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Should Autism Be Classified as a Mental Illness/Disability? Evidence from Empirical Work

  • Chapter
The Palgrave Handbook of Child Mental Health

Abstract

Is autism a disability? Fundamentally, this question also raises additional questions, including: What is a disability? Who makes the definition valid? What function does such a label serve within society? The answers are perhaps dependent upon varied points of view and affiliations with particular theoretical frameworks. Indeed, there has been inconsistency regarding the terminology that has been utilised, with this terminology continuing to evolve. In the latest incarnation of autism in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), autism has been defined as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) (American Psychiatric Association, 2013), while other terms are still used within the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Controversially, the diagnostic label of ‘Asperger’s Syndrome’ has been removed from DSM-5.

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Recommended reading

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    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • • Lester, J. N., & O’Reilly, M. (in press). Repositioning disability in the discourse of our times: A study of the everyday lives of children with autism. In G. Noblit & W. Pink (Eds.), Education, equity, and economy. Springer.

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Authors
  1. Michelle O’Reilly
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  2. Khalid Karim
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  3. Jessica Nina Lester
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Leicester, UK

    Michelle O’Reilly (Senior Lecturer) (Senior Lecturer)

  2. Indiana University, USA

    Jessica Nina Lester (Assistant Professor) (Assistant Professor)

Copyright information

© 2015 Michelle O’Reilly, Khalid Karim, and Jessica Nina Lester

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O’Reilly, M., Karim, K., Lester, J.N. (2015). Should Autism Be Classified as a Mental Illness/Disability? Evidence from Empirical Work. In: O’Reilly, M., Lester, J.N. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Child Mental Health. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137428318_14

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