My Eyes Are Not Mirrors

It feels like another day, another article or social media post to find frustrating. This was true years ago when I first wrote this blog post, when a piece from The New Yorker called “Seeing the spectrum: A new history of Autism” by Steven Shapin was published. It is even more true in May of 2025, after having endured the worst Autism Awareness Month in recent history thanks to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The art was the first thing about the Shapin article I felt compelled to comment upon. I interpreted the picture as depicting a whole community of adults in constructing a child. It might have been meant as an artistic depiction of the concept that an entire community is required to raise a child. However, that wasn’t the first thing that popped into my mind.

I thought, “Look at all these adults fixing this broken child.” If this was the first thing that I thought back then, when I was far less jaded, my first impression would be far more extreme now that I spent April of 2025 hearing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. refer to all the ways he thinks Autistic people are broken.

The article started by pointing out how the world is unpredictable. However, it suggested that “normal people” just deal with that unpredictability. First of all, I think that the few months since Trump’s second administration came into office has demonstrated that even “normal people” have a limit to how much they can just adapt to unpredictability. Also, can we please do away with the concept of “normal”?

Shapin gave an example of how someone might accidentally buy their boxers at J.C. Penney, an obvious reference to Rain Man, instead of Kmart. He called Rain Man a cultural tipping point for understanding autism. Assuming Shapin was correct about the release of Rain Man being a tipping point in the cultural conversation around autism, I would argue it was probably around the same time that RFK Jr. became aware that Autistic people exist. After all, he said many times in April 2025 that Autistic people were not around when he was a child. Of course, they were around. People like him just didn’t see them.

Rain Man was based on a real person named Kim Peek, who was not Autistic, although it is thought that a second person was also used as inspiration, and this person was Autistic. Shapin said the world has always been this way, with people who could handle changes and those who liked to impose order, but that autism has not always existed. Based on the flood of opinions from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in April of 2025, Shapin and RFK Jr. would have a meeting of minds on this subject.

When a tree falls in the forest and nobody can hear it, does it make a sound? If a doctor has not diagnosed a person as Autistic, does that make the person less Autistic? According to people I see attacking self-identified Autistic people online, I am thinking they would agree that a person is not Autistic until a doctor says so.

I know someone who was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, and probably some other things I am forgetting, before she was diagnosed as Autistic. The doctor told her that she cared what other people thought about her, so she could not be Autistic. If doctors are still making determinations based on stereotypes like this, acting as gatekeepers to accessing further professional assessments, I’m not about to say that a person might understand themselves better than many doctors. Shapin warned against posthumous speculative diagnosis of well-known people. He has a point, but I think it is could equally be said that you cannot say they were not Autistic, the way RFK Jr. tries to say that Autistic people were not around when he was a child.

Part of Shapin’s article that particularly upset Autistic people was as follows:

For parents of autistic kids, awareness is desperately important. It’s a searing experience to have a child who doesn’t talk, who doesn’t want to be touched, who self-harms, who demands a reguarity and order that parents can’t supply, whose eyes are not windows to their souls but black mirrors. Public recognition is vital, both for its own sake and as a means to mobilize resrources for care, support, and a possible cure.

My eyes are not mirrors. If they were, they would reflect the ableism of this statement. I don’t lack a soul. Furthermore, I wouldn’t choose to be cured if that was an option.

Shapin discussed brave parents who refused to institutionalize their children. These parents, whom Shapin discussed, insisted on treatment options, changing the view of autism. It might be true, but this view leaves out Autistic people.

Shapin discussed Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) as if it were a thing of the past. I wish that were true. I understand the approach does not use cattle prods anymore. However, there are still reasons to reject ABA. Shapin said that “High Functioning” Autistic people are picking on the parents of “Severely Autistic” children. Shapin accused this group of people he labelled as high-functioning Autistics of saying that we should not attempt to treat autism. This is not generally the case. People like myself wish to have relief from symptoms that are related to autism, but are not autism itself, such as help with executive functions and daily living.

I used to watch a show on CBS called Scorpion. To my dismay, I noticed it became increasingly ableist. The character of Paige would say things to Walter like, “You’re becoming more human.” This suggested that she thought of herself as the arbiter of his humanity. This is what Autistic people face all the time with behavioural modification approaches. In one show episode, Walter acted out a scene from Romeo and Juliet. Paige asked him why he didn’t act all the time. What she meant was that she couldn’t understand why he didn’t just put on a show every time he interacted with people. It is exhausting to put on a show all the time. Nobody should have this expected of them. Why should Autistic people have to do this for the comfort of Allistic people? Is there a good reason Allistic people cannot learn to accept our stims if no physical harm is done anyone? Shapin said Allistic people are great at adapting. Thus, shouldn’t they be well equipped to adapt to the ways neurodivergent people around them exist in the world?

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