BLUE WORLD: CONSIDERATIONS ABOUT AUTISM FROM THE PARENTS' UNDERSTANDING

Abstract

The diagnosis of autism, currently configured in ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) is becoming increasingly common among children. Autism has a long history of description and definition and what is understood today by ASD is that it is configured as a neuropsychiatric disorder that causes language impairment and socialization. OBJECTIVE: In view of the extent to which the diagnosis based on classification manuals of disorders is related to individualizing and pathologizing medical practice, this study sought to advance beyond the individualizing view and reality of child medicalization. METHODOLOGY: This is a descriptive qualitative study, where interviews were used as a data collection instrument, which took place with parents and/or caregivers of children with a diagnosis and/or diagnostic hypothesis of autism who attend the CAPS IJ in the city of Apucarana/PR, with the objective of accessing their ways of understanding what they understand by autism. RESULTS: We can observe in the family members' reports an emphasis on the aspects of pathologization and individualization of autism, which was very present in the statements and its relationship with the medical discourse. It was evidenced the crossing of medical science in the parents' discourse about autism, a fact that determines the way they understand autism, and the forms of treatment considered appropriate. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: In this study we hope that the idea of a "blue world" as the term often used in the autism universe, which is related to the idea of a world that transforms in the face of a diagnosis, can help and contribute to the reader's concern in the face of pathologization, medicalization and individualization.