1 Perspectives on recovery and help

The first priority for many parents of an autistic child or adult is to secure help and support. Some parents, and clinicians too, go further, seeing autism as something to be ‘cured’ or eradicated. An objection to this idea, from a neurodiversity perspective, is that autism should be seen as a difference, not as an illness or disability which needs ‘curing’. Even if aiming for a cure is seen as acceptable by some, since autistic children’s communication, social and thinking skills start to diverge from the typical developmental pathway at an early stage, reversing these changes poses a big challenge.