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
Modern medical science, despite having some areas in which it could stand considerable improvement, is still quite amazing when contrasted with how little our ancestors knew about the workings of the ...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 09/1/10 | 3 Comments | Read More
Wealth, Power, and the Future Thereof
Can American democracy survive what seems to be an alarming concentration of wealth and power? That's a question often asked nowadays, as statistics show that income inequality has become much more ...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 08/25/10 | 1 Comment | Read More
Reporting from Satire City, USA, August 2110 Advocates of inclusive eating celebrated a success today when the President signed into law the Inclusion of Disordered Eaters Act, which will provide f...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 08/18/10 | 2 Comments | Read More
My daughter, who isn't likely to get the GMC Terrain she's been obsessing about because my husband has decided he wants to buy a Chevy Volt and save the planet, is now a college freshman. She moved ...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 08/11/10 | 4 Comments | Read More
I have a potted plant in my dining room that mysteriously started losing its leaves sometime last year. As far as I know, it always had been watered regularly and given the proper amount of fertiliz...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 08/4/10 | 4 Comments | Read More
As we transition from a manufacturing economy to a service economy, those who find themselves out of work are disproportionately men. The historical male advantage of physical strength has become al...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 07/28/10 | No Comments | Read More
Autistic Imagination: Nothing Is Impossible
Research on creativity has shown that autistic children, when asked to draw a person or thing that could not exist, find it very difficult to do so. Creating more realistic images, however, does not...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 07/21/10 | 2 Comments | Read More
The vertical blinds that cover my kitchen's sliding glass door are closed against the glare to the east. On this clear July morning, the heat already has started to build. The air conditioner thru...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 07/14/10 | 2 Comments | Read More
Alexithymia, Autism, and the Many Pagan Deities in the Details
One trait commonly associated with autism in the research literature is alexithymia, which refers to difficulty expressing feelings in words. Although many people have had occasional experiences of ...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 07/7/10 | 4 Comments | Read More
My teenage daughter, who likes to plan ahead, has decided to pick out my next new car. She insists that a GMC Terrain would be just right for me because it has plenty of space like an SUV, but it ge...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 06/30/10 | No Comments | Read More
Tattoos, like other forms of art within our society, are a way of making connections with others and statements about personal identity. When gang members go straight, they often have one or more ...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 06/23/10 | No Comments | Read More
Monks, Mystics, and Mindfulness
Before the modern era, an autistic child born into a family of peasants would have been put to work on the farm, where there was no need to develop fluent speech or to understand complex patterns of s...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 06/16/10 | 2 Comments | Read More
Theory of mind, which is a social reasoning process that involves drawing conclusions about the thoughts underlying others' acts, includes the tendency of many people to attribute intent and purpose t...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 06/9/10 | 2 Comments | Read More
Today's college students scored 40 percent lower on a measure of empathy than students a generation ago, according to a review study that was presented last week at the annual meeting of the Associat...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 06/2/10 | 1 Comment | Read More
The French Parliament has passed a resolution condemning the wearing of veils, as reported by feminist blogger Aimee Sea in an article pointing out the tremendous irony in the idea that women must be ...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 05/26/10 | 2 Comments | Read More
As the free sharing of information and creative endeavors on the Internet moves the economy away from a focus on consumerism, we can expect that the careers of the future will differ in many ways from...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 05/19/10 | 1 Comment | Read More
As economist Tyler Cowen discusses in his book Create Your Own Economy, today's digital media are causing society to develop in what he characterizes as a more autistic direction. Instead of passive...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 05/17/10 | No Comments | Read More
On top of my bookshelf I keep a Prosperity Tree, which is by far the most ridiculous gimmicky item I own. It's about the same height and width as my open hand and has pale blue silk flowers, a white...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 05/12/10 | No Comments | Read More
Strong Women and Social Change
Theory of mind, as Andrew Lehman explains, can be understood as a modern cognitive style that contrasts with the tendency of ancient matrifocal societies—and autistics—to engage in primary process...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 05/6/10 | No Comments | Read More
Many books and articles have been published on the topic of what makes a marriage or relationship succeed. At the top of my list I'd put willingness to give the other person the benefit of the doubt...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 04/28/10 | No Comments | Read More
Abortion, Violence Against Women, and Autism
[caption id="attachment_1979" align="alignleft" width="315" caption="Cell block at Alcatraz prison"][/caption] Modern society is changing in many ways that increase the autistic population. Andre...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 04/21/10 | 3 Comments | Read More
How far would you be willing to go for a more attractive and socially pleasing look? Would you choose to sacrifice part of your cognitive functioning, leaving your brain less able to process verba...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 03/1/10 | No Comments | Read More
Before the housing bubble burst, my husband and I were among those who built a house in an expensive subdivision, on the theory that it was just as good an investment as the stock market and—yay!—...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 01/11/10 | No Comments | Read More
As a child, I loved to wander through quiet woods and to pick wildflowers in meadows, following paths that I pretended would lead me into fairy tale adventures in a long-ago world. I imagined myse...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 12/28/09 | 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