Neurodiversity Movement

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Autism rainbow infinity
The rainbow colored infinity symbol represents the diversity of the autism spectrum and the greater neurodiversity movement

The neurodiversity movement is a global social movement that advocates the human rights of neuro-minorities in the sense of neurodiversity . It began in the 1990s in response to pathological viewpoints in the US and Europe. The 2006 by the UN General Assembly in New York adopted and entered into force in 2008 on the Rights of Persons Agreement with Disabilities ( UN CRPD , BRK) had a catalyzing in the spread of the movement. The most influential subgroup is the Autism Rights Movement (ARM ).

The core theme of the neurodiversity movement is working towards a paradigm shift : away from the pathological to one directed towards neurodiversity. This happens in particular according to the principle of lifeworld orientation in order to achieve participation for autistics by reducing social inequality according to the social disability model. The main arguments that are put forward against groups and persons of the neurodiversity movement are allegations of cult formation, an unrealistic utopia and the denial of deficits and illness.

background

The social movement emerged in the 1990s. Today it is international and includes individual people, associations and institutions in the respective countries who differ in their strategies. What all groups and people have in common is that they deal with the problem that autistic people are exposed to discrimination. From the point of view of movement, this also includes the purely pathological consideration. The objectives of the initiatives differ from country to country, as national social systems, for example in the USA or in the countries of the European Union in Europe, are largely different. Even within Europe, schooling is not compulsory in all countries. Some of the groups and people form alliances with one another, while others tend to work on their own.

What the groups have in common is that they go public and provide information via websites, forums and chats. The structures of the groups are very different, so some act as group associations, others as associations or providers of child and youth welfare as well as in research and science. Some of the movements are active in phases and do not publish regularly. The original goals are essentially preserved by various groups as well as by individual representatives of the movement.

history

According to Jaarsma and Welin (2011)

“The neurodiversity movement was developed in the 1990s by online groups of autistic persons. It is now associated with the struggle for the civil rights of all those diagnosed with neurological or neurodevelopmental disorders. "

“The neurodiversity movement was founded in the 1990s by an online group of autistic people. It is now associated with the struggle for the rights of all those diagnosed with a neurological or developmental disorder. "

- Jaarsma and Welin : Health Care Anal

Neurodiversity has therefore been viewed as a natural form of human diversity since the 1990s: individual being and authentic self-expression instead of pathology and disorder. Representatives of the diversity movement stand up for the rights of “neuro-minorities” and reject the idea that neurological deficits must or can be cured.

The beginning of the movement in the USA and Europe was formed by the appropriation of non-negatively loaded terms such as the neologism " neurodiversity ", "autistic" and "autistic pride " instead of "autism spectrum disorder" or "sufferers of the disease autism" . In Germany, the term autism is also used deliberately to take away any swear word character and to encourage the public to come to terms with the prejudices against autistics.

A co-initiating step towards the neurodiversity movement was the founding of the Autism Network International (ANI) in 1992 by Donna Williams , Kathy Lissner Grant and Jim Sinclair ; they are generally considered to be the first activists for neurodiversity.

In 2008, the American journalist Harvey Blume not only described the potential benefits that neurodiversity could bring, he also predicted the role of the Internet in promoting the international neurodiversity movement.

In 2013, the German science journalist Felix Hasler took up the idea of ​​neurodiversity in his book Neuromythology and describes it as a civil rights movement with parallels to the homosexual movement of 1970, which also aimed at destigmatization and social acceptance. Hasler sees the linguistic analogy of pride ( " Pride ") in connection with Neurodiversity the name Gay Pride is not a coincidence, but as proud expression of one's identity as June 18, the annual Autistic Pride Day coming, expressed .

In a similar context, the behavioral biologist Temple Grandin is quoted again and again with her statement:

“If I could snap my fingers and be nonautistic, I would not. Autism is part of what I am. "

“If I could snap my fingers and stop being autistic, I wouldn't. Autism is part of who I am. "

- Temple Grandin (2006) : Thinking in Pictures

Hasler assumes that there are no “people with autism” in this sense, since being autistic is viewed as an inseparable personality trait. He conveys the social change that has already taken place in dealing with homosexuality as a reason for hope for the neurodiversity movement. Jaarsma and Welin, on the other hand, observe an autism-phobic society that previously existed as homophobic in Western civilization.

In Genial Disruption (2016), Steve Silberman, like others, shows the international spread of the idea of ​​neurodiversity by supporters of this movement, including companies such as Specialsterne and SAP. In this context, he sees neurodiversity as a concept that aims to achieve the goal of participating in the design of everyday life in the sense of healthy diversity.

In order to strengthen the presence of the neurodiversity principle not only in companies but also in politics and research, the slogan “Not without us about us” is used. The aim here is to get minorities to participate in shaping the situation in terms of diversity, something that is also increasingly taken up in the literature. Silberman sees this as a kind of countermovement to the efforts of influential organizations like Autism Speaks, which reject the participation of autistic adults. Felix Hasler (2013) writes that the neurodiversity movement can be seen “as a kind of emancipation movement with the goal of destigmatization and the desire for better social acceptance”.

Supporters of the neurodiversity movement support the possibility of living your own life as people are as neurodiverse individuals, instead of having to adapt to a prevailing idea of ​​normality. In a large number of organizations and companies, this happens in the areas of independent life as well as education and work.

Movement for the rights of autistic people

The Autistic Rights Movement is a social movement within the neurodiversity movement that encourages autistic people, their caregivers and society to embrace the position of neurodiversity. She is of the opinion that autism is a functional variation and not a mental disorder that needs treatment. The ARM is committed to the social model of disability . Positive discrimination such as B. is attributed to school helpers, is controversial here, since the replacement of negative discrimination by the opposite does not create an autistic-friendly environment with adjustable barriers.

The ARM has set itself a number of goals, including:

  • to help autistic behavior to become more accepted through education, observing Autistic Pride Day as well as through international campaigns for World Autism Day and the creation of project ideas;
  • support the establishment of social networks that allow autistic people to interact in their own way, including through forums and chats;
  • the recognition of autistic people as a minority group
  • to break down barriers in school education within the framework of inclusion , which is of greater importance primarily in countries with compulsory education .

Interest groups such as the ESH, NeuroDivers eV or the White Unicorn eV, who represent the position of neurodiversity, emphasize that autism as a neuro-type does not have to be treated. They are based on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities  ( UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities , BRK) according to the social model of disability .

Supporters of the ARM and the neurodiversity movement see people living in the autism spectrum only as a natural variant of the human genome. In contrast, there are two other common perspectives:

  1. According to the majority opinion, there is an autism spectrum disorder; this is genetic and should focus on the autism gene (s) or with z. B. Neuroleptics such as risperidone or therapies such as ABA are treated,
  2. The view that autism is caused by environmental factors such as vaccinations or pollutants and can be improved by reversing these environmental factors or by diversionary treatment, e.g. B. by MMS, can be resolved.

Human diversity - one perspective

Members of various organizations for the rights of autistic people see autism as a way of life and not a disease and therefore advocate acceptance rather than cure. Some of these representatives, as well as some established child and youth welfare agencies, believe that common therapies for behavior and language differences associated with autism, such as: B. the applied behavior analysis , are not only misguided, but even unethical.

Movement, which advocates human diversity, also sees autism not as a disorder, but as a normal phenomenon - an alternative variation in the networking of the brain or a less common variant of the human genome. Supporters of this perspective emphasize that the idiosyncrasies of autistic individuals should be tolerated as well as those of other minorities and that efforts to treat them should be compared with antiquated notions of “treatment” for left-handedness or homosexuality and not with therapies such as e.g. B. for cancer patients . The difficulties that autistic people experience are therefore not due to their own deficits, but to an inhospitable environment that arises from barriers and from discrimination on the part of autism phobics.

intercession

ARM representatives began to develop their first projects in Germany around the turn of the millennium and presented them for the school sector in 2011 at the didacta education fair. Concepts that enable a neuronally appropriate environment receive advocacy from various areas such as pedagogy and neuropsychology. The UN Disability Rights Convention is also suitable for creating an environment based on human rights in the sense of the neurodiversity movement, in which barriers can be regulated.

According to Andrew Fenton and Tim Krahn, advocates of neurodiversity seek to re-conceptualize autism and related conditions in society by: recognizing that neurodiversity does not require treatment; Change of established terminology (“condition, illness or disorder”) and “broadening of the understanding of healthy or independent living”; Recognition of these new types of autonomy; more participation and control of the affected individuals with regard to their treatment - both in terms of the basic necessity as well as the type and timing.

In 2013, the German software giant SAP was looking for innovation that “ comes from the edges ” and launched a recruitment campaign specifically looking for people with autism. Freddie Mac , a US mortgage lender, also targeted autistic students with its second recruitment campaign for paid internships in 2013.

controversy

The movement for the rights of autistic people is thus concentrating on the implementation of the overall concept described in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ( UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities , CRP). The neurodiversity movement wants to contribute to breaking down barriers, as provided for in the social model of disability . Still, there remains an unsolved controversy about how this can work in a society where a culturally-based medical model of disability prevails.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Denise Linke: Not normal, but really good. Ed .: Berlin Verlag. 1st edition. Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-8270-1278-4 , pp. 207 .
  2. ↑ a b School Problems - Working Group School of the ESH | Self-help. Retrieved on July 14, 2017 (German).
  3. ↑ a b Position Statements . Autistic Self Advocacy Network. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
  4. ↑ a b What is Neurodiversity? . National Symposium on Neurodiversity at Syracuse University. 2011. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
  5. ↑ a b Declaration by the autism community that they are a minority group of November 18, 2004, accessed on September 7, 2007
  6. ↑ a b ANI: About Autreat. Retrieved July 10, 2017 .
  7. ^ Autistic Minority International. Retrieved July 15, 2017 (UK English).
  8. ↑ SAtedI. Retrieved July 16, 2017 (French).
  9. ^ A b c Autism as a Natural Human Variation: Reflections on the Claims of the Neurodiversity Movement . Linköping University. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  10. ↑ a b c Steve Silberman: Ingenious Disorder: The Secret History of Autism and Why We Need People Who Think Different . DUMONT Buchverlag, 2016, ISBN 978-3-8321-8925-9 ( google.de [accessed on July 12, 2017]).
  11. ↑ Joseph Shapiro: Autism Movement Seeks Acceptance, Not Cures. In: NPR.org . June 26, 2006, accessed January 19, 2020 .
  12. ^ Jim Sinclair: Autism Network International: The Development of a Community and its Culture. In: autreat.com. January 2005, accessed January 19, 2020.
  13. ↑ Jessica Marie Fridy Hughes: Changing Conversations Around Autism: A Critical, Action Implicative Discourse Analysis of US Neurodiversity Advocacy. PhD thesis University of Bolder 2015, p. 8 (English; PDF: 1.3 MB, 286 pages on colorado.edu ); Quote: "Jim Sinclair is often referred to as the first neurodiversity self-advocate (Boundy, 2008)."
  14. ↑ Harvey Blume: “Autism & The Internet” or “It's The Wiring, Stupid” . Media In Transition, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. July 1, 1997. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
  15. ↑ Henning Böke: Neurological diversity: The discovery of the "Autistic Pride". In: ak: Analysis & Criticism - newspaper for left-wing debate and practice . No. 518, June 22, 2007 ( online at akweb.de ).
  16. ↑ https://www.amazon.de/Thinking-Pictures-Temple-Grandin/dp/0747585326
  17. ↑ Autism: What is it? Features, tests, insights - Part 3. Retrieved July 11, 2017 .
  18. ^ A b c d Felix Hasler: Neuromythology: A pamphlet against the interpretive power of brain research: A pamphlet against the interpretive power of brain research . 4th edition Transcript, Bielefeld 2013, ISBN 978-3-8376-1580-7 ( amazon.de [accessed on July 11, 2017]).
  19. ↑ Gisela Hermes, Eckhard Rohrmann, Sigrid Arnade, HansGünter Heiden, Swantje Köbsell: Nothing about us - without us !: Disability Studies as a new approach to emancipatory and interdisciplinary research on disability . 1st edition. Association for the Promotion of Social Policy Work, Neu-Ulm 2006, ISBN 978-3-930830-71-8 ( amazon.de [accessed on July 10, 2017]).
  20. ↑ Steve Silberman: Ingenious Disorder: The Secret History of Autism and Why We Need People Who Think Different . DUMONT Buchverlag, 2016, ISBN 978-3-8321-8925-9 ( google.de [accessed on July 12, 2017]).
  21. ↑ Gisela Hermes, Eckhard Rohrmann, Sigrid Arnade, HansGünter Heiden, Swantje Köbsell: Nothing about us - without us !: Disability Studies as a new approach to emancipatory and interdisciplinary research on disability . 1st edition. Association for the Promotion of Social Policy Work, Neu-Ulm 2006, ISBN 978-3-930830-71-8 ( amazon.de [accessed on July 10, 2017]).
  22. ↑ Reading sample issue 10/2017 - Harvard Business Manager . In: Harvard Business Manager . ( harvardbusinessmanager.de [accessed on April 13, 2018]).
  23. ^ A b Andrew Solomon: The autism rights movement . In: New York , May 25, 2008. Archived from the original on May 27, 2008. Retrieved May 27, 2008. 
  24. ^ Waltz, M: Autism: A Social and Medical History . Palgrave Macmillan, London 2013, ISBN 0-230-52750-7 .
  25. ↑ Marlies Hübner: Inclusion is necessary for survival. Retrieved July 13, 2017 .
  26. ↑ Autistic Pride: Because autism is not a disease . In: Autism Culture . ( autismus-kultur.de [accessed on July 15, 2017]).
  27. ↑ World.Autism Day - blogging with autism. Retrieved March 17, 2018 .
  28. ↑ Mission Statement. April 5, 2016. Retrieved July 10, 2017 .
  29. ↑ Mission Statement. Aspies for Freedom. Retrieved November 24, 2008.
  30. ↑ Forum for autistic and interested contemporaries (self-help on autism, Asperger's syndrome, atypical, Kanner, NFA, MFA, HFA) - home page. Retrieved July 13, 2017 .
  31. ↑ ANI: About Autreat. Retrieved April 3, 2018 .
  32. ↑ Basics of the collision of autistic characteristics with non-autistic surroundings | Self-help. Retrieved on July 13, 2017 (German).
  33. ↑ a b Mr. Stass: Bachelor thesis, identification of barriers for the school participation of autistics. November 1, 2016, accessed July 10, 2017 .
  34. ^ Waltz, M: Autism: A Social and Medical History . Palgrave Macmillan, London 2013, ISBN 0-230-52750-7 .
  35. ↑ Atypical neuroleptics: risperidone in autistic children with severe behavior . In: DAZ.online . March 30, 2003 ( deutsche-apotheker-zeitung.de [accessed July 13, 2017]).
  36. ↑ SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg Germany: Treatment of autistic children: help in life or torture? - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Health. Retrieved July 13, 2017 .
  37. ↑ Pharma Facts: News and information on pharmaceuticals. Retrieved July 13, 2017 .
  38. ↑ New US study: air pollution increases the risk of autism - WELT. Retrieved July 13, 2017 .
  39. ↑ MMS - when do the authorities wake up? In: DAZ.online . June 6, 2014 ( deutsche-apotheker-zeitung.de [accessed on July 13, 2017]).
  40. ↑ a b c Harmon, Amy. Neurodiversity Forever; The Disability Movement Turns to Brains. The New York Times , May 9, 2004. Retrieved November 18, 2007.
  41. ↑ Dawson, Michelle. The Misbehavior of Behaviors. (January 18, 2004). Retrieved January 23, 2007.
  42. ↑ ABA and the criticism of it - a summary. In: Marlies Hübner . March 27, 2016 ( robotinabox.de [accessed July 13, 2017]).
  43. ↑ Autismus Mittelfranken eV: Opinion against ABA. Retrieved July 15, 2017 .
  44. ↑ Online schooling in regular classes | Self-help. Retrieved on July 14, 2017 (German).
  45. ↑ a b Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ›UN Disability Rights Convention. Retrieved July 14, 2017 .
  46. ↑ Fenton, Andrew, and Tim Krahn. Autism, Neurodiversity and Equality Beyond the Normal (PDF). Journal of Ethics in Mental Health 2.2 (2007): 1-6. November 10, 2009.
  47. ^ Kate Kelland: Thinking differently: Autism finds space in the workplace , Reuters. 4th June 2013.