Is Affection of Contact Primary in the Developmental Process ?
Yuya Mori
Volume 5 Issue 1 Pages 82-93
First Published: September 30, 2022
[in Japanese]
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to clarify the nature of the experience structure of people with autism through analysis of studies related to autism and memoirs of those involved. Illustrating the structure of experiences of people with autism will not only be a useful perspective in medical treatment and education of people with autism, but will also reveal the structures that support experiences that are too routine and overlooked by people with typical development. In this paper, we first review the general definition and history of autism. Next, we review the discussion in Yasuhiko Murakami’s The Phenomenology of Autism and introduce three important concepts in explaining autism: affection of contact, diagrammatization, and dimensionalization of reality. We then reconsider the concept of diagrammatization based on the phenomenon described by Satsuki Ayaya in Tohjisha-Kenkyu[sufferer’s first-person study] of Develop-mental Disabilities: We want to connect with others slowly and carefully. In addition, we discuss different positions of Yasuhiko Murakami and Takeshi Utsumi, and Shinichiro Kumagai and Koichiro Kokubun regarding whether or not affection of contact is primary in the developmental process, and argue that Murakami and Utsumi’s view that regards the lack of affection of contact as primary is more convincing. Finally, we present an important point derived from Kumagai and Kokubun’s argument that there are two variants in the location of communication difficulties.
Key words
autism, developmental disabilities affection of contact, diagrammatization
