The autism worldview dilemma: to normalise or not to normalise, that is the question

Abstract

For many years in the field of autism, the actions, skills and responses of autistic people were often described as abnormal, maladjusted or deficient. The goal of many interventions was, and still is, to teach autistic children and adults to behave like their non-autistic peers as evidenced in approaches designed to teach (neurotypical) social skills, (neurotypical) communication and in programmes designed to modify behaviour to make autistics appear neurotypical. This approach – which sees autistic behaviour as aberrant and without purpose and thus aims to remove this behaviour – is described as normalisation. We challenge this view from a neurodiversity-affirmative perspective, querying the assumed lack of purpose in autistic behaviour as well as examining the impact on autistics of the deliberate removal of autistic behaviour. However, there are other perspectives on autism and no definitive understanding of autism. Our view is not one held by all autistic people let alone everyone else. We call this the autism worldview dilemma and make recommendations for UK autism legislation to ensure that parents and carers understand when an intervention is aimed at normalising their young person.