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Participatory And Emancipatory Autism Research: What’s The Problem?

Today I am including a guest paper on this blog, from my academic supervisor, Dr Mitzi Waltz.  The...

A Campaign to end Discrimination in Human Fertilisation

This is the second in a present series, highlighting a particular incidence of  discrimination...

Genetics, Eugenics and Autism. It is not too late for action. (reprint)

It is a while since I wrote anything here: Mea Culpa, I shall eventually resume the series I started...

The Autism Speaks Brain Bank, part 2.

This next in my series on Brain donation is of necessity going to seem partisan as the principal...

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Laurence ArnoldRSS Feed of this column.

My primary field is in educational perspectives of autism, which is informed by a multidisciplinary approach, drawing from cognitive psychology and neuroscience on the one hand to cultural and disability... Read More »

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What you don't know can't hurt you, brain tissue donation.

What you don't know can't hurt you, brain tissue donation.

Apr 13 2009 | comment(s)

This time I am going to have to declare an interest before starting. Autism Speaks is not an organisation I particularly favour, for the most part because of the nature of their publicity and advertising, which is not what I am dealing about here.

I have to acknowledge that Autism speaks do have a lot of money and influence which is why it is impossible to talk about the ethics of autism research without touching upon them somewhere.
Incompetent science vs unethical science - defining the parameters

Incompetent science vs unethical science - defining the parameters

Apr 10 2009 | comment(s)

There is bad science and then there is bad science, that is to say there is science which does not meet with the standards of care and objectivity through lack of skill, and competence and then there is science which is rotten to the core, because either it’s practice, or it’s ends are unethical.

Which of the two is most predominant I could not say, it would require me to make up a best guess statistic, which might be bad in both senses.   However whilst the former is unethical if there is no intent to take on board the critics and corners continue to be cut, I do not regard it in anything like the same light as science which is downright unethical by any measure.
An introduction to the topic of autism research from an autistic perspective

An introduction to the topic of autism research from an autistic perspective

Apr 08 2009 | comment(s)


Welcome to my new blog, which stands somewhere between the hurly burly of my personal blog and the quiet backwater of my academic blog.

Why this blog?

I currently have a book in preparation, on this topic, which is proceeding alongside my research, and I want this blog to become a public reflection of that, helping me to focus my ideas, and also for me to share my avenues of thinking.

It has concerned me for sometime, that knowledge for knowledge sake is not always a good thing if it is pursued without regard either to the consequences of the research for public policy, or the consequences of the research to the ‘stakeholder’ group either as recipients of that public policy or as the actual ‘subjects’ of the research itself.