article_snippet: I had done my reading of the autism texts of the time, and was singularly surprised when nothing I had read matched up to the person I was sat next to.
article_snippet: We know so much more about autism now but the idea that all people with autism are disordered, impaired, or somehow 'lesser' is one that still needs to be challenged.
article_snippet: People with autism (such as the rock singer Courtney Love) are often unfairly stigmatised, says Luke Beardon, a senior lecturer in autism, who has studied the subject for more than two decades .
article_snippet: SUCH A STIGMA SURROUNDING AUTISM?
article_snippet: So, the question remains, why is it that autism continues to be seen as a disorder, with terms such as 'impaired functioning' still so rife within the literature and current diagnostic manuals?
article_snippet: Why is it that one needs to present as a 'problem' before being in a position to be identified as autistic?
article_snippet: For years, I have been suggesting 'identification' as a more appropriate term, which counters the pejorative language so often heard in reference to autism.
article_snippet: Without doubt being autistic in a world populated in the main by people who are not can cause huge issues for the individual and people who are family.
article_snippet: But this is not the same as suggesting that the problems are caused by being autistic.
article_snippet: James Durbin, who finished fourth on the tenth season of American Idol, was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome shortly after his father died, when his was nine.
article_snippet: The actress Daryl Hannah (right) has autism .
article_snippet: Perhaps many of the problems stem from being in a poorly understood minority group, rather than directly from being autistic?
article_snippet: I no longer assume that all publications are correct, and recognise that all autistic people are individuals.
highlights_snippet: Luke Beardon is a senior lecturer in autism at Sheffield Hallam University .
  
highlights_snippet: Luke Beardon questions why autism is still thought of as an inevitable disability .
  