1) I think the rejection of the theory of the frigid mother as a cause for autism has overshadowed the complexity of the relationships within the family. Suddenly a tendency has emerged to give explanations founded exclusively on the genetic inheritance or on the innate condition. After birth things happen, and add up, with the defective gene, to constitute the universe of the autie, which is a universe of hardship and complexity. It cannot be simplified to be a genetic syndrome, with uniform qualities.
2) Moreover even experts of autism admit that there are mild and severe forms of the syndrome. So it’s probably not a matter of a gene, the gene responsible for interaction, existing or missing. This gene may also be more or less defective, producing different character structures, who, in turn, react to their existential experiences to produce very different personalities.
After all a defective gene may produce Glenn Gould, or Kafka, or a psychopath killer, or a prophet or a mystic. I am not inclined to think that it's all predetermined in the genetic inheritance.
26 Mar 2007, 10:31 pm
