Break the Stigma: Autism

Break the Stigma: Autism PDF Author: Nichole E Scheerer
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
ISBN: 2832557031
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description
While awareness of neurodiversity and specific forms of neurodivergence, such as autism, has increased over the last few years, autism stigma and prejudice against autistic people remains a critical issue that warrants further attention and investigation. The experience of stigma and prejudice, such as discriminatory actions and attitudes towards autistic individuals on both a personal and public level, can have many negative impacts across one’s lifetime. These experiences can lead people on the autism spectrum and their families to avoid seeking help, which can delay diagnosis and access to supportive services of not only autism itself but also co-occurring physical and psychological health needs. Prejudiced beliefs against autistic people may lead to many forms of discrimination, including but not limited to medical, education, and employment discrimination. These attitudes can be built into society, at a systemic level, and influence policies that govern access to supports and our communities. Additionally, autism stigma and prejudice against autistic people, such as stereotypical portrayals of autistic people in media and the language we use to describe autistic people, can be invalidating to a person’s autistic identity and to autistic culture. Further, the impacts of stigma and prejudice can be internalized by autistic individuals, which may not only have poor effects on their wellbeing but also increase the want and/or need to “mask” or “camouflage” to pass as non-autistic. Masking or camouflaging can reduce a person’s sense of belonging, self-esteem, sense of self-worth, and close relationships – all of which are associated with poor outcomes. It can also lead to avoidance of opportunities, such as connection with other autistic individuals, that could increase quality of life. This Research Topic aims to showcase evidence on why the stigma surrounding autism and the prejudice against autistic people are so detrimental. It hopes to provide insights into research and interventions on how stigma and prejudice can be tackled as well as awareness, understanding, and acceptance raised, in the hope that the research presented will translate to best practice applications in clinical, public health, policy, and community settings. We invite researchers to submit a range of articles, including but not limited to original research articles, reviews, meta-analyses, opinions, perspectives, and case reports to provide new evidence on the following: - Harmful impacts of stigma and prejudice on autistic people - Interventions on reducing stigma surrounding and prejudice against autistic people - Health promotion in autism (i.e., approaches that increase the mental and physical well-being of autistic people) - Interventions targeted at increasing understanding of autism and neurodiversity as well as increasing acceptance and advocacy of – as well as allyship with - autistic people - Examining intersectionality in autism stigma and/or prejudice towards autistic people of diverse backgrounds

Break the Stigma: Autism

Break the Stigma: Autism PDF Author: Nichole E Scheerer
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
ISBN: 2832557031
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 266

Get Book Here

Book Description
While awareness of neurodiversity and specific forms of neurodivergence, such as autism, has increased over the last few years, autism stigma and prejudice against autistic people remains a critical issue that warrants further attention and investigation. The experience of stigma and prejudice, such as discriminatory actions and attitudes towards autistic individuals on both a personal and public level, can have many negative impacts across one’s lifetime. These experiences can lead people on the autism spectrum and their families to avoid seeking help, which can delay diagnosis and access to supportive services of not only autism itself but also co-occurring physical and psychological health needs. Prejudiced beliefs against autistic people may lead to many forms of discrimination, including but not limited to medical, education, and employment discrimination. These attitudes can be built into society, at a systemic level, and influence policies that govern access to supports and our communities. Additionally, autism stigma and prejudice against autistic people, such as stereotypical portrayals of autistic people in media and the language we use to describe autistic people, can be invalidating to a person’s autistic identity and to autistic culture. Further, the impacts of stigma and prejudice can be internalized by autistic individuals, which may not only have poor effects on their wellbeing but also increase the want and/or need to “mask” or “camouflage” to pass as non-autistic. Masking or camouflaging can reduce a person’s sense of belonging, self-esteem, sense of self-worth, and close relationships – all of which are associated with poor outcomes. It can also lead to avoidance of opportunities, such as connection with other autistic individuals, that could increase quality of life. This Research Topic aims to showcase evidence on why the stigma surrounding autism and the prejudice against autistic people are so detrimental. It hopes to provide insights into research and interventions on how stigma and prejudice can be tackled as well as awareness, understanding, and acceptance raised, in the hope that the research presented will translate to best practice applications in clinical, public health, policy, and community settings. We invite researchers to submit a range of articles, including but not limited to original research articles, reviews, meta-analyses, opinions, perspectives, and case reports to provide new evidence on the following: - Harmful impacts of stigma and prejudice on autistic people - Interventions on reducing stigma surrounding and prejudice against autistic people - Health promotion in autism (i.e., approaches that increase the mental and physical well-being of autistic people) - Interventions targeted at increasing understanding of autism and neurodiversity as well as increasing acceptance and advocacy of – as well as allyship with - autistic people - Examining intersectionality in autism stigma and/or prejudice towards autistic people of diverse backgrounds

Neurotribes

Neurotribes PDF Author: Steve Silberman
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0399185615
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 562

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Book Description
This New York Times–bestselling book upends conventional thinking about autism and suggests a broader model for acceptance, understanding, and full participation in society for people who think differently. “Beautifully told, humanizing, important.”—The New York Times Book Review “Breathtaking.”—The Boston Globe “Epic and often shocking.”—Chicago Tribune WINNER OF THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE FOR NONFICTION AND THE CALIFORNIA BOOK AWARD What is autism? A lifelong disability, or a naturally occurring form of cognitive difference akin to certain forms of genius? In truth, it is all of these things and more—and the future of our society depends on our understanding it. Wired reporter Steve Silberman unearths the secret history of autism, long suppressed by the same clinicians who became famous for discovering it, and finds surprising answers to the crucial question of why the number of diagnoses has soared in recent years. Going back to the earliest days of autism research, Silberman offers a gripping narrative of Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger, the research pioneers who defined the scope of autism in profoundly different ways; he then goes on to explore the game-changing concept of neurodiversity. NeuroTribes considers the idea that neurological differences such as autism, dyslexia, and ADHD are not errors of nature or products of the toxic modern world, but the result of natural variations in the human genome. This groundbreaking book will reshape our understanding of the history, meaning, function, and implications of neurodiversity in our world.

Autism in the Workplace

Autism in the Workplace PDF Author: Amy E. Hurley-Hanson
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030290492
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
This book explores the career experiences of Generation A, the half-million individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who will reach adulthood in the next decade. With Generation A eligible to enter the workforce in unprecedented numbers, research is needed to help individuals, organizations, and educational institutions to work together to create successful work experiences and career outcomes for individuals with ASD. Issues surrounding ASD in the workplace are discussed from individual, organizational, and societal perspectives. This book also examines the stigma of autism and how it may affect the employment and career experiences of individuals with ASD. This timely book provides researchers, practitioners, and employers with empirical data that examines the work and career experiences of individuals with ASD. It offers a framework for organizations committed to hiring individuals with ASD and enhancing their work experiences and career outcomes now and in the future.

Nobody's Normal: How Culture Created the Stigma of Mental Illness

Nobody's Normal: How Culture Created the Stigma of Mental Illness PDF Author: Roy Richard Grinker
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393531651
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
A compassionate and captivating examination of evolving attitudes toward mental illness throughout history and the fight to end the stigma. For centuries, scientists and society cast moral judgments on anyone deemed mentally ill, confining many to asylums. In Nobody’s Normal, anthropologist Roy Richard Grinker chronicles the progress and setbacks in the struggle against mental-illness stigma—from the eighteenth century, through America’s major wars, and into today’s high-tech economy. Nobody’s Normal argues that stigma is a social process that can be explained through cultural history, a process that began the moment we defined mental illness, that we learn from within our communities, and that we ultimately have the power to change. Though the legacies of shame and secrecy are still with us today, Grinker writes that we are at the cusp of ending the marginalization of the mentally ill. In the twenty-first century, mental illnesses are fast becoming a more accepted and visible part of human diversity. Grinker infuses the book with the personal history of his family’s four generations of involvement in psychiatry, including his grandfather’s analysis with Sigmund Freud, his own daughter’s experience with autism, and culminating in his research on neurodiversity. Drawing on cutting-edge science, historical archives, and cross-cultural research in Africa and Asia, Grinker takes readers on an international journey to discover the origins of, and variances in, our cultural response to neurodiversity. Urgent, eye-opening, and ultimately hopeful, Nobody’s Normal explains how we are transforming mental illness and offers a path to end the shadow of stigma.

Unstrange Minds

Unstrange Minds PDF Author: Roy Richard Grinker
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0786721928
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
A father's inspiring portrait of his daughter informs this classic reassessment of the "epidemic" of autism. When Isabel Grinker was diagnosed with autism in 1994, it occurred in only about 3 of every 10,000 children. Within ten years, rates had skyrocketed. Some scientists reported rates as high as 1 in 150. The media had declared autism an epidemic. Unstrange Minds documents the global quest of Isabel's father, renowned anthropologist Roy Richard Grinker, to discover the surprising truth about why autism is so much more common today. In fact, there is no autism epidemic. Rather, we are experiencing an increase in autism diagnoses, and Grinker shows that the identification and treatment of autism depends on culture just as much as it does on science. Filled with moving stories and informed by the latest science, Unstrange Minds is a powerful testament to a father's search for the truth.

Asperger's Children: The Origins of Autism in Nazi Vienna

Asperger's Children: The Origins of Autism in Nazi Vienna PDF Author: Edith Sheffer
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393609650
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 283

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Book Description
“An impassioned indictment, one that glows with the heat of a prosecution motivated by an ethical imperative.” —Lisa Appignanesi, New York Review of Books In the first comprehensive history of the links between autism and Nazism, prize-winning historian Edith Sheffer uncovers how a diagnosis common today emerged from the atrocities of the Third Reich. As the Nazi regime slaughtered millions across Europe during World War Two, it sorted people according to race, religion, behavior, and physical condition. Nazi psychiatrists targeted children with different kinds of minds—especially those thought to lack social skills—claiming the Reich had no place for them. Hans Asperger and his colleagues endeavored to mold certain “autistic” children into productive citizens, while transferring others to Spiegelgrund, one of the Reich’s deadliest child killing centers. In this unflinching history, Sheffer exposes Asperger’s complicity in the murderous policies of the Third Reich.

Our Autistic Lives

Our Autistic Lives PDF Author: Alex Ratcliffe
Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
ISBN: 1784509531
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
This collection of narratives from autistic adults is structured around their decades of experience of life, covering 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60 and 70s+. These are varied and diverse, spanning different continents, genders, sexualities and ethnicities, yet the author highlights the common themes that unite them and skilfully draws out these threads. Each chapter is based on accounts from one age group and includes accounts from people of that age, giving an insight into the history of autism and signifying how gaining a diagnosis (or not) has changed people's lives over time. The book is about ageing with an autistic mind, and helping the reader find connections between neurotypical and neurodiverse people by acknowledging the challenges we all face in our past, present and futures.

The Stigma of Mental Illness - End of the Story?

The Stigma of Mental Illness - End of the Story? PDF Author: Wolfgang Gaebel
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319278398
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 648

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Book Description
This book makes a highly innovative contribution to overcoming the stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness – still the heaviest burden both for those afflicted and those caring for them. The scene is set by the presentation of different fundamental perspectives on the problem of stigma and discrimination by researchers, consumers, families, and human rights experts. Current knowledge and practice used in reducing stigma are then described, with information on the programmes adopted across the world and their utility, feasibility, and effectiveness. The core of the volume comprises descriptions of new approaches and innovative programmes specifically designed to overcome stigma and discrimination. In the closing part of the book, the editors – all respected experts in the field – summarize some of the most important evidence- and experience-based recommendations for future action to successfully rewrite the long and burdensome ‘story’ of mental illness stigma and discrimination.

Family Therapy and the Autism Spectrum

Family Therapy and the Autism Spectrum PDF Author: Marilyn J. Monteiro
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317565495
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
The autism spectrum presents a range of communication, social, and sensory differences that are challenging for clinicians to address. Family Therapy and the Autism Spectrum provides a guide to conceptualizing those differences and ways to discuss them with clients and their families. Readers are provided with narrative examples illustrating the application of key concepts introduced in the text. These case examples address issues that range across the life cycle, from families with young children to ones with teens who are emerging as adults. Using the techniques learned in this book, clinicians will be able to guide families towards their positive autism narrative. This book also features a visual framework to organize the compelling narrative of each person’s autism spectrum pattern of developmental differences or brain style. Using this visual framework and the corresponding descriptive language, clinicians and families can work together to create their "autism conversations." The conversations lead to the transformative experiences of developing competencies, resiliency, and advocacy for individuals and their families. The conversations also lead individuals with spectrum differences to use empowering language, supporting their ability to develop self-advocacy and self-determination skills.

Towards an Ethic of Autism

Towards an Ethic of Autism PDF Author: Kristien Hens
Publisher: Open Book Publishers
ISBN: 1800642334
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
Kristien Hens succeeds in weaving together experiential expertise of both people with autism and their parents, scientific insights and ethics, and does so with great passion and affection for people with autism (with or without mental or other disabilities). In this book she not only asks pertinent questions, but also critically examines established claims that fail to take into account the criticism and experiences of people with autism. Sam Peeters, author of Autistic Gelukkig (Garant, 2018) and Gedurfde vragen (Garant, 2020); blog @ Tistje.com What does it mean to say that someone is autistic? Towards an Ethics of Autism is an exploration of this question and many more. In this thoughtful, wide-ranging book, Kristien Hens examines a number of perspectives on autism, including psychiatric, biological, and philosophical, to consider different ways of thinking about autism, as well as its meanings to those who experience it, those who diagnose it, and those who research it. Hens delves into the history of autism and its roots in the work of Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger to inform a contemporary ethical analysis of the models we use to understand autism today. She explores the various impacts of a diagnosis on autistic people and their families, the relevance of disability studies, the need to include autistic people fully in discussions about (and research on) autism, and the significance of epigenetics to future work on autism. Hens weaves together a variety of perspectives that guide the reader in their own ethical reflections about autism. Rich, accessible, and multi-layered, this is essential reading for philosophers, educational scientists, and psychologists who are interested in philosophical-ethical questions related to autism, but it also has much to offer to teachers, allied health professionals, and autistic people themselves.