ABSTRACT
One of the governing strands of the metanarrative of autism is the notion of eternal childhood (i.e. the erroneous belief that all autistic people are children or child-like), which naturally leads to a second, equally false assumption: autistic adults have failed to be properly ‘cured’ or to outgrow their autism – and this failure of ‘cure’ suggests an implied moral failing on the part of the autistic adult. This chapter traces the cultural origins of both strands of the metanarrative while interrogating the problematic assumptions they reinforce – particularly the way in which conceiving of autism as a ‘child-like’ condition lends a fake credibility to the authority that neurotypical adults frequently assume over their autistic counterparts. In analyzing cultural examples of the metanarrative, the chapter juxtaposes depictions of autism authored by neurotypical writers and directors with depictions of the condition authored by autistic adults.
