鈥淪OCIETY at large benefits when we create workplaces and other social environments which let people make use of what they鈥檙e good at, instead of focusing on fixing what other people have problems with.鈥� So says Ari Ne鈥檈man, whose organisation places people with autism with employers who value their fascination with patterns and ability to spot errors (see 鈥�Rise of the autistic workforce鈥�).
So is the stigma attached to people who aren鈥檛 鈥渘eurotypical鈥� starting to disappear? Perhaps, but going further will take a concerted effort. Revising the design and etiquette of workplaces is enough to make them acceptable to some people who think differently from the norm 鈥� but ending the exclusion of those with more disabling conditions will, among other things, mean developing better technology.
That is coming. We have already seen how technology can aid communication: made by non-verbal people, for example, and glasses that explain the emotions of the person you鈥檙e talking to. We can safely assume that advances in neurotechnology will enable more people to interact in more ways in future.
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But technology can be used to divide as well as unify. There is growing unease about the potential for brain imaging, taken in isolation, to dictate where people fit in: what chance do you have of a normal life if your brain is deemed to be hardwired for criminality (see 鈥�The trouble with neuroscience鈥�)?
聯There is growing unease about the potential for brain imaging to dictate where people fit in聰
Such 鈥渘eurodeterminism鈥� is indeed worrying. This is where the values of the autism recruitment project 鈥� a respect for difference and an effort to accommodate everyone鈥檚 needs 鈥� are worth bearing in mind. Simply asking how others think about the world can reap rich insights (see 鈥�The voices within: The power of talking to yourself鈥�).
Combining this knowledge with that obtained by technological means can bring startling results. Consider, for example, the remarkable testimony of a man afflicted with Cotard鈥檚 syndrome 鈥� the belief that you are dead (see 鈥�Mindscapes: First interview with a dead man鈥�). A brain scan has helped characterise his condition where talking to doctors alone could not.
So images of the brain are powerful as well as seductive. They really can help the majority understand the minority. But if we are truly to bridge the gaps, we will need to listen, as well as look.