Autism: What are the ethics of treating disability?
November 16th, 2007A dispute about the correct response to the condition – acceptance or treatment – is dividing campaigners and carers. Jeremy Laurance reports on a bitter ideological war
From the [UK] Independent:
The UK’s leading autism organizations are at war. One one side is a campaign by the National Autistic Society (NAS), backed by a bevy of celebrities, to encourage greater understanding of the condition. On the other is a group called Treating Autism which last week organized the publication of a letter in a national newspaper attacking the 18,000-member NAS and demanding withdrawal of its latest leaflet, “Think Differently About Autism”, which aims to increase public awareness of the lifelong disability.
The NAS’s view is that the problem lies not with autism but with the public response to it. People with autism are stigmatized and discriminated against and the NAS’s aim is to prevent the damage that can cause by raising awareness of the condition. Its approach is summarised by Jane Asher, president of the society, and 20 celebrities who have put their names to the campaign, including the actresses Helena Bonham Carter, Sheila Hancock and Prunella Scales and the chef Antony Worrall Thompson.
… Treating Autism is a charity that promotes therapy for children with autism and insists it works. “Hope for people with autism does not lie in celebrity endorsement and a pretence that autism is normal but in the torrent of medical research that is pouring out of the United States,” its letter said. It accused the NAS of being “on another planet”.
… Similar disputes have been seen in other areas of disability between those who believe it is best to accept the condition and adapt to it, and those who insist on fighting for research funding and treatments.
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November 17th, 2007 at 6:28 am
The National Autistic Society have had it coming. They have lost the plot. Many parents have been complaining that the NAS do not represent the views of the majority. They have sold out by disregarding the views of parents and those with autism.