Garcia 1

Gladys Garcia
Professor Batty
English 113B
10 May 2016
Normal Brains: Accepting Autism
For many years now, Autism has been viewed as a disease that affects the human brain in
a negative way. Many researches are trying to find a cure for this disease but, do not take in
consideration that not everyone is the same. There is so actual normal brain in the world
therefore, rather than defining Autism as a disease we should accept it. The term
neurodiversity expresses how different everyone is rather then making them normal. Looking
at the history of autism, shouldnt be seen as a disease because it ignores the uniqueness of the
brain, which makes up who they are, and if we do not accept it they get discriminated.
The history of autism is very telling of the issues. Autism was first discovered around the
year 1943 and is usually associated with isolation. According to the article Autism as a Natural
Human Variation: Reflections on the Claims of the Neurodiversity Movement. states, Autism
was first identified by Leo Kanner in 1943 as a childhood syndrome characterized by autistic
aloneness, obsession with routine and profound problems with communication. (Jaarsma20).
Inotherwords,autismisassociatedwithbeingnonsocialwhichcanbearealproblembecause
theywillnotsocializewithanyone.Thiswillleadtoothersseeingthemasbeingdifferent
becausetheywillnotsocialize.Weliveinasocietywhereeveryoneisalwayssocializing
whetheritisonsocialmediaortexting.Thisignorancewehaveblockstheuniquenessthis
autisticpersonhasbutwefailtoseeit.

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Callingautism,adiseaseignorestheuniquenessoftheirbrains.Whenachildis
diagnoseswithAutismtheyfeeljustlikeeveryoneelse.Achildwillnotnoticewhatmakesthem
differentfromothers.AccordingtoTempleGrandinanautisticwomanWhenIwasyoung,I
thoughteveryonethoughtinpictures,Ithoughteverybodywasavisualthinker(Kalbfleisch
212)ThisshowsthatasayounggirlTempleGrandinwasnotawareshewasdifferent.She
thoughtthateveryoneelsewasthesame.Thisprovesthatyoungchildrendonotfeelany
differentwhentheyarediagnosedwithAutismtheyfeeleveryoneisautistic.Forexample,The
CuriousIncidentoftheDoginTheNightTimebyMarkHaddontalksaboutayoungteenager
namedChristopherwithAutism.Christopherisverypickyonwhatheiscomfortablewith.For
example,hewillnoteatfoodsthatareyelloworbrown,andhedoesntliketobetouched.The
wayhimandhisfatherhugisbytouchingtheirhandstogetherandthatisallChristophercan
handle.MostpeoplemayseethisasoddandthinkAutismhasmadethispoorteenagersick.
Howmanyofusdontlikecertainthingslikebroccoliorpicklesorperhapswedontliketobe
touchedeither;thatdoesnotmakeChristopheranydifferentfromusbecauseweeachhaveour
dislikes.WetendtojudgeAutisticpeoplebecauseweseethemasdifferentbutinrealitytheyare
notallthatdifferentfromus.Theyareaminoritytousfromthestart.
Autismisnotacceptedbecauseofthedifferencesthatareshownandthisleadto
discrimination.AccordingtothearticleNeurodiversity: Accepting Autistic Difference putsit,
Whetherautismisseenasadifferenceoradisorder,beingautisticcanbeconsideredasa
minorityposition.(Owrens36).Inotherwords,weautomaticallyputdownanautistic
individualwithoutevengivingthemachance.Wethinktheyareuselessintoourworld,thatthe
onlythingtheywilldoisholdusbackbuttheydonot.Autismisablessingfortheyhavespecial

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talentsthatcanhelpourworld.Although,autisticindividualshavecertainspecialtiestheycan
workon.Forexample,iftheyarereallygoodatmath,butwontspeaktoanyone,theywill
probablygetaspeechtherapisttohelpthemsocializewithothersbutthisdoesntmakedifferent
becauseeveryonefunctionsdifferent.Weshouldnotlimitanyonebecausewedonotknowwhat
theyarecapableof.AccordingalsotoTempleGrandin,Iactuallyknowofacasewheretheres
akidinphysicsclassesincollegewhocantgraduatefromhighschoolalgebra,buthesdoing
highlevelphysicsclassesandcomputerscienceprogrammingclasses(Kalbfleisch213).This
demonstratesthatautisticindividualshaveacertainspecialtythattheyareverystrongat.Ifwe
giveuponthisindividual,theywillnotsucceedtotheirpotential.Ifthatstudentsteachergave
uponthemtheyprobablywouldhavethoughtthatiftheycannotdosimplehighschoolalgebra
theycannotdohigherlevelphysicsorcomputersciencemath.Forexample,TheCurious
IncidentoftheDoginTheNightTimeChristopherisreallygoodatmathwhichishisspecialty.
However,whenChristopheraskstotakeALevelmathclasseshisprincipalisconcernedthatit
mightbeoutofhisleague.ButChristopherproveseveryonewrongandacesallhisALevel
mathtestpassinghismathclass.Thenhetalksabouthowonedayhedreamsofbeingan
astronautormajoringinmath.ApersonwithChristophersabilitieswouldbeveryuseful
becausenotallofusaregoodatmathandmathisreallyvaluablewhenitcomestoscienceor
doctors.Weshouldnotlimitautisticpeoplebecausetheyhavecertaincapabilitiesthatareuseful.
Weshouldnotlimitthembecauseifwedotheywilllimitthemselvesandthiswillnotleadthem
intosucceedingintotheirfullpotential.RemovingAutismfromapersonwouldbeliketaking
awayapieceofthem.

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However,Autismcanbeaprobleminthebrainbecauseitcanleadtobehavioral
problems.Thatiswhyresearchersspendalotoftimelookingforacure.Accordingtothearticle
SensoryMotorProblemsinAutismstates,Someexistingrodentmodelsofautism,aswellas
somemodelsnotpreviouslyappliedtothestudyofthedisorder,displaycerebellarand
behavioralabnormalitiesthatparallelthosecommonlyseeninautisticpatient(Craig1).This
showsthatresearchershavebeenexperimentingwiththisdiseaseandseemtofindthatthey
arefindingdifferencesthatarenotcommon.Theyaresayingthatautisticpatientswilltendto
havebehavioralabnormalitiesthatarenotcommoninthenormalhumanbrain.Ontheother
hand,researcherswillarguethatautisticpeoplelacksocialskillsbutitstilldoesntitmakeit
rightnottoacceptit.Eitherwayifweweretofindacureitwouldbetakingapieceofthem.
Autismisntadisorderitisratherthewayofaperson,meaningwhotheyreallyare.
TempleGrandinmentionsAutisticpersons,therefore,experiencetheirenvironmentdifferently,
particularlyintermsofhowtheyprocesssensoryinformationorsocialknowledge.Thatis,when
peoplewithautismmanifestdifferencesthataresociallyrecognized(andthereforedisabling),it
isoftenaconsequenceoftheunusualmannerinwhichtheirbodiesperceivereality(Kalbfleisch
214).ThisdemonstratesthatAutisticpeoplehandlesituationsdifferently,forifweputthem
downtheymightthinklessofthemselves.Neurodiversityisacceptingthedifferencesbetween
othersbrains.Forexample,theautisticbrainisnotthesameasanonautisticsbrainthisleadsto
judgingbut,weshouldntjudgebecauseweeachhavedifferentcapabilitiesmeaningthereisno
normal.ThisiswhyneurodiversityshouldbevaluedbecauseAutismshouldnotbeviewedasa
disabilityoradiseasebecauseitisnotholdinganyoneback.Itisopeninguptotheworldthatnot
everyoneisthesame.Jaarsmaet.allwriteNeurodiversityspokespersonspromoteapositive

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understandingofautism,opposethosewhoadvocateforacure,resisttheappropriationoftheir
voicesbysympathizersandnonautistics,andstruggleforacollectivesenseofidentity(Jaarsma
23).ThismeansthatneurodiversityisratherexpressingthepositiveenergyofAutism.Wecant
changewhotheyareorfindacuretohelpthembecausethereisnonormalbrain.Taking
Autismawayfromapersonwouldbelikestealingtheiridentity.ThisexplainswhyAutism
cannotbecuredbecauseitispartofaperson.Youcannotdefineapartofapersonasadisease.
Inconclusion,whetheritmaybedifficulttoacceptneurodiversity intoourliveswehave
tofindawaytoincludeit.Autisticindividualsarejustlikeeveryoneelse,theyhavetheirown
uniqueness.Theyshouldnotbediscriminatedbecausetheyarenotdifferenttheyjusthave
certainqualitieswearenotusedtodealingwithinourdailylives.Autismwillalwaysbeapart
ofaperson.Lookingcurewillbetakingapieceapartofthemawaywhichisnotright.

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WorksCited
Bumiller, Kristin. "Quirky Citizens: Autism, Gender, and Reimagining Disability." Signs, 33.4
(2008): 967-991.
Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. Toronto: Anchor Canada,
2004.
Jaarsma, Pier, and Stellan Welin. "Autism as a Natural Human Variation: Reflections on the
Claims of the Neurodiversity Movement." Health Care Analysis, 20.1 (2012): 20-30
Kalbfleisch,M.Layne."RareandPowerfulVisualSpatialTalent:AnInterviewwithTemple
Grandin."RoeperReview,35.4(2013):212216
Owren, Thomas, and Trude Stenhammer. "Neurodiversity: Accepting Autistic Difference."
Learning Disability Practice, 16.4 (2013): 32.
Whyatt,Caroline,andCathyCraig."SensorymotorProblemsinAutism."Frontiersin
IntegrativeNeuroscience,7(2013):51.