Autism study is my life’s work. The spectrum has lost all meaning (Madeleine Spence, March 07 2026, Times uk)
Now emeritus professor of cognitive development at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, Frith, 84, is having second thoughts about the framework. “I think the spectrum has come to its collapse,” she says, over Zoom. Her cheerful and gentle manner feels incongruous with the gravity of the point she is making: Frith thinks that the autism spectrum is broken. That our approach is at best no longer relevant and at worst damaging. Not only that, she is also challenging a modern doctrine in science that values inclusivity as an end in itself.
It is this inclusivity, Frith says, that means “there is no longer a common denominator for all the individuals who are diagnosed as having ASD [autism spectrum disorder].
“The spectrum has become so accommodating that I fear that it has now been stretched so far that it has become meaningless and is no longer useful as a medical diagnosis.”