againstshame:

This isn’t as directly related to the theme of shame as most things I post here, but I keep coming back to the idea that I should post something about it. Toward a Behavior of Reciprocity by autism researcher Morton Ann Gernsbacher is an academic paper, but instead of describing new research it’s mostly a critique of problems with mainstream autism research and therapy. 

Reading this paper was surprisingly emotional for me. In a thoughtful, academic way, Gernsbacher describes some of the most painful parts of autism stigma and shows why they aren’t true. I seriously recommend reading this paper to anybody who was bullied or labelled a “problem kid”.

Her main point is that people apply the ideas of “social reciprocity” and “social skills” unfairly. People blame things like the bullying of autistic children on autistic children not having social skills, as if the people bullying us have nothing to do with it. As if being a bully isn’t a violation of social rules too.

Gernsbacher says:

“Other items on the Social Reciprocity Scale [a checklist developed by researchers to measure autistic children’s social skills] illustrate the thesis of this article:
Some professionals have forgotten the true meaning of reciprocity. Consider the item,
“is regarded by other children as odd or weird.” This item appears to measure other
children’s lack of social or emotional reciprocity. Regarding another child as odd or weird implicates the regarder—not the target child—as lacking in empathy or understanding.”

The rest of the paper goes through several other examples of researchers, teachers and parents who “lack reciprocity” toward autistic people, including some descriptions of ABA therapy. Then it explains some research that shows how much reciprocity and understanding from parents, teachers, etc. can help autistic people. That seems like an obvious thing, but it’s cool to see research that proves it.

FYI – the content of this paper is also available as a powerpoint style presentation with voiceover on vimeo HERE, which might be helpful for those who are interested in the content but find dense blocks of academic text difficult to process. There aren’t any subtitles but the key points are summarised in bullet points, which might be enough to be helpful for those with some auditory processing problems, but not for those who are d/Deaf or who have no comprehension of verbal input.