Autism and Gender: From Refrigerator Mothers to Computer Geeks

Index

Note: Page references in italics refer to illustrations able-mindedness, and humanness, 9 About.com: ASD Web site, 145; autism fathers in, 156 Abraham, Carolyn, 119; “Is There a Geek Syndrome?” 117, 118 Adam (film), 146 Adams, Christina, 66; on autism parents , 83–84; expenses of, 95; Real Boy, 81–83, 86 Adams, Jonah, 83 adolescents: gendered characters of, 209, 227; gender performance of, 210; marketing to, 208; popularity among, 208, 209–10, 211, 212; population size, 208, 209; socialization of, 208–9 adolescents, autistic: advice manuals for, 209–10; gender remediation for, 206–9; in mainstream education , 210–11. See also girls, autistic advice manuals: for autistic adolescents , 209–10; gendered behavior index in, 206, 210–11, 213; popularity in, 212 agnotology, 222 agon (conflict), in quest narratives, 53 Ainsworth, Mary, 41, 62 Albrechts-Tyteca, Lucie, 80, 99 Alcoff, Linda Martin, 29 Alreck, Pamela, 179 American Association for the Study of the Feeble-Minded (AASFM), 18–19 American Psychiatric Association: definition of autism, 8–9; on gender dysphoria, 202. See also Diagnostic and Statistical Manual anagnorisis (discovery), in quest narratives , 53 androgyny, among autistic persons, 182 anorexia nervosa: ASD and, 151 Anthony, James, 46 anti-vaccination movement, 64–65, 237n6; authority in, 75; counter-narratives to, 102; doctors and, 95–104; DPT in, 73–74; fathers in, 247n16; mothers in, 73–81; neoliberal logic of, 96; parent organizations in, 70; 288 • Index anti-vaccination movement (continued): rhetoric of, 67–68, 74–75, 102; in scientific journals, 77; scientific rhetoric of, 75–79; scientists’ response to, 95–96; strategies for countering, 102; tactics of, 102; threats from, 103–4; total motherhood in, 75; in United Kingdom, 67; villains/victims in, 68 Apple, Rima, 43 Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA), 56–57, 59; difference in, 60; rhetoric of, 57 Aristotle, on rhetoric, 183 Arranga, Teri, 88–89 Asperger, Hans: on autism mothers , 23; autism research of, 16–17; autistic characters of, 22; “‘Autistic Psychopathy’ in Childhood,” 22; during Nazi regime, 18; use of prosopographia, 24 Asperger’s and Girls (advice text), 210–11 Asperger’s quotient (AQ) test, 144 Asperger’s syndrome, 11; association with male intelligence, 108, 187; characters of, 29, 105–6, 109, 111, 210; computer geeks portrayed with, 105–6; cross-gender identity in, 205; in DSM-IV, 108; fMRI studies of, 149; rhetorical culture of, 109, 147; self-diagnosis of, 145, 146, 147; strategies of representation for, 106; as technological metaphor , 142; television depiction of, 120; testing for, 144; transgendered persons with, 187; versus autism, 108; women with, 140, 147 athletics: for autistic children, 162; masculine topos of, 158, 161–62 attachment: rhetorical tradition of, 62 Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), 221–22; and total motherhood, 69, 70, 71 Austist’s Corner (blog), 189–90 authority: in anti-vaccination movement , 75; of autism mothers, 53– 56, 58–59, 60, 63, 75, 88, 94–95; in autism narratives, 3–4, 6, 48–56; gendered organization of, 201, 217; over autism, 41–42, 217; paternalistic , 217; in rhetoric, 2–3; scientific versus maternal, 44, 217. See also ethos (rhetoric) Autisable (blog aggregator), 105 autism: aloneness in, 51; alternative treatments for, 10, 82; anecdotal description of, 119, 143, 144; association with maleness, 106; association with technology, 26, 106, 215–16; authority over, 41–42, 217; as behavioral syndrome, 10; biomedical definitions of, 10–11, 170; bodily separation theory of, 61; in brain mapping projects, 227; causes of, 1, 10, 16, 48, 64, 65; communication problems in, 126; cultural discourses of, 26, 170, 171–72; as deficit, 57; definitions of, 6–12; diagnoses of, 2, 11– 12, 145, 208–9, 245n122; discourse of crisis in, 170–71; early intervention programs for, 174, 175, 176–77, 180; etiology of, 31; factors influencing , 1; and feeblemindedness, 16, 17, 18, 20; fMRI studies of, 148–49, 218; geekiness as, 114–47; gendered norms of, 13; gender-neutral rhetoric of, 63; gender ratios in, 13, 24, 149; genetic factors in, 7–8, 42, 48; genetic technologies and, 217; hereditary theories of, 16; historical context of, 171–72; and hysteria, 237n6; infantile, 16; and intellectual disabilities, 52; and intelligence, 23; as intense world syndrome, 152; mating theories of, 117; media coverage of, 30, 173; and mercury poisoning, 76–77, 79; as metaphor for self-involvement , 186; mother-child relationships in, 24, 35, 39, 48, 49, 58, 60–61; neurodiversity in, 6, 9–10, 32, 44, 182–83; neurological definitions of, 7, 218; neurophysiological causes of, 48, 65; neuroscience of, 147–48; and obsessive-compulsive behavior, 204...