Published on 12, July, 2020
Sorry to ask but the more I read all of you, the more I wonder. I take part in this forum because I am the mum of an autistic boy who has sever language delay, stimming, meltdowns, shuttdowns etc.. however I am an astrophysicist and in my career I have worked with many people with small quirks and we were all working together in this very open minded rational atmosphere without anyone refering to an autistic label. Sure my office mate was always making the same joke and switching the lights in the same order and unplugging his things I'd be there or not but I never made a fuss about it.. I just reminded him I was still there and he would very kindly switch on the light again for me. Just to say, has society become so normative that no more quirks are allowed because all sensitive rational people (most scientists are by nature) have, as far as I have seen (nearly 50 years old, lived in 5 countries and met loads of scientists, engineers and the like. Is society excluding this way of thinking more and more? Or is there more that I do not get? What is the border between autism and hypersensitive rational (which tend to go hand in hand)?
As an autistic scientist (clinically diagnosed), I would say that clinical diagnosis, and the traits that lead to clinical diagnosis, are the border between autistic-like behaviours and autism. What I glean from your post, is that your view regards people with less overt autistic traits than your son as being not autistic. Please correct me if I am wrong. If my appreciation of your post is correct then I have to say that it insults and invalidates the many autistic people that manage, with great difficulty and considerable distress, to function in a society that is hostile to them.
Working for 34 years in scientific research I would say that autistic and autistic-like people are more common in science than in the general population.
This was my thoughts when I read the post as well, and I put off from responding as I didn’t want to appear to be defensive.
I wish I just had small quirks. I doubt it would affect my life in such a way that I am completely unable to form any relationships, struggle with life every single day - even simple things such as an example booking in a service for my car (it’s now way overdue and another additional tick towards my daily anxiety). Getting a diagnosis wasn’t so I could just share it with other people, I wanted to try and understand what was wrong with me.
I can imagine your struggle, we all have at some point when society evolves in a direction that pushes us out but I do not want to minimise your struggle with that. As an "edgy" as you can put me I question the other side, what wrong with neurotipicals?, which is also a spectrum I find. Shall we send to therapy people who are not able to use logic by the age of 3? Not able to think rationally by x? Sorry I am provocative but I do not admit that the problem lies only on on one side.
My sincere apology, I by no means want to minimise your struggle.