It's not going well, and here I have already started it (Serendipity, Demand Avoidance) without the introduction. First things first.
Required Lengthy Definition and Apologies.
As before, my choice of terms. Sorry to irritate my regular readers (who are almost my only readers now, such is today's less-volatile blogging, where few come in and few go out anymore) with such tediousness. I still greatly prefer the term Asperger's , or the more playful "Aspie" for the type of High-Functioning Autism that many of us run into far more often than we have heretofore realised. It is still a clearly distinct phenomenon from classic autism in my mind, however deeply related. That may be generational and related to my training. They were both first identified in the 40s, but once you know it, you can see it screaming out at you in the biographies of earlier folks, especially physics, math, and engineering types. See Nikola Tesla, for example, for one among a thousand names you would recognise.
We are now supposed to refer to it as Autism Spectrum Disorder, with a designation Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3, depending on how much support people need to function. I get it, because it realise is better to identify what people need to find a niche in society rather than focus on how impaired they are, but My Aspie's that I am talking about I would laughingly describe as Level 0, as they do not need any interventions and indeed are sometimes those who provide supports for others. I have known Aspie neurologists, psychologists, and especially, one particular social worker. They don't need supports, but sometimes their method of operating inconveniences others and they need to be worked around. And in a few cases, sometimes they just irritate the hell out of people. Think Steve Jobs, Elon Musk.
But Asperger himself seems to have cooperated with the Nazis - whether a little or a lot is unknown - and been something of a eugenicist - whether a 1920s Progressive sort that favored forced sterilisation or a modern person who just thinks we should find some ways to encourage well-adapted people to have more children, who get called eugenicists as if they favored euthanising others against their wills or something. So we can't use the name anymore, and So Be It. Except I'm old, and I'm going to keep doing it anyway. Yet I also like varying my terms for ease of reading, so I will use "autists," "folks with Asperger's," or "HFA's" not-quite interchangeably.
The 2015 estimate is that Aspie's are less than 1% of the population, but I think that is ridiculously low. Of course, because I am informal, because I am seeking to understand and explain behaviors rather than diagnose them and treat them, I include people who just have some symptoms or tendencies, not a full-blown diagnosis. I include myself, for example. But people of my generation who can't help but think of repetitive head-bangers or nonverbal children when they hear the word "autism" sometimes deeply resent any suggestion they have the condition. I'm including folks who have a streak of it. Though on my Nostalgia Destruction Tour I did learn that a few who I thought had "a streak" might come close to qualifying for a full ASD Level 1 diagnosis. They don't notice it. They thinks these difficulties are everyone else's fault. In addition to being good at choosing a profession suited to them, they have often adapted by carefully curating their friend groups to similar people: low-drama, low-intrusion, low-commitment.
Let's assume this is a fair summary: https://ascendautism.com/ascend-autism-blog/understanding-autism-level-1/
ReplyDeleteAs a complete non-expert, I wonder if there ought to be Autism Level 0. People with Level 1 tendencies, but are non-professionally coachable, by parent, siblings, sports coaches, managers, etc...
I work in tech, and I deal with a lot of people with Level 1 strengths and varying degrees of their challenges. The only thing impact adult workplace behavior might be: "Difficulty with nonverbal conversation skills, such as distance, loudness, or tone during conversations".
When I'm in a managerial role, I generally coach young people on this and other workplace etiquette.
For more senior members of my team that display these tendencies, and appear to be uncoachable, I try to put them in a place that they can succeed. Honestly, I try to do that for everybody anyway. When everything gels, folks displaying these traits are some of my best workers.
Thank you. Great comment. Stay tuned.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking as autistic woman myself, I can tell you that the disorder affects even the sexes differently. It often goes under-diagnosed in girls because boys are more likely to act out a throw things, girls are more likely to merely zone out. I've actually heard of women who knew they had some kind of problem growing up but didn't know it was autism until later in life.
ReplyDeleteAuthor Brenda Smith-Myles collaborated with two others on a book called "The Hidden Curriculum: Practical Solutions for Understanding Unstated Rules in Social Situations". It discusses such things as what does a person mean when they ask if you know how to get to thus-and-such place, or understanding that "office supplies" includes such things as the toilet paper in the bathroom. I myself have never read the book itself, but in March of '15, I attended a seminar here in Madison where Smith-Myles did a presentation on the Hidden Curriculum, and I learned a lot from that.