Autism-Europe aisbl is an international association whose main objective is to advance the rights of persons with autism and their families and to help them improve their quality of life.
Autism-Europe plays a key role in raising public awareness, and in influencing the European decision-makers on all issues relating to autism, including the promotion of the rights of people with autism and other disabilities involving complex dependency needs.
A new documentary film has been released, which condemns psychoanalysts’ for their treatment of Autism in France. The film, titled Le Mur: La psychoanalyse à l’épreuve de l’Autisme (‘The Wall: Psychoanalysis put to the test for Autism’ in English), features interviews with several psychoanalysts who practise in France. In the film, some of the psychoanalysts give confronting and unproven theories about the causes of Autism, claiming that it is the result of mothers who are cold and unattached to their children.
Since the release of the film, three of the psychoanalysts interviewed have taken legal action, claiming damages from the film’s director, Sophie Robert, and Autistes Sans Frontière.
Autism-Europe has, for many years, condemned the practices of psychoanalysts who offer treatment for Autism that is not based on evidence gained from high quality medical research. Following a collective complaint made by Autism-Europe in 2004, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe condemned France for failing to fulfil its educational obligations to people with Autism under the European Social Charter.
Educational rights for people with Autism include the right to accurate information about their disorder and evidence-based intervention.
More information about the theories around the causes of Autism, can be obtained from credible scientific sources such as this article in the The Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice, which was written 10 years ago.
View the film with English subtitles
View the film in French only
