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Rain Man Movie Analysis

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While it cannot be denied that environmental factors have played a role in the rapid increase, some question whether the so-called epidemic cannot be explained by an expanded criteria for diagnosing children with autism. The increased number of diagnoses in autism cannot be debated. During the nineteen eighties, the Center for Disease control estimated that one in two thousand children were afflicted by a disorder classifying as an autistic spectrum disorder. However, the estimate has now risen to one in one hundred sixty-six children while the U.S. department of Education has claimed that autism has increased 657% from 1993 through to 2003. However, it is possible that such staggering increases are not entirely due to an actual increase of …show more content…

At the same time awareness for the disorder was increasing, public awareness was raised as autism was introduced into popular culture. In particular, the movie Rain Man proved to be extremely influential, introducing a previously foreign and unheard of disorder to millions of viewers, and playing its role in the rising awareness by conflating the image of the antisocial savant with autism. As the general public received new if somewhat distorted perceptions of an autistic individual, awareness for the condition was further elevated and it is entirely possible and even probable that parents began to observe characteristics of the disorder in their own children. At the same time the public was gaining a better, more informed perspective on autism, the definition of Autism was being expanded to include other less severe disorders, such as Aspergers Syndrome and disorders classified as Pervasive Developmental Disorder, all of which shared the social reticence and disinterest in human interaction which is inherent to the very definition of Autism. By the twenty-first century, a new, growing, perception of Autism along with an expanded criteria for diagnoses had taken

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