Brief Intro:
Hello! My name is Taylor Cheney, and I'm a pre-medical student here at MSU. My website will give a better understanding of the condition of autism by studying it through various perspectives of anthropology. Each page on my website will provide insight and clarity of autism through different approaches.
I chose to analyze the disease of autism for many reasons. One, because throughout all of high school, I babysat my teacher's son who was diagnosed with autism and became very close with him. After graduating from Michigan State in two years, I plan on pursuing medical school in hopes of becoming a pediatrician in the future as my career, maybe with a focus on autistic children. Another reason autism was my choice of an illness to analyze for this project lies in the fact that so many people around the world today are diagnosed with autism and many people do not quite understand it, and I would love to understand the medical perspectives as well as anthropological approaches of the disease as well.
Autism, also called autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a group of complex disorders of brain development. These disorders are characterized, in varying degrees, by difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors. Autism is also associated with disabilities intellectually, difficulty in motor skills and hand-eye coordination, and attention and physical health elements such as sleep and gastrointestinal disturbances. Some people that are diagnosed with autism excel in visual skills, musical abilities, math, as well as art. (Autism Speaks). Autism normally arises and portrays the most obvious symptoms in individuals within the first two to three years of age. According to the Center for Disease Control, around 1 in 42 boys and 1 in 189 girls in the United States are diagnosed with the disease of autism. (Autism Speaks).
It is important to consider non-medical factors when discussing and analyzing autism as well, such as culture and economics for many reasons. As for autism as well as other diseases, taking culture and economics and other factors is important because not all people react or deal with diseases in the same manner. Economics is crucial when studying disease and illness because not all countries in the world are as fortunate and wealthy as others. Third world countries do not have the means and medical supplies to treat diseases like we do here in the United States. Culture is also an important factor in the sense that all cultures and societies treat illness differently. How we may treat autism in America is different in other cultures around the world based on their beliefs and personal values.
Anthropologists also study autism in a different way than medical doctors. As I was researching an anthropologist's perspective of autism, the article I found actually discussed the "Horse Boy" story that I analyzed earlier in ANP 204. This anthropologist discusses that autistic people should be treated as a person with their own experiences and that their symptoms shouldn't be treated just to alleviate the stress on other people around them as many people may think.
Citations:
"What Is Autism?." Autism Speaks. http://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism (accessed July 29, 2014).
Wordpress. "The Autism Anthropologist." The Autism Anthropologist. http://theautismanthropologist.wordpress.com (accessed July 29, 2014).
Hello! My name is Taylor Cheney, and I'm a pre-medical student here at MSU. My website will give a better understanding of the condition of autism by studying it through various perspectives of anthropology. Each page on my website will provide insight and clarity of autism through different approaches.
I chose to analyze the disease of autism for many reasons. One, because throughout all of high school, I babysat my teacher's son who was diagnosed with autism and became very close with him. After graduating from Michigan State in two years, I plan on pursuing medical school in hopes of becoming a pediatrician in the future as my career, maybe with a focus on autistic children. Another reason autism was my choice of an illness to analyze for this project lies in the fact that so many people around the world today are diagnosed with autism and many people do not quite understand it, and I would love to understand the medical perspectives as well as anthropological approaches of the disease as well.
Autism, also called autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a group of complex disorders of brain development. These disorders are characterized, in varying degrees, by difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors. Autism is also associated with disabilities intellectually, difficulty in motor skills and hand-eye coordination, and attention and physical health elements such as sleep and gastrointestinal disturbances. Some people that are diagnosed with autism excel in visual skills, musical abilities, math, as well as art. (Autism Speaks). Autism normally arises and portrays the most obvious symptoms in individuals within the first two to three years of age. According to the Center for Disease Control, around 1 in 42 boys and 1 in 189 girls in the United States are diagnosed with the disease of autism. (Autism Speaks).
It is important to consider non-medical factors when discussing and analyzing autism as well, such as culture and economics for many reasons. As for autism as well as other diseases, taking culture and economics and other factors is important because not all people react or deal with diseases in the same manner. Economics is crucial when studying disease and illness because not all countries in the world are as fortunate and wealthy as others. Third world countries do not have the means and medical supplies to treat diseases like we do here in the United States. Culture is also an important factor in the sense that all cultures and societies treat illness differently. How we may treat autism in America is different in other cultures around the world based on their beliefs and personal values.
Anthropologists also study autism in a different way than medical doctors. As I was researching an anthropologist's perspective of autism, the article I found actually discussed the "Horse Boy" story that I analyzed earlier in ANP 204. This anthropologist discusses that autistic people should be treated as a person with their own experiences and that their symptoms shouldn't be treated just to alleviate the stress on other people around them as many people may think.
Citations:
"What Is Autism?." Autism Speaks. http://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism (accessed July 29, 2014).
Wordpress. "The Autism Anthropologist." The Autism Anthropologist. http://theautismanthropologist.wordpress.com (accessed July 29, 2014).