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)?
Annie
,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'.
Your words above.
You are talking to a community of many of whom have struggled their whole lives to achieve the things they wanted to and have now achieved a diagnosis which puts this struggle into context.
I personally had a mother who spent her whole life with undiagnosed mental illness (more than autism) and that deeply impacted her life and caused deep suffering for my father, myself and sisters.
I have to ask you a couple of questions as I still find you difficult to understand:
1. Your son has been diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder.
Do you believe that is a correct diagnosis, ie that ASD exists, and what is it about his symptoms that makes you believe this?
2. You are addessing some of the higher functioning people in society with this diagnosis.
Do you believe that is a correct diagnosis, understanding it is a spectrum, and if not, which appears to be the case, what is it about our symptoms that makes you believe this?
This is the diagnostic triage of impairments (which I am sure you must know, or you wouldn't be on here telling us what you think about us).
Language and communication: difficulties in recognising and understanding verbal and non-verbal language, such as gestures, facial expressions and tone of voice.
Social Emotion: difficulties with recognising and understanding other people's feelings and managing their own.
Sensory Perception: Many autistic people experience some form of sensory sensitivity (hyper) or under-sensitivity (hypo). There are 7 senses - auditory, visual, touch, taste, smell, proprioception and vestibular.
I do not think in terms of us and them, my view of the spectrum includes the entire humanity. I lack this black and white view of the world. For instance my boss is blind to non-verbal language, facial expression and tone voice, is hypo sensitive (no smell for instance) and has difficulty in understanding feelings at large. She is however not considered by society nor by herself as autistic. This orientation has NOT brought to her heavy life troubles so far. As for my son his sensory perception is more extreme: hyper visual auditory taste and smell and hypo in proprioception and vestibular. He is struggling a lot with recognizing and dealing with own emotions. So I guess my question was more what ASD diagnosis brings to you and this you have answered very clearly! Thank you and please forgive me if I have offended you that was really not my intention. I should improve my social skills ;)
I think there is alot to learn on this thread. It would have been easy to attack your comments, but everyone has really been very understanding. I've seen how language can be miscommunicated on the internet and how nasty people can also be.
I work with an individual. He thinks he own's his own house and is perfectly fine.
The truth is, he is autistic and has other problems. He also came from a mental health unit and doesn't in fact own the house. He needs support. So what someone may think, isn't nessessarily the cold hard truth.
I agree. It's really positive to see this volume of differing views expressed without a descent into nastiness.