Brain Scan a good thing.?

This is my first post in this discussion.

It might soon be possible to discover if someone is Autistic by a brain scan.

There is information about the new brain scan on the web site and the articles were written last year in 2010.   Anyone can look it up for themselves on the web.

 

The computer can tell small differences in the brain so tell if the person is on the Autistic Spectrum.

It would be much quicker than interviewing the person.

I do not know if a person would count as Autistic if they behaved as though they were but the brain scan did not show Autism.

People in that situation might be denied help if they did not count as Autistic.

In the 1980s I was told that the brain scans did not detect anything wrong with my brians.   People who knew me were not impressed.

I have since done brain scans for research the idea being to find out by scanning many Autistic people if their brains are different from Non Autistic people.

That research might have helped them develop the new brain scan.

Do you think the new brain scan will be a good thing when it is developed?

What would you feel if the brain scan found that your were not Autistic? 

David

Parents
  • I am very much for the research leading towards a brain scan diagnostic method, if it can be implemented with a high degree of accuracy. In my case diagnosis was hampered as my parents had split up when I was younger. Only my mum was available to discuss what I was like when I was younger and she isn't exactly a great conversationalist either.

    There is a potential risk of NT's seeing "different brain" as analogous to "defective/inferior brain", and bullying Autistics. OTOH there is hopefully the potential to help NT's understand that there is a difference in our brains, and that we are the way we are and should be accepted for that - as opposed to being considered responsible for our problems or expected to get some magical cure or medication that does not exist etc. We have to remember there is not an NT person hidden behind the Autism waiting for a "cure", and there will never be a cure of any kind.

    The biggest risk the Autistic community faces is eugenic elimination through pre-natal testing. If this ever happened the numbers of Autistics would go down fast, marginalising those us who remain even further. Parents need to be reminded that even NT kids can be difficult and challenging, and by aborting a child screened as Autistic they could be preventing the next Albert Einstein, Temple Grandin, or countless other great Autistics from ever being born. There's strength in numbers and one day the NT's will develop the cognitive potential to appreciate the benefits of Neurodiversity.

Reply
  • I am very much for the research leading towards a brain scan diagnostic method, if it can be implemented with a high degree of accuracy. In my case diagnosis was hampered as my parents had split up when I was younger. Only my mum was available to discuss what I was like when I was younger and she isn't exactly a great conversationalist either.

    There is a potential risk of NT's seeing "different brain" as analogous to "defective/inferior brain", and bullying Autistics. OTOH there is hopefully the potential to help NT's understand that there is a difference in our brains, and that we are the way we are and should be accepted for that - as opposed to being considered responsible for our problems or expected to get some magical cure or medication that does not exist etc. We have to remember there is not an NT person hidden behind the Autism waiting for a "cure", and there will never be a cure of any kind.

    The biggest risk the Autistic community faces is eugenic elimination through pre-natal testing. If this ever happened the numbers of Autistics would go down fast, marginalising those us who remain even further. Parents need to be reminded that even NT kids can be difficult and challenging, and by aborting a child screened as Autistic they could be preventing the next Albert Einstein, Temple Grandin, or countless other great Autistics from ever being born. There's strength in numbers and one day the NT's will develop the cognitive potential to appreciate the benefits of Neurodiversity.

Children
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