Recent years have shown a remarkable progression of cultural visibility for people on the autism spectrum. In particular, high functioning autism has had increased levels of representation with a focus on ostensibly positive attributes associated with the diagnosis. While these representations are often stereotypical, they also can be seen as progress in light of decades of demonization, marginalization, misinformation or invisibility.
However, amidst the all-too-common occurrence of mass shootings in the contemporary United States, high-functioning autism has also entered into the public conversation in a very negative way: as a contributing factor in the lives of those accused of some of these acts of violence. Self-advocates on the autistic spectrum and allies have been quick to discredit the role of autism in these events. While typically the alleged perpetrators diagnostic status is left unconfirmed, the initial connection made in the media between violence and autism is disturbing.
Key to there being a popular understanding of a connection between this violence and autism is the concept of empathy. The myth of the autistic inability to empathize is invoked when the possibility of autism as a contributing factor is discussed in the media.
The discourse of this supposed inability is not simply an inquiry into a condition but is a cultural production that reveals an intersection of public concerns and anxieties about violence, disability, race, social class and gender. This paper looks at these issues through the historical context of the legacy of Bruno Bettelheim. Bettelheim, one of the most prominent public figures in popular psychology of the twentieth century, is today understood as a figure to be vilified for a number of reasons, most notably his association with the “Refrigerator Mother” concept, which captured the public imagination of the fifties and sixties, and blamed “cold” mothers for their children’s autism. This paper uses this destructive idea as a lens to compare and contrast with this more recent mischaracterization.
About the presenterNeil Patrick Shepard
Neil Shepard, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Sciences and Humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences at Davenport University in Grand Rapids, MI. His academic research focused on studying representations of autism in a historical and contemporary cultural context. He earned his doctorate in American Cultural Studies from Bowling Green State University, his Master’s Degree from California State University, Fullerton and his Bachelor’s Degree from University of Maryland, Baltimore County.