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The autism matrix: the social origins of the autism epidemic
- Authors:
- EYAL Gil, et al
- Publisher:
- Polity
- Publication year:
- 2010
- Pagination:
- 240p.
- Place of publication:
- Cambridge
Using a combination of historical narrative and international comparison, the authors offer a new interpretation of autism from a sociological perspective. They argue that the recent rise in autism should be understood in the context of the deinstitutionalization of learning disabilities in the mid-1970s. This resulted in a change in the way institutions had to deal with childhood developmental disorders, but also of the cultural lens through which we view them. The authors show that where deinstitutionalization went the furthest, as in Scandinavia, UK and parts of the USA, autism rates are highest. Where it was absent or delayed, as in France, autism rates are low.