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Big Fat Rant: What is ASD

Elan

I'm having a rant. Bear with me.

Great you have ASD, we don't know what it is, we don't know what causes it, we don't know how to diagnose it, we don't know how to catergorise it, (change 'we don't know' to 'we disgree on' if it makes you feel better) but you have it, good luck.

Pyschatry, the DSM, Baron-Cohen are fluffy enough, but trying to grasp anything definitive from the hypothesis, abstractions, speculation and incomplete data out there is something else entirely, I wonder if the fluff of ASD is just giving people jobs.

What /is/ ASD?

Is it a word for quirky people whose accompanying commobidities means they require support?

Is ASD it's own commbodities e.g. PD, ID, MD, ND, LD, SD, AD, GC which taken together equate interactional difficulties? ~

Is it a collection of disorders whose symptons just happen to be very similar?

Is it the result of an interruption in usual brain development?

Is it an altnerative form of common brain development? 

Why is it a disability?

Does anyone even know?

It's so fluffy to me. In terms of agreement I see ony 3 unanimous phrases: 

difficultuties with interacting, hetergenity, (brain) developmental problem. 

To unpack - 1 major characteristic is difficulty with interacting. And then the hetergenity of ASD means you could have a few, to several to none of the other commonly associated characteristics -which in themselves would show up in a variety of ways according to the individual and to varying degrees on top of that.

Right now to me this is looking like a fun interpretitve guessing game for a doctor  

However the reson for this difficulty interacting is meant to lie in something wrong happening in the brain of an ASD person while it was still developing - but who gets their brain checked when they are being diagnosed? Right, it's down to your doctors opinion, maybe if you're unlucky even their mood. In fact ASD is often called a syndrome, I asked wiki what a syndrom is, here's what it said:

'A syndrome, in medicine and psychology, is the collection of signs and symptoms that are observed in, and characteristic of, a single condition.' So basically you're depending on your doctors observational and interpreting skills--well good luck--might as well go to an astrologer.

There are so many theories my head hurts, lets hope that if your doctor is farmilar with any, it's the one you can actually relate to -

Androgen Theory

Theory of Mind

Executive Function

Weak Central Coherance

Multiple defciet account

Female Protective Model (chromosone version vs wiring version)

Social Bias Theory 

There's the risk factors to take your pick from too

Epigenetics (a number of genes whose combination increase suscetability)

Inheritance

Prenatal to childhood theories inc:

Parental age

Illness

Exposure to particular substences/chemicals/hormones 

Childbirth complications

GI

Nutrition

It's a bloody study discipline isn't it? Individuals go undiagnosed, the diagnosed go poorly supported or unsupported and then we just have fluff, lot's of talk of fluff, fluffity fluffity fluffity-

----------------
~ Physical Disability, Intellectual Disability, Learning Disability, Mental Disorder, Neurological Disorders (e.g. epilepsy), Sensory Disorders, Attention Disorder, Genetic Conditions
Parents

  • From what I can tell, society as a whole has always sought a 'common foe'. Whether it was fighting another tribe, another country...

    Even in society, theres misconceptions about 'race' defining an individual, as well as gender, but as we move towards a more 'equal' society where such things as gender and ethnicity become obsolete for arguements, the society then looks for another 'foe'.

    In recent years, permanent disability has almost become its own ethnicity, with politicians calling for debates on euthanasia of disabled children (UKIP, Cornish MP), progressive Governments stripping away assistance for the disabled as though they would suddenly 'recover' in order to survive.

    There is a lot of public hatred towards a certain demographic of the disabled however... the 'unseen disability'. Many still rely on the old saying, 'seeing is believing', yet in a society where more and more individuals are presenting symptoms of/are being diagnosed with mental health problems, there is still this state of denial, that 'they can get better if they try'.

    I theorise this is the 'fear of the unknown'. Due to the fact that there is so little research into conditions such as autism, the criteria remains ambiguous for intitial diagnosis.

    Which leads on to a knock on effect. With no real solid basis for the 'cause' of autism, researchers have yet thoroughly investigate the symptoms and the effects upon the individuals in question.

    Admittedly theres been a surge in support and awareness for children within primary schools with an ASD diagnosis, yet in the workplace there is next to no flexibility. In fact, flexibility is discouraged by the business dynamics in order for companies to thrive. Its of little wonder that most people are now suffering from some form of stress or anxiety disorder due to their workplace, so how, if NT's cannot cope, are individuals on the specturm who could work expect to manage without dire consequences?

    And a final parting word....

    If those on the spectrum have difficulty emphasising with others, then why is it so many with forms of ASD feel the pain of others (both on and off the spectrum) suffering when those in Government do not?

    People should start treating those on the spectrum with respect, whether its as individuals, or be able to respect that a doctor is correct in giving a diagnosis. Education is the only way to overcome the misconceptions of society as it is at the present.

    ....apologies, that went on a bit more of a rant than I'd anticipated.

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  • From what I can tell, society as a whole has always sought a 'common foe'. Whether it was fighting another tribe, another country...

    Even in society, theres misconceptions about 'race' defining an individual, as well as gender, but as we move towards a more 'equal' society where such things as gender and ethnicity become obsolete for arguements, the society then looks for another 'foe'.

    In recent years, permanent disability has almost become its own ethnicity, with politicians calling for debates on euthanasia of disabled children (UKIP, Cornish MP), progressive Governments stripping away assistance for the disabled as though they would suddenly 'recover' in order to survive.

    There is a lot of public hatred towards a certain demographic of the disabled however... the 'unseen disability'. Many still rely on the old saying, 'seeing is believing', yet in a society where more and more individuals are presenting symptoms of/are being diagnosed with mental health problems, there is still this state of denial, that 'they can get better if they try'.

    I theorise this is the 'fear of the unknown'. Due to the fact that there is so little research into conditions such as autism, the criteria remains ambiguous for intitial diagnosis.

    Which leads on to a knock on effect. With no real solid basis for the 'cause' of autism, researchers have yet thoroughly investigate the symptoms and the effects upon the individuals in question.

    Admittedly theres been a surge in support and awareness for children within primary schools with an ASD diagnosis, yet in the workplace there is next to no flexibility. In fact, flexibility is discouraged by the business dynamics in order for companies to thrive. Its of little wonder that most people are now suffering from some form of stress or anxiety disorder due to their workplace, so how, if NT's cannot cope, are individuals on the specturm who could work expect to manage without dire consequences?

    And a final parting word....

    If those on the spectrum have difficulty emphasising with others, then why is it so many with forms of ASD feel the pain of others (both on and off the spectrum) suffering when those in Government do not?

    People should start treating those on the spectrum with respect, whether its as individuals, or be able to respect that a doctor is correct in giving a diagnosis. Education is the only way to overcome the misconceptions of society as it is at the present.

    ....apologies, that went on a bit more of a rant than I'd anticipated.

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