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| pseudonym =
| pseudonym =
| birth_name = Jonathan Mitchell
| birth_name = Jonathan Mitchell
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1955|9|7}}<ref name="AutismDX">{{cite web |last1=Mitchell |first1=Jonathan |title=Upload of Paperwork from Eric Courchesne's Lab With ADOS Confirmation of Autism DX |url=https://autismgadfly.blogspot.com/2017/11/upload-of-paperwork-from-eric.html |website=Autism's Gadfly |accessdate=30 December 2018}}</ref> <!-- {{birth date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1955|9|7}} <!-- {{birth date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->
| birth_place = Los Angeles, California
| birth_place = Los Angeles, California
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| death_date = <!-- {{death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->
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| ethnicity =
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| citizenship = United States
| citizenship = United States
| education = Psychology degree
| education = Psychology degree<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hamilton |first1=Jon |title=Shortage Of Brain Tissue Hinders Autism Research |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2013/02/04/170835708/shortage-of-brain-tissue-sets-autism-research-back |website=NPR |accessdate=3 May 2019}}</ref>
| alma_mater = UCLA<ref name="Osborne" />{{rp|154}}
| alma_mater = UCLA
| period =
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{{Autism rights movement |expanded=criticism}}
{{Autism rights movement |expanded=criticism}}
'''Jonathan Mitchell''' (born September 7, 1955<ref name="AutismDX" />) is an American [[Autism|autistic]] author and blogger who advocates for a [[Autism therapies|cure for autism]]. He is a controversial figure among autistic bloggers because of his [[Neurodiversity#Criticism|resistance]] to the stated aims of the [[neurodiversity]] movement, his [[#Views_on_autism_and_neurodiversity|view of autism]] as a disability, and his desire for a cure. Mitchell is also interested in the [[neuroscience]] of autism.<ref name=Hayasaki2015>{{cite web|last1=Hayasaki|first1=Erika|title=The Debate Over an Autism Cure Turns Hostile|url=http://www.newsweek.com/2015/02/27/one-activists-search-cure-his-autism-drawing-violent-backlash-306998.html|website=Newsweek|accessdate=10 May 2015}}</ref><ref name=studio360/>
'''Jonathan Mitchell''' (born September 7, 1955) is an American author and [[Autism|autistic]] blogger who writes about autism including the [[neuroscience]] of the disorder and [[neurodiversity]] movement. His novel ''The Mu Rhythm Bluff'' talks about his life experience with [[Asperger syndrome]], an autism-spectrum disorder.<ref name=Hayasaki2015>{{cite web|last1=Hayasaki|first1=Erika|title=The Debate Over an Autism Cure Turns Hostile|url=http://www.newsweek.com/2015/02/27/one-activists-search-cure-his-autism-drawing-violent-backlash-306998.html|website=Newsweek|accessdate=10 May 2015}}</ref><ref name=studio360>{{cite news|last1=Andersen|first1=Kurt|title=On the Spectrum|url=http://www.studio360.org/story/107634-on-the-spectrum/|accessdate=5 January 2016|agency=Public Radio International|publisher=Studio 360|date=28 March 2008}}</ref>


==Early life==
==Biography==
Mitchell was born in 1955.<ref name="AutismDX" /> As a toddler, he smeared feces and threw tantrums, and was fond of lining up his [[Toy block|blocks]] across the floor and watching his parents' record player repeatedly spinning a disc. His parents took him to a psychoanalyst, who [[refrigerator mother|blamed his mother]]. Mitchell's parents considered but decided against [[Institutionalisation|institutionalization]]. At 12, a psychologist diagnosed Mitchell with autism. He attended mainstream and special education schools, where he faced expulsion for behavioral problems and was bullied by other students.<ref name=Hayasaki2015/> He claims to have worked in the past doing jobs such as data entry, but was fired many times for being too loud and making mistakes. Mitchell lives in Los Angeles<ref name=NPR/> and is supported by his parents.<ref name=Hayasaki2015/>
Mitchell was born in 1955 and at the age of 12, he was diagnosed with autism. He attended mainstream and special education schools facing expulsion and being bullied. He has done data entry jobs but was fired many times for his behavior. Mitchell lives in [[Los Angeles]] and is supported by his parents.<ref name=Hayasaki2015/>


Mitchell has volunteered in scientific research for autism and has served as an experimental subject to [[Eric Courchesne]].<ref name=NPR>{{cite web|last1=Hamilton|first1=Jon|title=Shortage of Brain Tissue Hinders Autism Research|url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/02/04/170835708/shortage-of-brain-tissue-sets-autism-research-back|website=NPR|accessdate=10 May 2015}}</ref><ref name="Spectator">{{cite news |last1=Mitchell |first1=Jonathan |title=The dangers of ‘neurodiversity’: why do people want to stop a cure for autism being found? |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/01/the-dangers-of-neurodiversity-why-do-people-want-to-stop-a-cure-for-autism-being-found/ |accessdate=17 January 2019 |work=The Spectator |date=19 January 2019}}</ref> Since 2010, Mitchell has also been a part of [[mirror neuron]]s discussion with [[University of California, Los Angeles|UCLA]] neurologist Marco Iacoboni.
==Views on autism and neurodiversity==
Mitchell has described autism as having caused him difficulty relating to people, an inability to concentrate, poor motor control, loneliness and unemployment.<ref name=NPR/> He maintains that, compared with other disadvantaged groups, such as those around race, sex or sexual orientation, his deficits are fundamentally social in nature. He has attempted to join support groups, but always ends up lonely.<ref name=Hayasaki2015/> Mitchell mentions "twiddling", or twirling shoelaces on his fingers, as part of his creative process.<ref name=Osborne/>


==Recognition and criticism==
He describes [[neurodiversity]] as a "tempting escape valve", saying that "most persons with an autism-spectrum disorder have never expressed their opinions on someone's blog and never will",<ref>{{cite web|last1=Solomon|first1=Andrew|title=The Autism Rights Movement|url=http://nymag.com/news/features/47225/index4.html|website=New York Magazine|accessdate=10 May 2015}}</ref> explaining that neurodiversity has no practical solution for low-functioning autistics.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Mitchell|first1=Jonathan|title=Autism: Still Waiting|url=http://www.lamag.com/longform/autism-still-waiting/|website=Los Angeles Magazine|accessdate=2 February 2016}}</ref> Mitchell also claims that many neurodiversity advocates have stable careers and are married with children, and represent only a small segment of the [[autism spectrum]]. He points out that such individuals are greatly over-represented in national politics and autism organizations, and that many avid neurodiversity proponents are non-disabled, and most are female, whereas 80% of autistic people are male. He also believes that parents of severely autistic children have difficulty pushing back against the neurodiversity movement's influence, given that low-functioning autism is enormously time-and energy-consuming for caregivers.<ref name="Spectator">{{cite news |last1=Mitchell |first1=Jonathan |title=The dangers of ‘neurodiversity’: why do people want to stop a cure for autism being found? |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/01/the-dangers-of-neurodiversity-why-do-people-want-to-stop-a-cure-for-autism-being-found/ |accessdate=17 January 2019 |work=The Spectator |date=19 January 2019}}</ref> Mitchell also condemns attacks on the parents of severely autistic children by militant neurodiversity advocates, noting that such attacks often accuse these parents of supporting future [[eugenics]] or [[genocide]] programs.<ref name="NCSA" />


⚫
Mitchell has been described by ''[[Newsweek]]'' as a controversial voice in the autism [[blogosphere]] for wanting a cure and discussing the need to consider the longer-term effects of autism.<ref name=Hayasaki2015/> For his book ''The Mu Rhythm Bluff'', neurobiology professor [[Manuel Casanova]] wrote that he was impressed with Mitchell's scientific knowledge.<ref name=Hayasaki2015/> Mitchell's writing has been compared by the novelist [[Lawrence Osborne]] to the work of [[David Miedzianik]], a UK-based autistic poet and writer.<ref name="Osborne">{{cite book |last1=Osborne |first1=Lawrence |title=American Normal: The Hidden World of Asperger Syndrome |date=2007 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=9780387218076 |pages=114–115, 155, 158–159 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5bPdBgAAQBAJ |accessdate=19 February 2019 |language=en}}</ref>
In one essay, Mitchell says it is unlikely that [[Bill Gates]] has [[Asperger syndrome]], citing Gates's extensive social relationships and substantial business accomplishments.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Natcharian|first1=Lisa|title=Bill Gates, Asperger's Syndrome, and your gifted child|url=http://blog.masslive.com/real_learning/2010/08/bill_gates_aspergers_syndrome_and_your_gifted_child.html|website=MassLive|accessdate=5 January 2016}}</ref> He also has written that parents' expectation of [[Savant syndrome|savant]] abilities in their autistic children legitimizes [[Applied behavior analysis|autism professionals]]' fees, while encouraging false hope.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Baker|first1=Anthony|title=Autism and representation|date=29 November 2007|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|isbn=978-0-415-80627-5|page=236|edition=Reprint}}</ref> Mitchell describes the work of autism spokesperson [[Temple Grandin]] as overly generalizing, maintaining that, unlike her well-publicized depictions of autistics, he doesn't have a "visual imagination", and that her easy generalizations trivialize his suffering.<ref name=Osborne/>


Mitchell has been criticized by other autism bloggers for his [[Autism therapies#Anti-cure perspective|pro-cure stance]]. In 2015, during a Newsweek profiling, the journalist was urged by Mitchell’s critics to not write about him. Mitchell’s father has described him as going overboard when he responds to hostility, yet cannot blame him for wanting a cure.<ref name=Hayasaki2015/> In a 2015 commentary in the ''[[Huffington Post]]'', [[immunologist]] and autism community supporter Neil Greenspan mentioned that Mitchell would be very unlikely to demand that others seek autism treatment, should it become widely available.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Greenspan|first1=Neil|title=Neurodiversity Proponents Strongly Object to Viewpoint Diversity|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/neil-s-greenspan/neurodiversity-proponents_b_6964704.html|accessdate=6 January 2016|work=The Huffington Post|publisher=AOL Lifestyle|date=29 May 2015}}</ref> Responding to Mitchell's commentary on neurodiversity in the magazine ''[[The Spectator]]'',<ref name="Spectator"/> author Jessie Hewitson noted that many of the difficulties associated with autism were co-morbid conditions.<ref name="Letters">{{cite news |title=Letters: my autism is a challenge, not an affliction |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/01/letters-my-autism-is-a-challenge-not-an-affliction/ |accessdate=27 January 2019 |work=The Spectator |date=26 January 2019}}</ref>
Mitchell has been critical of studies which claim that autism is relatively underestimated in women, and which allege that undiagnosed autistic females are simply able to "camouflage" autistic behavior better than males can, pointing out that those studies employ an overly-broad definition of autism, while failing to explain ''why'' men are less likely than women to camouflage their autism.<ref name="AutismParenting">{{cite news |last1=Mitchell |first1=Jonathan |title=Is Autism Really Underestimated in Women? |url=https://www.autismparentingmagazine.com/autism-really-underestimated-in-women/ |accessdate=6 September 2018 |agency=Autism Parenting Magazine |issue=79 |date=3 September 2018}}</ref>


==Published works==
Mitchell disparages the now-debunked theory of the "refrigerator mother" promoted by [[Bruno Bettelheim]], claiming that it caused his family great pain by falsely attributing his parents' behavior as the cause of his condition. He also points out that psychotherapy based on this non-theory is extremely expensive.<ref name="NCSA">{{cite web |last1=Mitchell |first1=Jonathan |title=Parent-Blaming and Autism: Tragically Trending Again |url=https://www.ncsautism.org/blog/2019/2/5/parent-blaming-and-autism-tragically-trending-again |website=National Council on Severe Autism |accessdate=8 February 2019}}</ref>
Mitchell has written three novels including ''The Mu Rhythm Bluff'' and ''The School of Hard Knocks''<ref name=studio360/> and twenty-five short stories.

==Critical and favorable responses==
Several other autism bloggers have severely criticized Mitchell [[Autism therapies#Anti-cure perspective|based on his pro-cure stance]]. When ''[[Newsweek]]'' announced its intention to profile Mitchell in 2015, his critics responded, emailing the journalist involved and urging her not to write about him. Mitchell reports having received insults and outright hostility from members of the neurodiversity movement, who have reportedly compared him to a "Jew that sympathized with Nazis", and claimed, "[t]he man is a threat to the stability of the autistic community...he is a hater. He hates himself."<ref name=Hayasaki2015/> To one attacker, he responded by writing "You are homeless. You don’t even have a loo to crap in... The only girls you had sex with walked on four legs and are in a dog pound." His father has described him as going overboard when he responds to hostility, yet says he cannot blame him for wanting a cure.<ref name=Hayasaki2015/> Mitchell has also called those critics "neuro-thugs" in return.<ref name="NCSA" /> In a 2015 commentary in the ''[[Huffington Post]]'', immunologist and autism community supporter Neil Greenspan declared: "The contradiction between [extreme neurodiversity advocates'] commitment to seeking acceptance for a greater range of personality traits and behaviors and their condemnation of individuals who deviate from their views is remarkable and... probably exacts a substantial and undeserved toll on [their] targets". He offers that Mitchell would be very unlikely to demand that others seek autism treatment, should it become widely available.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Greenspan|first1=Neil|title=Neurodiversity Proponents Strongly Object to Viewpoint Diversity|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/neil-s-greenspan/neurodiversity-proponents_b_6964704.html|accessdate=6 January 2016|work=The Huffington Post|publisher=AOL Lifestyle|date=29 May 2015}}</ref>

Responding to Mitchell's commentary on neurodiversity<ref name="Spectator"/> in the US online version of the British magazine ''[[The Spectator]]'', book author and father of an autistic son Jessie Hewitson noted that many of the difficulties associated with autism were [[Comorbidity|co-morbid conditions]], and, as such, might be better dealt with separately. He also stated that many autistic individuals who are able to "[[Passing (sociology)|pass]] for normal" are forced to work diligently in order to pass, at a cost to their mental health. A second response, by a man with a stable career, diagnosed with autism in middle age, believed that discussing the difficulties associated with autism was important, while autism could in fact be celebrated, if accommodated properly by society.<ref name="Letters">{{cite news |title=Letters: my autism is a challenge, not an affliction |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/01/letters-my-autism-is-a-challenge-not-an-affliction/ |accessdate=27 January 2019 |work=The Spectator |date=26 January 2019}}</ref>

==Hobbies==
Mitchell has written three novels and twenty-five short stories. He has been described by ''[[Newsweek]]'' as a controversial voice in the autism blogosphere for wanting a cure and discussing the need to consider the longer-term effects of autism.<ref name="Hayasaki2015" /> He was interviewed on [[Studio 360]] regarding his novel, ''The School of Hard Knocks''.<ref name=studio360>{{cite news|last1=Andersen|first1=Kurt|title=On the Spectrum|url=http://www.studio360.org/story/107634-on-the-spectrum/|accessdate=5 January 2016|agency=Public Radio International|publisher=Studio 360|date=28 March 2008}}</ref> Another of his novels is ''The Mu Rhythm Bluff'', whose [[protagonist]] is an autistic man who undergoes [[transcranial magnetic stimulation]]. In a critique of the book, neurobiology professor [[Manuel Casanova]] wrote that he was impressed with Mitchell's scientific knowledge.<ref name=Hayasaki2015/>

⚫
Mitchell's writing has been compared by the novelist [[Lawrence Osborne]] to the work of [[David Miedzianik]], an autistic poet and writer in the UK.<ref name="Osborne" />{{rp|154-155}} He has occasionally traveled to the city of [[Rotherham]] to visit Miedzianik; he described being able to relate to his views. Both Mitchell and Miedzianik dislike being socially isolated.<ref name="Osborne">{{cite book |last1=Osborne |first1=Lawrence |title=American Normal: The Hidden World of Asperger Syndrome |date=2007 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=9780387218076 |pages=114–115, 155, 158–159 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5bPdBgAAQBAJ |accessdate=19 February 2019 |language=en}}</ref>

Mitchell is also interested in the neuroscience of autism. In order to understand how his brain works, he has taken neuroscience classes and volunteered for MRI research studies. To assist future research for a treatment or cure, he has also volunteered to [[Body donation|donate his brain to science]]. A researcher for whom Mitchell has served as an experimental subject is [[Eric Courchesne]].<ref name=NPR>{{cite web|last1=Hamilton|first1=Jon|title=Shortage of Brain Tissue Hinders Autism Research|url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/02/04/170835708/shortage-of-brain-tissue-sets-autism-research-back|website=NPR|accessdate=10 May 2015}}</ref> Courchesne's San Diego lab performed two MRI scans on him, finding that certain parts of his [[cerebellum]] were abnormally small.<ref name=Spectator/> This accorded with Courchesne's earlier study findings on the brains of autistics.<ref>{{cite web|last=Mitchell|first=Jonathan|title=My Experiences as Eric Courchesne's Research Subject |url=http://jonathans-stories.com/non-fiction/corc.html|accessdate=28 February 2016}}</ref> Mitchell has exchanged emails with [[UCLA]] neurologist Marco Iacoboni since 2010, discussing [[mirror neurons]]. Mitchell is also interested in scientist and blogger [[Manuel Casanova]]'s research. Casanova has described Mitchell's critiques as "more thorough" than those of his colleagues.<ref name=Hayasaki2015/>


==References==
==References==
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{{commonscatinline|Jonathan Mitchell}}
{{commonscatinline|Jonathan Mitchell}}
*{{Official website|http://jonathans-stories.com/}}
*{{Official website|http://jonathans-stories.com/}}
*[http://autismgadfly.blogspot.com Autism's Gadfly]


{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Jonathan}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Jonathan}}

Revision as of 16:32, 20 May 2019

Jonathan Mitchell
Mitchell in 2015
Mitchell in 2015
BornJonathan Mitchell
(1955-09-07) September 7, 1955 (age 69)
Los Angeles, California
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipUnited States
EducationPsychology degree
Alma materUCLA
RelativesMelanie Mitchell (sister)[1]
Website
jonathans-stories.com
Neurodiversity paradigm
Philosophy
Organizations
Events
Issues
People
Films
Criticism

Jonathan Mitchell (born September 7, 1955) is an American author and autistic blogger who writes about autism including the neuroscience of the disorder and neurodiversity movement. His novel The Mu Rhythm Bluff talks about his life experience with Asperger syndrome, an autism-spectrum disorder.[2][3]

Biography

Mitchell was born in 1955 and at the age of 12, he was diagnosed with autism. He attended mainstream and special education schools facing expulsion and being bullied. He has done data entry jobs but was fired many times for his behavior. Mitchell lives in Los Angeles and is supported by his parents.[2]

Mitchell has volunteered in scientific research for autism and has served as an experimental subject to Eric Courchesne.[4][5] Since 2010, Mitchell has also been a part of mirror neurons discussion with UCLA neurologist Marco Iacoboni.

Recognition and criticism

Mitchell has been described by Newsweek as a controversial voice in the autism blogosphere for wanting a cure and discussing the need to consider the longer-term effects of autism.[2] For his book The Mu Rhythm Bluff, neurobiology professor Manuel Casanova wrote that he was impressed with Mitchell's scientific knowledge.[2] Mitchell's writing has been compared by the novelist Lawrence Osborne to the work of David Miedzianik, a UK-based autistic poet and writer.[6]

Mitchell has been criticized by other autism bloggers for his pro-cure stance. In 2015, during a Newsweek profiling, the journalist was urged by Mitchell’s critics to not write about him. Mitchell’s father has described him as going overboard when he responds to hostility, yet cannot blame him for wanting a cure.[2] In a 2015 commentary in the Huffington Post, immunologist and autism community supporter Neil Greenspan mentioned that Mitchell would be very unlikely to demand that others seek autism treatment, should it become widely available.[7] Responding to Mitchell's commentary on neurodiversity in the magazine The Spectator,[5] author Jessie Hewitson noted that many of the difficulties associated with autism were co-morbid conditions.[8]

Published works

Mitchell has written three novels including The Mu Rhythm Bluff and The School of Hard Knocks[3] and twenty-five short stories.

References

  1. ^ Mitchell, Melanie (1 September 2011). Complexity: A Guided Tour. Oxford University Press. pp. xvi. ISBN 978-0199798100. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d e Hayasaki, Erika. "The Debate Over an Autism Cure Turns Hostile". Newsweek. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  3. ^ a b Andersen, Kurt (28 March 2008). "On the Spectrum". Studio 360. Public Radio International. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  4. ^ Hamilton, Jon. "Shortage of Brain Tissue Hinders Autism Research". NPR. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  5. ^ a b Mitchell, Jonathan (19 January 2019). "The dangers of 'neurodiversity': why do people want to stop a cure for autism being found?". The Spectator. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  6. ^ Osborne, Lawrence (2007). American Normal: The Hidden World of Asperger Syndrome. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 114–115, 155, 158–159. ISBN 9780387218076. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  7. ^ Greenspan, Neil (29 May 2015). "Neurodiversity Proponents Strongly Object to Viewpoint Diversity". The Huffington Post. AOL Lifestyle. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  8. ^ "Letters: my autism is a challenge, not an affliction". The Spectator. 26 January 2019. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
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