Ian Birrell seems content to mix Asperger’s with autism in considering the diagnostic ramifications of certain pervasive developmental disorders (Opinion, 23 April). He can perhaps be forgiven, on the basis that the terms are now mutually self-inclusive across clinical as well as common parlance scopes of reference.
As he might well be aware, the term Asperger’s has been erased from the most recent edition of the diagnostic manual (DSM-5) – itself in continuous flux of conjecture and opprobrium. It’s a pity that either term still prevails, as both are misleading, confusing and carelessly non-specific, poorly serving any person thus labelled. Given that these terms collate and corral a wide spectrum of behaviours, abilities and challenges, why they persist is unfathomable.
Having worked for several years in this challenging area of personal need, I feel that the innate humanity and individuated personality of those foisted with such “diagnoses” is smothered and camouflaged by the imposition of meaningless terminology. Such classifications merely spawn a retrograde claustrophobia, ensuring a blinkered appraisal of need and misguided cultivation of inappropriate nurture.
Rightly approving of Greta Thunberg’s rise to global influence, Mr Birrell might want to seek out some further relevant and authentic commentary on the matter from the writings of child and adolescent psychiatrist Sami Timimi. His book The Myth of Autism offers a vital ray of illumination, highlighting the nuanced realities pertaining, promoting a creatively open dispensation beyond useless diagnostic labels.
Let children live and adults thrive within a shared communalism of easy tolerance and respectful generosity of spirit. After all, every one of us hovers somewhere along the autistic spectrum, if one insists on allowing that term at all. Thus it is rendered obsolete.
Jim Cosgrove
Senior music therapist, Lismore, County Waterford
• Responses to the above letter: How a diagnosis of autism can be your moment of liberation
