Post

@timclare.bsky.social

Successive fads in autism etiology often get popular because they act as comforting myths for nonautistic people. So Asperger & Kanner identify these kids with 'childhood schizophrenia' & it seems random & terrifying then Bettelheim picks up on a line from Kanner & says it's the mothers. They did it

26/10/26, 10:50 pm4 reposts14 likes

Tim Clare

@timclare.bsky.social

15h

I recognise these kids from the concentration camps. They are traumatised. They are locked in a private hell. This is all to do with cold, incompetent mothering & poor breastfeeding. We can cure autism if we can only undo the harm their mothers caused them.

Tim Clare

@timclare.bsky.social

15h

So now it's not random, it's 'refrigerator mothers'. You can spare your children this fate if only you don't mess them up through your actions. But the sense of control - this only happens to bad people - came at the price of blame & stigma. So an alternative theory emerges.

Alex MacLaren

@alexmaclaren.bsky.social

15h

Responding to - rather than overriding -a child’s response to your tactility (especially if the child retreats) is simply good parenting. The damage to family intuitions by these people is unthinkable.

Tim Clare

@timclare.bsky.social

15h

It's not bad parenting. It's exposure to industrial pollutants. Mercury. Food additives. Mold. It's not your fault, it's the evil companies', but it's still preventable. Someone is to blame.

Tim Clare

@timclare.bsky.social

15h

'Overdiagnosis', fetal testosterone levels, maternal age... all of these stories are ones typically pounced on by nonautistic people to cope with their own emotions around a child or loved one's diagnosis. The function they serve is more about emotional satisfaction than accurate description.