Author： Leatherland Julia Chown Nick
Publisher： The British Institute of Learning Disabilities
E-ISSN： 2046-5521|16|1|27-41
ISSN： 1466-2973
Source： Good Autism Practice (GAP), Vol.16, Iss.1, 2015-05, pp. : 27-41
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Abstract
The Internet is now often the first source of information that people turn to when they want to find out about a topic which is new to them. As such, it can be a powerful influence on the attitudes and values that might develop towards the subject or phenomenon being researched. In this paper, Julia Leatherland and Nick Chown explore the content of eight different organisations to ascertain how autism is portrayed. They argue that six of the eight adopt a medical model of autism with a focus on disorder and impairment having references to treatments and cure. The other two present autism as a difference, reflecting the social model of disability where the attitudes and actions of society in general have a powerful effect on the quality of life and degree of difficulty experienced by those with autism, with adjustments to society rather than to the person required. This paper will encourage readers to consider how they present autism in their own literature and websites and in particular how autistic individuals might view that content.
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