SINGAPORE: A well-known psychologist has questioned the use of the term “superpower” to describe those with severe disabilities such as profound autism.
Emily Hanlon, who has a high profile as The Playful Psychologist, said any suggestion that her brother Richard’s severe autism was a superpower felt like “gaslighting”.
“Nothing about our home life is super powerful,” she said.
“I love my brother. He’s my best friend. I named my first born after him. But growing up with him was not easy. Calling it a superpower completely disregards all the challenges that we have faced as a family and all the difficulties he’s experienced growing up.”
Her comments, made as part of the Unpacked: A Neurodivergent Generation panel, come as the superpower term is increasingly being used to describe disabilities.
Some have embraced the term as a positive, while others see it as underplaying the discrimination, barriers and challenges faced by those with disabilities.
Mrs Hanlon said her mother, Randa Habelrih, went to the doctor to get answers after Richard’s birth 29 years ago and was told by a doctor: “Have another child. Forget about this one. Have another baby.”
“That was the answer to how we support this child. So she just took matters into her own hands and we worked really, really hard as a family to get him to the point of walking, talking, communicating, being the fun, loving, social guy that he is,” Mrs Hanlon said.
“None of that came easily. So when you talk about that being a superpower, well actually the superpower is my parents who worked tirelessly behind the scenes getting him to that point.”
Mrs Hanlon is a panellist on Unpacked: A Neurodivergent Generation, an exclusive News Corp video series aimed at supporting those caring for children with ADHD, autism and anxiety.
The first episode covers diagnosis pathways and medication decisions and dilemmas. The second episode, launching on Monday March 16, looks at schooling options, and includes Mrs Habelrih.
Annabel Tannenbaum, inclusive educator and neurodivergent advocate with lived experience of autism, ADHD, anxiety, and PTSD, also said she did not like the term.
“We don’t need to glamorise, we need to understand. There may be certain traits such as creativity or hyperfocus that we may see as a superpower,” she said.
“But calling it a superpower is not understanding the intense struggles.”
Others on the panel offered different views of the superpower descriptor.
Former AFL footballer Heath Shaw said the term could be useful for children “as it may help them accept the diagnosis if they are hesitant about it”.
“It may help the parents sell that story about maybe going on medication or anything like that. The word probably more leans towards kids than adults, but I do like it,” he said.
Mother-of-two Lara Bird agreed the term can be useful for children.
Her son Leo, 12, whose video describing his autism and ADHD as “like limited-edition Lego, which is different and unique” has been viewed around the world.
“As a kid, you want to make this as comfortable and lighthearted as possible. So, if that’s the way that you want to sell it – that it’s a superpower – I don’t see that there’s anything wrong with that,” Ms Bird said.
Mrs Habelrih, the founder and director of Autism MATES and a passionate advocate for those living on the spectrum, said Richard had “surpassed all expectations”.
“He now runs his own business. He has an intellectual disability, but he’s created a business called Freckly Faces,” she said.
“He makes chocolate freckles. I run the website for him and do the admin, but he makes the freckles. So he’s earning income, he’s meeting people, he goes out with his support worker on deliveries, which is just wonderful.”