Exploring Misconceptions Surrounding Autism | By Amirah Farisyah
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Illustrated by Tya @muthiahhsh
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a childhood-onset, neurological and developmental disorder that affects how people interact with others, communicate, learn, and behave. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), people with ASD often have characteristics such as:
- restricted interests and repetitive behaviours,
- trouble interacting with others,
- difficulty adjusting behaviours to social situations,
- having lasting intense interests in specific topics or overly focused interests (like parts of a vehicle),
- becoming upset by slight changes in routines,
- sensory issues (overly/less sensitive than other people to light, sounds, textures, or temperature), and more.
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ASD is called a “spectrum” as it ranges widely in the types and severity of symptoms people experience. Of course, a disorder that is this impactful takes a lot of clinical expertise and knowledge to diagnose accurately. However, people have been raising more and more awareness surrounding mental disorders as the years go by. With that, more and more people have been recognising traits of autism in those around them and even within themselves, which leads to a lot of discourse surrounding ASD. Although people are getting more educated, there are still a lot of glaring misunderstandings and misconceptions when it comes to ASD. This article hopes to debunk the harmful myth surrounding ASD.
Myth: Vaccines Cause Autism
This myth is a bit of a traditional one. Oftentimes, when the older generation talks about autism, vaccines are brought up. But where did this myth come from?
This myth originates back in the early 1980s when autism was first defined as a developmental psychiatric/neurological disorder in the DSM-III. Before this, severe behavioural problems were attributed to having a ‘refrigerator mother’—a cold, distant, and career-oriented mother. Despite the many doubts in this hypothesis, the feminist movement, and the lack of biological and epidemiological evidence, it couldn’t be disproven until DSM-III redefined autism.
With limited studies and knowledge surrounding the disorder back then, parents of affected children were understandably angry, guilty, and disheartened. Their desperation in wanting to know why their child and themselves have to face a troubling situation led to finding something to blame. Parents tend to self-blame bad genes, carelessness during pregnancy, and other risk factors. However, finding an external source to blame, such as vaccines, would be more comforting, and that was what happened.
12-18 month-old babies are given the MMR (mumps, measles, rubella) vaccines, which coincide with the childhood-onset characteristics associated with autism. The idea that the symptoms follow after the vaccine treatment allows parents to easily blame the pharmaceutical field for their child’s disorders rather than coming to terms with the fact that it's most likely due to genetics. Psychologically, this was likely a defence mechanism in finding comfort that they don’t have to take accountability for their child’s unfortunate circumstances.
However, as the title states, this is a myth – meaning it isn’t true! Extensive research has been done to disprove this hypothesis and with great success. There is no proven link between vaccines and autism. While the primary cause of ASD remains unknown, some factors add to the likelihood of developing ASD: having a sibling with ASD, having older parents, having certain genetic conditions, or having a low birth weight.
Myth: Autism is a Disease
This myth can be debunked with the name of the disorder itself — it’s a neurodevelopmental condition, a disorder. Calling autism a disease implies that ASD can be cured, which can be significantly harmful to autistic people for several reasons.
Creating a false narrative that autism is curable can lead to fake treatments promoted to autistic people or desperate parents of autistic children. Some of them include GcMAF (an unlicensed injection made out of blood cells), raw camel’s milk, chelation (the removal of heavy metal toxins from the blood) and CEASE therapy — which discourages vaccinations and promotes potentially dangerous levels of nutritional supplements.
Fake treatments like these easily spread around and are especially nasty as they target a vulnerable audience. However, they’re easy to spot! Here are a few tips:
- treatments are more often fake when they claim to “cure” autism,
- treatments are more often fake when they claim to work on most people and have quick results,
- treatments are more often fake when they have personal stories claiming they work (it’s always safer to rely on medical evidence),
- treatments are more often fake when they use words like “faith”, “miracle”, and “trust”,
- most importantly, treatments are always approved by the Ministry of Health (MOH) in Malaysia.
So if they aren’t, you may want to be weary about that.
Alternatively, there are productive interventions that can benefit ASD. For example, the MOH Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) suggest Applied Behaviour Analysis, Speech, Language and Communications Interventions, Occupational Therapy, and more. For a more pharmaceutical approach, some medicines are also recommended for ASD, such as Atypical Antipsychotics (AAP) and antidepressants. These methods of interventions have been approved and shown to help develop daily life skills, communication skills and manage physical and mental conditions such as stress.
Myth: Autistic People Don’t Have Feelings
One significant characteristic of ASD is difficulty in communicating and understanding emotions. This is where people form a belief that autistic people don’t experience any emotions. This way of thinking is flawed; just because they don’t conventionally express emotions, it does not erase their experience of feeling emotions. Autistic people are humans, and humans have feelings.
This myth is harmful to autistic people as it allows people to behave in a hurtful way towards them with the assumption that they won’t be hurt. This misconception is especially harmful among children, as neurotypical children feel less accountable when being mean to their autistic peers. Experiences like these make it extra frustrating for autistic people as their complex feelings go unheard and misunderstood, leading to further feelings of alienation from society.
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Navigating emotions is challenging for autistic people. This is known as ‘emotional dysregulation’, coined by psychologists and researchers. Processing and regulating emotions may be more difficult for autistic people as they are more susceptible to anxiety and depression. Hence, it’s always important for us to acknowledge that everyone, regardless of neurotype, deserves compassion and understanding, especially when they act out of emotion.
Myth: Autistic People Have an Intellectual Disability
This claim is a broad stereotype placed on autistic people from the misconception that some people with ASD struggle with verbal communication and academic performance. However, ASD is a spectrum, meaning the characteristics vary! There are many ways ASD presents in people. Some may not have verbal communication abilities while some may have a significantly higher intellectual ability surpassing their peers.
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A common characteristic of ASD is obsessive and repetitive behaviour, and this forms ‘special interests.’ Special interests are intense and prolonged interests in a very specific and niche topic. A good example of this would be Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory. Although he wasn’t confirmed to be diagnosed with ASD, he portrays some traits associated with autism, such as his fixation on trains. If we view trains as his special interest, we can see how he has extensive and deep knowledge about all things trains: parts, routes, tracks, types, you name it. Autistic people often are very knowledgeable about their special interests; you ask them about it and they’ll tell you all about it.
Another subset of autism we can examine here is known as high-functioning autism. This isn’t a medically relevant term or diagnosis, but it is widely used societally to refer to autistic people who can still perform daily tasks and live independently. Those with high-functioning autism may not be easily spotted among neurotypical people as their signs are not as apparent. However, they still have trouble with social interaction and communication. It may be difficult for high-functioning autistic people to read social cues and make friends. They get easily stressed out by social situations. Even within the high-functioning autism spectrum, school performance varies as well. Some individuals may do better with schoolwork and routine, while others may be overwhelmed by the tasks.
Conclusion
Despite all the advancements and awareness surrounding neurodivergence and mental health, autism is still stigmatised due to misconceptions like these and so much more. Continuing to live in ignorance will only lead to a more judgemental and regressive society. Hence, we should always make a continuous effort to learn more about ASD and educate ourselves about it. Through collective effort, we can move towards a more accepting and empathic environment, ultimately transforming society’s attitude towards neurodivergence.
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