"One size fits all" - oh no it doesn't..

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Today I read this article:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/health-wellbe ... d=11644527

As some long-term members no doubt know, I look upon the helping professions with a somewhat jaundiced eye, and especially when they promote their services in a self-serving way in the guise of expert commentary.

People will have different responses to the article, no doubt, though this was mine, expressed to the writer in an e-mail:

One Size Doesn't Fit All

I read your article on anxiety because it is a very major issue on a large international forum for the neurodiverse which I help to moderate.

Personally I disagree with your conviction that "no-one is born with it".

Anxiety in innumerable studies has been demonstrated to be a co-morbid of particular strength in certain populations. Asperger's Syndrome is the one with which I am most familiar.

You can (and may choose to) ascribe that to experiences of 'having' Asperger's Syndrome and/or the way people react to that and are treated because of that.

I think this does a great disservice to those minority populations, who already cope with stigmatising attitudes. Applying behavioural models and theories of anxiety in a blanket way is going to add to suffering
of the neurodiverse. They are used to that, though oppressive attitudes are a further stress on marginalised lives, especially when espoused in the context of the 'expert speaking'.

Sometimes I think articles like yours should be subtitled "By a neurotypical, about neurotypicals, for neurotypicals - warning: this article may be totally inappropriate for other populations"

........................

(In future, to save myself time and effort, maybe I will just send a note asking for the last sentence to be prefixed to anything more such a writer intends to submit for publication).

Perhaps that can become a painless if tiny instance of awareness-raising that I can do without expending much time and effort...

PS: I wonder how many times, on average, a person on the spectrum is confronted by instances of these assumptive micro-aggressions, in the media and elsewhere?

The first thing I have to say on this subject is while I'm not sure if anyone is technically born with anxiety, some people are definitely genetically predisposed to anxiety, and I believe that usually manifests in some neurological difference and difference in thought patterns before it actually manifests as the mental illness known as anxiety. Also, yes, just because a method works for neurotypicals doesn't mean it will work for other populations, it's absurd to assume so.

I mentally applaud you.

And I give you this. I come across the 'One Size Fits All' phenomenon in many arenas. From clothing, cloth diapering, baby carriers, medical treatments, and psychological treatments. As such, when I read 'One Size Fits All', I have come to understand that it *should* say 'One Size Fits Most Badly'.

In my experience, at least.