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Author: Patrick Dwyer

Pathology and Motivation to Access Supports

Pathology and Motivation to Access Supports

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In previous posts, I’ve criticized the “pathology paradigm” of autism.  I believe that there are a number of problems with this paradigm, but I always find myself returning to one that I find especially glaring: when we describe autism as pathology, when we use the language of deficit and disorder, we’re very openly suggesting to autistic people – a marginalized population with high vulnerability to mental health challenges – that there is something fundamentally wrong with them.  Autistic people are…

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An illustration of a multicoloured brain, outlined using nodes and edges, with a question mark and musing figure in the corner.
On Neurodiversity: Part III: What is the Neurodiversity Paradigm?

On Neurodiversity: Part III: What is the Neurodiversity Paradigm?

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Author’s Note: I no longer particularly like some of the ideas in the post, which I now think are a bit oversimplified. If you want an updated take on my view of neurodiversity, I wrote an article at https://doi.org/10.1159/000523723. In Part II of this series, I discussed a lot of the basic ideas that still motivate my approach to neurodiversity.  I argued that we presently lack a clear, consistent definition of neurodiversity, and I illustrated how this ambiguity hinders our…

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Autism Research or Neurotypical Research?

Autism Research or Neurotypical Research?

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Here’s an interesting question: what is the proper subject of autism research?  Or, to rephrase things slightly, who should be the subjects of autism research? When I use the word “subject” here, I don’t mean a participant in a research study.  I’m talking about a nonliving thing, living being, or class of things or beings that is dealt with by something else (in this case, that is dealt with by autism research).  I’m asking about the proper subject matter for…

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Get Early Job Experience

Get Early Job Experience

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Jobs are pretty important.  Obviously, we live in an economic system that happens to value “productive” labour – i.e., work done in jobs.  We get paid for jobs.  Through jobs, we also get something to do with our days and a way to be satisfied with ourselves, a way to feel that we are contributing to society. (I personally don’t think productive labour should be so closely tied to our self-worth and the way society values us – I don’t…

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Disability, Discrimination, and Politics

Disability, Discrimination, and Politics

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Here’s a fundamental question: what is the political status of autism?  Are autism and other disabilities simply impairments that need to be addressed through the provisions of services and supports, or are autistic people also victims of oppressive social and political systems that cause marginalization?  Do autistic people just need charity, or do we need social justice as well? We need to address this question and answer it, for I would say that the present model used to address autism…

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Deficit Isn’t a One-Way Street

Deficit Isn’t a One-Way Street

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Sometimes, the best way to see where our conventional assumptions can go wrong is to consider concrete examples. Within the pathology paradigm, we assume that autistic people are disordered, that they have deficits in different skills and abilities, but we don’t critically examine how autistic people’s environments and the typically-developing people within these environments might contribute to autistic people’s disabilities.  We ignore the possibility that the typically-developing person might be something less than a normative ideal of perfection. Autism and…

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Practical Executive Functions

Practical Executive Functions

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Lately, I’ve been devoting a lot of thought to the question of how we can best conceptualize executive functions with an eye towards the real world: towards practical concerns like strategies and interventions that can help us to improve our time management skills. I’ve heard some autistic people arguing that we shouldn’t be trying to force anyone who struggles with executive functions and organization to improve through effort and force of will.  Instead, the argument goes, we should provide accommodations…

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The Philosophical Roots of Neurodiversity

The Philosophical Roots of Neurodiversity

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I can be a bit of a theory nerd, sometimes.  I like considering how different systems of thought develop in relation to one another. One of these theoretical questions that interests me is the emergence of the neurodiversity paradigm.  This idea, developed by Judy Singer in the late 1990s, is a radical departure from most of previous human thought.  The neurodiversity paradigm portrays the diversity of individual human minds and brains as something to be valued, whereas most human societies…

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Exclusion Diets

Exclusion Diets

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Warning: I write this post with a minimal and superficial knowledge of the science of diet and nutrition.  I am obviously not in any way, shape, or form, qualified to give medical or dietary advice. You may have heard claims that autistic people need to exclude particular foods from our diets.  These exclusion diets are one of the most popular types of complementary & alternative medicine intervention in the autism world (Perrin et al., 2012).  Special diets may indeed be…

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Animal Models and Cognitive Models

Animal Models and Cognitive Models

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I’ve previously written a post to complain about the behavioural assays that are used in research with mouse models of autism.  I’m seriously concerned that these tests just aren’t tapping into autistic behaviours, and that autistic development might be so complex and social in nature that animals like mice can’t really simulate it.  I therefore suggested that autism research with mouse models might be better limited to the molecular level. I think it’s possible to broaden this criticism a little. …

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