Kurgusal Eserlerde Otizm Ve Buzdolabı Anne Teorisi: Pauline Holdstock’ın Here I Am! Adlı Romanı

Year 2022, , 635 - 652, 15.01.2023

Alper Tulgar

https://doi.org/10.26650/LITERA2021-1057909

Abstract

Engellilik çalışmaları, başlangıçta engelliliğin görünürlüğüne odaklanmış ve herhangi bir görünür belirti göstermeyen otistik karakterler göz ardı edilmiştir. Çok disiplinli bir yaklaşım, son zamanlarda otizmin beşeri bilimlerle bütünleşmesiyle sonuçlanmıştır. Haksız temsil, nörotipiklerin otistik bireyler hakkında sabit ve önyargılı fikirlere sahip olmasına neden olan büyük bir etken olduğundan otizmin edebi eserlerde kapsamlı bir şekilde incelenmesi gerekmektedir. Geçmişte yürütülen bilimsel araştırmalar, insanların otizm algılarını şekillendirmiş ve yeniden tanımlamıştır. Bruno Bettelheim tarafından popüler hâle getirilen ‘buzdolabı anne’ terimi, Leo Kanner’ın 1943’teki otizmi incelediği çalışmasında ilk defa ortaya konulmuştur. Annelik duygusunun eksikliği, otizmin nedeni olarak görülmüş ve bu bakış açısı, otistik çocukların anneleri hakkında zarar veren klişeler oluşturmuştur. Kendilerini suçlu hisseden anneler, çocuklarının otizmi için kendilerini suçlamışlardır. Ayrılmaz bir kimlik olan otizm, kötü ebeveynliğin olumsuz bir etkisi olarak ele alınmıştır. Edebi eserler, özellikle romanlar, otistik çocukların ve ebeveynlerinin haksız temsillerini sürdürebilir veya ortadan kaldırabilir. ‘Buzdolabı anne teorisi’ olarak adlandırılan bu temelsiz hipotez bugün sürdürülemez bir durumdadır; ancak geçmişte otistik çocuklar ile anneleri arasındaki ilişkilere büyük zarar vermiştir. Yaygın görüş, annelerin otizmin sebebi olarak suçlanması gerekliliği olmuştur. Bu çalışmada, İngiliz-Kanadalı yazar Pauline Holdstock tarafından yazılan Here I Am! romanında, otistik çocuk ve annesi arasındaki ilişkinin incelenmesi amaçlanmaktadır. Seçilen romanda, bu temelsiz hipotezin desteklenmediği ve yansıtılmadığı açıktır; çünkü yazar, zeki fakat soğuk ve ilgisiz anne tiplemesine zıt olarak sıcak bir anne-çocuk ilişkisiokuyucuya sunmaktadır

Keywords

Otizm, engellilik çalışmaları, buzdolabı anne teorisi

Supporting Institution

Hayır

Project Number

Hayır

Thanks

Hayır

Autism and Refrigerator Mother Theory in Fiction: Pauline Holdstock’s Here I Am!*

Abstract

Disability studies, in the beginning, focused on the visibility of impairments, and autistic characters, who do not show any visible symptoms, were disregarded. A multidisciplinary approach has recently resulted in integrating autism into humanities. Autism needs to be studied extensively in literary works since unjust representation is a major factor that causes neurotypicals to have fixed and prejudiced ideas about autistic individuals. Scientific studies, in the past, shaped and redefined people’s perceptions of autism. The term ‘refrigerator mother’, popularized by Bruno Bettelheim, was mentioned in Leo Kanner’s account of autism in 1943. The lack of motherliness was considered to be the cause of autism, which formed damaging clichés about autistic children’s mothers. Guilt-ridden mothers blamed themselves for their children’s autism. Autism, an inseparable identity, was treated as a negative effect of bad parenthood. Literary works, especially novels, may maintain or eradicate unjust perceptions of autistic children and their parents. This unfounded hypothesis called ‘refrigerator mother theory’ is not sustained today; however, in the past, it damaged the relationships between autistic children and their mothers. Popular opinion was convinced that mothers were to be blamed for autism. This study aims to discuss the relationship between an autistic child and his mother in the novel Here I Am! by Pauline Holdstock, a British-Canadian writer. It is clear that this unfounded hypothesis is not supported and reflected in the selected novel since the author offers the reader an intimate mother and son relationship in the novel which is in contrast with the typical cold and aloof mother with high intelligence and a needy child.

Keywords

Autism, Pauline Holdstock, disability studies, Here I Am!, refrigerator mother theory

Project Number

Hayır

References

• American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Dsm-iv: Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). American Psychiatric Association. https://books.google.com.tr/books?id=V6HUyAEACAAJ. google scholar
• American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). American Psychiatric Association. google scholar
• Aylott, J. (2003). Developing a social understanding of autism through the ‘social model’. [Doctoral Dissertation]. Sheffield Hallam University (United Kingdom), Ann Arbor. https://search.proquest.com/docview/1958849865? accountid=8403 ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global database. (UMI No. 10694180). google scholar
• Baker, A. D. (2008). Recognizing Jake: Contending with formulaic and spectacularized representations of autism in film. In M. Osteen (Ed.), In Autism and representation (pp. 229-243). New York, NY: Routledge. google scholar
• Barnes, C. (2012). Understanding the social model of disability: Past, present and future. In N. Watson, A. Roulstone, & C. Thomas (Eds.), In Routledge handbook of disability studies (pp. 12-29). London/New York: Routledge. google scholar
• Bennett, M., Webster, A. A., Goodall, E., & Rowland, S. (2018). Establishing contexts for support: Undoing the legacy of the “refrigerator mother” myth. In M. Bennett, A. A. Webster, E. Goodall, & S. Rowland (Eds.), Life on the autism spectrum: Translating myths and misconceptions into positive futures (pp. 61-80). Springer Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3359-0_4. google scholar
• Bettelheim, B. (1967). The empty fortress: Infantile autism and the birth of the self. Free Press/Macmillan. google scholar
• Broderick, A. A., & Ne’eman, A. (2008). Autism as metaphor: narrative and counternarrative. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 12(5-6), 459-476. doi:10.1080/13603110802377490. google scholar
• Brown, J. (2010). Writers on the spectrum: How autism and Asperger syndrome have influenced literary writing. London ve Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. google scholar
• Chown, N., & Hughes, L. (2016). History and first descriptions of autism: Asperger versus kanner revisited. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 46(6), 2270-2272. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2746-0. google scholar
• Clarke, C. (2015). Autism spectrum disorder and amplified pain. Case Reports in Psychiatry, 2015, 930874. https:// doi.org/10.1155/2015/930874. google scholar
• Couser, G. T. (2005). Disability, life narrative, and representation. PMLA, 120(2), 602-606. http://www.jstor.org/ stable/25486192. google scholar
• Davidson, M. (2017). Vaccination as a cause of autism-myths and controversies. Dialogues in clinical neuroscience, 19(4), 403-407. https://doi.org/10.31887/DCNS.2017.19.4/mdavidson. google scholar
• Davis, L. J. (1995). Enforcing normalcy: disability, deafness and the body. London and New York: Verso. google scholar
• Draaisma, D. (2009). Stereotypes of autism. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 364(1522), 1475-1480. doi:10.1098/rstb.2008.0324. google scholar
• Frith, U. (1991). Asperger and his syndrome. In U. Frith (Ed.), Autism and asperger syndrome (pp. 1-36). Cambridge University Press. google scholar
• Gomes, E., Pedroso, F. S., & Wagner, M. B. (2008). Auditory hypersensitivity in the autistic spectrum disorder. Pro Fono, 20(4), 279-284. https://doi.org/10.1590/s0104-56872008000400013. google scholar
• Gomes, E., Rotta, N. T., Pedroso, F. S., Sleifer, P., & Danesi, M. C. (2004). Auditory hypersensitivity in children and teenagers with autistic spectrum disorder. Arq Neuropsiquiatr, 62(3b), 797-801. https://doi.org/10.1590/ s0004-282x2004000500011. google scholar
• Grandin, T., & Panek, R. (2013, May 01). The autistic brain: Thinking across the spectrum. https://slate.com/ technology/2013/05/temple-grandins-the-autistic-brain-an-excerpt-on-the-history-of-the-autism-diagnosis.html. google scholar
• Holdstock, P. (2019). Here I Am! Biblioasis. Kindle Edition. google scholar
• Kanner, L. (1943). Autistic disturbances of affective contact. Nervous Child, 2, 217-250. google scholar
• Kanner, L. (1949), Problems of nosology and psychodynamics of early infantile autism. American Journal Of Orthopsychiatry, 19: 416-426. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1939-0025.1949.tb05441.x. google scholar
• Linton, S. (1998). Disability studies/not disability studies. Disability & Society, 13(4), 525-539. doi:10.1080/09687 599826588. google scholar
• Loftis, S. F. (2015). Imagining autism: Fiction and stereotypes on the spectrum. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. google scholar
• Murray, S. (2006). Autism and the contemporary sentimental: Fiction and the narrative fascination of the present. Literature and medicine, 25(1), 24-45. doi:10.1353/lm.2006.0025. google scholar
• Murray, S. (2008a). Representing autism : Culture, narrative, fascination. Liverpool, UK: Liverpool University Press. google scholar
• Murray, S. (2008b). Hollywood and the fascination of autism. M. Osteen (Ed.), In Autism and representation (pp. 244-255). New York, NY: Routledge. google scholar
• Murray, S. (2010). Autism functions/the function of autism. Disability Studies Quarterly, 30(1). doi: http://dx.doi. org/10.18061/dsq.v30i1.1048. google scholar
• Osteen, M. (2008). Autism and representation: A comprehensive introduction. M. Osteen (Ed.), In Autism and representation (pp. 1-47). New York, NY: Routledge. google scholar
• Shakespeare, T. (2006). The social model of disability. The disability studies reader, 2, 197-204. google scholar
• Tan, Y.-H., Xi, C.-Y., Jiang, S.-P., Shi, B.-X., Wang, L.-B., & Wang, L. (2012). Auditory abnormalities in children with autism. Open Journal of Psychiatry, Vol.02No.01, 5, Article 16564. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojpsych.2012.21005. google scholar
• Tulgar, A. (2020). Çağdaş İngiliz romanında otizmin temsili. [Doctoral Dissertation]. Atatürk University. google scholar
• van Rosmalen, L., van der Veer, R., & van der Horst, F. C. P. (2020). The nature of love: Harlow, bowlby and bettelheim on affectionless mothers. History of Psychiatry, 31(2), 227-231. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957154X19898997. google scholar
• Wing, L., & Gould, J. (1979). Severe impairments of social interaction and associated abnormalities in children: Epidemiology and classification. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 9(1), 11-29. google scholar