Stereotypes of autism.
In their landmark papers, both Kanner and Asperger employed a series of case histories to shape clinical insight into autistic disorders. This way of introducing, assessing and representing disorders has disappeared from today's psychiatric practice, yet it offers a convincing model of the way stereotypes may build up as a result of representations of autism. Considering that much of what society at large learns on disorders on the autism spectrum is produced by representations of autism in novels, TV-series, movies or autobiographies, it will be of vital importance to scrutinize these representations and to check whether or not they are, in fact, misrepresenting autism. In quite a few cases, media representations of talent and special abilities can be said to have contributed to a harmful divergence between the general image of autism and the clinical reality of the autistic condition.
Draaisma
Douwe
D
Heymans Institute, University of Groningen, PO Box 72, 9700 AB Groningen, The Netherlands. d.draaisma@rug.nl
D001076:Aptitude; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000473:pathology*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D009040:Motion Pictures; D011639:Public Opinion