Throughout the book, Silberman situates events in their larger cultural context, an illuminating contrast that works well to explain how the "
refrigerator mother" idea took hold, for instance.
Autism's journey from shadows to light
By the end of the twentieth century, the poisonous "
refrigerator mother" was replaced by a very different gendered character, the "mother warrior." The term was coined by Jenny McCarthy, a celebrity champion of the movement against childhood vaccines after her son, Evan, was diagnosed with autism in 2005.
Trapped in the self
As a mother, I can only imagine what his parents had to have gone through to commit him, in a time even before the false "
refrigerator mother theory" had its heyday.
Autism's first child: I will tell Zach about Donald Triplett's story, birth to present. But I will focus on the fact that a man born almost a century ago in a tiny town where, like everywhere else, autism was an unknown, was accepted by his peers. I will tell him that this man was and is respected, valued, and admired
Autism: Explaining the Enigma Her book was published in 1989 and its findings have been widely accepted (even though the
refrigerator mother thesis hangs on -- shockingly -- for example, in France).
Autism expert sees the brain as an 'engine'
Blaming moms for autism is nothing new In the mid-20th century, the concept of the "
refrigerator mother" held that mothers' "coldness" and emotional distance caused their children's autism.
Autism: origins unknown, but women still get the blame
Washington, March 8 ( ANI ): The "
Refrigerator Mother" theory suggests that autistic behaviours in children stems from lack of maternal warmth and emotional attachment.
'Refrigerator Mothers' could help untangle genetic roots of autism
Long ago, the
refrigerator mother myth was debunked, thanks to Bernard Rimland of the Autism Research Institute (24) in San Diego, California who discovered the medical realities that autistic children exhibit.
The Lyme-Autism connection: does Lyme disease cause autism? Proving congenital transmission
I remember the "authority" who said the cause of autism was clear:
refrigerator mother. I remember my son's caseworker telling me that if I wanted to help my son, I had to understand that I was a major part of the cause.
Out of the dark ages
In these early cases of autism, the condition was considered something caused by "
refrigerator mothers." Later, some blamed vaccines.
Stories of the lives and deaths of writers
Labeled "
refrigerator mothers," these women suffered the twin effects of guilt and shame while struggling to raise their children.
Videos screened at "Women in the Middle: Borders, Barriers, Intersections"
Many of us recall the fad for denying custody to supposedly pathogenic parents such as "
refrigerator mothers." Another fad involved awarding custody to the "primary psychological parent" with no attention to other factors.
Custody: let's get up to speed. (Guest Editorial)
"There's been a great deal of misinformation about the causes of autism-from the 1950s misconception that the distant maternal behaviour of what were dubbed '
refrigerator mothers' was at fault to the ill-informed myth that vaccines can cause autism," Losh added.
Low birth weight 'may affect development of autism'
Many psychologists falsely blamed so-called "
refrigerator mothers," who they felt had psychically wounded their children by being too cold and distant.
Syndrome by any other name ..