Neurodiversity and social change
Art/Play/Myth
One of the struggles autistic people have begun to join over the last decade or so is over who is to be allowed to define autism, and on what terms. Is it to be defined from the outside, by those who... [Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 07/23/10 | 8 Comments | Read More
Working, Working … In Which I Make Progress
See that gap between the second and third mulberries? That right there, my friends, is progress. It better be progress as it took a couple hours yesterday to do. I am currently fortifying myself wit... [Read More]
KWombles on 07/20/10 | No Comments | Read More
First, obsessions. Dr. Michael Burry, according to the profile of him woven into Michael Lewis’ The Big Short, is a man of serial obsessions. His Aspergers diagnosis was arrived at during the cour... [Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 07/16/10 | 5 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 ... [Read More]
Gwen McKay on 07/14/10 | 2 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 tat... [Read More]
Gwen McKay on 06/23/10 | No Comments | Read More
Autism and the Enlightenment: Sleeping Dogs And Sleeping Giants
I don’t expect that Shift Journal is unique in pursuing this line of thought, but it strikes me that three contributors have now seen fit to comment on the relationship of autistics and “belief.�... [Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 06/11/10 | 4 Comments | Read More
Minutes before I was going to post what I’d had prepared for this morning, I ran across today’s xkcd web comic, and will likely not be able to get to sleep without writing about it. It features t... [Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 05/21/10 | 1 Comment | 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 ... [Read More]
Gwen McKay on 05/12/10 | No Comments | Read More
Mountain Goats of the Uncanny Valley
Now that the subject of autism and the uncanny valley has been laid on the table, I’d like to draw on that metaphor by sharing some further imagery that offers new ways to think about autistic peopl... [Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 05/7/10 | 1 Comment | Read More
The Dark Side Of Theory Of Mind?
“Our reputation-conscious ancestors would have experienced a pervasive feeling of being watched and judged, he says, which they would readily have attributed to supernatural sources since the cognit... [Read More]
Lili Marlene on 04/20/10 | 1 Comment | Read More
In a part of his brain that he seldom communicated with, but fortunately, was ultimately in charge, he knew that the only way he was going to be able to live and support himself would be to join the N... [Read More]
Clay on 04/6/10 | No Comments | Read More
How he hated that name, how it made him shrink to hear it. For the longest time, he thought it was the cause of all his problems, the snickering, the disrespect he had endured. He cursed his mother ... [Read More]
Clay on 04/6/10 | No Comments | Read More
Last November while weighing in on the proposed changes to the DSM which will drop Asperger’s Syndrome as a diagnostic category, I quoted George Carlin’s take on Catholicism’s Limbo as a way to ... [Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 03/26/10 | 2 Comments | Read More
[The following is an informal continuation of Laurence Arnold’s musings on autism as geography, featured recently in this space under the title Rainbows End.] I suppose I ought to comment on the cur... [Read More]
Guest on 03/25/10 | 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 process. �... [Read More]
Andrew Lehman on 01/7/10 | 2 Comments | Read More
The idea that autism is humankind’s oldest and largest secret society is one I’ve suggested on this site more than once; here I’d like to explicitly make the case for that idea. Memb... [Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 01/1/10 | 1 Comment | Read More
“He’s Canadian, you know,” yields 30,800 hits when entered in a Google search, while about half that many are returned for “She’s Canadian, you know.” The phrase is a sort of running in-j... [Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 12/18/09 | 2 Comments | Read More
Autism, Dance, Performance and Mirroring
Jacqui Russell is the artistic director of Chicago Children’s Theater. My good friend Arnold April mentioned to me the unique program that Jacqui manages at Agassiz Elementary School in Chicago... [Read More]
Andrew Lehman on 11/23/09 | 1 Comment | Read More
Neurodiversity, Neuropsychology and Evolution
In ancient cultures across the world, there are myths describing a time when women controlled society with a magic more powerful than men’s. These stories go on to describe that there is a loss of t... [Read More]
Andrew Lehman on 11/2/09 | No Comments | Read More
“Stick to the image” is perhaps the most concise advice one can come away with from James Hillman’s archetypal psychology. When trying to see through to what is happening in a dream, or in an ... [Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 10/2/09 | 1 Comment | 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
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
Evolution and Succession of Obsessions
My father was a collector. He maintained a stamp and coin collection. He also had a large collection of tools, including the various gadgets and accoutrements targeted to achieving something useful ... [Read More]
Andrew Lehman on 08/28/09 | No Comments | Read More
Autism has been here all along.
Considered as an evolutionary condition with far-reaching social implications, its full presence and impact remain hidden in plain sight, unrecognized and uncredited.
Part neurological mystery, part social construct, and part secret society unbeknownst even to its own members, autism does not lend itself to explanation by those who hold it apart from society, from themselves, or from consciousness itself. Definitions are revised, overhauled, and abandoned all while efforts to explore and examine this condition on its own terms are only now gaining momentum.
Shift Journal aims to showcase and encourage such efforts. Entertaining the notion of autistic as a legitimate way to be in the world, from the crossroads of theory, society, and personal experience, Shift welcomes relevant contributions from all comers.
Mark Stairwalt
Editor and Publisher
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Shift Journal founder Andrew Lehman's groundbreaking cross-disciplinary work Evolution, Autism, and Social Change draws from evolutionary biology, neuro-psychology and related fields to outline an evolutionary process complementary to natural selection that may explain some forms of autism as well as -- and perhaps more importantly -- long-term shifts in large-scale social structure. Download or purchase Evolution, Autism, and Social Change here.
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In a world which relentlessly demands practical advice for day-to-day, Shift Journal remains focused on promoting reflection and discovery. Readers however who are seeking useful information and how-to guidance assembled by a down-to-earth, conscientious and scientifically literate crew who once sought such information themselves and found it difficult to come by may find The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism to be just what they are looking for:
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New or established writers wishing to contribute original or previously published posts may use the submissions page or contact us directly.
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Autism and Empathy Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism Neurodivergent Sexuality Just Stimming Autistic Passing Project