Andrew Lehman | Neurodiversity

Author Archive

Bill Wallauer is a videographer, a colleague of Jane Goodall. Click here to read Bill’s observations of chimpanzees behaving in ways that are fascinating to consider. Bill observes males displaying at waterfalls and in thunderstorms as individuals and groups transition into the sexual-display mode of communication. Jane Goodall wrote a famous passage describing these events. “All at once Evered charged forward, leapt up to seize one of the hanging vines, and swung out over the stream in the spray-drenched wind. A moment later Freud joined him. The two leapt from one liana to the next, swinging into space, until it seemed the slender stems must snap or be torn from their lofty moorings. Frodo charged along the edge of the stream, hurling rock after rock now ahead, now to the side, his coat glistening with spray. For ten minutes the three performed their wild displays while Fifi and her younger offspring watched from one of the tall fig trees by the stream...[Read More]

Andrew Lehman on 03/10/10 | No Comments | Read More

Theory of Mind and Self

I’d been studying Asperger’s and autism in connection to human evolution for maybe ten years before it dawned on me, after reading Michael Fitzgerald’s Autism and Creativity, that Asperge...[Read More]

Andrew Lehman on 03/8/10 | 4 Comments | Read More

Speed of Information

Light moves at a speed of 186,000 miles per second. Speed as a concept is also integral to biology. I hypothesize that the speed with which information passes between the two cerebral hemisphe...[Read More]

Andrew Lehman on 02/24/10 | 3 Comments | Read More

Lifting Veils

There is this thesis that I’ve been playing with. Like the experience physics theorists have described, it seems too beautiful to not be true. Nevertheless, Stephen J. Gould has described th...[Read More]

Andrew Lehman on 02/22/10 | No Comments | Read More

Autism, Diet and Sexual Hormones

I’m still trying to grasp the concept that testosterone and estrogen and their associated hormones are together managing ontological, social and biological evolution by adjusting to changes in t...[Read More]

Andrew Lehman on 02/18/10 | No Comments | Read More

Autism and Societal Individualism

"The highest concern of all the mythologies, ceremonials, ethical systems, and social organizations of the agriculturally based societies has been that of suppressing the manifestations of individuali...[Read More]

Andrew Lehman on 02/17/10 | No Comments | Read More

Creoles, Aboriginal Identity and Autism

“We have now surveyed a wide range of creole structures across a number of unrelated creole languages. We have seen that even taking into account the, in some cases, several centuries of time th...[Read More]

Andrew Lehman on 02/11/10 | No Comments | Read More

Hybrid Vigor and Autism

On page 575 of the May 1 issue of Science there is an article, “Africans’ Deep Genetic roots Reveal Their Evolutionary Story.” Examining the blood of 3,194 Africans from 113 populations, res...[Read More]

Andrew Lehman on 02/9/10 | 1 Comment | Read More

Corpus Callosums, Autism & Aboriginals

“I have found the midsagittal area of the corpus callosum to be larger in mixed and left handers, referred to as non-consistent-right-handers (nonCRH), than among CRH subjects (Witelson, 1985). ...[Read More]

Andrew Lehman on 02/3/10 | No Comments | Read More

Emergence of a Universal Language

There is a phenomenon in linguistics where language complexity is directly related to how isolated a particular language is from its neighbors. A new language is difficult to learn for adults. ...[Read More]

Andrew Lehman on 02/1/10 | 1 Comment | Read More

Social Media and Environmental Integration

I saw this piece appear in March: Too Much Facebook could cause Autism in Children. A doctor in the UK suggested that social networking applications were encouraging dissociation, making it mo...[Read More]

Andrew Lehman on 01/19/10 | No Comments | Read More

Estrogen, Puberty and Autism

Consider that those female children with low estrogen levels as they cross over into their teens may find themselves experiencing delayed puberty. This may manifest delayed testosterone surges pruni...[Read More]

Andrew Lehman on 01/18/10 | 3 Comments | Read More

Ouroboros, Autism and Future Past

I’m starting to consider that the highly ritualized environment of aboriginal matrifocal societies, along with the ways children are raised and what they are fed, are preventing the further left...[Read More]

Andrew Lehman on 01/14/10 | No Comments | Read More

What We Find Funny

Like most people I know, I had a somewhat odd childhood. I started talking when I was three. I remember spending a lot of time confused by adult communication. Speech therapy accompanied my ...[Read More]

Andrew Lehman on 01/13/10 | No Comments | Read More

Neurodiversity, Primary Process and Theory of Mind

Imagine that ten years from now autism and Asperger’s are still on the rise. It is discovered that aboriginal matrifocal societies often exhibit what Gregory Bateson described as primary proce...[Read More]

Andrew Lehman on 01/7/10 | No Comments | Read More

Autism and Aboriginal Society

Bouncing around Pub Med looking for patterns connecting handedness, ethnicity, disease, conditions characterized by maturational delay such as autism and social structure, it seems pretty clear that m...[Read More]

Andrew Lehman on 01/5/10 | No Comments | Read More

Autism: Canary in the Coal Mine

“Nonright-handedness (NRH) has been attributed to hypoxia-induced brain changes in the fetus and associated pregnancy and birth complications (PBCs). Maternal smoking during pregnancy is known to ...[Read More]

Andrew Lehman on 12/30/09 | No Comments | Read More

Neurodiversity and African Americans

Two biological processes impact the American Black population, resulting in increased learning disabilities, specific medical maladies and challenges not familiar to most other ethnicities and mos...[Read More]

Andrew Lehman on 12/23/09 | 1 Comment | Read More

An Increase in Left-handers

A superb 25-year study in the UK by Marian Annett ending in the 1990s seemed to prove that in that part of the UK, left-handedness was not increasing over time. It’s been a difficult issue to pa...[Read More]

Andrew Lehman on 12/21/09 | No Comments | Read More

10 Myths About Autism

by Jennifer Johnson Autism and its lesser-known relatives in the autism spectrum of disorders has found itself on the receiving end of a generous amount of attention lately. Affecting around 3.4 ou...[Read More]

Andrew Lehman on 12/15/09 | 2 Comments | Read More

Neuropsychology and Autism

Marian Annett (Annett & Manning, 1990; Annett & Kilshaw, 1984) has hypothesized a balanced polymorphism in dyslexia that neatly fits with my theory of biological and societal evolution I am ca...[Read More]

Andrew Lehman on 12/14/09 | No Comments | Read More

Barriers to Understanding Autism

My work has proposed three primary causes of autism and conditions characterized by maturational delay. All three causes impact fluctuating testosterone levels inside a mother, which determine her...[Read More]

Andrew Lehman on 12/9/09 | No Comments | Read More

Ruminations

The work of scientists is not often poetry. But they do reveal patterns that are profound. “A corollary of our hypothesis is that hormonal effects on the brains of offspring may vary with the ...[Read More]

Andrew Lehman on 12/7/09 | No Comments | Read More

Down Syndrome Riddle

Before the conventions, Sarah Palin caused a stir among the parents of children with Down Syndrome. My Leftist buddy Martin has a kid with Downs. Martin was moved by this Alaskan elected offic...[Read More]

Andrew Lehman on 12/3/09 | No Comments | Read More

Mildly Paradoxical

At some point, we’re going to start monkeying with our own evolution. I mean consciously. Clearly we’ve been playing with our evolution, unconsciously, from the start. One premise of my...[Read More]

Andrew Lehman on 12/2/09 | No Comments | Read More

Predictions

Writing these daily entries, I discover something new almost as often as I record something I’ve earlier discovered. A year ago this is what I collected connected to the hypotheses or prediction...[Read More]

Andrew Lehman on 11/30/09 | No Comments | Read More

Somali Children in Minnesota and Autism

A child’s lifelong maturation rates are set several weeks before birth by the mother’s testosterone levels. A mother with high testosterone gives birth to low testosterone males and high testoster...[Read More]

Andrew Lehman on 11/25/09 | 2 Comments | Read More

Lucid Dreaming

Lucid dreaming is the process of being aware that you are dreaming while you are dreaming. The study of lucid dreaming was popularized by Carlos Castaneda. Scientist Stephen LeBerge conducted researc...[Read More]

Andrew Lehman on 11/24/09 | No Comments | Read More

Autism, Dance, Performance and Mirroring

[caption id="attachment_800" align="alignleft" width="315" caption="Jacqui Russel"][/caption] Jacqui Russell is the artistic director of Chicago Children's Theater. My good friend Arnold April men...[Read More]

Andrew Lehman on 11/23/09 | 1 Comment | Read More

Neurodiversity’s Neighboring Conditions

I’ve sometimes wondered what a theory of human personality and psychotherapeutic intervention would look like if contemporary psychodynamic theory was based on a theory of human evolution that embra...[Read More]

Andrew Lehman on 11/18/09 | No Comments | Read More

About Shift Journal

Neurodiversity is impacting society. Consider that autism and Aspergers are evolutionary conditions with social repercussions. The environment, genetics and the choices we make influence the emergence of autism and Aspergers impacting society in challenging, profound and positive ways. Shift Journal seeks to explore the juxtaposition of theory, society and personal experience exploring conditions characterized by maturational delay and acceleration.

Our brains are changing. Our minds are changing. It's important that we understand how.

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Shift Journal welcomes a variety of viewpoints on the subjects of neurodiversity and social change, and is seeking to post new material, crossposts, and reprints from new and established writers. If you would like to contribute, use the submissions page or contact us directly.

Left Brain / Right Brain

Barbara Loe Fisher’s lawsuit against Paul Offit dismissed
If you recall, last October Wired Magazine had an article: An Epidemic of Fear: How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All. Barbara Loe Fisher of the self-named National Vaccine Information Center took issue with a section of that article and sued Dr. Paul Offit. The complaint is here. Ms. Fisher was suing Dr. [...] […]

Neurodiversity.com

U.K. General Medical Council Rules Wakefield & Co. "Dishonest," "Irresponsible" [8]
Today, the General Medical Council (GMC), which registers doctors to practice medicine in the U.K., issued a decision in its inquiry into the professional conduct of Dr. Andrew Wakefield and his colleagues Dr. John Walker-Smith, and Dr. Simon Murch, co-authors of a study which concluded that a causal connection exists between the measles-mumps-rubella vacci […]

Ballastexistenz

Study about healthcare needs participants, and people to spread the word to recruit more participants.
This post is about a study that we are doing at AASPIRE. We need people both to spread the word and to participate. For participants we need autistic people, nonautistic disabled people, and nonautistic nondisabled people. The following is the sample text I’ve been given, because otherwise I could not write [...] […]

Asperger Square 8

Square Talk: Exclusion
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Aspie Rhetor

FYI: Autistic Women and Autistic Writers Exist, and They Might Even Be Modified by Adjectives Such As “Successful” Rather Than “Egocentric” or “Mindblind”
I’ve been going through old computer files lately, and I realized that I never posted the paper I read at the Feminism(s) and Rhetoric(s) conference that took place at Michigan State this past October (the week before our protest of the Autism Speaks walk, actually). So, here it is — my essay. —- “Melanie,” she writes, and [...] […]

Whose Planet Is It Anyway?

Robison Squeaks
Autistic author John Elder Robison has agreed to serve on an advisory board for Autism Speaks. Yes, the same organization that repeatedly makes videos comparing autistic children to dead or kidnapped children; that openly declares its goal to "eradicate" the autistic population; that funds causation research to develop a prenatal test; and that pay […]

Action for Autism

Polly Tommey and the Adult Autism Strategy.
Last year I wrote a couple of posts (here and here) criticizing Polly Tommey for pulling expensive publicity stunts that resulted in her meeting with Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his wife at Downing Street. She presented herself as just a mother speaking for thousands of other mothers. Her remarkable success was contrasted with the apparent failure of aut […]

Autism Science Foundation

AOL Health: Autism Experts Offit and Dawson on Causes, Cures and Controversies
By Justine van der Leun The subject of autism is one that often ignites a fiery debate, namely because so much remains unknown about the illness. Doctors, parents, caregivers and even people living with autism are sharply divided on everything from the causes to the possibility of a cure to the correct course of treatment. The [...] […]

Aspie Family

Happy Saint David’s Day
To all the Welsh folks out there, I’d like to wish you a Happy Saint David’s Day! Now, if you will excuse me, I need to go find a leek. […]

Prism*Song

Prototypes and Evolutions
Since I talk a lot about Tikaani I want to deviate and talk about another fan-character. Chiko was my first really complex ATLA fan-character. An Air-Nomad monk from the Southern Air Temple that survives a brutal massacre by the invasive Fire Nation. With his temple destroyed as well as most of his peaceful people. Chiko tries to survive with his temple-brot […]

Natural Variation

Blogger Shuts Down John Best?
[UPDATE 2/18/2010: No such luck. His 3 blogs are back. John Best claims he showed Google "who they are messing with." It's probable that people have flagged his blog so much over time, that a Google employee decided to shut down his blogs, but I'm guessing it doesn't take much to get Google to unblock blogs.]After years of blatantly […]

Cat in a Dog’s World

More Thoughts on Robison
After thinking about it for a few more days, and from reading comments here and elsewhere, I have revised my thoughts on John Elder Robison and his position at Autism Speaks. While I still find his decision to join up with Autism Speaks to be rather dubious, to say the least, I can somewhat understand his good intentions in doing so. I suppose that it was […]

Aspitude!

Misperceptions About Diagnosis of ASD in Adulthood
Some people believe that individuals identified as having an Autism Spectrum Condition in adulthood have less impairment and better overall functioning across the board. But on what scale is this supposed better overall functioning of late-diagnosed adults being measured upon?Such biased beliefs do not apply to all individuals identified in adulthood. This i […]

Comet’s Corner

International Women's Day
International Women's Day posted by Peter Rothberg This post was researched and co-written by Chantal Flores, a Nation intern and freelance writer living in New York City. The world has been celebrating International Women's Day since 1911 when it was established largely thanks to the efforts of activist Clara Ze […]

NTs Are Weird

You’re not a REAL Autistic!
As I was reading another email thread about what autistics can and can’t do, I was reminded that this is a key way our views or discredited. The means of discrediting is simple: if the autistic person doesn’t follow the stereotype the other person has of an autistic person (or Real Autistic if you [...] […]

Existence is Wonderful

The Kitchen Cat-Platform Thing, Finished!
Well the cat-platform thing I constructed in the process of stabilizing the previously-built scratching post is now complete! (Actually it was complete on Friday, but I didn't get to posting until today, but that's really neither here nor there).I am quite pleased with how it turned out...this might sound a bit silly, but even just my recent learni […]

Incorrect Pleasures

Untitled
Does Her Majesty know?Does Her Majesty know what Australian teens and a few very immature Australian adults are doing with her image on the five dollar note? Dear, dear me.There are actually a couple of interesting things to see on the Australian $5 note. Have a look at the side that has the queen on it. Look at the lines of text that say stuff such as […]

Monthly Archives

Neurodiversity – The Book

CRSTE Cyberconference: Thanks for Participating!
I want to thank the readers who have come from the CRSTE Cyberconference, and especially those who made comments on my posts, for participating in this i-event. The comments have all been very positive and insightful. One commenter, for example, suggested that while the Industrial Revolution marginalized people with disabilities, the Technological Revolution […]

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