This is a good discussion about autism. I have several grandchildren who are autistic, as well as a nephew who is high functioning but is now realizing at age 50 that he is on the spectrum. In retrospect, I think my mother was also on the spectrum as she had relational difficulty. Hard to know as farm folk are often stoic in nature. Shoot, I may be a bit myself, but worry that perhaps that is just a bit of psychobabble, sort of like how everyone was diagnosed as bipolar a while back. ( In defense of the mental health professionals, sometimes you have to give a label to get coverage and help for people). In any case, the article summarizes what we know and how we should respond to autism as Christians. After all, according to the article, we are a good number of that group.
https://biologos.org/articles/understanding-autism-spectrum-disorder-epidemiologically-and-theologically?mc_cid=041f72c255&mc_eid=695fcd92a6
The diagnosis of autism is not black-and-white. Many have some features that are common among autists but not so many that it would classify them as autistic. There are lots of individual-level variation among humans - we are not identical clones. In fact, being 100% âtypicalâ or âaverageâ may be more rare than autism - I have no data showing this but it is my impression.
My experience of the university world is that the percentage of people suspected to be on the autism spectrum seems to be especially high among students and researchers within natural sciences. The switch from individual-based research work to working in social networks of researchers has been stressful for the autistic persons. Apparently, the autistic features may be even beneficial in certain conditions but become a burden in other kind of environments.
I think thatâs something that makes diagnoses so murky, because there is a focus on to what degree the personâs life (or lives of others) is disrupted by the condition, but that depends a lot on their environment.
I think about how most of our ancestors at some point along the way lived in agrarian communities. They needed people who could spend their entire day with animals, in relatively quiet places, keeping track of how many there were at all times. That seems like an ideal job for many autistic people (makes me think of Temple Grandin and her relationship to animals), but as humans transitioned to cities and got louder, jobs like that were less in demand. The technological revolution of the past couple hundred years has led to so many cultural shifts in what kinds of skills are valued and where and to what degree. I canât help but think thatâs a factor in how we view autism too.
He gave at talk at the last ASA meeting on the same general topic.
Iâm looking forward to this; thank you.
I just watched this podcast by Triggernometry, with Simon Baron Cohen (cousin to Sasha, but one of the worldâs leaders on autism, too), which I found really interesting. He points out that autism is a mirror opposite to sociopathy. On the one hand, one doesnât perceive social norms, but cares when one understands (as with Temple Grandin, and even with others; one is often very gullible and innocent), and on the other, one understands, but doesnât care.
https://youtu.be/VJg2_EVheY4?si=Qbw3p6RK5W6duxvq
He also wrote a book, âThe Pattern Seekers.â
I always like this cartoon.
Research seems to show that autism is actually 4 or more different conditions that have overlapping symptoms. Makes sense as it varies widely. While a lot has been lumped in the autism spectrum, I suspect that in the future better diagnosis will split types apart. Some of that may be slowed by support for other neuroatypical conditions may not be there like it is for autism.
The article I found discussing subtypes:
Multifactorial, yes, with developmental, genetic and environmental inputs. This is highlights how dependent our reasoning, outlook and feelings are on the neurological substrates we possess.
The problem/objection I have to this is the word âdisorder.â I have little doubt many things including schizophrenia, attention deficiency, and psycho/sociopathy as well as autism are at the end of various spectrums of human thinking, personality, and behavior. But I think the trend of many to see themselves (or worse others) as part of some disadvantaged group is not so very helpful. Of course, this does not mean that the extremes on these spectrums do not have serious challenges to deal with (or do not present difficult challenges to others). But the idea that there is some narrow range of personality defines normality is something else. I frankly think the norm is simply that everybody is different, and these differences are a good thing.