Michael Fitzgerald | |
|---|---|
 Fitzgerald in 2006 | |
| Born | 7 October 1946 Lucan, Dublin, Ireland |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Psychiatrist |
| Institutions | Trinity College Dublin |
Michael Fitzgerald (born 7 October 1946) is an Irish professor of child and adolescent psychiatry, specialising in autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
His research is in the area of epidemiology of child and adolescent psychiatry. He has been involved in research collaboration in 18 countries and in initiating master's degree programs at Irish universities.[ citation needed ] He has lectured including in London, at the Royal Society, British Academy, and the British Library and also in New York City, Buenos Aires, Tbilisi, Melbourne and many European countries as well as in China, Malaysia, Korea, and Hawaii.[ citation needed ] As of June 2005, he said he had diagnosed over 900 individuals with Asperger syndrome. [1] [2]
In 2004's Autism and Creativity: Is There a Link Between Autism in Men and Exceptional Ability?, [3] Fitzgerald claims that Lewis Carroll, Éamon de Valera, Sir Keith Joseph, Ramanujan, Ludwig Wittgenstein and W. B. Yeats may have been autistic.
In 2005's The Genesis of Artistic Creativity: Asperger's Syndrome and the Arts, [4] he claims that historical figures such as Hans Christian Andersen and George Orwell might have been autistic. [5]
Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's syndrome or Asperger's, was a diagnosis used to describe a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication, along with restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. Asperger syndrome has been merged with other conditions into autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and is no longer a diagnosis in the WHO's ICD-11 or the APA's DSM-5-TR. It was considered milder than other diagnoses which were merged into ASD due to relatively unimpaired spoken language and intelligence.
Savant syndrome is a phenomenon where someone demonstrates exceptional aptitude in one domain, such as art or mathematics, despite significant social or intellectual impairment.
Lorna Gladys Wing was a British psychiatrist notable for her pioneering research into autism. She coined the term Asperger's syndrome and helped found the National Autistic Society.
Anthony John Attwood is a British psychologist notable for his work on Asperger syndrome. He resides in Queensland, Australia, where he is an associate professor at Griffith University.
Sir Simon Philip Baron-Cohen is a British clinical psychologist and professor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Cambridge. He is the director of the university's Autism Research Centre and a Fellow of Trinity College.
Lars Christopher Gillberg is a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at Gothenburg University in Gothenburg, Sweden. He has been a visiting professor at the universities of Bergen, New York, Odense, St George's, San Francisco, and Glasgow and Strathclyde. Gillberg is the founding editor of the journal European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
High-functioning autism (HFA) was historically an autism classification to describe a person who exhibited no intellectual disability but otherwise showed autistic traits, such as difficulty in social interaction and communication, as well as repetitive, restricted patterns of behavior. The term is often applied to autistic people who are fluently verbal and of at least average intelligence. However, many in medical and autistic communities have called to stop using the term, finding it simplistic and unindicative of the difficulties some autistic people face.
Jacqueline Carol Jackson is a British writer who consults, counsels, speaks and writes on most autism issues. Her doctoral thesis, entitled 'Nurturing the Engagement of Children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder through Digital Polysensory Experiences', awarded from Coventry University, analysed the sensory differences of children with an ASD and the impact of the digital and built environment. Jackson consultants on the design of built environments and the impact of lighting and design on individuals with autism spectrum disorder and other neurodiversities.
The autism-spectrum quotient (AQ) is a questionnaire published in 2001 by Simon Baron-Cohen and his colleagues at the Autism Research Centre in Cambridge, UK. Consisting of fifty questions, it aims to investigate whether adults of average intelligence have symptoms of autism spectrum conditions. More recently, versions of the AQ for children and adolescents have also been published.
The empathising–systemising (E–S) theory is a theory on the psychological basis of autism and male–female neurological differences originally put forward by clinical psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen. It classifies individuals based on abilities in empathic thinking (E) and systematic thinking (S). It attempts to explain the social and communication symptoms in autism spectrum disorders as deficits and delays in empathy combined with intact or superior systemising.
Peter Szatmari is a Canadian researcher of autism and Asperger syndrome.
Dame Uta Frith is a German-British developmental psychologist and emeritus professor in cognitive development at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London (UCL). She pioneered much of the current research into autism and dyslexia. Her book Autism: Explaining the Enigma introduced the cognitive neuroscience of autism. She is credited with creating the Sally–Anne test along with fellow scientists Alan Leslie and Simon Baron-Cohen. Among students she has mentored are Tony Attwood, Maggie Snowling, Simon Baron-Cohen and Francesca Happé.
Societal and cultural aspects of autism or sociology of autism come into play with recognition of autism, approaches to its support services and therapies, and how autism affects the definition of personhood. The autistic community is divided primarily into two camps; the autism rights movement and the pathology paradigm. The pathology paradigm advocates for supporting research into therapies, treatments, and/or a cure to help minimize or remove autistic traits, seeing treatment as vital to help individuals with autism, while the neurodiversity movement believes autism should be seen as a different way of being and advocates against a cure and interventions that focus on normalization, seeing it as trying to exterminate autistic people and their individuality. Both are controversial in autism communities and advocacy which has led to significant infighting between these two camps. While the dominant paradigm is the pathology paradigm and is followed largely by autism research and scientific communities, the neurodiversity movement is highly popular among most autistic people, within autism advocacy, autism rights organizations, and related neurodiversity approaches have been rapidly growing and applied in the autism research field in the last few years.
Asperger syndrome (AS) was formerly a separate diagnosis under autism spectrum disorder. Under the DSM-5 and ICD-11, patients formerly diagnosable with Asperger syndrome are diagnosable with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The term is considered offensive by some autistic individuals. It was named after Hans Asperger (1906–80), who was an Austrian psychiatrist and pediatrician. An English psychiatrist, Lorna Wing, popularized the term "Asperger's syndrome" in a 1981 publication; the first book in English on Asperger syndrome was written by Uta Frith in 1991 and the condition was subsequently recognized in formal diagnostic manuals later in the 1990s.
Johann Friedrich Karl Asperger was an Austrian physician. Noted for his early studies on atypical neurology, specifically in children, he is the namesake of the former autism spectrum disorder Asperger syndrome. He wrote more than 300 publications on psychological disorders that posthumously acquired international renown in the 1980s. His diagnosis of autism, which he termed "autistic psychopathy", garnered controversy. Further controversy arose in the late 2010s over allegations that Asperger referred children to the Am Spiegelgrund children's clinic in Vienna during the Nazi period. The clinic was responsible for murdering hundreds of disabled children deemed to be "unworthy of life" as part of the Third Reich's child euthanasia programs, although the extent of Asperger's knowledge of this fact and his intentions in referring patients to the clinic remain yet to be ascertained.
Classic autism, also known as childhood autism, autistic disorder, or Kanner's syndrome, is a formerly diagnosed neurodevelopmental disorder first described by Leo Kanner in 1943. It is characterized by atypical and impaired development in social interaction and communication as well as restricted, repetitive behaviors, activities, and interests. These symptoms first appear in early childhood and persist throughout life.
The history of autism spans over a century; autism has been subject to varying treatments, being pathologized or being viewed as a beneficial part of human neurodiversity. The understanding of autism has been shaped by cultural, scientific, and societal factors, and its perception and treatment change over time as scientific understanding of autism develops.
Sex and gender differences in autism exist regarding prevalence, presentation, and diagnosis.
Grunya Efimovna Sukhareva was a Soviet child psychiatrist.
Luke Beardon is an English academic in the field of autism studies. As of March 2024, he is a Senior Lecturer with The Autism Centre at Sheffield Hallam University, as well as a service coordinator with the National Autistic Society. He received a Doctor of Education degree from Sheffield Hallam University.
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