I’ve blogged about Amanda Baggs before. Her YouTube video is legendary, and well worth the viewing, if you know anyone who has autism (and who doesn’t know someone at this point?)

But this article in Wired, The Truth about Autism: Scientists Reconsider What They Think They Know, brings up a whole slew of points and counterpoints. One of the main ones is that there is a movement out there to view autism as “different brained” not as a disability. While I get their point, and think I understand the perspective that Amanda is bringing to the table, I have to say that I don’t believe for one nanosecond that autism is not a disability. It is a huge disability! So is being deaf or blind. In a nutshell it’s huge because people who have autism have to learn to live in a world not designed for people who have autism. And so many cards are stacked against them.

The point of this article that I hope cries out to anyone reading it louder than all the others is that people who have autism do not necessarily have cognitive impairments…they are not “retarded”. And that IQ tests have been designed for the world of people who don’t have autism, because they rely so heavily on language. People with autism given the Raven Progressive Matrices actually scored an average of 30 points higher than on other IQ tests. If you’re the parent of a child with special needs and you haven’t learned that IQ scores can fluctuate…now is the time. IQ scores are relied on heavily to determine the type of educational opportunities your child is given. So, make sure you understand that they are not a one-time, forever score and that a child receiving the right interventions can often score higher.

But I digress…

The problem with the movement of those with autism calling for being accepted as “different” rather than “disabled” is that people who are just different don’t get much help integrating into society. I understand these people’s desire to not be viewed as damaged, retarded, broken, or crazy. But the analogy in the article between being autistic and being homosexual just doesn’t fly in my book. People who are homosexual don’t need help navigating the world, caring for themselves daily or holding down jobs. They don’t need individualized education plans or therapies. I am still convinced that children with autism need all these things, very individualized to their specific difficulties, but they need the services and supports. For society to declare that autism was just a different way of being would excuse society from helping people with autism.

Now, those seeking the “different-brained” status will say that society isn’t helping people with autism, instead we are abusing and stigmatizing them. I’ll admit this is true on many fronts, and not only for people with autism, but nearly all neurologically-based disorders. There are many in the autism community who are recognizing that some of the interventions used to “treat” autism, ABA is the one that comes to mind first, are actually harmful to these children. Now, before I get hate mail from all the parents whose children have made great strides using ABA techniques, let me say that it’s the extreme use of any technique that becomes problematic.

Many children with attachment disorder have been helped by variations of holding therapy; and many children with autism have been helped with ABA type therapies. But the potential of both of these methods to become abusive and dangerous if not done correctly and with a keen awareness of the child is real. Punishments for things you can not control produce trauma. And trauma always makes things worse.

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