Of #autism and naming and claiming

Hanne Blank offers a helpful way into this discussion in her book Straight: The Surprisingly Short History of Heterosexuality with an analogy from natural history. In 2007, the International Institute for Species Exploration listed the fish Electrolux addisoni as one of the year’s “top 10 new species.” But of course, the species didn’t suddenly spring into existence 10 years ago – that’s just when it was discovered and scientifically named. As Blank concludes: “Written documentation of a particular kind, by an authority figure of a particular kind, was what turned Electrolux from a thing that just was … into a thing that was known.”

I just found this, following my commentary from the other week about how naming a thing doesn’t mean you’ve invented it.

And we could say exactly the same thing about autism, with a few updates:

Autism is one of the year’s “top 10 new epidemics.” But of course, autism didn’t suddenly spring into existence 70 years ago – that’s just when it was discovered and scientifically named. . . . “Written documentation of a particular kind, by an authority figure of a particular kind, was what turned autism from a thing that just was … into a thing that was studied.”

Not to keep hammering on this pesky “nail”, but it matters.

It matters a lot.