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Simon Baron Cohen

Kvothe

I am wondering why Simon Baron Cohen is associated with NAS after his opinions have been widely condemned by autistic people on a video.

The video in question is - the worlds leading autism expert https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJg2_EVheY4&t=1668s

in this video he basically compares autistic people to Elon Musk who i am not aware was formally diagnosed as Autistic, and basically says Autism is a blessing.

Here are some of the comments from that video:

*OMG I spent most of this podcast rolling my eyes. I have ADHD and autism and it's something I would cure in a heartbeat. It makes my life hard and exhausting. I'm constantly overwhelmed. I have no friends. Wanting to prevent autism is good, not eugenics!

* He said autism doesn't cause human suffering and we shouldn't try and prevent it. He's an expert in the field yet lives in a fantasy world where autism always means interesting quirks. As a parent of a severely autistic child who is none verbal, I see daily how much suffering it can cause. Something as simple as walking past a shop with their door left open will change a happy child into a child having a two hour meltdown while scraping the skin off his own face and trying to smash his own head on the concrete. I see this daily and it's terrifying and heart-breaking.

* I’m so sick of people acting like being neurodivergent t is a blessing. As someone who has this myself, yes I have some abilities others don’t. But it is still debilitating. It’s like saying a blind person is lucky because their sense of smell becomes better. We need to find a cure for those who want it

* My son has autism, if there is anything we could have done to prevent it, we would have risked life and limb to do so. There is an incredible amount of suffering related with it.

*This interview is a disservice to all those negatively impacted by autism.

*I’m glad to see I wasn’t the only one shocked and rolling my eyes as the over-corrective “acceptance” mentality of this expert. It’s one thing to be compassionate and highlight the strengths of autism, it’s another thing to not want to prevent it or package it as simply an almost cosmetic difference. Ridiculous.

These are just some of the comments on that video and there are 6840 comments.


Do the National Autistic Society stand by him? He seems to not understand the plight of autistic people at all and i am wondering why thy NAS has him as a Patron, do they agree with his stance on autism or disavow it?

I prob wont be able to reply to most messages on this post as i find this site and the NAS too overwhelming, but will try if i can.

  • in reply to Alien0n3arth

    The superpower thing, does bug me, but so does the idea that it's a quirk, it does cause difficulties some more disabling than others, it depends on how you're effected. I just wish there'd be more acceptance that all autists are different, we're not all bouncing around with our pants on the outside of our trousers brandishing our superpower, we're not all seriously affected either, most of us just bob along getting on with life.

  • I also have some interesting quirks but they don't compensate the suffering. The inability to function socially, to find friends, well paid job etc. It does not compensate being told constantly by everyone that there is something wrong with me.  

    There are autistic people,  who love being the way they are (at least stayed that) and they say, they would never change or cure their autism if there was a medication to that.

    For me, I'm not proud of who I am, who I was born.  I'm only proud (sometimes) of my achievements. 

    There are various views, some people emphasise the "super powers" others get angry because of autism being romanticised. I lack strong opinion, but agree on that autism is a disorder,  disability,  not just a quirk and causes many people lifelong suffering. 

  • in reply to Alice-nice-Alice

    Having been autistic all my life, undiagnosed for most of it, misunderstood for all of it, I can't imagine life without autism, for me there are other health issues that stop me doing things that I'd much rather be cured of than autism, such as osteoarthritis. I'm 64 now and I like who I am, who I've become and I'm looking forward to seeing who I grow into.

    I do find Baron Cohen a difficult person, personally and as someone who's done so much to bring awareness of autism into the public arena, but for many years his emphasis was on "extreme male brain" being what autism was, which we now know it isn't, so does he to be fair, but I do feel he took us one step forwards and two steps backwards, but ignoring non extreme male brain autistic presentations and that of course excluded many women.

  • I watched the video months ago closer to when it came out.

    He was worked in Autism for 40 years, has published hundreds of papers, developed the AQ50 screening test, I think founded the first place on the UK that could diagnose adults, etc.

    He is aware of the more serious presentations. But he was also being very purposeful in presenting it in neuro affirmative language.

    This came out not long after the US was claiming paracetamol was the cause. Remember everyone was worried also about eugenics. A cure would be to prevent people with any traits from breeding. So countering that by pointing out that it can sometimes be positive for society as some have made great contributions.

    I don't recall him minimising people's struggles. 

    I seem to remember him being interested in helping more significantly affected individuals too.

    I don't think all his theories and views, such as empathy, are correct. But it is also possible there are multiple types of autism. With so many genes involved is strongly suspect this to be case. These things are diagnosed from external presentation, but not internal experience. So if you look flustered, it is not clear why that would be or what you are feeling if you can't say exactly.

    I don't think anyone thinks those who suffer profoundly are enjoying it. Nor do I think anyone thinks it would not be good to find a way to stop this.

    I am very sympathetic to parents who struggle with children who won't be able to live the life they would like.

    But for any fix, the question would always be at what cost. If you had gene screening and aborted all foetuses with a particular risk, what if you also then removed all the best engineers and scientists. I don't think these things can be reduced to simple comments.

    And what of the identical twin studies that show some are unaffected or much less affected.

  • Ive never heard of him but two immediately personal perspectives on this are:

    1. Autism very often is a curse and debilitating and I don’t understand the desire by so many to want to be this  

    2. But I wouldn’t wish it away, it is part of who I am, part incredible, part damaged. I do not want to cured of it any more than say my accent or hair co,our  

    His views as presented here seem too complex to simply “stand by” or “disavow”