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labelling, a double edged sword..don't forget the other side

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tortoise
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12 Dec 2006, 12:03 am

Dr. Russell Barkley wrote:
Well, labeling is a two-edged sword. Of course, it brings with it all the negative connotations. You're being singled out; you'll be stigmatized. It is a label that is mentioned in psychiatric textbooks as a mental disorder, and, of course, people are afraid of stigmatizing their children so young in life with the label of a mental disorder. But on the other hand, there is the upside to labeling, an upside that we can't avoid, and that's why we continue to use labels.

First of all, by using a precise label, we can connect this group of individuals up with a large body of scientific knowledge about other people with this label and with this disorder. So if we use this label, it brings with it a tremendous amount of information that can help the individual better understand their disorder and how best to manage it. If we start labeling it with some euphemism, some ambiguous personality term like, they're just "high-energy children," you've disconnected immediately from this larger body of accurate scientific knowledge that we have. And that's a disservice to these people.

The other disservice it will do is that there are rights, protections and access to services that people with ADHD have a right to now because of various legislation that has been passed to protect them. There are special education laws. And the Americans with Disabilities Act, for example, mentions ADHD as being an eligible condition. If you change the label, and again refer to it as just some variation in normal temperament, these people will lose access to these services, and will lose these hard-won protections that keep them from being discriminated against. . . .


The quotation comes from the PBS series on ADHD but equally applies to Aspies. Dr. Russell Barkley is like the Tony Atwood of ADHD. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline ... rkley.html


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walk-in-the-rain
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12 Dec 2006, 12:20 am

Labels can be good for services, but as is mentioned they can also be used to stigmatize and marginalize. Also - the person who has been labeled may be limited if others imply that they are restricted by the stereotypes of the label. In other words - if you are told you have AS and they have no sense of empathy or are cold than you may find yourself being emotionally expected to "fit into" that criteria. So there are both advantages and disadvantages. For instance when I was a kid there was no AS label and kids were often seen as just being anxious types or exceptionally shy or overly sensitive. Those are not really accurate and tend to be dismissive of the issues the kids have. However, it was not seen as something that completely defined who you were - which sometimes happens when you get a label - you become one-dimensional to some people and everything you do is just an expression of your condition. I see that alot when other parents talk about their AS or HFA kids. The kids are just being kids yet they are scrutinized and all behaviors are attributed to the label. I am not against labeling per se because it may have some benefits but it must be used carefully.