Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity

The philosophical underpinnings of Price’s Unmasking Autism are deeply rooted in the social model of disability and the concept of neurodiversity. These frameworks represent a paradigm shift in understanding and approaching disability, contrasting significantly with the traditional medical model.

The medical model of disability, which has dominated for much of the 20th century, views disability as an individual’s medical problem that needs to be cured, treated, or mitigated. According to this model, disability is a deficit or abnormality within the individual, and the primary goal is to “fix” the disabled person to fit into the societal norms. This approach has led to a pathologizing view of conditions like Autism, where the focus is often on the symptoms and ways to “correct” them.

In stark contrast, the social model of disability posits that disability is not an inherent problem of the individual but is created by societal barriers and attitudes. This model, which emerged from disability rights movements in the 1970s and 1980s, emphasizes that people are disabled not solely by their medical conditions but by living in a society that is not accommodating of their differences. For instance, a person in a wheelchair isn’t disabled because of their inability to walk, but because the built environment around them is full of stairs and not ramps.