I work in a Faculty of Science. Surprisingly many of our students have at least some behavioral characteristics that are classified within the autism spectrum. We take a limited number of students yearly and entrance exams favor students that have good grades from high school and an ability to focus on the questions and subject. This seems to help these students to get in to the university.
I have participated in training advicing how to work with this kind of students. Cutting the corners, a general opinion among local teachers and doctors is that the Faculty of Science is among the few places where this kind of students have a possibility to prosper. When dealing with students within faculties such as economics, the teachers try to gently lift up the question whether the student is in the right place.
Even within the Faculty of Science, students and researchers within the autism spectrum are facing more and more problems with their career opportunities. There is increasing competition of academic jobs. To get a staff position, there is a need to be very productive. Lonely wolves cannot be as productive as those who rely on cooperation within a large network. This favors those with very good social skills. Luckily, in other places, there are still jobs even for those with less social skills.
My observation is that many young adults having some autism-type characteristics or other ‘handicaps’ are involuntarily single and would like to have (more) friends. Inadequate social skills or other handicaps reduce the possibilities to start long-term relationships. Maybe the situation is different in large cities.
When discussing with people having Asperger-type autism, those persons have called non-Asperger people ‘neurotypical’, or used similar kind of words. ‘Neuronormal’ is an attempt to label average persons within the neurodiversity spectrum. It is questionable whether there are 100% ‘normal’ persons - if there are, these are probably so rare that that makes them atypical. Anyhow, in everyday language a ‘normal’ ‘healthy’ person is someone who does not yet have a medical diagnosis.
Once a friend with an Asperger-type autism told that he seldom visits churches although he believes in God. My wife asked what kind of congregation would be optimal for him. His answer was: a congregation including just one person.
After resurrection, we have a possibility to be together with others and our Lord. It is hard to imagine a resurrected person who have great difficulties to be with others, or who suffers from other limiting handicaps. The resurrected body is better than our current body and I believe that God will give us a body that makes us capable to more than is now possible.
Autism stuff has been coming up a lot for me lately - (and I have a son who is on the spectrum - diagnosed with Aspergers as it was called when he was a teenager). Yeah, they can be all over the map socially, from high-functioning to almost paralyzingly reclusive. A student at school is wanting to study Henry Cavendish more - being fascinated with how extreme he was (would probably be recognized as far along the spectrum today). You didn’t just go up and talk to Cavendish … not if you ever wanted to get his opinion on anything ever again. He took reclusivity to fascinating extremes. And yet among his many scientific accomplishments, he “weighed the world” (quite literally)! Who knows how many past figures would have been easily recognized as “on the spectrum” had they lived in an age when subjected to television screens and such. Jefferson was another.
Agreed. A label of ‘normal’ for neurodiversity traits can be arbitrary and fluid. What was once considered abnormal, at the fringes of our understanding, can emerge as simply a ‘normal’ condition when managed by our modern technologies.
A psychologist I talked to in my mission organization said that many or most of the great pioneer missionaries of history would probably be diagnosed with personality disorders today. Exceptionalities have advantages and liabilities.