ABSTRACT
The autistic condition, as currently defined by observation and dependent on a priori defined notions of social appropriateness, has gained prevalence of epidemic proportions worldwide. In the United States, the systems that diagnose and treat the condition follow a clinical model primarily based on a psychological or psychiatric construct. Such an approach leaves out bodily physiology and its sensory consequences in favor of descriptions and interpretations of observational data gathered by hand without proper scientific rigor. The clinical model thus constructed serves a fast-pace system to provide recommendations for treatment that directly impact the lives of the affected individuals and their core caregiver family unit, but fails to embrace them as active members of society at large. While limiting the potential contributions of the autistic person to our society, the current clinical model is also interfering with the scientific model and its progress, which has considerably stalled. This chapter exposes some of the contemporary issues surrounding the complex relationships between society at large and the autistic population in the context of a psychological or psychiatric model that is not working.
