Prof Simon Baron-Cohen is to oversee a new autism research centre at Cambridge funded by a US philanthropist’s gift. Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian View image in fullscreen Prof Simon Baron-Cohen is to oversee a new autism research centre at Cambridge funded by a US philanthropist’s gift. Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian Autism Pioneer of ‘extreme male brain’ theory of autism now says phrase unhelpful Exclusive: Prof Simon Baron-Cohen says his language was misunderstood and it is a myth that autistic people lack empathy
Prefer the Guardian on Google The scientist who pioneered the “extreme male brain” theory of autism has said he regrets characterising the condition in this way because the phrase lends itself to misunderstandings.
Prof Simon Baron-Cohen’s theory that autistic people tend strongly towards systemising over empathising has been hugely influential in shaping the popular perception of autism over the past two decades. The underlying science had stood the test of time, he said, but he now views the “extreme male brain” label as unhelpful.
Read more “Some of those terms were very easily misunderstood and so I do regret that,” he said. “It can lead to simplistic headlines like ‘autistic people lack empathy’, which is not true.
“Some of that language, like male brain and female brain, I just don’t think it’s useful today.”
Speaking to the Guardian before the announcement of a £26m ($34.5m) gift to Cambridge University from the US philanthropist Lisa Yang, Baron-Cohen said the funding would be used for research guided by the priorities of the autistic community.
It is one of the largest ever donations to a UK university for autism research and will be used to create the K Lisa Yang Centre for Autism Research, and a clinical autism centre in a future Cambridge children’s hospital, both of which Baron-Cohen will oversee.
The research centre is expected to focus on improving life expectancy and health outcomes for autistic people, earlier diagnosis and practical solutions to improve quality of life. The physical health of autistic people, in particular, is an area that has been overlooked, according to Baron-Cohen.
“Although people think of autism as to do with the mind and the brain, what’s been neglected is the fact that autistic people tend to die younger,” he said.
Recent findings by his team, which are yet to be peer-reviewed, suggest autistic people are at substantially increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Based on data from 141,672 people, they concluded that autistic women were at 71% higher risk of a heart attack, stroke and other serious cardiac events, even after taking into account known risk factors such as blood pressure, diabetes and obesity.
“If you’d asked me 20 years ago to look at autism and cardiovascular disease, it just wouldn’t have been on our radar, but it’s come from the autism community,” Baron-Cohen said.
Reasons for the association could include difficulty accessing NHS services, lifestyle or genetic factors. “It suggests if your patient is autistic, you need to be looking for these particular things as well,” he said. “It could have a direct benefit.”
The centre is also likely to explore physical health experiences of autistic women, including distress related to childbirth and menstrual issues, which some previous findings indicate may be more common.
“That could relate to the sensory hypersensitivity, but it could be directly hormonal as well,” said Baron-Cohen.