Jonathan Mitchell (born September 7, 1955) is an American author and

autistic The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

blogger who writes about autism including the

neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, development ...

of the disorder and

neurodiversity Neurodiversity refers to diversity in the human brain and cognition, for instance in sociability, learning, attention, mood and other mental functions. It was coined in 1998 by sociologist Judy Singer, who helped popularize the concept alo ...

movement. His novel ''The Mu Rhythm Bluff'' is about a 49-year-old autistic man who undergoes

transcranial magnetic stimulation Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a noninvasive form of brain stimulation in which a changing magnetic field is used to induce an electric current at a specific area of the brain through electromagnetic induction. An electric pulse gener ...

Biography

Mitchell was born in 1955 and at the age of 12, he was diagnosed with autism. He attended

psychoanalytic therapy PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...

as a child. He also attended mainstream and special education schools facing expulsion and being bullied. Mitchell has done data entry jobs but was fired many times for his behavior. After retiring at 51 years old, he attempted to get

SSDI Social Security Disability Insurance (SSD or SSDI) is a payroll tax-funded Federal Insurance Contributions Act tax, federal insurance program of the United States government. It is managed by the Social Security Administration and designed to p ...

but was not successful. He lives in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and is supported by his parents. Mitchell has volunteered in scientific research for autism and has served as an experimental subject to Eric Courchesne. Mitchell claims that having autism has prevented him from having a girlfriend or making a living.

Advocacy

Mitchell has been described by ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

'' as an extremely controversial voice in the autism

blogosphere The blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community (or as a collection of connected communities) or as a social networking service in which everyday authors can p ...

for wanting a cure and discussing the need to consider the longer-term effects of autism. Mitchell has been criticized by other autism/autistic bloggers for his pro-cure stance. In 2015, during a ''Newsweek'' profiling, the journalist was urged by Mitchell's critics to not write about him. In a 2015 commentary in the ''

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

'', immunologist and autism community supporter Neil Greenspan mentioned that Mitchell would be very unlikely to demand that others seek autism treatment, should it become widely available. Responding to Mitchell's commentary on neurodiversity in the magazine ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

'', Nick Cohen agreed with his statement that many neurodiversity advocates can hold down careers and provide for families, and cannot speak on behalf of those that are more severely impacted. Jonathan Rose, a history professor at

Drew University Drew University is a private university in Madison, New Jersey. Drew has been nicknamed the "University in the Forest" because of its wooded campus. As of fall 2020, more than 2,200 students were pursuing degrees at the university's three scho ...

, agreed with this commentary (that neurodiversity is over-represented in the media and at the

Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) is a United States federal advisory panel within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). It coordinates all efforts within HHS concerning autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The IACC was ...

), since profoundly autistic individuals have difficulty advocating for themselves. By contrast, author Jessie Hewitson described many of the difficulties associated with autism as challenges, but that his autism is "not an affliction".

Interests

Mitchell has written the novel ''The Mu Rhythm Bluff'', which is about a 49-year-old man who undergoes

to treat his autism. Regarding the novel, neurobiology professor

Manuel Casanova Manuel F. Casanova is the SmartState Endowed Chair in Childhood Neurotherapeutics and a professor of Biomedical Sciences at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville. He is a former Gottfried and Gisela Kolb Endowed Chair in ...

wrote that he was impressed with Mitchell's scientific knowledge. Mitchell has been working on another novel titled ''The School of Hard Knocks'', which is about an abusive special education school. He has also written twenty-five short stories. Mitchell's writing has been compared by the novelist

Lawrence Osborne Lawrence Osborne (born 1958) is a British novelist and journalist who is currently residing in Bangkok. Osborne was educated at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, and at Harvard University, and has since led a nomadic life, residing for years in ...

to the work of

David Miedzianik David Christopher Miedzianik (, born 24 July 1956) is an English autistic poet and writer. His writings portray the more difficult aspects of autism. Additionally, most of his poems focus on social difficulties that he experiences. He is u ...

, a UK-based autistic poet and writer. Mitchell served as a subject for an

MRI Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to form pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes of the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and radio waves ...

study conducted by autism researcher Eric Courchesne. He has been exchanging emails with neurologist Marco Iacoboni with questions about

mirror neurons A mirror neuron is a neuron that fires both when an animal acts and when the animal observes the same action performed by another. Thus, the neuron "mirrors" the behavior of the other, as though the observer were itself acting. Such neurons hav ...

since 2010. Mitchell has also followed Casanova's work, which focuses on abnormalities within the brain's minicolumns.

References

External links

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Autism's Gadfly
Mitchell's blog {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Jonathan 1955 births 21st-century American writers Activists from California American fiction writers American male writers American people with disabilities Autism activists Living people People on the autism spectrum Writers from Los Angeles