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Autism Vox

Metaphors of War, Plague, and the Journey: Which do you prefer?

by Kristina Chew, PhD on December 8th, 2006

“This bill is a federal declaration of war on the epidemic of autism.”

So Jon Shestack, co-founder of Cure Autism Now, is quoted in an ABC news article today, Congress Declares War on Autism: Public Outcry Leads to $1 Billion in Autism Research. I note his phrase because of his use of two metaphors which recur with regular frequency in regard to autism:

  1. The metaphor of war, combat (as in the Combating Autism Act (CAA) ), fighting, battling.
  2. The metaphor of plague, which is suggested in the more frequently expressed notion of autism as an epidemic (which, as I have written earlier, need not only be thought of as something negative; see Olmsted on Newsweek: Diagnosis, Epidemic & 1985).

While both of these metaphors, of war and military action and of plague and epidemic, have indeed proven useful in calling attention to autism, they also are more than a little responsible in casting autism as some terrible scourge and enemy, some deadly and contagious invader, that needs to be eradicated. My own son Charlie has his full share of challenges—just to speak a word clearly, to write the letter S, not to explode with anxiety when told he cannot get something he wants at the grocery store—and my own son Charlie is, despite all that and maybe even because of that, perfect as he is. This is the paradox of autism to me: The lovely quirky specialness of Charlie is part and parcel with the times when he struggles.

For what it is worth, my preferred metaphor for autism is that of a journey, and one of full of some quite amazing—sometimes not-so-easy-to-maneuver oneself through—adventures, and one on which the path is sometimes strewn with rocks and no water is readily to be found. And while the language of “the autism journey” may not have the power to muster votes and rally round the forces, I think it describes what many of us who live with autism every day experience.

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POSTED IN: Language, Legislation, Politics, Rhetoric

9 opinions for Metaphors of War, Plague, and the Journey: Which do you prefer?

  • Leila
    Dec 8, 2006 at 12:52 am

    But did you see the video right next to the article? It’s talking about the need to provide services to autistic people over 21, when they get cut off of the School District system. It’s very touching, with this autistic young woman who can sing beautifully even though she struggles to speak.

  • Kristina Chew, PhD
    Dec 8, 2006 at 1:06 am

    Yes, I saw that video when it first came out in the series ABC did on adults with autism; she lives here in northern NJ and her mother has done a lot to get an adult day program started.

  • Kassiane
    Dec 8, 2006 at 2:02 am

    All the war and plague rhetoric scares me.

    And Kristina has met me, she knows that is no easy feat. Pissing me off, or at least annoying me-not that hard. Scaring me, like hide in my bunker in the mountains scared–that doesn’t happen.

    But it is happening. And all they can think about is THEIR suffering, not the very literal kid (or adult) who has heard the word autism in reference to themself and knows what war is and what plague is and is sitting there terrified. I CAN’T be the only one. Too many of us.

  • natalia
    Dec 8, 2006 at 11:12 am

    Life is a journey.
    An Autistic life is one kind of life (or many kinds of lives, actually).
    Therefore…

  • mumkeepingsane
    Dec 8, 2006 at 1:10 pm

    We don’t need to fight autism, we need to love it.

  • Kristina Chew, PhD
    Dec 8, 2006 at 1:17 pm

    And to make peace, too.

  • abfh
    Dec 8, 2006 at 3:28 pm

    Kassiane wrote:

    the very literal kid (or adult) who has heard the word autism in reference to themself and knows what war is and what plague is and is sitting there terrified. I CAN’T be the only one.

    And we all know what eradication means, too… I wouldn’t be surprised if there are hundreds of thousands of autistics who want to go hide in a bunker in the mountains.

  • MommaSteph
    Dec 10, 2006 at 11:07 pm

    Ah. Now I’m starting to get what you’re talking about. (I’m a little slow.)

  • Autism Vox » 9 Autism Bills
    Mar 4, 2007 at 12:21 am

    […] The Asbury Park Press directly links this “package” of nine bills to the high prevalence rate for autism in New Jersey (and uses a metaphor that recalls the language of the Combating Autism Act (CAA) ): Both sides of the political aisle will be pushing forward a package of bills Monday aimed at tackling autism, less than a month after New Jersey topped a national study concerning the neurological disorder. […]

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