How Autism Became an "Epidemic"
a new video essay!
Oh hi there, slugs, just crawling out of the focus hole I’ve been in, making this video for the last two weeks!
I know, I know, much has already been said about RFK’s little speech last month announcing that ‘the [autism] epidemic is real’ — a speech that, as a big nerd for autistic history, I didn’t find very surprising, to be honest.
What I heard was a throwback to the Y2K era, when a very small, very vocal, very connected group of ‘mercury moms’ began inserting the rhetoric of autism-as-toxic-tragedy into the highest levels of US government.
Autistic rights activists pushed back on this idea and made strides, but like a similar reaction to progress in LGBTQ rights that we’re now seeing all over the world, the pendulum has swung back hard on autism politics again.
The generally-accepted response to the idea of an environmental toxin causing an increase in autism is to argue that it can instead be explained by diagnostic expansion — we know more now, we’ve gotten better at diagnosing, and we’ve diversified autism.
That’s not entirely wrong, but as a socialist, I see disability as tied to the economy, which means — there are material reasons for autism’s rise, too, just like there are material reasons for the suffering of both autistic people and their caregivers.
Anyway, I explain all of this in more detail in the video, so slot it into your queue and let me know what you think. Here are a few of my sources, because I know you love a book round-up:
The Autism Industrial Complex by Alicia Broderick
I’ve been talking about this one for years, and it remains one of the most influential books I’ve read about capitalism and disability in general. (Broderick gave a great talk on the book you can watch here.)
The Rise of Autism by Ginny Russell
Super fascinating breakdown of the debate over why autism diagnoses have increased. I found Russell’s framing of autism advocacy as waves, sort of like feminist waves, really useful for locating RFK’s announcement in the recent history of the ‘autism wars’. He’s trying to make autism tragic again! (Also, it’s open access, we love to see it.)
Autistic Community and the Neurodiversity Movement, edited by Steven K. Kapp
This is a source I always go back to any time the history of the neurodiversity movement comes up. I don’t go into much detail about it in this video, but I’ll just have to make a follow-up. :) It’s also open access! And bonus: if you’ve never seen the Institute for the Study of the Neurologically Typical, it’s my favorite piece of digital autism history.
The Panic Virus by Seth Mnookin
I learned about this book in RFK’s biography, because he fucking hates it lol. That’s because it includes an entire chapter fact-checking his bullshit, nestled inside the larger story of vaccine conspiracism in the US. One really interesting thing I realized while reading this is that the internet catalyzed both the neurodiversity movement and the autism mom movement. Our great digital void, she giveth, and she taketh away!
A Very Capitalist Condition by Rodney Slorach
A very accessible book on Marxist disability theory! Robert Chapman told me to read this one:
Okay, go watch the video and then tell me what else you want me to hear me infodump into a microphone about whilst softly doused in bisexual lighting:
I love a video essay! This was really well done 💫 Thank you (as always) for nerding out and sharing
This is excellent. 👏🏻