ARW – Project France

ShareHenry Bond, is an English writer, photographer and visual artist, diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome. More surprising, he is a scholar who made contribution to theoretical psychoanalysis and forensics with his book Lacan at the Scene, Published at MIT Press in 2009 in which he analyzes forensics pictures in a lacanian framework. On April 16, 2012, Henry Bond offered his insight on autism and psychoanalysis in the british newspaper “The Guardian“, following the article earlier this month on the BBC. Henry [...]

ShareMichael Brooks published on April 20, 2012 a blog post in the “New Statesman”, an English political affairs magazine, on the attitude of the French intellectuals toward science. Michael Brooks is a quite famous british rationalist and science writer with a PhD in Quantum Physics from the University of Sussex. For Michael Brook, French intellectuals know nothing about science and France has always struggled with evidence-based science. He argues that “being autistic, or the parents of autistic children in France [...]

ShareI strongly support your appeal and hope it goes well. The opinions so clearly expressed in The Wall by the professionals interviewed are entirely their own responses to questions posed and are totally out of keeping with research-based progress made over the past decades in our understanding of the nature of autism, its aetiology and helpful interventions. It is legitimate to question the dominance of these long out-dated, unsubstantiated and destructive views as a basis for service provision and treatment [...]

ShareGood luck with the appeal. The use of the law to suppress clinical debate is a repressive step, and risks bringing the courts themselves into disrepute. And good wishes too for the year of the “Grande Cause Nationale” which could bring modern and humane processes into the management of autism. Eric Taylor Emeritus Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, King’s College London FRCP FRCPsych FMedSci Profile of Eric Taylor at King’s College London Eric Taylor is Emeritus Professor of Child [...]

ShareThe week of January 23rd to January 29th 2012 can be regarded as a landmark week for “Support the Wall – Autism”. Following the articles published in the New York Times and in the International Herald Tribune, this week confirmed the interest of the global autism community for the story of the film “The Wall” and more largely the issues faced by autism in France. Jan. 24, 2012 “Support The Wall – Autism” and “Collectif Soutenons Le Mur” release funny [...]

Share From as long ago as the 1980s I have tried to show that psychoanalytic approaches do not have a positive contribution to make to autism and can even be harmful. I am amazed that psychoanalysts are still trying to claim that they can help – ignoring the insights on autism that science has achieved over the last three decades. But this looks like a last desperate bid, which to me is totally against the spirit of Enlightenment. I support [...]

ShareThis statement of support was sent to us on Jan. 28th 2012 by Dorothy Bishop, Professor of Developmental Neuropsychology, at the Department of Experimental Psychology at Oxford University. “I am very concerned at the continuing use of psychoanalysis as a treatment for autism in France. There is no evidence that this is effective, and good reason to suppose it could be damaging both for children with autism and their parents. It is remarkable that this kind of thing persists in [...]

ShareBBC World Service talked about “The Wall” by Sophie Robert on Jan. 25th 2012. “AUTISM IN FRANCE Big questions about the dominance of one approach to dealing with autism are being aired in a French court this week. Le Mur – or The Wall – is a documentary film which compares the psychoanalytic method with the more American behavioural approach. Some of the psychoanalysts included in it want it banned. The brainchild of Sigmund Freud, psychoanalysis is still influential in [...]

ShareEd West, a journalist and social commentator who specialises in politics, religion and low culture, published in “The Telegraph“ on Jan 24th 2012, an article on the transgender taboo. In this article, he cites “The Wall” as an evidence to prove that orthodoxy can change accross time. Excerpt: “And what’s the orthodoxy in one generation can quickly become laughable in the next. There was a New York Time piece the other about how autism in France is still treated using Freud:  [...] [...]