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Related Experiment Videos

Infantilizing Autism.

Jennifer L Stevenson1, Bev Harp2, Morton Ann Gernsbacher3

  • 1Assistant professor of psychology, Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA. jstevenson@ursinus.edu.

Disability Studies Quarterly
|December 19, 2014
PubMed
Summary
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Autism is overwhelmingly portrayed as a childhood disability, silencing autistic adults. This infantilization by parents, charities, and media creates barriers for autistic individuals of all ages.

Area of Science:

  • Neurodevelopmental disorders
  • Social sciences
  • Disability studies

Background:

  • Public perception of autism predominantly focuses on children.
  • This narrow focus may overlook or marginalize the experiences of autistic adults.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To analyze the role of various societal entities in the infantilization of autism.
  • To investigate how this portrayal impacts autistic adults.

Main Methods:

  • Content analysis of support organization websites.
  • Review of descriptions from top autism charities.
  • Analysis of fictional media (books, film, TV) for autistic character representation.
  • Examination of news articles for representation of autistic children versus adults.
Keywords:
Autismcharityinfantilizationmediaparents

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Main Results:

  • Parents' websites: 95% child-focused.
  • Top charities: 9 out of 12 used child-referential language.
  • Fictional media: 90% children in books, 68% in film/TV.
  • News media: autistic children featured 4x more than adults.

Conclusions:

  • Societal portrayal of autism as a childhood condition silences adult self-advocates.
  • This infantilization creates significant barriers to the dignity and well-being of autistic people.
  • A shift in representation is needed to acknowledge autistic adults.