Bias and Prejudice about People with Autism

Introduction

The key purpose of the essay is to design a questionnaire to gain an understanding of own and other’s bias, prejudice, along with assumptions about the lived experience of autism. In addition, the paper will analyse the different perspectives and responses to the questions regarding the presumptions of autism. The purpose of the interview is to identify the issues as well as the challenges faced by the persons as they are holding insights on how their needs are met in the community. Besides this, autism refers to the wide range of conditions featured by various challenges with speech, repetitive behaviours, nonverbal communication, and social skills.

Identification of Initial Presumptions

After interviewing the team member and the community member, different responses were obtained regarding to the questions based on autism. A person named James Martin was interviewed in the community who engaged in giving social services to people living with disabilities. As per the response to question one by the community member, it is identified that more than 50% of people living with autism have an intellectual disability as the level of intellectual functioning varies in people with a diagnosis of autism, which range from impairment to excellent non-verbal cognitive skills. The team member responds to the question by stating that over 50% of children have an intellectual disability. One of the most common assumptions about autism is that it may be a complete misunderstanding (Lai, M. C., & Szatmari, P., 2020). The authors suggest that persons living with autism can implicitly read the emotions of other people.

As per the community member’s response to questions 2 and 3, it is acknowledged that the caregivers sometimes cannot understand how to respond to the behaviour of a child with autism. It is responded that children living with autism are treated unfairly when they tried to express something. It is believed that people with a diagnosis of autism experience prejudice as well as barriers in the workplace. Moreover, persons with autism also experience implicit and explicit biases that failed to predict the overall behaviour of the persons Sasson, N. J., Faso, D. J., Nugent, J., Lovell, S., Kennedy, D. P., & Grossman, R. B. (2017). In addition, parents play a key role in offering support to their children with disabilities by ensuring access to health services as well as education. People with autism face difficulty in communicating and doing daily activities. People living with disabilities experience prejudices in various places by others, but different interventions can be taken to overcome the issue of autism among children.

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Moreover, it is anticipated that the interview would provide an insight into the problems experienced by person with a diagnosis of autism. It is expected that children living with autism cannot understand the emotions of others. It is expected that many people with disabilities have normal IQs, and it is caused by bad parenting (Bast, D. F., Lyons, C., Stewart, I., Connor, T., Kelly, M., & Goyos, C., 2020). It is predicted that the person living with autism can communicate their emotions in diverse ways as they cannot feel any emotions. Besides this, the caregivers of children with autism are isolated by the relatives, and community members as the community believe that disability is evil and, thus, do not provide any support to the caregivers for meeting the needs of the disabled children (Hull, L., Petrides, K. V., Allison, C., Smith, P., Baron-Cohen, S., Lai, M. C., & Mandy, W., 2017). It is predicted that social support is essential for improving the good health of children living with autism. In addition, social care services offer community-based support for children living with disabilities. Based on the report, it is identified that a high proportion of autistic persons live with their parents in residential care.

Analysis of Own and other’s Perspectives of Autism

It is analysed from the interview responses that autism is a disorder that creates difficulty in social interaction along with communication in the community (Bargiela, S., Steward, R., & Mandy, W., 2016). Based on assumptions, it is analysed that it is very challenging to understand complex emotions. It is assumed that autism is nothing, it is just a simple misunderstanding. It is analysed that persons living with autism often experience difficulties with empathy as well as perspective-taking. It is assumed that many autistic people experience regret and relief based on their decisions (Strang, J. F., Powers, M. D., Knauss, M., Sibarium, E., Leibowitz, S. F., Kenworthy, L., & Pervez, N., 2018). It is examined that the people who is living with autism are not able to explain their emotions to others accurately and cannot understand other emotions. It is assumed that neurological response to emotional content can be a useful technique because it entirely cancels out the bias that the person can exhibit while explaining an understanding of the emotional state of other persons (Geelhand, P., Bernard, P., Klein, O., Van Tiel, B., & Kissine, M., 2019).

Moreover, the assumption is that adults living with autism do not possess emotions and highly contradicted by many adults Hetzroni, O., Agada, H., & Leikin, M. (2019). Based on the bias, it is analysed that persons having disabilities or autism disorder often experience bullying behaviour in society and the workplace. The peers express bullying behaviour towards the autistic people as there seem too significant differences between diversity and equality policies, which shows that the communities develop equality and diversity along with inclusion in action to demonstrate lived experiences.

Besides this, there is no adjustments made currently in order to accommodate the needs of the person with a diagnosis of autism disorder. As per the community member response, it is identified that over 50% of the intellectually disable persons experience problems in expressing non-verbal cognitive skills, and they are biased by the community members. It is found that the autistic persons experience bias during selection for employment and in university McCoy, M. S., Liu, E. Y., Lutz, A. S., & Sisti, D. (2020). However, adults with the disorder face difficulties and biases in forming friendships, achieving employment, and living independently.

Based on prejudice, it is analysed that a few people living with autism disorder are employed in organizations. They could be productive members of society if they are provided with adequate support along with understanding. In addition, lack of ability to socialize as well as engage in non-verbal communication creates difficulty in finding employment as they are treated unfairly by others (Fadus, M. C., Odunsi, O. T., & Squeglia, L. M., 2019). Besides this, many people in society show prejudiced behaviour towards autistic adults, and thus, increasing intergroup contact would help in reducing prejudice and biases. It is analyzed that people with disabilities feel immense pressure to conform to societal norms. It is recognized that autistic persons are required to be valued, accepted, and respected in the communities by avoiding prejudices, biases, and assumptions. It is required to offer the necessary support and care to the disabled persons to enable them understand the behaviour and emotions of others. It is essential for the government and community to understand their behavior and meet support needs necessary for them to lead a better life.

Reflection about the Interview Responses

Based on the interview responses, it is observed that the person who is living with a disability needs effective support and psychosocial as well as behavioural treatment to communicate with others efficiently and understand the emotions of another person. It is reflected that children who have a diagnosis of autism struggle with social skills, which creates difficulty in interacting with peers. Autistic children are unable to communicate their desire for relationships.

Based on the responses, the cultural, as well as, spiritual beliefs of the community regarding disability is evil, and as a consequence, caregivers of those children who have autism are often isolated and did not acquire any needed support from close relatives and partners. It is recognized that the support from colleagues and family members is a significant component for caregivers to obtain flexible working conditions and focus on support and other needs of the children. Besides this, young adults who have a disability in speaking and behaviour experience bullying in their workplace, and thus, it is essential for the members to offer social support and services to enjoy their working life and prevent bullying behaviours. However, 50% of the people who are living with autism are intellectually disabled as they lack cognitive skills (McCoy, et al., 2020).

Conclusion

The paper helped in understanding and gaining insight into the persons living with autism. Different responses are collected from the members to analyse the bias, prejudices, and assumptions of autism. The persons having disabilities experience severe challenges and discrimination in society, but their parents provide needed support to them. However, it is considered that the community must change its spiritual along with cultural beliefs to provide adequate support and needs to the caregivers of children with a diagnosis of autism. It is evaluated that the social support is crucial for both caregivers and children with autism to overcome their challenges and issues experienced.

References

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2. Bast, D. F., Lyons, C., Stewart, I., Connor, T., Kelly, M., & Goyos, C. (2020). The Effect of Educational Messages on Implicit and Explicit Attitudes towards Individuals on the Autism Spectrum versus Normally Developing Individuals. The Psychological Record, 1-23.
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8. McCoy, M. S., Liu, E. Y., Lutz, A. S., & Sisti, D. (2020). Ethical advocacy across the autism spectrum: Beyond partial representation. The American Journal of Bioethics, 20(4), 13-24.
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10. Strang, J. F., Powers, M. D., Knauss, M., Sibarium, E., Leibowitz, S. F., Kenworthy, L., … & Pervez, N. (2018). “They thought it was an obsession”: Trajectories and perspectives of autistic transgender and gender-diverse adolescents. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 48(12), 4039-4055.