Events & Programs
David Schelly, Ph.D. student
Updated February 2011
David Schelly is a Ph.D. student studying the globalization of diagnostic categories and the diagnostic process of the autism spectrum. While an undergraduate at Colorado State, he lived with an autistic roommate.
Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders Symposium
David Schelly is a Ph.D. student in sociology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison where he studies the globalization of diagnostic categories and the diagnostic process of the autism spectrum. As an undergraduate at Colorado State, David lived with, cared for, and became friends with "SW," a young man with autism and intellectual disability. While taking his first graduate courses and becoming acquainted with intellectual disability research, David noticed a number of gaps between what researchers recommend and what practitioners face in the field. As a care provider for SW and as SW's roommate, David's interests in the concepts of quality of life and choice led to his current research that focuses on interactions among clinicians, parents, and individuals for whom diagnoses are made and services are provided.
Abstract: My Roommate with Autism: Language, Social Interaction, and What I Thought I Knew
The title of Oliver Sacks's bestselling book An Anthropologist On Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales, comes from an interview with Temple Grandin where she told him, "Much of the time I feel like an anthropologist on Mars." Indeed, many people with autism report feeling like they live in a strange social world, and many parents and care providers report feelings of disconnectedness with the children with autism for whom they care. Since the word "alien" is a common descriptor for comparing "autistic" and "normal" behaviors, theories such as Baron-Cohen's infamous "theory of mind" hypothesis are not surprising; he claims that people with autism struggle with seeing the world from other people's shoes. I combine on-the-ground experience caring for and living with an individual with autism with a sociological perspective about what we think we know about the category. Many of our assumptions about autism have social roots, including the way the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders portrays stereotypical autistic behaviors. Using what sociologists know about language development and using recent research on social interaction, I dispel some common misconceptions about autism and I outline practical implications for the provision of services, accommodations, and natural supports for individuals who fall on the spectrum.
