be of interest so some of us on here.

Uta Frith is a well known researcher into autism, and the article quotes her as saying "The autism spectrum has widened to the point of collapse, affecting how teachers should support autistic pupils in the classroom"

THe whole article is too long to paste into the Forum so I have attached it as a pdf.

 

[lunarious]

What does spectrum mean for ASD?

 

[JayLapointe]

Yeah I'm glad she's not able to change things to meet the way she's viewing it now.

Honestly the "Contraindicators" she uses are invalid. "Able to interact smoothly in a conversation" and/or "understand irony and humor". First of 99% of people in general don't understand Irony. I do, because I was raised by an English professor. Same as how I understand humor and can usually, not always, but usually make my way through most conversations "smoothly" whatever the hell that is supposed to mean. I've had decades to practice and learn all the expressions and turns of phrase. She also completely overlooked and didn't even mention that often those so called "hypersensitive" children as she describes them, end up as damn disasters in their 30's/40's when they burnout not realizing the entire time they've been autistic/neurodiverse.

Then too her outright dismissal of masking. She's a geneticist and I'm sorry you can't find a gene for masking, it doesn't however eliminate the actual mental stress and damage that comes from a lifetime of masking. Especially when you do so unknowingly just trying to survive.

So personally I disagree with this lady despite her reputation as I think her focus is far too small. And it boils down to an argument of "it's hard to keep up with treating/supporting autistic children so lets just diagnose less of them so we don't have to treat as many". Read it twice, that is her message. Restrict those that can be diagnosed and let the hypersensitive perish.

 

[JayLapointe]

Saw this critique of Uta's point of view on another site and I really like the thought.

"To define autism (and the perceived "severity" of it) by capacity to function in society is to define it through a capitalist lens - because capacity to function is so often a shorthand for capacity for education and employment that many other areas of dis/ability and strength end up dismissed and forgotten. Frith has a lot of interesting experience and views but as the evidence grows and the field of autism studies develops, things become more nuanced than some of the early pioneers of the field can/tend to keep up with"

 

[JayLapointe]

What does spectrum mean for ASD?

Spectrum is the S in ASD. Spectrum means that there is a wide range of possibility. So in ASD some of us are non-verbal, some of us like myself though very verbal. Both myself and the non-verbal are autistic but we exist in different ends of the spectrum.

Take current diagnosis in terms of supports with folks classed as Level 1 through 3 with 3 requiring the most supports and Level 1 hardly any at all. Level 1 folks would by and large have been the folks previously diagnosed with Aspergers before it got rolled in with ASD in the last DSM update.

 

[Alexej]

Thanks for the comments so far.
I was waiting for the thread to be live before I posted a response from Tony Attwood and Michelle Garnett.

Just so there is a completeness to the story.

 

[Dagan]

Yeah, irony and satire and cynicism aren't specific to any set disorder/diagnosis. They are first and foremost related to knowing and understanding literal and figurative definitions of words/phrases/laws/rules/guidelines and/or right and wrong. This is why I can read any text and point out contradictions over and over and over. It's why I also see people of all walks (NT or ND alike) that can't spot the same things...ever. They just believe it and never once question it. It's a matter of education ability and/or retaining and being able to recall said knowledge.

It is a rarity that the best comedians are uneducated or morons, if you will. They are almost always at the top of the intelligence quotient percentage-wise.

 

[Jonn]

She is, she says, “very happy to see that some action is being taken to understand why
there has been such a dramatic increase in ASD diagnosis and why we have such long
waiting lists.

I haven't researched this topic, but I will throw an idea into the arena:
Financial benefits. <ka-ching>

Every man, woman, gender diverse person, and their dog wants to get their snout into the money trough. <oink>
Please correct me if you think I am wrong.

Call me cynical.
I do.

 

[velociraptor]

My initial reaction was: "This is why you don't drink the bong water."

Wow.

 

[Jonn]

Spoiler: off topic

She describes that contra-indications for autism include the ability to interact smoothly
in conversation and to understand and use irony and humour. We disagree that these
are necessarily contra-indications to autism – instead, they can represent hard-won
skills associated with intellectual effort and practice as well as aspects of personality.

This is definitely the case with me.
My autism was challenged by some disagreeable characters in the past, BTW.

 

[velociraptor]

I think some of this is her saying what a lot of people would like to say about Asperger's being rolled into ASD, but don't because you get shouted down as a bigot or worse. [ gives finger to the shouters ]

I would have thought she of all people would understand masking. No. Nope. So far off I feel like crying.

And telling functional people we're not ND because we function too well? We learned how to because all of the other choices were WORSE, lady. Let's refer back to her inability to understand masking.

WOW.

 

[Lou Laurinen]

Ugh. I’ve been dismissed as “not autistic” my whole life by people sticking to narrow criteria like “understands sarcasm and irony” and “doesn’t require support.” Also often told that I can’t be autistic because I’m an extrovert and highly social, and my special interests aren’t “niche” enough.

This was a discouraging read. Seems like more dismissal of people who are considered high functioning/level 1 (yes, I was diagnosed with “Asperger’s” initially.)