Izvorni znanstveni članak
https://doi.org/10.52685/cjp.23.67.5
Is Autism a Mental Disorder According to the Harmful Dysfunction View?
Mladen Bošnjak
orcid.org/0000-0003-1268-8810
; University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia
Sažetak
The supporters of the neurodiversity movement contend that autism is not a mental disorder, but rather a natural human variation. In a recent paper Jerome Wakefi eld, David Wasserman and Jordan Conrad (2020) argued against this view relying on Wakefi eld’s harmful dysfunction theory of mental disorder (the HD theory). Although I argue that the HD theory is problematic, I contend that arguments offered by Wakefi eld et al. (2020) against those of the neurodiversity movement are plausible, except in one respect: their claim that high functioning autism in general is not a disorder is not well supported. I argue instead that the disorder status of high-functioning autistic persons should be judged on a case-by-case basis, depending on the harmfulness of the condition. In this regard, I maintain that the list of basic psychological capacities provided by George Graham (2010) provides an adequate conceptualization of harm. Moreover, I show how this framework may offer an appropriate tool for a case-by-case assessment of harm associated with high-functioning autism.
Ključne riječi
Autism; neurodiversity movement; social model of disability; harmful dysfunction; harm in psychiatry; basic psychological capacities.
Hrčak ID:
301250
URI
Datum izdavanja:
6.5.2023.
Posjeta: 651 *