Maria Ginzburg

Scholarly Research
Jaarsma, Pier, and Stellan Welin. "Autism As A Natural Human Variation:
Reflections On The Claims Of The Neurodiversity Movement". Health Care Anal 20.1
(2011): 20-30. Web.
In this piece, Jaarsma and Stellan analyze how neurodiversity can be valuable in
improving the lives of autistics, while advocating for a less radical view on the
matter one that is in-between the classical disorder view of autism and
neurodiversity. They argue that while those with Aspergers or high-functioning
autism indeed do not need to be treated, but rather should be accommodated for,
those with low-functioning autism should be treated due to their vulnerability and
difficulties living their day-to-day lives.
Lim, Chong-Ming. "Accommodating Autistics And Treating Autism: Can We
Have Both?". Bioethics 29.8 (2015): 564-572. Web.
Lim analyzes the arguments put forth by Jaarsma and Stellan and attempts to refute
most of them in favor of neurodiversity. She, for example, points out that identifying
low-functioning autism through IQ tests is, in reality, a tenuous solution at best, and
is thus invalid for determining who should be treated and who should be
accommodated for. Ultimately, she claims that most of the suffering and difficulties
autistics experience in their lives is due to lack of purposeful accommodation, and
that those who should be treated depend mostly on how difficult and expensive it
would be to accommodate for.

Tsai, Luke Y., and Mohammad Ghaziuddin. "DSM-5 ASD Moves Forward Into
The Past". J Autism Dev Disord 44.2 (2013): 321-330. Web.
Tsai and Ghaziuddin argue that the 2012 DSM-5s conflation of Aspergers into the
autism category is simply incorrect at best, and at worst will cause difficulties for
both those with Aspergers and autism to get the services and/or treatment they
need. They analyze papers on the differences between Aspergers, high-functioning
autism, and low-functioning autism, with the conclusion that these parts of the
spectrum are indeed different and require different services and treatments.
Public Discourse
Sinclair, Jim. "Don't Mourn For Us". Autreat.com. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.
Originally a speech at an autism convention, this famous piece by Sinclair is often
described as one that first precipitated the neurodiversity movement. He argues
that parents of autistic children should not see their childrens autism as a tragedy,
and that that view is simply because the parents didnt lose a child to autism.
[They] lost a child because the child [they] waited for never came into existence.
Lutz, Amy. "Is The Neurodiversity Movement Misrepresenting Autism?". Slate
Magazine. N.p., 2013. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.
In this rather controversial and much-discussed piece, Lutz attempts to lend a
balanced view to the matter by discussing "case histories" of famous celebrities ini
the autism world like Carly Fleischmann and Temple Grandin. She points out that
besides the issues thaat the ASD definition in the DSM-5 brings, part of the problem
lies in the fact that most research on autism is done on high functioning subjects. As
a result, a great deal of autism research is in fact irrelevant to the low functioning

population. She also argues that this focus on high functioning individuals is part of
why neurodiversity rhetoric has gained so much ground among the public and
research community.
Hayasaki, Erika. "The Debate Over An Autism Cure Turns
Hostile". Newsweek.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.
In this piece, Hayasaki interviews a famous autistic blogger, Jonathan Mitchell, who
unlike many other autistic bloggers, is anti-neurodiversity and pro-cure. She mainly
discusses the difficulties he faces in his day-to-day life, as well as the controversy
he spreads and the hateful messages he receives from those that oppose his views.