Member of the Center Benjamin Silverman, MD spoke to Spectrum News, a news source on autism research, for an article explaining decisional capacity and informed consent in the context of autism. Silverman describes the ethical balancing act required to enroll subjects with autism in research studies. Informed consent, he explains, is based in "a desire to protect" study participants—but "protecting" those people isn’t as simple as not enrolling them in studies. "If you exclude people with disabilities from research, the outcome of the medical products that get approved won't be helpful for them."
 
Spectrum News