The Politics of Autism [Hardcover]

The Politics of Autisminvestigates the truths and fictions of public understanding about autism, questioning apparent realities too sensitive or impolitic to challenge. Is there really more autism? How has the count expanded by diagnosing autism over other conditions? Have scientific methods in autism diagnosis gone hand-in-hand with autism increases? Are mild autism cases really a 'disorder,' rather than personality variant? Can autism be quiescent in childhood but truly first recognizable in adulthood? Why does popular media often portray people with autism as odd geniuses ignoring the kind of autism most have?

Siegel tackles thorny issues and perennial questions: How do we weigh likely treatment gains with treatment costs? Why does our autism education persist in teaching academic subjects some never master? Why do we fail to plan realistically for autistic adulthood? Which parents get caught up in non-mainstream 'treatments' and fear of vaccines?

Readers will see an insider's view of controversies in autism research. Siegel's views, sometimes iconoclastic, always frank and informed, challenge broad unexamined assumptions about our understanding of autism. Each chapter addresses different issues, data, and social policy recommendations. A chapter-by-chapter bibliography with URLs provides both popular media and scientific references.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Politics of Autism
Chapter 2: The Politics of Autism Diagnosis
Chapter 3: The Psychiatric Diagnosis Industry: The APA and Its DSM
Chapter 4: Autism Education and the Illusions of Inclusion
Chapter 5: Educating Youth with ASDs for their Futures
Chapter 6: Autism Health Economics
Chapter 7: The Allure of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)
Chapter 8: The Vaccine Wars
Chapter 9: False Prophets of the Human Genome
Conclusions
Acknowledgements
Index

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