Neurodiversity and social change
Imagine, just as an exercise, that beyond the one percent of the population diagnosable with autism, there is another four percent whose cognitive style is describable under the less rigorous category of the Broad Autism Phenotype, or BAP—a total of five percent for whom an autistic experience of the world is the norm. Again just as an exercise, imagine the weight that norm would carry if the total autistic population were ten percent (roughly that of gays and lesbians). Imagine it again at twenty percent, and then forty—still a minority, but a sizable one, and one that can begin to rival the remaining sixty percent as “the” defining neurology for the population. Imagine it at fifty, and then sixty—at what point might the diagnosed autistics mysteriously become more “able,” living in a world where the social and environmental standards were increasingly defined by their own phenotype? Imagine the world they’d be living in were their numbers to combine with the B...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 09/3/10 | 2 Comments | Read More
By William Stillman Reprinted with permission of the author for one-time usage only. Ever awaken in the middle of the night and realize your arm is “asleep” from the elbow down? It is a co...[Read More]
Andrew Lehman on 09/29/09 | 1 Comment | Read More
It crossed my mind awhile back that individuals with autism are less likely to be superstitious. This conclusion would also suggest that autistics are not magical thinkers. If this generalization has ...[Read More]
Andrew Lehman on 09/28/09 | 1 Comment | Read More
The Internet and the Iceberg Whole
Item: Ensign James “Peewee” Cobb, at 5’6”, 124 pounds, and 23 years old—in Pat Frank’s 1959 Cold War thriller Alas, Babylon—distinguishes himself as the only pilot in Fighting Forty-Fo...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 09/25/09 | No Comments | Read More
I have friends with gaydar. Usually women, these friends can conclude a guy is gay after a brief conversation. I don’t think it’s the way they dress or the way they talk. It’s a childlike aspect...[Read More]
Andrew Lehman on 09/24/09 | No Comments | Read More
By William Stillman Condensed from the new book The Soul of Autism: Looking Beyond Labels to Unveil Spiritual Secrets of the Heart Savants, published by New Page Books © 2008, William Stillman....[Read More]
Andrew Lehman on 09/22/09 | 2 Comments | Read More
I started talking when I was three. My first memory is potato-on-the-spoon relay races in nursery school. I felt humiliated and appalled at my lack of spoon/potato acumen. Grown-up humor I ...[Read More]
Andrew Lehman on 09/21/09 | 2 Comments | Read More
Neurodiversity, Hidden Knowledge and Hidden Talent
Anything that is understood or known consciously is understood or known unconsciously first. I can’t imagine how the reverse would be true. Knowledge has to come from somewhere, right? I often kn...[Read More]
Andrew Lehman on 09/19/09 | 2 Comments | Read More
Autism is a social condition. Rather, in the way that loud, rhythmic music is a symptom of puberty, the sudden rise in autism is a manifestation of extreme societal change. Both transitions are...[Read More]
Andrew Lehman on 09/17/09 | 2 Comments | Read More
As a white boy in the Chicago suburbs who devoured every jazz biography I could get my hands on, my first encounter with the idea of “calling the children home” was a snippet from Nat Shapiro and ...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 09/15/09 | No Comments | Read More
Autism Speaking The Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism Journeys with Autism Left Brain / Right Brain Countering… Neurodiversity – The Book Neurodiversity.com Incorrect Pleasures Action for Autism