I have been reading a good deal online about autism, especially high-functioning, and especially women, and scratching down some things for a post. Yet I might not actually write it. While this was spurred by some observations I think are are new (or at least uncommon) and interesting, it's mostly just learning the topic myself. My knowledge is barely systemetised and I doubt I can provide any summary that is not better done by a hundred others. I'm not bringing a lot of product to the market, here.
On the other hand, this group already has a lot of knowledge about the topic (I very much hope the valuable ana maria is still lurking), and starting off a discussion might provide a dock for others to launch from.
On the other, other hand, this is a topic near to my personal life. I don't think any friends, family, or acquaintances have a formal autism diagnosis. But if we take the wheel rather than the linear spectrum approach to ASD, I fit some aspects, and plenty of people in my circle fit others.* Feelings could be hurt. There's no point in that. I come from a generation that resents anyone thinking they have a diagnosis (of OCD, of ADHD, of anxiety or depression - anything behavioral, actually), but the trend now is that younger people are actively seeking diagnoses, some on flimsy evidence. Frankly, I can't navigate between the two.
So we'll see. I'll probably put up something, but it doesn't justify the time spent away from the blog. Ah well, this has happened before. We recover.
*It's one of the problems of the diagnosis at present, that most of the behaviors occur in people who in no way have ASD, and some actual ASD behaviors can be either hypo or hyper something - or they can just be more intense versions of what everyone does. It's a real phenomenon, but a mess to discuss intelligently.
That histogram approach fits with my observations of family, friends, and the ones who attend the local autism society: there seems to be a constellation of presentations, suggesting multiple causes.
ReplyDeleteI often hear people talking about people with X condition as being 'on the spectrum"...but they speak as if they're someone blue who says all the other colors of people are 'on the spectrum', but not the blue ones.
ReplyDeleteIf autism has a presence 'on the spectrum' of human existence, then truly we are all somewhere 'on the spectrum', so none of us should be surprised to see one, a few, or several elements in ourselves or in those we know. But that in no way minimizes the needs that some humans and their families have, and who deserve recognition, accommodation, and/or responsive care.
Thanks for sharing the "wheel" approach. I will have to think about this.
ReplyDeleteOr... these are just words. Credentialed, certified words of present day psychological paramountcy. Paramount but not entirely pertinent, anymore.
ReplyDeleteSomeone in Ancient Greece, or the less insincere for them early Roman times would speak of gods, and myths. It's hard to imagine as much steam power generated in the boiler nowadays as was by the much later Filoque Controversy, however loud the whistle now. Imagine using soul, spirit, body, kerygma - as does Northrop Frye for lucky readers - as verbal tweezers to dissect this, instead of the words we accept now.
Soon enough, all these descriptions we labour under (faster, please) it will be yesterdays fish wrapper. I would bet with no residue.
Strong cultures had much more interesting controversies.