年度研究综述:孤独谱系科学从“常规科学”转向神经多样性

创建:2026-10-12更新:2026-10-12

文献信息

作者:Elizabeth Pellicano;Jacquiline den Houting
期刊:Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry,63(4),381–396(2022)
作者单位:麦考瑞大学教育学院(澳大利亚悉尼)和孤独谱系生活合作研究中心(Autism CRC,澳大利亚布里斯班)
原作版权:© 2021 The Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.
原作许可:CC BY-NC 4.0
译者:Kimi(AI);DeepSeek(AI)
审校情况:已初步校对
Wiki 页面:Pellicano 与 den Houting (2022) — 从“常规科学”转向孤独谱系科学中的神经多样性
原文:Annual Research Review: Shifting from ‘normal science’ to neurodiversity in autism science

引用:Pellicano, E., & den Houting, J. (2022). Annual Research Review: Shifting from ‘normal science’ to neurodiversity in autism science. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 63(4), 381–396. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13534

摘要

自其最初被描述以来,孤独谱系的概念一直牢固地植根于儿童精神病学的传统医学范式之中。越来越多的孤独谱系社群成员,以及近来出现的非孤独谱系研究者,呼吁重新思考孤独谱系科学的构建与开展方式。神经多样性——将孤独谱系视为多样心智中的一种变异形式——已被提出作为一种潜在的替代范式。在本综述中,我们聚焦于传统医学范式的三大挑战:过度聚焦于缺陷、强调个体而非其更广泛的环境,以及视角的狭隘性。每一项都必然限制了我们对孤独谱系的认知以及认知的方式。随后,我们概述了神经多样性范式的基本要素如何可能帮助研究者应对医学模型的局限。最后,我们探讨了转向神经多样性范式对孤独谱系科学的意义。

关键词:孤独谱系;伦理;医学模型;神经多样性;残障的社会模型。

引言

科学并非静止不变。正如Thomas Kuhn(1962)所阐述的,科学经历一系列阶段而发展,从Kuhn所称的‘常规科学’——即当下被接受的正统观念——到危机时期,此时科学家开始质疑迄今为止被接受的范式本身。这一阶段最终以从一种范式转向另一种范式而结束。在孤独谱系科学领域,传统的医学范式一直是该领域被接受的正统观念,它将孤独谱系概念化为源于生物学的功能性缺陷,从而对我们能了解孤独谱系的范畴以及我们了解它的方式设定了限制或边界(Kuhn, 1962)。绝大多数孤独谱系研究者被训练成将孤独谱系理解为一种脑发育障碍,一种偏离常态的不理想偏差。

然而,孤独谱系科学中已出现 Kuhn 所描述的那种‘骚动’。在社会变革的背景下,随着对既有权力结构的诸多挑战,孤独谱系倡导者和孤独谱系科学家越来越多地呼吁取代传统的医学范式,转而通过神经多样性的视角来看待孤独谱系,即将其视为多样心智中的一种变异形式(Singer, 1998; Walker & Raymaker, 2020)。这些呼吁最初源于孤独谱系1活动家(Pripas‑Kapit, 2020; Sinclair, 1993),如今越来越多地获得了孤独谱系科学界内至少部分人士的认同(Baron‑Cohen, 2000; Gernsbacher, 2007; Happé & Frith, 2020; Mottron, 2011; Nicolaidis, 2012),这表明研究人员可能正处于从根本上以不同方式思考孤独谱系的边缘。这样做可能会彻底改变我们在孤独谱系科学中构建知识的方式,以及我们在实践中支持孤独谱系群体及其家庭的方式。

在接下来的内容中,我们将分两个主要部分展开。首先,我们概述传统医学范式被质疑的主要方面。其次,我们概述替代性观点——神经多样性范式的基本要素。我们简要追溯其历史,描述其核心原则,并探讨神经多样性范式是否有可能克服其医学对应范式所面临的挑战。最后,我们通过思考向神经多样性范式转变对孤独谱系科学的影响来得出结论。

传统的医学范式

传统的医学范式,也称为残障的医学模型(Llewellyn & Hogan, 2000; Marks, 1997),将孤独谱系视为一种主要根植于个体内部的残障。在医学范式内,残障被视为个人生物构成与功能的直接后果。具体而言,残障被定义为“(由损伤导致的)进行某项活动的能力受限或缺失,其方式或范围被认为不符合人类正常标准”(世界卫生组织,1980年,第143页)。正如该定义所示,传统的医学范式隐含地假定存在一种典型或‘正常’的能力水平,并将其视为理想的‘健康状态’;享有这种状态的人被视为规范性标准,而其他人则与这一标准进行不利的比较 (Akhtar & Jaswal, 2013; Medin, Bennis, & Chandler, 2010)。

与这种将残障视为个体不良特征的认知相一致,医学范式下的残障治疗通常旨在使个体的能力符合公认的规范。因此,治疗和/或干预措施被应用于残障人士,目标是改变个体的损伤,以纠正或消除残障并提升功能水平。

对孤独谱系的普遍理解深深植根于这一医学范式(Evans, 2013; Fletcher‑Watson & Happé, 2019; Silberman, 2015)。如今我们称之为孤独谱系的特质组合,其首次公开发表的描述是由一位精神病学家(Kanner, 1943)和一位儿科医生(Asperger, 1944)在他们所处时代的传统医学范式下完成的。如今,孤独谱系在《精神障碍诊断与统计手册》(DSM‑5)和《国际疾病分类》(ICD‑11)中均被列为‘孤独谱系障碍’,一种神经发育障碍。在两部手册中,孤独谱系障碍都被描述为一系列由孤独谱系儿童、青少年和成人所表现的‘持续性缺陷’,涉及社交沟通与互动方面的缺陷,以及行为、兴趣或活动的受限、重复和僵化模式。

这种描述孤独谱系的方式仅聚焦于孤独谱系个体及其被认为存在的‘缺陷’。因此,孤独谱系科学的一个关键目标便是识别特定的神经发育机制——在遗传、神经生物学和认知层面——这些机制或许能解释孤独谱系的行为表现。隐含的论点是,此类科学进展是任何进一步转化努力的必要前提,旨在为孤独谱系儿童的治疗和干预提供信息,帮助‘引导大脑和行为发展回归正常轨道’(Dawson, 2008, p. 776)。

这种方法已催生了许多科学突破,极大地推进了我们对孤独谱系的理解(综述参见 Happé & Frith, 2020)。但近来质疑声日益高涨,部分原因是孤独谱系群体自我倡权的兴起和神经多样性运动,部分原因则是在任何解释层面上,关于孤独谱系的“硬事实”或普遍科学真理相对匮乏(讨论参见 Verhoeff, 2015)。正如 Michael Rutter爵士教授所言:“在对孤独谱系障碍进行了超过半个世纪的研究和临床实践之后,关于孤独谱系本质的争论仍在持续,这着实令人感到奇怪”(2014, p. 55)。对一些人而言,现在是时候考虑是否应以一种截然不同的方式来对待孤独谱系科学和实践了。

聚焦于缺陷

传统的医学方法致力于寻找孤独谱系群体的损伤和功能缺陷,往往无意中将注意力从孤独谱系群体的特定优势上转移开,而完全聚焦于其局限——无论是感知到的还是真实的。换言之,它削弱了对孤独谱系群体所能之事的描述,并强调其所不能之事。尽管长期以来人们认识到,在个别情况下,孤独谱系群体可能在特定活动中表现卓越(Frith & Happé, 1994; Hermelin & Frith, 1971; Hermelin & O’Connor, 1975; Mottron & Belleville, 1993; Shah & Frith, 1983),但这种方法依然如此行事。越来越多的研究表明,虽然孤独谱系群体在多种任务上表现优于非孤独谱系群体(例如 Muth, Hönekopp, & Falter, 2014; Remington & Fairnie, 2017; Samson, Mottron, Soulières, & Zeffiro, 2012),但这些优势极少被纳入孤独谱系的特征描述中(美国精神医学学会, 2013)。即便提及,这些优势也往往被称为缺陷海洋中的“能力孤岛”(Shah & Frith, 1983)。因此,采用一种主要关注缺陷的观点,倾向于将孤独谱系呈现为某人本应拥有之物的缺失或匮乏,一种不受欢迎的个人体验(Dinishak, 2016; Robertson, 2010)。

然而,问题比这更深层。在许多案例中,传统的孤独谱系研究描述了孤独谱系群体在科学任务中表现优于非孤独谱系群体的方式,却将这些成就解读为某种程度上揭示了一个问题。也就是说,那些事实上揭示孤独谱系群体优势的数据,被悖论性地——且奇怪地——以负面方式解读,归因于某种‘缺陷’或‘损伤’(Dawson & Mottron, 2011; Dinishak, 2016; Gernsbacher, Dawson, & Mottron, 2006; Robertson, 2010)。本综述的一位作者此前也曾陷入这种聚焦缺陷的偏见。她研究了孤独谱系儿童对知觉后效的敏感性程度——即长时间暴露于某种刺激后主观知觉体验的变化(Webster, 2011)。在那项研究中,她最初报告称,与年龄和能力相似的非孤独谱系儿童相比,孤独谱系儿童对面孔的知觉后效显著减弱,仿佛这是功能缺陷的标志(Pellicano, Jeffery, Burr, & Rhodes, 2007)。然而很快便发现,同样的数据几乎可以完全以相反的方式解读:适应后,孤独谱系儿童的面孔识别实际上比非孤独谱系儿童更准确。非孤独谱系儿童被他们的先入之见误导,而孤独谱系儿童的知觉更符合物理现实而非预期(即更真实;Pellicano & Burr, 2012)。

其他作者在一系列孤独谱系社交与非社交方面也做出了类似的观察。这些‘缺陷’同样可以被视为‘优势’(Bertilsdotter Rosqvist & Jackson‑Perry, 2020; Dawson, Soulières, Gernsbacher, & Mottron, 2007; Gernsbacher et al., 2006; Mottron, 2011; Robertson, 2010)。即使孤独谱系群体在视觉感知任务上表现出增强的能力,例如韦氏智力量表中的积木设计任务(Wechsler, 2008, 2014)或镶嵌图形测验(Witkin, Oltman, Raskin, & Karp, 1971),此类优势也总是被描述为高阶认知缺陷的副产品(例如Frith & Happé 的‘弱中央统合’,1994)。正如Dawson 和 Mottron(2011)写道:

孤独谱系群体与非孤独谱系群体一样,在许多领域确实存在困难,并且与非孤独谱系群体一样,在其表现薄弱的领域需要协助。然而,孤独谱系群体独特之处在于,当他们展现出显著或惊人的优势时,却被视为病态,这为孤独谱系群体创造了几乎无法克服的劣势或障碍,而这是非孤独谱系群体所不曾面对的(第34页)。

这种对孤独谱系表现进行负面解读的倾向,在关于孤独谱系智力的研究文献中进一步显现,文献表明,问题往往源于研究设计本身。多年来,研究人员将孤独谱系群体在标准智力测试(例如韦氏智力量表)上的低分或未能完成测试,简单地解读为智力缺陷的确认。然而事实上,一旦采用基于优势的智力测试(例如瑞文渐进矩阵)替代传统测试,那些缺陷便消失了(Courchesne, Girard, Jacques, & Soulières, 2015; Courchesne, Meilleur, Poulin‑Lord, Dawson, & Soulières, 2019; Dawson et al., 2007)。

这种负面解读以及强化它们的研究设计,其影响已超出研究本身。孤独谱系科学家Michelle Dawson长期以来一直主张,将孤独谱系群体视为‘次等’的习惯,导致孤独谱系群体承受了医学及其他干预措施,而这些措施的证据支持程度并未达到应有的充分水平。这在一种主导性干预方法——应用行为分析(Dawson, 2004)中尤为明显。即便在最近的2019年,孤独谱系群体仍在行为干预研究中遭受‘厌恶式’治疗(Verriden & Roscoe, 2019),包括在备受争议的马萨诸塞州坎顿Judge Rotenberg教育中心使用电击作为惩罚手段。该中心尽管已被联合国酷刑问题特别报告员谴责为酷刑(Neumeier & Brown, 2020),却仍在运营。对缺陷的持续关注助长了这些去人性化的态度;将孤独谱系群体视为‘低于人类’(Goffman, 1990;另见Cage、di Monaco与Newell, 2019)在此例中为使用电击提供了正当性依据。

Dawson将这些‘不可接受的低标准’(Cowen与Dawson, 2018, 第146段)框定为人权问题,并呼吁研究者与实践者确保研究与实践中基本标准能延伸至孤独谱系群体(参见Dawson与Fletcher‑Watson, 2021)。孤独谱系研究者相对未能报告研究中的潜在利益冲突(Bottema‑Beutel、Crowley、Sandbank与Woynaroski, 2021b),以及针对孤独谱系幼儿的非药物干预中的不良事件或潜在‘伤害’(Bottema‑Beutel、Crowley、Sandbank与Woynaroski, 2021a;Bottema‑Beutel、Kapp、Lester、Sasson与Hand, 2021),这与这一观点是一致的(Davis、den Houting、Nordahl‑Hansen与Fletcher‑Watson, 即将出版)。

除了对孤独谱系干预中可疑标准的担忧外,将孤独谱系概念化为一系列缺陷,并将干预目标设定为‘让人们不那么孤独谱系’,这本身在道德上就令人困扰(Ne’eman, 2021;另见Callanan与Waxman, 2013)。孤独谱系群体及其家庭经常接收到这样的信息:成为孤独谱系是一种悲惨的命运,孤独谱系诊断被认为会引发悲伤和哀悼。缺陷的语言主导着对孤独谱系的讨论,无论是在科学著作还是在大众媒体中(Bottema‑Beutel等, 2021;Kenny等, 2016)。研究人员和其他人使用诸如‘障碍’、‘缺陷’、‘损伤’和‘功能障碍’等术语来描述孤独谱系行为、认知或神经生物学中大多数偏离常态的情况。研究人员普遍使用以人为先的语言(“有孤独谱系的儿童”,children with autism),仿佛孤独谱系可以与个人分离,尽管他们知道许多孤独谱系群体摒弃这种术语(Kenny等, 2016;Sinclair, 2012),并且它更可能助长污名(Bottema‑Beutel等, 2021;Gernsbacher, 2017)。研究人员还例行公事地将儿童描述为‘高功能’或‘低功能’(Alvares等, 2020;Kenny等, 2016),描述为有发展孤独谱系的‘风险’(Jones、Gliga、Bedford、Charman与Johnson, 2014;Kolevzon、Gross与Reichenberg, 2007;Modabbernia、Velthorst与Reichenberg, 2017;Yudell、Tabor、Dawson、Rossi与Newschaffer, 2013),以及描述为有潜力实现‘最佳结果’(Fein等, 2013;Orinstein等, 2014;Sutera等, 2007)——其中最佳性等同于不再符合孤独谱系的诊断标准。政策制定者和其他人经常以‘负担’来讨论孤独谱系群体,这既涉及与孤独谱系相关的经济成本(例如Knapp、Romeo与Beecham, 2009;Leigh与Du, 2015),也涉及父母和其他照顾孤独谱系群体的经历(例如Marsack‑Topolewski、Samuel与Tarraf, 2021;Picardi等, 2018)。

面对这种持续不断的负面信息传递,尤其是与针对残障群体的更普遍歧视相结合时,与孤独谱系标签相关的严重污名也就不足为奇了。特别是针对年轻孤独谱系群体的研究发现,他们常常以一种消极的方式将自己视为与神经典型群体“不同”(Cribb、Kenny 与 Pellicano,2019;Humphrey 与Lewis,2008;Shattuck 等人,2014;Williams、Gleeson 与 Jones,2019)。他们将自己标签化为“怪胎”、“心智残障”和“大脑有问题”(Humphrey 与 Lewis,2008),并且常常只想“尽可能正常”,主动隐藏自己的孤独谱系特质(Cribb 等人,2019)。这些负面的自我评价并非意料之外,因为年轻孤独谱系群体更可能经历社会排斥和欺凌(Humphrey 与 Hebron,2014;Maiano、Normand、Salvas、Moullec 与 Aimé,2016;Schroeder、Cappadocia、Bebko、Pepler 与 Weiss,2014)。但这可能对他们的心理健康造成损害(Cage、Di Monaco 与 Newell,2018;Cooper、Smith 与Russell,2017;Hedley 与 Young,2006),其中残障/孤独谱系个体可能开始相信自己价值较低并据此行事(Becker,1963;Milton,2012)。通过掩饰或伪装主动隐藏自己的孤独谱系差异(相关讨论参见 Pearson 与Rose,2021)也可能带来严重的个人代价,包括压力、焦虑和负面的自我认知(Hull 等人,2017),以及成年孤独谱系个体的倦怠(Higgins、Arnold、Weise、Pellicano 与 Trollor,2021;Raymaker 等人,2020)。

医学模型本质上是个人主义的

基于缺陷的思维方式的盛行,进一步导致了注意力直接聚焦于个体本身,而忽视了可能实际上在塑造孤独谱系群体的生活方面扮演重要角色的社会和环境因素(Engel, 1977)。在传统的医学观点中,孤独谱系及其相关的障碍被视为个体固有的特质。因此,生物医学研究倾向于解释孤独谱系人士的困难时,不是参照困难发生的背景——家庭、学校、工作或更广泛的社区——而是将其视为个体自身的特征。在孤独谱系科学内部,这种倾向因孤独谱系人士被描绘为独自存在于世界中的既定形象而进一步加强(Broderick & Ne'eman, 2008)。鉴于孤独谱系最初被视为表现为从世界中退缩(Kanner, 1943),早期的研究者更直觉性地认为,决定孤独谱系体验本质的特征在于个体自身。

从这种个体化的出发点来看,生活中的困难“过错”被认为在于个体自身,因此“纠正”这些感知到的困难的负担也落在了个体身上。孤独谱系群体被认为在某种程度上存在“缺陷”或“不足”,需要个体治疗来弥补这些缺点。在孤独谱系研究和实践中,显而易见的是,孤独谱系群体总体上被期望“克服”他们的障碍,以达到典型的能力水平。因此,治疗和干预措施的设计旨在修改、减少或增强孤独谱系儿童的行为,以实现这些关键目标。

其中最为普遍的治疗方法是基于行为模型的疗法,尤其是应用行为分析(ABA)(Vismara & Rogers, 2010)。ABA的目标是让孤独谱系儿童“与他们的正常朋友无异”(Lovaas, 1987, p. 8),这至少掩盖了任何独特的孤独谱系优势。这些治疗方法因多种原因存在争议(例如,Dawson, 2004; Ne’eman, 2021; Wilkenfeld与McCarthy, 2020),不过,为了展开本文的讨论,聚焦于针对一种特定行为——调节行为(stimming)——的治疗会有所帮助。从传统医学模型的视角来看,人们倾向于将所谓的重复性运动刻板行为,如拍手(美国精神医学学会, 2013),视为个体问题,认为其没有明确的目的或功能,并阻碍儿童学习适应性或其他技能以及与同伴互动(Asperger, 1944; DiGennaro Reed, Hirst, & Hyman, 2012; Kanner, 1943; Lilley, 2018)。鉴于这些假定的负面后果——以及像拍手这样的调节行为被认为引人注目且带有污名,尤其对于主流课堂环境中的儿童——它常被视为“研究者必须继续评估和治疗运动刻板行为,无论是作为干预的目标行为还是附带行为”(Tereshko、Ross与Frazee, 2021, p. 3);以展示“平静”或“安静”的手部状态。

尽管缺乏证据表明这些调节行为对孤独谱系群体或其同伴有害,但这些治疗手段依然持续存在。事实上,如今看来,这些行为很可能常常对孤独谱系群体起到调节、安抚的作用(例如 Joyce、Honey、Leekam、Barrett与Rodgers, 2017; Kapp等, 2019)。此外,旨在压制这些行为的干预措施很可能弊大于利(Bascom, 2012; Dawson, 2004; Jaswal与Akhtar, 2018; Lilley, 2018)。至少可以肯定地提出,注意力应更好地转向旨在改变非孤独谱系人群对调节行为的负面看法,而非首先致力于阻止孤独谱系群体进行调节行为的社会干预措施。

被排斥的声音,狭隘的视角

对传统医学范式的另一项批评在于,它倾向于忽视孤独谱系群体自身对孤独谱系及其生活的理解。正如孤独谱系自我倡权者 Donna Williams 所言:‘从一开始,从有人提出“孤独谱系”这个词起,这种状况就一直是从外部、根据其表象来判断,而非从内部依据其实际体验来判断’(Williams, 1996, p. 14)。沿着这一思路,一些研究者甚至提出,孤独谱系儿童、青少年和成人缺乏心智理论(Baron‑Cohen, Leslie, & Frith, 1985),这削弱了他们反思自身心理状态的能力(Lombardo, Chakrabarti, Bullmore, & Baron‑Cohen, 2011),从而质疑了孤独谱系群体对其自身体验描述的准确性(Frith & Happé, 1999)。

因此,研究者们常常回避关注第一人称证词,更倾向于优先采纳来自父母、教师或其他信息提供者的报告,或基于实验室的观察,而非考虑当事人自身的视角(Jaswal与Akhtar, 2018; Mazefsky, Kao, & Oswald, 2011; McGeer, 2004; Milton, 2012)。声称孤独谱系群体无法理解自己的心智,也可能产生破坏性影响,包括损害孤独谱系群体的自主性、自决以及被感知的可信度(Gernsbacher & Yergeau, 2019)。正如Jim Sinclair(1993, p. 298)写道:

这些假设所导致的结果往往微妙,但却无处不在且有害:我不被认真对待。我的可信度受到怀疑。我对自身的理解不被认为是有效的,我对事件的感知不被认为是基于现实的。我的理性受到质疑,因为无论智力如何,我仍然显得古怪。我基于自身仔细推理出的优先级做出合理决策的能力受到怀疑,因为我没有做出那些拥有不同优先级的人会做出的决定。

除了影响研究成果外,这种对孤独谱系群体视角的忽视也导致孤独谱系群体自身几乎无法决定孤独谱系科学中研究什么、为何研究以及如何研究。在过去二十年里,国际上对孤独谱系科学的投入大幅增长(孤独症研究协调办公室,2017;Pellicano, Dinsmore, & Charman, 2013)。仅2016年,美国、英国、澳大利亚和加拿大在孤独谱系研究上就花费了4亿美元——尽管美国贡献了其中绝大部分(92%)的投资(孤独症研究协调办公室,2019)。同样,关于孤独谱系的论文发表数量增长了10倍(Dawson, 2013;孤独症研究协调办公室,2012),远超儿童心理学和精神病学相关主题的出版物。根据PubMed的数据,仅2020年就有6,539篇关于孤独谱系的期刊文章发表。

孤独谱系人士自身在塑造该研究议程方面几乎没有发言权。针对孤独谱系的传统医学方法假定,孤独谱系研究的优先事项集中在识别、治疗和潜在预防孤独谱系的问题上;并且认为这些基本问题的答案‘只有在更好地理解孤独谱系的神经生物学基础时才能找到’(Insel & Daniels, 2011, p. 1361)。正如Bertilsdotter Rosqvist and Jackson‑Perry(2020)所指出的,‘在像孤独谱系这样高度医学化的状况中,其参数由医疗从业者的诊断手册所规定,随之而来的是,在讨论孤独谱系...问题时,被认为最准确、可信度最高的证言来自医学科学’(p. 3)。

因此,全球范围内绝大多数孤独谱系研究都聚焦于孤独谱系的潜在遗传成因与生物学基础(den Houting与Pellicano, 2019;孤独症研究协调办公室, 2019;Pellicano, Dinsmore, & Charman, 2014b;Singh, Illes, Lazzeroni, & Hallmayer, 2009),这并不令人意外。这一焦点与社区成员——孤独谱系群体、他们的家庭成员、教育工作者、临床医生及其他专业人士——所明确提出的研究优先事项形成了鲜明对比。他们持续呼吁研究应关注更具直接实践意义的领域,或开展那些可能更易于转化为应用的基础科学研究(Frazier et al., 2018;Jose et al., 2020;Pellicano et al., 2014b;Robertson, 2010;Roche, Adams, & Clark, 2021;Warner, Parr,& Cusack, 2019)。正如一位家长所言:“归根结底,这不是真实的生活 ... [研究] 总是缺失下一步”(Pellicano et al., 2014b, p. 5)。

孤独谱系科学家与社区成员之间的关系有着漫长且充满矛盾的历史(Pellicano & Stears, 2011; Silberman, 2015; Silverman, 2011)。然而,当前的研究内容、社区成员对研究的期望以及由谁来做出这些决策之间的不匹配,很可能加剧了广大社区对主流孤独谱系科学日益增长的不信任感(Bagatell, 2010; Dawson, 2004; Lory, 2019; Milton, 2012)。Pellicano、Dinsmore和Charman(2014a)的研究表明,英国的孤独谱系群体及其家庭成员报告了对孤独谱系研究压倒性的负面体验。家庭成员描述了他们感到失望和沮丧,因为他们感觉自己被‘挖掘’信息,却几乎没有机会了解由此产生的科学发现以及这些发现对他们可能意味着什么。成年孤独谱系个体报告了他们感觉自己被物化(‘我们有点像动物园里的猴子’),并且他们的经验性专业知识被认为被研究人员所忽视(‘无论我说什么,这真的会影响任何人吗?’;另见Milton & Bracher, 2013)。

归根结底,孤独谱系研究一直因视角狭隘而备受诟病。由于优先研究成因,我们未能理解孤独谱系群体生活体验的本质。强加非孤独谱系、医学驱动的优先事项,已导致资源从现有的孤独谱系群体及其生活中最重要的领域被转移(Pellicano & Stears, 2011;Robertson, 2010)。

神经多样性:是否到了范式转变的时刻?

传统医学方法对待孤独谱系的这三个难题——过度聚焦于缺陷、压倒性地强调个体而非其社会背景以及视角的狭隘性——近年来引发了日益强烈的反应。早在1990年代初,孤独谱系活动家就开始倡导对孤独谱系群体的态度转变。他们从更广泛的残障权利运动中汲取鼓舞,该运动本身在1970年代末和1980年代初获得力量,并在1990年代初取得了里程碑式的进展,包括1990年《美国残障人士法案》、1992年《澳大利亚残障歧视法案》和1995年《英国残障歧视法案》的引入(Oliver, 1996; Swain, French, & Cameron, 2003)。或许在这早期的孤独谱系倡导中,最值得注意的是孤独谱系倡导者Jim Sinclair的工作,其奠基性文章《不要为我们哀悼》至今仍切中要害,令人动容(Pripas‑Kapit, 2020; Sinclair, 1993)。

1998年,孤独谱系社会学家 Judy Singer 和记者 Harvey Blume 创造了‘神经多样性’一词(Blume, 1998; Singer, 1998),为孤独谱系及神经殊异倡导提供了一个集体框架。‘神经多样性’这一术语(术语定义见方框1)及相关范式被孤独谱系倡导者所接纳,并随着时间的推移,在更广泛的神经殊异社群中变得无处不在,甚至成为其同义词。在整个2000年代,孤独谱系主导倡导组织(例如孤独谱系自我倡权网络)相继成立,首次在神经多样性倡导运动中为孤独谱系社群提供了权威的声音。

孤独谱系学者及其盟友致力于在学术界推广神经多样性范式的认知(den Houting, 2019; Nicolaidis, 2012; Robertson, 2010)。在PubMed数据库中,以“神经多样性”为关键词进行粗略检索,表明在这方面已取得一定成效。2010年,仅有一篇相关论文发表。十年后的2020年,则有33篇论文发表。最近,孤独谱系学者正试图通过新兴的批判孤独谱系研究和神经多样性研究学科,推动神经多样性学术本身的发展(Bertilsdotter Rosqvist, Chown, & Stenning, 2020; Kapp, 2020; Walker & Raymaker, 2020)。在神经多样性范式的框架下,上文探讨的每一项批评都被视为亟待纠正的重大缺陷。下文我们将追溯倡导神经多样性者为实现此目标所采取的方式。

方框 1:术语

  • 神经多样性(neurodiversity):人类神经发育中存在的自然多样性范围。
  • 神经典型(neurotypical):其神经发育处于通常被认为构成“典型”发育范围内的人或人群。
  • 神经殊异(neurodivergent):其神经发育超出(或“偏离”)通常被视为“典型”发育范围的人或人群(例如,一群孤独谱系人士即是一群“神经殊异”人群)。
  • 神经多元(neurodiverse):指包含不同神经发育类型的群体的集合术语(例如,一群孤独谱系与非孤独谱系人士即是一个“神经多元”群体)。

多样性,而非缺陷

就其本身而言,神经多样性指的是人类神经生物学中存在的广泛多样性。人脑和心智在结构和功能上的发育方式不计其数。其中许多方式属于可被视为‘典型’神经发育的范围,而有些则超出该范围,可被视为与常态‘殊异’(Ecker, Bookheimer, & Murphy, 2015; Jumah, Ghannam, Jaber, Adeeb, & Tubbs, 2016)。神经多样性涵盖了这整个谱系,包括典型和殊异的神经发育(Singer, 1998; Walker, 2014)。神经多样性范式指的是一套关于这种多样性的特定信念和态度(Walker, 2012),并拒绝将偏离常态视为需要纠正的缺陷的观点。

这一立场可分解为两个关键假设。第一个假设是,典型的神经发育既不优于也不劣于非典型的神经发育。神经典型性并不代表‘正确’的神经发育,正如英语不代表‘正确’的说话语言,或生态系统中的一个元素不能被视作优先于其他任何元素。事实上,神经发育的多样性本身是有价值的,其价值在很大程度上类似于语言多样性有助于形成文化丰富的景观,或生物多样性能够增强系统所有组成部分的健康(参见 Amundson, 2000 的讨论)。神经多样性范式中的第二个关键假设是,即使多样性不服务于这一集体目的,所有人也应享有尊严和尊重,无论他们如何偏离一个假定的规范,并且应因其本身的样子而被重视。

第二个假设意味着,与一种常见的误解——即神经多样性运动只对支持需求较简单的孤独谱系群体(通常称为‘高功能’;Fenton & Krahn, 2007;Jaarsma & Welin, 2012)感兴趣——相反,神经多样性范式明确涵盖所有孤独谱系和神经殊异人群,包括那些支持需求最高且最复杂的人群(Grinker, 2020;den Houting, 2019;Ne’eman, 2021)。在实践中,神经多样性倡导者早已认识到,确保所有孤独谱系群体的利益都被纳入考量是一项挑战,不仅仅是那些更有能力影响决策或通过研究、行动主义或抗议发声的人群(Ballou, 2018)。但根本上,支持神经多样性的人士认同,一个人的价值不应取决于其能否在经济或其他方面为社会‘做出贡献’(Kittay, 2017)。因此,神经多样性范式也拓宽了对何为‘有意义’生活的标准理解。它坚持认为,孤独谱系个体的生活即使与传统理想相差甚远,也可能丰富而充实。在传统研究中,福祉和生活质量常被呈现为客观建构,包含就业、独立性和人际关系等结果。另一方面,神经多样性鼓励我们对美好生活的潜在概念化持更开放的态度。按照神经典型性标准来衡量,许多孤独谱系群体被认为生活质量较差,但如果考虑到孤独谱系特有的价值观、目标和需求,这种观点可以改变(Lam, Sabnis, Migueliz Valcarlos, & Wolgemuth, 2021)。事实上,当孤独谱系群体参与确定与其生活质量相关的结果时,他们识别出了独特的因素,包括他人对孤独谱系的了解和接纳;感官处理差异;支持他人以及积极的孤独谱系身份认同(McConachie et al., 2020)。这与将孤独谱系视为不受欢迎负担的缺陷型框架(例如,将孤独谱系视为‘外壳’或‘监狱’;Broderick & Ne’eman, 2008)形成鲜明对比,后者认为一个原本‘正常’的人可以通过干预从中解脱出来。

因此,神经多样性范式倡导孤独谱系接纳,敦促孤独谱系群体及其他人士将孤独谱系视为孤独谱系个体身份与世界体验中固有且不可或缺的一部分。这种接纳心态对孤独谱系的潜在价值,进一步得到了近期研究的支持,表明更高的孤独谱系接纳与更好的心理健康相关,无论是在成年孤独谱系个体(Cage et al., 2018)还是孤独谱系儿童的母亲中(Da Paz, Siegel, Coccia, & Epel, 2018)。同样地,并且与关于更广泛残障人群及普通人群身份发展的证据相一致,积极的孤独谱系身份认同也与更好的心理健康相关(Cooper et al., 2017)。

神经多样性凸显了社会回应的必要性

当然,这并非暗示孤独谱系群体不需要支持来实现其目标。然而,神经多样性范式确实引导我们以一种与传统医学范式根本不同的方式,去理解许多孤独谱系群体所面临的障碍的本质。神经多样性范式与残障的社会模型紧密契合。以此视角来看,任何‘残障’最好不被理解为个体独特特征的结果,而应理解为环境未能有效适应这些特征的结果(Oliver, 1996;Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation, 1976)。我们所有人生活的物理和社会环境,通常是为满足那些处于典型神经发育范围内人群的需求而设计的;这些同样的环境对于神经殊异群体而言往往并非最优,甚至充满敌意,需要进行调整,以使此类群体能够过上良好的生活。

传统的主流学校环境便是此类环境的一个例子:它们通常在物理空间上规模庞大、嘈杂混乱,要求学生在整个上学日频繁地在课堂内外进行转换,并包含大量隐含的社会规则和期望。像学校这样为满足神经典型需求而设计的物理环境,可能会让孤独谱系群体感到感官不适和痛苦;而由神经典型规则主导的社会环境,也往往同样难以融入。这些难以融入的环境,会以无数种方式使孤独谱系群体显得比其神经典型同伴更“无能”——也就是说,成为残障。

这些例子只是冰山一角,它们揭示了在结构层面治理社会的机构通常由神经典型群体控制并为其设计,而这往往对孤独谱系群体造成毁灭性影响。孤独谱系群体在学校中被不成比例地正式排除(开除)(例如 Ambitious about Autism, 2014; Brede, Remington, Kenny, Warren, & Pellicano, 2017),频繁遭受欺凌和其他形式的受害(Brown‑Lavoie, Viecili, & Weiss, 2014; Maiano et al., 2016),失业或就业不足的比例高于其他残障群体(Chen, Leader, Sung, & Leahy, 2014; Scott et al., 2019),面临更高的身体健康问题风险(Croen et al., 2015),并且对心理健康问题的脆弱性增加(Lai et al., 2019),包括高自杀率(Cassidy et al., 2014; Kirby et al., 2019)。他们也更可能经历过早死亡(Hirvikoski et al., 2016)。越来越多的研究描述了成年孤独谱系个体在获取物理医疗服务时面临的巨大障碍,这些障碍包括诸如难以接近的感官环境;服务提供者的对孤独谱系的了解和态度;以及医疗系统的复杂性(Mason et al., 2019; Nicolaidis et al., 2015)。类似的障碍存在于一系列领域,包括获取心理健康服务(Adams & Young, 2020)、就业(Harmuth et al., 2018)和休闲活动(Askari et al., 2014)。根据神经多样性范式,应对这些事实并不需要我们‘改变孤独谱系群体’,而是挑战影响这些结果的社会因素(Howlin, 2000; Howlin & Magiati, 2017;参见 Mandy et al., 2016 的例子)。

阻碍孤独谱系群体蓬勃发展的因素既包括物理环境中存在的障碍,或许更重要的是社会与态度层面的障碍。上文所述的歧视与污名构成了孤独谱系群体的严重阻碍,唯有在社会与系统层面推动孤独谱系群体包容与公平才能解决此问题。

孤独谱系群体应主导对话

这一点让我们回到上文提及的问题:孤独谱系群体自身被排除在决定许多孤独谱系研究议程的决策过程中。这种排斥可能部分源于我们传统上对孤独谱系与非孤独谱系人群之间基本关系的理解。Milton(2012)提出的具有影响力的双向同理心问题指出孤独谱系与非孤独谱系人群心智之间的错位,强调跨神经类型互动中缺乏互惠性是两者社交沟通困难的根源(Davis与Crompton, 2021;Milton, Heasman, & Sheppard, 2018;Mitchell, Sheppard, & Cassidy, 2021)。此类研究表明,非孤独谱系人群难以理解孤独谱系群体的心智与行为——更令人担忧的是,他们倾向于误解孤独谱系群体。例如,非孤独谱系人群难以理解孤独谱系群体的面部表情(如 Brewer et al., 2016),在解读孤独谱系群体的行为(Sheppard, Pillai, Wong, Ropar, & Mitchell, 2016)与心理状态(Edey et al., 2016)方面也存在困难。非孤独谱系人群还表示,基于第一印象判断(Morrison, DeBrabander, Faso, & Sasson, 2019;Sasson et al., 2017)和短暂互动(Morrison et al., 2020),他们不愿与孤独谱系群体互动。

与此假设一致,研究发现孤独谱系群体与其他孤独谱系群体沟通时比与非孤独谱系群体沟通更有效(Crompton, Ropar, Evans‑Williams, Flynn, & Fletcher‑Watson, 2020),且能建立更强的融洽关系(Crompton et al., 2020)。新出现的证据也表明,孤独谱系群体社交互动可能包含促进孤独谱系群体间社会理解的独特特征(被称为‘神经殊异主体间性’;Heasman & Gillespie, 2019)。

神经多样性范式通过强调自决与自主性的重要性,来回应孤独谱系与非孤独谱系群体之间思维明显不一致的问题:孤独谱系群体必须参与所有可能影响孤独谱系群体的决策制定,从最高层面的政策制定到个人支持计划;也就是说,他们‘理应享有主桌的完整席位’(Gernsbacher, 2007, p. 13)。基于此,神经多样性倡导者主张,孤独谱系研究与实践必须与孤独谱系群体及孤独谱系社群的需求和优先事项保持一致,从而对孤独谱系研究中何为重要之事采取更广阔的视角(Milton, 2014b; Raymaker, 2020; Robertson, 2010)。然而,如上所述,迄今为止,孤独谱系科学并未反映出社群对研究的优先关切。

一种能产出更贴近社群优先事项的孤独谱系研究的策略是,通过参与式、协同设计与共同产出研究,让孤独谱系群体及其盟友直接参与研究过程。社群参与研究在孤独谱系领域之外有着悠久历史,最显著的是在HIV(Epstein, 1996; Moore, 2008)以及原住民与第一民族社群(国家健康与医学研究委员会, 1991)方面。借鉴非科学家‘实践智慧’的过程,有可能使科学发现更彻底地贴合社群需求,更直接地适应他们日常生活的现实,并更符合他们的价值观(Chalmers, 2004; Hickey, 2018; Lloyd & White, 2011; Pellicano, 2020 )。

在过去十年中,全球的孤独谱系研究者开始与孤独谱系社群接触,在研究过程的各个阶段咨询孤独谱系群体,探索与孤独谱系群体作为合作伙伴共同工作的方式,并致力于解决由社群优先确定的研究课题(参见Fletcher‑Watson et al., 2019; Nicolaidis et al., 2011; Pellicano et al., 2014a, 2014b; Pellicano & Stears, 2011)。这种参与要求个体研究者做出实质性承诺,倾听并学习来自多样化孤独谱系群体的经验性专业知识(Collins & Evans, 2002; Milton, 2014a),并愿意在研究过程中与非科学家分享权力和控制权。

确保孤独谱系群体参与研究的承诺不能完全交由研究人员个人决定。这些承诺也必须延伸至机构层面,例如资助方和大学,以推动结构性及战略性的变革。过去几年中,美国(国立卫生研究院的跨部门孤独谱系协调委员会)、英国(Autistica)和澳大利亚(孤独谱系生活合作研究中心;以下简称‘Autism CRC’)的资助机构已做出回应,试图将研究重点导向社区成员优先关注的问题,包括为孤独谱系群体及其家庭识别有效的支持、干预和服务。

澳大利亚的Autism CRC在这方面的尝试尤为成功。他们采用了全生命周期的孤独谱系研究方法,投资于涵盖早期、学龄期及成年期的项目,并采取了参与式方法,将孤独谱系社群置于其研究工作的核心。这种战略监督取得了成效。对2008‑2017年间澳大利亚孤独谱系研究经费支出的分析显示,最初5年(2008‑2012年)的研究模式与加拿大、英国和美国相似,包括经费大量分配给生物医学研究,但在Autism CRC成立后的后5年(2013‑2017年),这一模式发生了转变,导致经费在生物学研究以及孤独谱系社群优先考虑的主题(如服务与全生命周期议题)上分配更为均衡(den Houting与Pellicano,2019年;孤独症研究协调办公室,2019年)。这表明,响应由孤独谱系群体自身(至少部分地)主导的更广泛研究议程的呼吁是可能的。

结论

我们正经历着人们对孤独谱系的看法发生重大转变的时刻。这种转变体现在倡导活动中(例如Ne’eman与Bascom, 2020;Rottier与Gernsbacher, 2020)、媒体与公众辩论中(例如Silberman, 2015),以及关于孤独谱系科学本质的争论中(例如Milton, 2014a;Pellicano, 2020;Raymaker, 2020)。它也正开始反映在学术讨论中,仅在过去12个月内就涌现了大量综述论文、观点文章和编辑出版的书籍(Bertilsdotter Rosqvist等, 2020;Bölte, Lawson, Marschik, & Girdler, 2021;Davis与Crompton, 2021;Kapp, 2020;Leadbitter、Buckle、Ellis与Dekker, 2021;Mitchell等, 2021;Walker & Raymaker, 2020)。这是一次重大的转变,揭示了传统医学解释的根本问题——及其无法解释Kuhn(1962)所称的核心“异常现象”——以及神经多样性范式即将带来的可能性。我们数十年来所熟知的孤独谱系科学核心的一些基本信念正开始消退。

在这篇综述中,我们阐述了尽管传统的医学范式一直是塑造孤独谱系科学的关键工具,但它却描绘了一种过于狭隘、基于缺陷的孤独谱系观,并将本应服务于的人群排除在研究议程设定之外。这种做法对我们关于孤独谱系的知识以及这些知识的获得方式施加了过多限制。这已不再是一种可行的途径。

我们认为神经多样性范式提供了一个引人注目的替代方案。它要求我们对孤独谱系本质的最基本假设进行根本性转变,拓宽并改变我们共同的理论信念、价值观和技术。尽管神经多样性范式仍在持续发展和演变,但在其当前的概念中,它似乎为推进孤独谱系科学提供了重要途径。正如Kuhn所解释的,科学中的范式转变很少是直截了当的,因此,我们无法以任何真正的准确性预测孤独谱系研究的未来形态。那些坚持传统医学范式的人可能会修正他们自己的理解。同样,我们对神经多样性的理解也很可能会有进一步发展。此外,两种观点的拥护者都将寻求某种相互调和。我们已经在世界卫生组织的国际功能、残疾和健康分类(ICF)中看到了第三种可能性的迹象,正如Bölte等人(2021年)最近综述中所描述的,以及在优化人与环境适配重要性方面的近期进展(Lai, Anagnostou, Wiznitzer, Allison, & Baron‑Cohen, 2020; Mandy & Lai, 2016)。

然而,在所有这些不确定性之中,我们已从当前所构想的神经多样性范式中确立了三个关键教训,它们对未来孤独谱系科学至关重要。首先,神经多样性范式并不挑战孤独谱系本质上是生物性的观念,但它强调需要将孤独谱系群体视为独特而有价值的个体,其生活具有意义与目的,而非一堆需要“修复”的“缺陷”。它还敦促我们超越个体视角,聚焦于(直接的——尤其是关系性的——以及系统性的)情境以及情境与个体因素之间的互动,以应对身为孤独谱系所带来的负面与致残效应。其次,尽管孤独谱系科学在学者间协作方面有良好记录(Goldstein、Tager‑Flusberg 与 Lee,2015),但在这些协作中纳入孤独谱系研究者及孤独谱系社群的普通成员仍属罕见。这需要改变。我们需要在孤独谱系研究中发展更稳健的参与式共同设计与共同生产机制,以确保孤独谱系科学是与孤独谱系群体自身合作设计的。第三,一旦那种更具参与性的精神真正涌现,我们相信孤独谱系科学将更可能聚焦于孤独谱系社群的优先事项,确保孤独谱系科学的进展转化为有效改变,应对孤独谱系群体持续面临的现实世界挑战。毕竟,这正是其如此重要的根本原因。

我们正处于孤独谱系科学领域的转折点。传统的医学概念化至今在孤独谱系研究与实践中扮演了关键角色。尽管如此,越来越清晰的是,若我们希望为孤独谱系及更广泛的孤独谱系社群谋取进步,就必须重新评估我们的基本原则。从“常规”科学转向“非常规”科学(Sonuga‑Barke,2020)很可能需要付出代价,而看清这一变革的深远影响甚至可能带来更戏剧性的代价。换言之,认真对待神经多样性意味着既要改变我们教育下一代(孤独谱系)科学家的方式,也要要求实质性的现实世界变革,革新一系列主要机构与实践,以更好地服务孤独谱系群体。这一切都不容易。既定惯例往往在其原始正当性早已消失后仍长期存续,正是因为同意变革——资助它、设计它并实施它——通常异常困难(Pierson,2000)。但关键在于,不变革的代价也需要权衡。如果近期历史上其他重大社会转型时刻的经验能给我们任何启示,那就是当需求足够强烈时,先前不可想象的公共政策转变也可能发生。

致谢

本研究由授予E.P.的澳大利亚研究委员会未来研究员基金(FT190100077)和授予J.d.H.的麦考瑞大学研究基金资助。E.P.和J.d.H.亦感谢孤独谱系生活合作研究中心(Autism CRC)的财务支持,该中心在澳大利亚政府合作研究中心计划下设立并获支持。文中观点仅为作者个人观点,不一定代表其所属机构或资助方的观点。作者对Marc Stears在关键讨论及对本手稿早期版本提出的意见表示衷心感谢。作者声明不存在任何竞争性或潜在的利益冲突。

关键要点

  • 孤独谱系的概念化方式依然牢固地植根于传统的医学范式之中。
  • 因此,孤独谱系通常被理解为一种脑发育障碍——一种偏离常态的不理想状态。
  • 这给我们对孤独谱系的理解带来了严重障碍,也给孤独谱系群体的生活造成了深刻挑战。
  • 因此,研究人员需要从根本上重新思考如何概念化孤独谱系。
  • 神经多样性范式就是这样一种替代方案。它鼓励研究聚焦于孤独谱系社群的优先事项,以及情境因素与个体因素之间的相互作用,而非仅仅专注于个体因素。
  • 这种在研究过程中让孤独谱系青少年和成年人参与的方法,对于确保转化研究至关重要,并对改善孤独谱系群体的生活具有现实意义。

原作者注释

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阅读连接


  1. 遵循残障的社会模型以及孤独谱系社群的偏好(Bury, Jellett, Spoor, & Hedley, 2020; Kenny 等, 2016),我们在本综述中使用身份优先语言(即“残障者”和“孤独谱系者”,对应 disabled 与 autistic)。 ↩