Autism: social norms depend on what is typical

Access through your institution Buy or subscribe I agree with Laurent Mottron that autism should be described as a variant within the human species (_Nature_ 479, 33; 2011). But it is worth

pointing out that neurotypical modes of social conduct prevail only because the neurotypical population far outnumbers the autistic one. I have friends in the high-IQ society Mensa who are

also autistic: we have our own set of non-verbal communications, our own set of social rules. When we predominate in a group, we communicate in the autistic way, and (neurotypical) people

who cannot communicate in this way are unable to join in. In this setting, Mottron's 'normocentrism' would put our way of communicating as the norm, and class those who are

left out as socially inept. This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution ACCESS OPTIONS Access through your institution Subscribe to this journal Receive 51 print

issues and online access $199.00 per year only $3.90 per issue Learn more Buy this article * Purchase on SpringerLink * Instant access to full article PDF Buy now Prices may be subject to

local taxes which are calculated during checkout ADDITIONAL ACCESS OPTIONS: * Log in * Learn about institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support AUTHOR INFORMATION

AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Groningen, the Netherlands Jasper van Haasteren Authors * Jasper van Haasteren View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Jasper van Haasteren. RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE van Haasteren, J. Autism: Social norms

depend on what is typical. _Nature_ 480, 321 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/480321e Download citation * Published: 14 December 2011 * Issue Date: 15 December 2011 * DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1038/480321e SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Get shareable link Sorry, a shareable link is not currently

available for this article. Copy to clipboard Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative