Autism. A word that conjures up many and varied reactions. For some it’s fear, for some it’s sadness, for some it’s horror and for some it is even pride. Autism a word that is bandied around in so many ways from a diagnosis to an insult. What is it and what does it mean?
I wrote a little quote a few months ago that resonated with quite a few people.
At the end of the day you don’t get to just take it off. There is no on or off switch. It is just a part of who you are. You can’t it, you can’t heal it, you can’t cure it. You can’t repair it you can’t alter it.
In fact it isn’t even an it. It’s a living breathing intrinsically connected part of the autistic person. You can accept the autistic person, include them, maybe make some accommodations, but overall include them as a fully functioning valuable and complete member of society. – As published on June 20 at www.facebook.com/bespectrummed
I wrote this little quote in an attempt to sum up something of what it means to be autistic. As something to capture what it is to live autistically. To counter the idea of autism being something you get, something that has an external cause that can be found and dealt with and taken away, solved, healed. That through some treatment an autistic person can be recovered.
Autism. What isn’t it. Here’s a bit of a list.
- Rope worms
- Any parasites
- A disease of the gut
- Caused by vaccines
- The result of bad parenting
- The result of bad diet
No Autism is none of these things. It just isn’t. 1.25 million people studied has shown that vaccines do not cause or trigger autism. Yet still myths continue about these things that cause supposedly cause it. The thing is though, you don’t have to dig too far to see that those that promote these ideas have a vested interest in selling some dangerous or useless homeopathic treatment to “recover” children from autism.
What autism is then, is what is known as a pervasive developmental difference. Psychiatrists, psychologists and other health professionals like to use the word disorder rather than difference but I don’t concur with this. I am not disordered by neurology I am different. Disorder implies something less or wrong. I am not less I am not wrong, I am different.
Autism is a different way of thinking. A different way of being. A different way of experiencing the world. How this difference is manifested is of infinite variety. There is no one way of being autistic. There are some commonalities though such us heightened sensory experiences or needs, communication differences, which, often result in very literal interpretation, expression and understanding. Language delay in terms of speaking with our mouth parts is a common experience for autistic people also.
Autism itself is not a disease. It just isn’t. It is important though to acknowledge that there are comorbid conditions that at times exist together with autism. For example it is not uncommon for autistic people to also be diagnosed with ADHD. Other common comorbids are anxiety and depression, OCD and ODD. Another very common one is Sensory Processing Disorder. None of these are autism, they are all absolutely separate from it.
To be autistic is to be disabled, not in a physical impairment sense but in a social model sense. It is to be disabled by the social expectations, the social rules, in effect the social system which expects a neurotypial way of being and refuses to accommodate and allow for an autistic way of being.
Autism is a way of difference, in a sense a subversive way of being. Yes subversive because to be successful as an autistic one has to subvert the rules and expectations in order to live a successful life within a neurotypical system.
Autism is Different Not Less.
Autism is A Different kind of Normal
Autism what is it anyway? It’s Beautiful that’s what Autism is.
Another excellent post!
Thanks. Appreciate it.
Human normality is a fallacy. It has been around 200 thousand years since we evolved into modern humans, after around 500K years evolving from the previous point. If we held up that human from thousands of centuries ago as being the standard by which all of us are judged, every single person in recorded history would fail to make the grade. We are not what we once were — given these rough figures we may be 40% down the path to something else — yet society still clings to idea of ‘normal human beings’ like they are an immutable SI unit.
Neurotypicality is also a fallacy. There is no more commonality between non-Autistics than between us. They are different to us, sure. But they are also different to each other, just as we are all different. In order to clump any two human beings together means leaving out vast slabs of differentiating information.
We are different. A statement which is true for every one of the 115 billion Homo sapiens to have ever lived. I may have Autism, but which Autism? My Human variation code may be Type X341 Q278 J962 R31n. What’s yours?
The goal of Neurodiversity should not be to show there’s nothing wrong with not being normal. But to show that ‘normal’ is unprovable bullsh*t.
I agree on the idea of what’s normal, however the neurodiversity paradigm does assert that there is a neurotypical and a neurodivergent thing. Neurotypical and Neurodivergent are in fact things as they share enough commonality I guess.
Those inside these groups may share similarities in presentation, but so do dobermans and dolphins.
Thank you for sharing and dispelling myths! I found you via Blogging 101, http://threehandsoneheart.com.
I look forward to learning more!
Thanks for your kind comment Debbie. Trish over at Three Hands on Heart is wonderful and we are collaborating together on a vodcast project.
Feel free to follow my blog for regular updates.
Hi Richard,
First of all I just want to say that I am so excited about your vodcast project, especially, I think, because it is a conversation between an Autistic person and a non-autistic person. Cannot wait for the next episode!
And then as regards this post, are you able to put into words just what the difference is between ‘heightened sensory experiences or needs’ and Sensory Processing Disorder please. I just cannot get my brain around that one, perhaps because I am not able to visualise it.
Thank you!
Thanks for your comment. I very much appreciate it.
In terms of your question. Let me first say I am surely no expert. I can speak from my experience.
My experience is not of SPD (Sensory Processing Disorder), but with heightened sensory experiences or needs. What that means is that at different times I can be either seeking or avoiding sensory experiences. This manifests in ways like doing things over and over that feel really nice and are experienced as enjoyable sensory events. It also is things like hearing things like super high pitched noises that others do not hear, for example a pest control unit that uses audio sonic frequencies. Personally this is from time to time but for some it is all the time. Fluorescent lighting buzz is another example.
Multiple conversations is an issue for me in that I find it virtually impossible to filter out background noise and other conversations, this tends to have a build up which results in heightened anxiety and a need to just get away.
SPD is a diagnosis in itself. It is where the sensory factors are such that they are disabling and debilitating. It can be a comorbid condition with Âûtism or it can be a condition diagnosed separately and without co-existing with autism.