Name: Autism: A Very Short Introduction
ISBN: 9780199207565

Uta Frith

This book offers a explanation on what is currently known about autism and Asperger syndrome.

Autism: A Very Short Introduction

Tim Pendry

If you want a basic guide to the state of scientific research into the alleged nature of autism twenty years ago (and an insight into the attitudes of somewhat cold and clinical positivists) then this may be the book for you but I found it mildly creepy and even sinister at times. What were the problems that I had with it? Partly it was a matter of the arrogance of tone towards those who had a view of autism closer to that of the much later book by Devon Price ('Unmasking Autism') which tried to claim autism as yet another 'identity' in a society already reeking of them. There was an odd point (like an upsurge of atavistic feminism) where the author seemed to be playing with the idea of men being autistic simply by being men. She moves swiftly on but it gives us a clue to an attitude that sees 'normality' as 'normative' along lines that are peculiar to her own world. In my earlier review, I criticised Price for going too far in accepting the language of victimhood and identity politics but Frith takes us to the other end of the spectrum in what appears to be an alliance of interest between a profession seeking research grants and worried middle class mummies. Cultural alliances fascinate me because of their distorting effects within liberal democracies and the fact that they emerge without a central point of control. They are certainly not conspiracies but emerge naturally, like that between Greens and business, to distort reality. Autism has certainly 'exploded' in terms of 'diagnosis' (always a reason to be suspicious in the world of clinical psychology) and in cultural awareness. It has become a blank sheet on to which fears, interests and ambitions may get projected with social and political consequences. Now, do not get me wrong here. I do accept that autism in its extreme forms can and will be dysfunctional and that, if truly dysfunctional, it requires sensitive intervention to help individuals become functional - but this begs the question of what we may mean by functional. Frith is undoubtedly expert in analysing, understanding and developing solutions to truly dysfunctional autistic behaviour. The quarrel here is not with her expertise (which is substantial and demonstrable) but its extension from the particular to the general. I noted in an earlier review the insights of Richard Bentall in 'Madness Explained' where he suggested that professional diagnostics may have got out of hand so that (he speaks of classical insanity) we fail to see that much behaviour classed as 'mad' is, in fact, on an extensive spectrum. There is no reason to consider all 'abnormal'behaviours as dysfunctional. Neuro-diversity is often not a problem at all. People have, in fact, often become dysfunctional because of social demands and expectations. 'Sufferers' could often get on adequately with reassurance and a different society. We should not have to sit there, whoever we are, and accept society when it clashes with our essential given nature or our existentialist ambitions so long as we offer no threat to others. Normalising us can be one of the nastiest forms of human oppression because it is so insidious. We willoften see a power struggle between an individual who is who they are and a society who demands that they be something else. The obvious example in history were the demands made on LGBTQ+ people. Dysfunctionality in any situation requires careful analysis in this context. Normality is a conceptual trap because what is normal shifts and changes according to culture. It would be normal to hate Jews in Nazi Germany, to believe in the virtues of the proletariat in the Soviet Union and to believe in a Christian commitment to marriage and corporation in 1950s America. From this perspective, Price, although he/she goes far too far, is correct that many autists (like many people who hear voices) can and should kick back against attempts to diminish and control them, force them back into normality as once we tried to force gay people into binary sexual situations. I must admit to something here. Everyone around me seems convinced that I am 'on the spectrum' when it comes to autism although it is fairly mild in my case. I am very high functioning. When it comes to matters of 'madness', I am possibly even hyperrational to my own distress. This makes me believe that it is normality that is often dysfunctional. When it comes to human survival, it is normal to accept being conscripted for absurd wars and to deny your own desires sexually to maintain a historically-generated Judaeo-Christian mythic culture. But that is how it is. Interest in Autism in certainly relatively recent - it possibly has not yet reached its half century of serious professional engagement. In this, it is unlike 'madness' which has troubled humanity in some form since the days of shamanism. A fully balanced approach seems yet to be developed. So, neither Price nor Frith's books are entirely helpful because both tell only half the story. Both are polemical and rather rigid. Neither is prepared to critique the special interests and social conditions that define functionality (Frith) or the post-modern ideology that denies social reality (Price). Just as I advised the Price-ians to persist in dropping their masks on their terms but without wasting time on constructing a group identity, so I would advise the Frith-ians to step back and define dysfunctionality with more care and to consider social dysfunctionality as of equal concern. In the ideal situation, in dealing with the 'mad' and the 'autistic', individuals would be left to self-develop as much as possible with as much reasonable non-invasive support as possible. Those who collapsed into true dysfunctionality should receive the bulk of what resources there are. It is the idea that autism is necessarily a disorder that most concerns me. To be fair, Frith does point out the aspects of autism that might be regarded as positive but her language of disorder always privileges some reified order to which it is necessary to adapt. Order is not the human condition. The book retains throughout a certain implicit arrogance about the extent of neuro-diversity as disorder. The normal brain is treated as a biological and essentialist absolute, abandoning all awareness of the adaptiveness and resilience of the mind (and so of the underlying brain). Perhaps 'normies' need to be taught more not to fear or to panic (especially middle class mums) and to loosen up a little. Nevertheless, boundaries need to be agreed where it becomes clear that the safety of the individual and of society might require someone to step in. There is another consideration against enforced normality of any kind where there is no significant suffering or harm to the wider world or to the individual themselves. This is that (as we seem to forget) we are evolved animals and not machines or gods. We are a species with massive variation. Neuro-diversity is not an aberration from some Platonic form of the brain, pickled in aspic for eternity (this is pre-Darwinian thinking) but variation. Neuro-diversity may be truly dysfunctional we have accepted, but it may also be massively creative as we see in Elon Musk. OK, some people may consider Musk dangerous and abnormal (we have reviewed his biography at length elsewhere) but that is frankly a political decision or one based on classic 'ressentiment'. Whatever one thinks of him, he has made exceptional advances in business and engineering. Variation is vital to the survival of a species. It may be become very important as our species, which has a weird aspect in being part-hive (a socialised unthinking culture) and part consciously individualist (the creative yeast in society), adapts to new technological conditions. The bits of humanity that seem dysfunctional to 'normies' may contain the genetic seeds to future survival. Attempts to treat moderate autism or 'madness' as a 'disorder' and to seek to cure it may gain grants for ambitious academics but it may also lead us in a very dark direction. This dark side would be genetic intervention to normalise our species within a narrow band. This would be a conservative attempt to preserve an existing order that may be doomed to fail. It is implicit in liberal panic at the fact that people keep coming up with the wrong political answers. To identify serious dysfunctional abnormality in the brain is one thing (action to deal with this is beneficial) but contemporary professional liberal capitalist society is constantly engaged in mission creep - whether as NATO or human resources managers or clinical psychology. This mission creep is the unthinking 'hive' at work. It is the sort of thinking by 'normal people' that tends to lead to problems like risking nuclear war, debt crises or the rise of populism in reaction to 'norms' imposed without true consent from above. The point is that all attempts of authoritarian science to control humanity generally end in disaster for the professional classes and society in general (Adam Curtis' 'Pandora's Box' documentary series is good on this). Humanity is always best guided rather than forced. The 'hive' must be challenged. Now, let us be clear, Frith is not (at least overtly) directing us to the dark side at all but the positivist attitudes and essentialism implicit in her account make things just that bit easier for those who might. For facts, this a good book. For ideological sophistication, go elsewhere.

Autism: A Very Short Introduction

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