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...Autism has a performative component, as known by every parent who struggled to meet the criteria for government and educational services for the child. For the social services agent, I must stress (and even exaggerate) Kamal's maladaptive behaviours. For his teachers, I stress Kamal's high intellect in order to avoid having him labeled as "mentally retarded". For his peers, Kamal performs "normality" in the context of the school playground by stifling his odd interests and masking social awkwardness in order to "fit in" with the other children. For those parents with whom I have shared the "secret" of Kamal, I carefully engineer their interpetation of his diagnosis to ensure that "understanding" for his oddities without engendering their alienation. Although there is a biological aspect to this condition named autism, the social factors involved in its identifacation, representation, interpration, remediation, and performance are the most important factors in the determination of what it means to be autistic, for individuals, for families and for society.

απο το βιβλιο μιας μαμας. "Constructing Autism:Unravelling the 'Truth' and Understanding the Social" της Nadesan (2005).