The Real Deal 2: How Autism is Described in Young Adult Novels

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is often considered one of the invisible disabilities. Youth at the higher end of the spectrum may seem to have quirky behaviors, but otherwise appear to be like everyone else. Those with more severe ASD are commonly misunderstood and thought to simply have disciplinary issues. This study examined 100 young adult novels published between 1968 and 2013 inclusive in which a character was labeled as having ASD to determine how the authors described the disability in each of the books. Those descriptors were then aligned with the diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder found in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. A total of 7,921 descriptors appear across the 100 books studied, and 6,094 (77%) of them map on to the first two DSM-5 diagnostic criteria categories. “Having unique obsessions” was the most frequently appearing descriptor present in the books. In 1,827 (23%) instances, the descriptors did not fit within the diagnostic criteria, indicating that the criteria may miss some elements of the ASD experience that authors themselves deem important.