If you're not sure what autism really is or isn't, here are some initial pointers based on what you may have seen portrayed
in news reports, stories, movies, and other media.
·
We’re not mad, bad, or sad; we’re
different (with thanks to Professor Tony Attwood, a leading Australian scholar
and educator in autism, whom I am paraphrasing.
You can find more on his website here: https://mindsandhearts.net/
·
We’re not all male
·
We’re not all reactive or violent.
·
We don’t all have Mad Skillz with
numbers / words / drawing / observation / other activity.
·
We don’t all have hyper-focus on a special interest to the point of being a walking encyclopaedia on that one topic to the
exclusion of all others. Some of us are
the kind of walking encyclopaediae you want on your pub quiz team. 😉
·
We don’t all find kissing distasteful
because it is ‘wet’ (unlike Rain Man). Many of us are
married; many even have children (gasp).
And many of us enjoy a good snog…and more…with our significant other.
·
We don’t all have problems with eye
contact.
·
We don’t all obviously ‘stim’ or ‘sib’ (more on that in this post).
So, if there are all these ‘we don’t all’ statements, is there
anything one can say is categorically true for autistic people?
Yes. And it is:
“If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with
autism.” – Dr Stephen Shore.
In other words, just because the person you're thinking of doesn't act like Rain Man (or any other autistic person you've seen in the media) it doesn't mean that they are not autistic.
We do have tendencies. Many of us will display some of the behaviours listed above. Most will not display all of them. And this is where the confusion can enter.
A diagnosis of autism is based on the criteria given in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fifth Edition (DSM-5). (No, I do not know why other countries all use this manual. I assume it makes it easier for psychiatrists and psychologists the world over to agree on whether someone has a particular mental condition, and hey, why reinvent the wheel).
You can find the diagnostic criteria here: https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/hcp-dsm.html
In this blog I will discuss tendencies, not hard and fast conditions. Your autistic family member, friend, colleague, or yourself, may or may not enjoy any particular characteristic. Autism is a spectrum and, as the saying goes, your mileage may vary.
Out of necessity, I will primarily describe my own experience, but if I can shed light more broadly on a tendency or characteristic, I will do so. If you would like to know more about something, please feel free to (respectfully) ask. And if you believe that I have something incorrect, please let me know - I do not wish to add to the misinformation available.
"I do not suffer from Autism, but I do suffer from the way you treat me." - Tyler Durdin
Great Read. One of my son's behaviours is that he has really intense eye contact, the opposite of the general expectation. Growing up, he was an encyclopaedia on all things paleontology and his stimming was/is mild, not immediately obvious.
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment.
I'm curious if your son had at some point heard that others expect eye contact and therefore tried to comply with that. Kids pick up on all sorts of things, even when they're not said to them. I was certainly a "little big-ears" as a child.
I'm not sure if I stim or if I just have a couple of bad habits. :)
I'm not sure. He could always intently focus on one thing. So, when watching tv, I had to jump around in front of him calling his name to get his attention. When speaking to him, he always just stared intently.
DeleteThere's a thing called hyperfocus which can be associated with autism, as well as other neurological conditions. I certainly have had times when I have been so into something that someone has had to literally grab me and turn me around to get my attention. I'll probably talk about this in a future post.
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