Ladders to the Sky: Implications of 'Mental Retardation' in Vishakhapatnam, India
Bell, Amber K.; Nuckolls, Charles
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have never been studied from an ethnographic basis in anthropology. The study originally focused on only families with autistic members. Due to Indian definitions of mental illness, the study was broadened from the cultural view of ASDs to studying the 'mentally retarded' and focused on autistics within that definition. I wanted to study: the cultural definitions of mental illness, what treatments were being used, and how these definitions affected families that included patients.
This paper has been withdrawn.