Lizzie Wordham <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Stuart Murray\u2019s Autism<\/em> covers a broad spectrum of topics from history of the condition to controversies surrounding it to gender statistics. In a couple different chapters, Murray touches on the dangers of certain language that is used with autism and the dangerous affects it can have. Referring to autism as an \u201cillness\u201d or a \u201cdisease\u201d as opposed to a condition causes autism to be seen as something that must be healed or cured. This type of language is harmful to the autistic community, as it directs autism studies away from focuses of understanding or learning and instead towards potentially invasive procedures and a lack of acceptance by nondisabled people. This language also can make it more difficult for families to connect to their autistic family member. It is important to the wellbeing of autistic people that we think of autism instead as a unique part of humanity, instead of referring to it as something that needs to be removed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Referring to autism as an illness puts the condition in an enveloping category that skews the true definition of autism. As Murray writes, \u201cthe baggy nature of this word allows for the easy crossover between illness and a neurobehavioral condition such as autism\u201d (37). Thinking of autism under the terms of an illness rather than a condition influences the way it is dealt with. Instead of being thought of as something unique that can provide new information about humans and influence what we know about the qualities of humanity, this language redirects study of autism to focus on trying to fix it. This type of approach to autism, finding a cure, influences the type of care and autistic person may get. The families of an autistic person may view the condition as problematic, which in turn would affect their treatment of and attitude towards their autistic family member when that family member would have benefitted simply from being engaged in and loved by their family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The idea of searching for a \u201ccure\u201d for autism has resulted in numerous organizations that seek to lessen the symptoms or actually remove the autism from a person\u2019s body. Murray writes about one in particular called Generation Rescue (91). This organization uses language such as \u201cheal\u201d or \u201crescue\u201d your son from autism. This type of language puts distance between the families and their autistic child. It seeks to separate the child from the condition and makes it seem as though quality of the child\u2019s life is hindered because of it. Language like this distances a family from connecting with their autistic child, as it paints autism as some kind of barrier between them and their child\u2019s true self. Another organization that Murray writes about, called Son-Rise, revolves around language that pertains to resurrection or exorcism. He observes that the idea of \u201cpurging the body to remove the condition\u2026 creates an idea of autism as either a toxin or some form of malevolent presence\u201d (Murray 93). This lexicon used by organizations like this makes autism sound very negative and can result in treatment of autistic children that is uncomfortable and unnecessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Not only can language like \u201ccure\u201d or \u201cillness\u201d create distance between an autistic person and their family, but it can subject the autistic patient to procedures that are painful and jarring. There are rituals, injections, and creams that are meant to either lessen symptoms or remove the autism from the body, but none have been proven to work. It is the hopefulness of the family that it will work that causes them to participate in procedures and products that are not proven to be effective by scientists (Murray 94). Murray reminds his readers that \u201cthose who are autistic themselves often view the curing or healing debates with a mixture of hostility and resigned weariness\u201d (94). This in itself implies that attempting to rid an autistic person of their autism is more the desire of the family than the autistic person. This desire of families of autistic children is influenced greatly by the types of language they have been exposed to surrounding autism, displaying yet again why it is so problematic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Negative and incorrect language in reference to autism results in a lack of understanding by the nondisabled community. Murray points out that the autism condition is \u201cone of developmental delay\u201d (94). Family members of autistic children will convince themselves that certain procedures are working because they\u2019ll see differences in their child\u2019s abilities. What they haven\u2019t been taught to understand is that, \u201clike all children, children with autism will grow up\u201d (Murray 94). If the families of autistic children instead took the time to learn about the condition instead of attempt to suppress it, they could understand that their autistic loved one will grow and develop like any other child, just on their own timeline and in their own unique way. This is why negative language is so harmful to the autistic community\u2014its affects the way their family members view their condition and results in a lack of understanding. Autism is a human condition, as Murray reminds his readers several times throughout his book, and should be viewed as something uniquely human.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In closing, autism is a developmental condition, not an illness. Words such as \u201cillness\u201d or \u201cdisease\u201d cause it to often fall under a category of illnesses that it does not belong to. Words like \u201ccure,\u201d \u201crescue,\u201d \u201cfix,\u201d and even \u201cheal\u201d depict the condition as something that is wrong and needs to be gotten rid of. This language is harmful to the autistic community for many reasons. It results in potentially uncomfortable procedures, it prevents true understanding of autism by the nondisabled communities, and it can result in a distancing of family members from their autistic loved one. It is important that this type of language surrounding autism is changed and replaced with something that benefits the autistic community, focusing instead on understanding and acceptance. This implementation of more positive and thought-provoking language should improve relationships between autistic people and their families, direct autism studies in a more productive and progressive direction, and give autistic people the rights and treatment they need and deserve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Word Count: 1019<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Works Cited<\/p>\n\n\n\n Murray, Stuart. Autism<\/em>. The Routledge Series Integrating Science and Culture, 2011.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lizzie Wordham \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Stuart Murray\u2019s Autism covers a broad spectrum of topics from history of the condition to controversies surrounding it to gender statistics. In a couple different chapters, Murray touches on the dangers of certain language that is used with autism and the dangerous affects it can have. Referring to autism as an \u201cillness\u201d … Continue reading “The Power of Language Surrounding Disability as Presented in Stuart Murray\u2019s Autism”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[87,236],"class_list":["post-2118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-autism","tag-stuart-murray"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcJhts-ya","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2118"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2120,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2118\/revisions\/2120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}