The Misunderstanding of Autism Disorder

At one point or another we’ve all probably heard the name, Sir Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and/or Nikola Tesla in our academic careers. For the few who didn’t pay much attention when going over the work of these men, all three were practically “rock stars” in their respective fields of physics and engineering. So, what about names like Vincent van Gogh, Mark Twain, Mozart and Bill Gates? What could three men who helped shape our understanding of the world have in common with a post-Impressionist painter, an American author, distinguished composer, and multi-billionaire? The answer…autism. Through retrospective diagnosis and research, all seven men have been speculated to have had autism or display symptoms and behavioral traits of autistic individuals.
Admittedly, when I first chose to explore autism, I figured it would be an easier psychological issue to discuss than bi-polar disorder or schizophrenia. Only after researching autism for an hour or so, I quickly realized this was not the case. Autism may very well be one of the most complex and examined disorders, for it’s a disorder that stirs up tons of questions yet yields very few answers. So what exactly is it? What are the causes and symptoms? Is there a cure? How many people are affected by autism? Is it being properly portrayed in mainstream media? In this paper, I’ll do my very best to touch on these questions and hopefully leave the ones reading with a better understanding of this disorder.
First off, autism is not a form of mental retardation despite what the general public may have you believe. In actuality, autism, which was first described by Kanner (1943) in his study of 11 children with “autistic disturbances of affective contact” (US: American Psychological Ass...

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... genetics and environment play a role. Researchers have identified a number of genes associated with the disorder. Studies of people with A.S.D. have found irregularities in several regions of the brain. Other studies suggest that people with autism have abnormal levels of serotonin or other neurotransmitters in the brain. These abnormalities suggest that autism could result from the disruption of normal brain development early in fetal development caused by defects in genes that control brain growth and the regulation of how brain cells communicate with each other. With so many answers as to what may cause autism, it makes treatment for autism particularly difficult as there currently is no one standard “fix.” In fact, there are several types of therapy that may help minimize symptoms of A.S.D. and the effectiveness of each program differs for each individual.