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Module2_CS_631_S03_DiscussionResponses.docx

Running Head: CULTURAL NARRATIVES OF ASD 1

CULTURAL NARRATIVES OF ASD 4

Dominant Cultural Narratives of ASD

Student’s Name

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Dominant Cultural Narratives of ASD.

Part A

The dominant cultural narrative can be said to be perpetuated by various forms of media in an information-saturated society. Using your access to television, print, and internet media, please provide:

(a) Please provide your example for each form of media (please upload pictures and links to display these examples - do not use what I provided)

Example 1: Ted Talk Video- Doctor Wendy Chung

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKlMcLTqRLsa

Example 2: New York Times Article

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2018/06/24/books/review/24Mnookin/24Mnookin-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale

Retrieved from: https://static01.nyt.com/images/2018/06/24/books/review/24Mnookin/24Mnookin-jumbo.jpg?quality=90&auto=webp

Was Autism a Nazi Invention: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/18/books/review/aspergers-children-edith-sheffer.html

(b) explain what you believe the dominant cultural narrative of ASD is

I think that the existence of a defective gene in the human body narrative is the dominant cultural narrative of ASD.

(c) explain in what way each of your examples either contributes or do not contribute to that narrative

In my cases above, example 1 is a TED talk video on ASD. The commentator highlights the various descriptions of the causes of ASD but discredits them as they have no credible proof. The commentator continues to explain what she, as a doctor believes, is the primary cause of ASD which is a default gene in the human body (Chung, 2014). She supports her claim with the results of her research which indeed reveal that there exist different types defective genes that lead to the development of ASD how they conducted a study to show how genetic differences causes autism.

Example 2 is a New York Times article that highlights a conspiracy theory on whether the Nazis created autism (Mnookin, 2018). This is a false assumption and is based on a weak premise and does not at all contribute to the defective gene narrative.

(d) expand on whether or not you believe in the cultural narrative that your examples suggest (if each example represents a different part or form of the narrative, explain each one)

I do think in the defective gene narrative as illustrated in the Ted talk video. It is evident that humans have a different generic composition which is responsible for our differences. It is, therefore, logical to conclude that autistic people have a unique generic structure which accounts for their behavioral and neurological differences.

The narrative on the New York Times article is false, and I do not believe in the narrative.

References

Chung, W. (2014, April 28). Autism? What we know (and what we don't know yet) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKlMcLTqRLs

Mnookin, S. (2018, June 24). Was Autism a Nazi Invention? [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/18/books/review/aspergers-children-edith-sheffer.html