Autism in Society

How people with Autism react to society and societal norms.

Shane J. Lee

Global Connections

Instructor: Mr. Falls

December 8th, 2017

Abstract
Autism in Society

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disease that alters the brain and affects the day to day activities

of people and is found across the United States. Autism is an important issue due to millions of

Americans struggling with the disease. It is growing more prevalent in society and affects day to

day activities of many people. Autism is a disease that is separated into three different Autistic

Disorders. The disorders; defined as Autistic Disorder, Asperger’s Syndrome and Pervasive

Development Disorder are disorders that are related but contain varying degrees of severity .

Autism in society is discussed, but the specifics are highly unknown by the mass population.

Because of this, stereotypes and false traits are given to Autism. People with Autism struggle to

make bonds and lasting relationships due to lack of neurological development and ability to

understand social norms. In regards to societal norms, Autistic people struggle to comprehend

and understand the reasonings for and why they exist. Many stereotypes of people with Autism

are based on non-factual information and assumptions made. Most of these stereotypes have

been proven to be wrong and outdated. To best fight these stereotypes, people must be informed

by facts.
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Introduction

Children with Autism struggle to learn in a social environment and adapt to societal norms due

to a lack of social interaction and certain prejudices towards children with mental disabilities by

children and teenage peers. Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder noticed in early childhood

with traits that include lack of communication abilities, struggle to adapt to societal norms and

have a restricted ability to form relationships and create bonds with other people. Autism is

found in all parts of the world and is not regulated or common to one demographic or race.

Autism is a disorder that is beginning to become more and more prevalent in the United States

and is starting to occur more often worldwide in the past couple decades. There are a reported,

24.8 million autistic cases worldwide and that number is predicted to continue to increase in the

next couple of years. Also 1 in 68 children are reported to be on the autistic spectrum, which is a

number that is only expected to grow. The definition of Autistic Spectrum is the grouping of

Autistic disorders. The autistic spectrum isn’t necessarily Autism, and doesn’t meet all the traits,

but shares similarities. The increased amount of reported cases of Autism have been increasing

since the 1980’s and no specific cause has been found as to why these cases of autism has been

becoming more prevalent. What is known though is that Autism is linked to genetics and there

are certain triggers for how it is caused. For example air pollution, drug use and vaccines being

used during pregnancy, have been linked to increased chances of children having autism.

Possibly the most controversial reported cause for Autism is vaccines. Vaccines are known to

cure children of diseases, but some studies do show that vaccines have led to Autism. But one of

the major problems today occurring with children who have Autism is the social problems that

occur due to it. Many children who have Autism struggle to communicate effectively, control
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their anger and pay attention for long periods of time. These are all common side effects that

occur in all children with different types of Autism. And because of these limitations, children

with Autism are being bullied and ridiculed for something they have no control over. To combat

these social problems occurring with children who have Autism, people must be informed of

what is truly happening and the stereotypes around Autism must be debunked.

Limitations

Geographical Limitations: Autism is an issue prevalent across the United States and the world.

The occurrence of Autism is increasing every year and has shown no signs of decreasing. But the

vast majority of people in the Hampton Roads area have no direct or indirect connection to

Autism, and the pool of people who are affected by Autism, is very small. So, the Author will

have problems locating and finding high areas of people with Autism in the Hampton Roads

area, and will have to research and search for reliable sources on how to best gauge the effects of

Autism on the Hampton Roads area.

Time Restrictions: The author has only been allotted a short period of around 6 months to pursue

research and master the topic of how people with Autism are affected by society, which is a

broad and ever changing topic due to the wide spectrum of Autism and the fact that it has new

discoveries quite often. Because of this, the author must use only material that has been shown to

be correct, and/or use material that he has found, that may have recent findings and possess

information lacking fact based information and possessing fact based opinions, but is the most

up to date on the topic.

Personal Bias: The author has no direct bias towards or against Autism due to the fact he himself

or any of his direct family or friends, is directly or indirectly affected by Autism. However, due

to Autism directly and/ or indirectly affecting millions of Americans, but people around the
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world, the author has a negative bias toward Autism due to its negative effects. Therefore this

shows that this author displays a non-partisan view on the issue of Autism, and cannot look at

Autism with a non-judgemental view.

Lit Review

The purpose of the author's Literature Review was to show different instances and sources of

how children with Autism are affected, adapting and surviving in society. Autism is not only a

mental disability that occurs during childhood but a disability that occurs during the child's entire

life. The video and piece of literature chosen the best show and explain instances where the child

or multiple children with Autism and immediate family are affected by Autism in childhood and

into adulthood.

The video, “ Raising Children with Autism: A Lifetime of Care”, is a video that examines the

life of mother Barbara Rivera, a mother who has two children born with Autism. Her oldest

child, Kevin was diagnosed with Autism at age two and her youngest child Tiffany was

diagnosed with Autism at a year old. Mrs. Rivera had both children tested for Neurological

problems after noticing the lack of verbal development in each child. Due to the disability of

each child, neither can live by themselves and maintain a normal life. Due to this Mrs. Rivera has
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had to care for both children. She explains how each morning, she has to wake up both children

and physically bathe each child. She makes breakfast and packs their lunches for their school

days. Most days, she will have problems waking each child up and both children will then lash

out in a way. The children will knock items over and when Kevin gets nervous, he bites himself.

Mrs. Rivera has already begun to prepare for the fact that she is getting older and won’t always

be around to care for her children, by putting the children on lists to live in residential areas.

This interview video shows the stress and real-life situations many families face when it comes

to Autism. In the Rivera family’s specific case, both children were suffering from Autistic

Disorder. Autistic Disorder is the most severe case of Autism and is a neurodevelopmental

disorder which highly impairs thinking skills and social skills. Autistic Disorder starts to appear

in the first three years of life and is not curable. As shown in the video, in most cases with

children who have Autistic Disorder, the children require assistance and long-term care for the

rest of their life.

In the article: “Families face Autism Stigma, Isolation” by Marina Sarris, parents are reporting

that along with isolation and social stigma, children with Autism are living more challenging

lives. In a study conducted by, Ruth L. Fischbach, the information showed that 65% of children

with Autism are often purposefully left out of activities and at least 13% are physically bullied.

Studies also show that a vast majority of children with Autism had trouble making friends and

other students regarded children with Autism as, “weird or odd”. Also about half of the parents

in the study found themselves starting to isolate or feeling isolated due to their child having
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Autism. The article states that many onlookers isolate and stigmatize children with Autism or the

parents due to being uninformed and stereotypes about Autism.

The article, “Families face Autism Stigma, Isolation” shows how the preconceived notions and

beliefs on Autism, are affecting both the child and the family. To destroy these stereotypes

people need to be informed of what is really true. Children on all three Autistic spectrums do

show certain behaviors, including repetitive hand motions and sounds, random aggressive

behavior, and difficulty making eye contact. And the greater amount of those symptoms that the

child has, the greater chance of isolation occurs. To combat these cases of isolation, people must

be informed about what is actually happening and understanding that Autism is a wide-ranging

complicated issue.

Autism defined and its subgroups

To first talk about Autism, you must know and understand the different types of Autism and

what they are. There are three different types of Autistic disorders with wide-ranging symptoms

and problems. The most commonly known Autistic disorder is simply called Autistic Disorder

(commonly known as Classic Autism). Autistic Disorder is defined as having significant

symptoms and traits such as difficulties communicating effectively, making odd and random

noises and sounds, making gestures and rapid hand movements, and struggling to be able to fully

verbalize and speak coherently. It is known as Classic Autism since Autistic Disorder is the most
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common form of Autism characterized and recognized by most people. The vast majority of

people with Autistic Disorder also have intellectual disabilities including decreased decision-

making abilities and inability to control their bowels. Children with Autistic Disorder and adults

with Autistic Disorder will need to be cared for and significantly aided for their whole life. Also,

this is the most severe case of Autism because of its massive impairment on the brain and lack of

decision-making ability.

The second Autistic disorder is Asperger”s Syndrome. Asperger Syndrome is defined as

having problems with communication and having peculiar behavior patterns and interests.

Children with Asperger Syndrome have impaired intellectual ability or problems with the ability

to speak. However, people with Asperger Syndrome will display speech patterns that are unusual

and random. The main characteristic of people who live with Asperger's Syndrome is that they

have problems communicating feelings or understanding emotion (Roberson). Adults who are

found to have Aspergers have been shown to have poor empathy skills and have even isolated

themselves from society. Also, Asperger's Syndrome is drastically becoming more prevalent

with a 100% increase in the United States just in the last decade. Speculation has arisen as to

why the rate of Aspergers has grown so much, but some people have gone as far to say it has

reached Epidemic proportions. Upwards of 2 million people in the United States alone have been

diagnosed. This is also the second most severe case of the three Autism disorders and is the most

similar to Classical Autism.

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The third Autistic disorder is called Pervasive Developmental disorder (commonly known as

Atypical Autism). Pervasive Developmental Disorder is defined as having some characteristics

of children with Asperger Syndrome and Autistic Disorder but to a lesser extent. Pervasive

Developmental disorder is a relatively new concept and was only introduced fifeteen years ago. (

Autism Speaks ) The child may have some problems with communication and social interaction,

but otherwise, the child has no other visible major symptoms. ( CDC ) Even though this is the

least severe case of Autism, it still is somewhat prevalent, and people with Atypical Autism may

still have problems integrating successfully into society. Pervasive Developmental Disorder is a

very broad term since it encommpasses so many different types of symptoms and disorders. A

person can have multiple symptoms from Asperger's Syndrome and Autistic Disorder, but can

still be classified as having Pervasive Developmental disorder due to the symptoms appearing to

be unsevere. Since Pervasive Developmental disorder is such a new concept, stages of it are not

fully understood and known.

Societal Problems that occur with Autism

All children with Autism will struggle with different societal problems. In one specific study,

82% of parents said that the child had problems making friends or had no friends whatsoever

(Sarris). Children with Autism in most cases struggle with making friends due to being

characterized by their peers as being weird and different. Another reason that children struggle

with societal problems is because they are stigmatized by their peers. (Sarris) This occurs when

the child feels ridiculed, shamed, and inferior to their peers due to being different. This happens
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due to the classmates of the child with Autism struggling to fully comprehend and understand

what the disorder is and picking on him because the child is different. This is also linked to

bullying which is a widespread problem among children with Autism.

Also, while many Autistic children do feel isolated, the parents feel isolated in many cases as

well (Sarris). The parents in some of Autistic children are isolated from other parents and events

due to the ignorance of other parents about what Autism really is. Some preconceived notions of

Autism are that Autism happens due to the parents acting cold and mean towards the child, when

in actuality there is no real connection that bad parenting can lead to a child having Autism.

In many cases with parents of children with Autism, there are high rates of divorce and marital

problems (Northwell Health). Divorce rates are high in marriages of children with Autism due to

the family being stressed about how to best take care of the child and on how to best handle the

situation. This can lead to one of the parents leaving the household, and leaving the other parent

to care for the Autistic child alone. This has lead to parents receiving increased therapy and

outside help to best deal with the situation. Also, in severe cases, the parents will harm the

autistic child out of anger. These cases show that the problems with Autism extend farther than

the person who has Autism itself and into the immediate family.

The reasons for these characterizations are due to stereotypes about Autism. For example, a

stereotype that is placed on many people with Autism is that they are all similar to Dustin

Hoffman’s character from the movie “Rainman” (Magro). This specific article talks about how

the author who lives with Autism, was called the Rain Man character due to having Autism. But
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the author himself had a non severe form of Autism and showed little symptoms of what the

movie character Rain Man himself had. These stereotypes are based off a fictional movie and a

lack of knowledge about what Autism really is and what it actually means.

Other stereotypes of people with Autism are that all children with Autism are mentally disabled

and struggle to function. There have been many cases of individuals with Autism who live in

society and function at high levels but are thriving and making a positive impact on society.

Director Tim Burton, who has directed popular movies such as “Edward Scissorhands”,

“Beetlejuice” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas”, was informally diagnosed to have

Aspergers. Even though Tim Burton has never been formally diagnosed, he shares many

symptoms of someone with Asperger's syndrome. (Borgman) Mr. Burton has been found to

show very high intelligence and a lack of social skills. He does have the ability to verbally

express himself, and he can make decisions by himself, but he has been shown to hyper-focus on

his issues. Also, in many of his movies, his main characters have been shown to be neurotic and

are isolated from society, characteristics which he also applies to himself.

Another stereotype of children with Autism that has been debunked is that people with Autism

are all dangerous and be trusted (Sarris). In some cases of children with Asperger's Syndrome

and Autistic Disorder, children have been shown to lash out and throw objects when provoked or

triggered. But to simply label all Autistic children violent just because of their disorder is wrong

(Gotham). There has been no proven connection between Autism and aggression. In the cases

that children with Autism do lash out, it is shown to be impulsive and linked more to anxiety in
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the person with Autism, rather than connected to it. Also, aggression was shown to be more

common in Autistic cases where the person had mild Autism symptoms and low intelligence,

which are traits displayed by only a small portion of people with Autism.

To best combat these stereotypes, people must be informed about what is actually true

regarding Autism and the reasons people with Autism have the specific symptoms they have.

People must learn to be informed of the issues concerning Autism itself and not rely on

preconceived notions (Gotham).

How children with Autism live life differently than someone without Autism

In most cases, a child who has Autism is pretty easily recognizable in society. The certain

symptoms, characteristics, and traits displayed by a child with Autism are shown in the early

developmental stages of their life and continue for the rest of their life. So what does this mean

for a child living with Autism? It simply means that a child with Autism does have a disorder,

but is nonetheless a person like anyone else. This does not mean that discrimination or prejudice

should be allowed. It only means that a child with Autism has a disorder. A child with Autism

should be treated with the same respect as a child without Autism.

Autism is known as a neurodevelopmental disorder which renders or impairs certain parts of the

brain and can affect a person's brain development and social adaptability. Due to this, a child

with Autism will have problems functioning the same mentally as someone born without Autism.

In cases where people have Classic Autism, the person does not have the ability to communicate
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and function in society equal to a person without Autism. In the case of a person with Classic

Autism, they will need care and help for most of their life due to the lack of brain development.

A person who lives with Autism in society will also have problems making bonds due to lack of

communication skills and lack of feelings in some areas. A symptom of having Autism, and even

specifically Asperger's Syndrome, is showing little care or choosing not to listen when talking to

another person (NIH). This impacts the ability of people with Autism to make social bonds and

make lasting friendships with people. Due to this, there have been many cases of people with

Autism isolating themselves from society. This really impacts how people with Autism live

because making bonds and making friendships are an integral part of living in society.

A major problem of people living with Autism is adapting to appropriate social norms. Many

people with Autism have problems understanding social norms due to them being taught but not

written down (Williams 2012). These rules are called the “Hidden Curriculum” and consist of all

social norms and rules that are supposed to be learned. People with Autism struggle to

understand these rules because they are not all literal and most are supposed to be implied by the

person rather than said. For example, Autistic individual Judy Endow didn’t understand that for

certain events like doctor’s appointments, you are supposed to show up early to them but when

going to a friends house, you show up on time or late instead of arriving before.

The reason why Autistic people aren't able to fully understand social norms and the Hidden

Curriculum is because they are reinforced by emotions. Feeling and understanding emotions is

hard for Autistic people to understand, and social norms are based off of what is comfortable and
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uncomfortable to do in society. For example, when someone passes gas in public, it will most

likely make the people around them uncomfortable and it is rude. But with a person who has

Autism, they might not be able to fully understand that it is uncomfortable and wrong.

When it comes to people with Autism and social norms, not all people who have Autism have

problems adapting to social norms. But a good majority of people with Autism do not understand

the Hidden Curriculum known in society. This is linked due to the fact that the brains of people

with Autism do not function in the same capacity as someone without Autism. But it is possible

for people with Autism to learn social norms through reinforcement and repetitive practice.

Conclusion

When it comes to defining Autism, you must first know and understand the three different types

of Autistic disorders. The most severe Autistic Disorder is called Autistic Disorder.

Characteristics of Autistic Disorder are limited neurological abilities and decreased ability to

make decisions on your own. In most cases of Autistic Disorder, the person requires long-term

care. The second most common type is Asperger's Syndrome. Asperger's Syndrome is

characterized by having limited social skills and problems understanding social norms. However,

children and adults with Asperger Syndrome generally have above average intelligence and are

able to learn certain subjects and topics very easily and well. The last one is Pervasive

Developmental Disorder. Pervasive Developmental Disorder shares traits with Asperger's

Syndrome and Autistic Disorder but to a lesser extent. Also it is the most recent type. People

with Autism have problems functioning in society and struggle to adapt to social norms. As a
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result, Autistic people are isolated and branded as outcasts in society. Also a major issue with

individuals with Autism is having negative stereotypes portrayed against them that are unjust.

People with Autism struggle to live life differently than people without Autism due to a lack of

knowledge of social norms and understanding society.