How Society Approach Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder: From the Perspective of Neurodiversity

英語の講義のレポートです

The term autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often evokes images of someone who struggles to socialize, has difficulty interpreting social cues, and tends to keep people at a distance. ASD is a developmental disorder characterized by "deficits in social interaction and communication" and "restricted interests and repetitive behaviors" (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Individuals with ASD often experience social maladjustment, which leads to difficulties in employment and the development of secondary disorders such as depression and adjustment disorders (Iwamoto, 2019). The cause of these struggles is often believed to be their inadequate communication skills and the following difficulties in establishing interpersonal interactions (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, 2020). Additionally, the social model of disability, which distinguishes between permanent characteristics ascribed to the individual as impairment and discrepancies between the individual and society as disability (Kumagaya & Ayaya, 2014), can provide insight into the topic. This essay argues that, contrary to popular belief which is detrimental and self-perpetuating, the relationship between individuals with ASD and those with typical development (TD) should be reconceptualized as the relationship between a minority group and a majority group, and that more effort by those with TD is essential for individuals with ASD to live happier lives.

Although individuals with ASD are a minority and therefore have difficulty communicating with those with TD, they are currently perceived as having impaired communication skills. Communication dysfunction between people with ASD and those with TD is caused by structural misalignment, specifically their neurological differences. For example, individuals with ASD assess prediction error, the gap between brain prediction and perception, with higher accuracy than those with TD, making them less adept at generalizing to their environment and their communication more difficult (Tanji, 2021). Komeda et al. (2019) also showed that while individuals with ASD evaluate other individuals with ASD as similar to themselves and thus respond to them empathically, they are forced to understand those with TD more analytically because they feel they are less alike. Currently, however, miscommunication between individuals with ASD and society is viewed as an impairment, not as a disability, for individuals with ASD, which justifies attributing responsibility solely to individuals with ASD. American Psychiatric Association (2013) lists "deficits in social interaction and communication" as a characteristic of ASD. Hayashi (2018) mentions that, when Yoshimura, an individual with ASD, is unable to communicate well with the welfare facility staff, the staff feel it is "unfair" for him to ask for accommodations due to his disability, which can also be read as a tendency to unilaterally blame individuals with ASD.

Communication barriers between individuals with ASD and those with TD are repeatedly personalized to individuals with ASD, placing an excessive burden on the former without resolving communication conflicts. People with TD unconsciously bring a hierarchical relationship to their interactions with individuals with ASD, perceiving them only as different and annoying and refusing to take their perspective. As a result, those with TD cannot see what they need to improve in their communication with individuals with ASD, reinforcing the structure of blaming individuals with ASD. Hayashi (2018) finds and criticizes that even ASD supporters tend to dismiss individuals with ASD as incapable of accepting their disability or as simply obnoxious, interpret the words of individuals with ASD in a self-centered way, and that refuse to communicate their frustration with those who do not behave as they expect. Nakajima et al. (2012) also point out that parents of children with developmental disabilities tend to engage in fewer positive interactions and more reprimands than those of TD children. Meanwhile, individuals with ASD internalize responsibility for communication barriers and, especially those without intellectual delays, strive to act like those with TD in order to adapt to society. This makes the difficulties faced by individuals with ASD more invisible to society, reinforcing the perception that they should cope with them through self-help efforts. Kato and Fujino (2016) notes that children with ASD may be stressed at school because they are trying to conform to their surroundings. Kiya (2016) also argues that many adults with ASD pay the price of physical and mental strain as they consciously and unconsciously strive to adapt to society just as those with TD do.

One possible way for individuals with ASD to lead happier lives would be to make more efforts on their own, but those with TD must take more initiatives to dismantle the above structure. For individuals with ASD to understand themselves and explain their disabilities to those around them improves their quality of life. Greater self-understanding can prevent secondary disabilities and help them find jobs that utilize their ASD characteristics (Iwamoto, 2019). Kato et al. (2020) and Ichiyanagi (2021) found that informing others about appropriate ways to interact with individuals with ASD can lead to positive behavioral changes in those around them. However, this method forces individuals with ASD to accept the inequality that only they compromise in communication between them and individuals with TD, leading to negative consequences that reinforce the tendency for individuals with ASD with inadequate self-understanding and explanations to be blamed by those with TD for their lack of effort. As demonstrated by the secondary disabilities that individuals with ASD often experience, communication between those with ASD and TD currently places a one-sided burden on individuals with ASD. Therefore, individuals with TD must take more responsibility to establish an equal relationship. Specifically, learning about ASD by those with TD improves the image of individuals with ASD (Kochi et al., 2009), which may facilitate understanding by those with TD. Additionally, the movement to embrace neurodiversity claims that both ASD and TD are patterns of diverse neurodevelopment (Komeda et al., 2019).

In conclusion, it is the neurodevelopmental differences between individuals with TD, the numerical majority, and individuals with ASD, the minority, that create communication difficulties between the two groups. Compromise on the side of individuals with TD is crucial to alleviate the difficulties faced by those with ASD. To summarize, communication difficulties between the two groups are primarily due to structural discrepancies, specifically their differences in neurodevelopmental attributes. However, the disabilities faced by individuals with ASD are often detrimentally misinterpreted as being a result of their own impairment, leading to a lack of understanding and communication from those with TD and an excessive burden on those with ASD. As a result, individuals with ASD as a minority are often less understood by those with TD and face various difficulties. Since further efforts by individuals with ASD alone are practical but incomplete, more communication and understanding are indispensable to dismantle the illusion of qualitative superiority of individuals with TD over those with ASD. This process will help to relativize society's negative perception of individuals with ASD mentioned at the beginning of this article as the unconscious privilege of the majority.

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References

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