131–140 of 169 posts
I think we need to accept that from this point forward some subset of the internet will be outraged about literally everything, and try not to let it have a disproportionate effect on our actions.
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Everything you described is a physical trait, not something deeply intertwined with your personality and identity. For people with mild autism, a closer analogy would be an aspect of your personality. Do you like to travel and explore new places? Imagine it was a major aspect of your life, to the point that you'd get uncomfortable staying in one place too long. How would you like it if someone told you that you shoul…
I’d argue that it’s only autism if it’s severe. During the 1980’s being socially awkward wasn’t a clinical medical condition. If you disrupted class in the 1980’s, you got taken out of general population, and put into special education with a high ratio of teachers or aides, and received a proximity of attention as needed, and that was your generalized clinical marker for genuine problems. The consensus of the elemen…
"Choose" is an awkward word here. There are autistic people who will do alk these things, have a slight road bump on life, and it will all fracture apart. Then they will self-isolate for awhile and eventually emerge and try it again. There's a sort of category of people who can do these things, want to do these things on a genuine and honest level, but can only manage them with great difficulty.
I do agree with the general notion that todays conception of autism was generated out of thin air due to the hypercompetitiveness of society. The entire concept of a "spectrum disorder" is a bit odd. I also notice how nobody seems to be correctly measuring if this new paradigm is actually helping the patients. The amount of stigma that exists now that did not exist in the 80s towards the exact same kind of person is incredible. Many of these people would manage, with difficulty, completely unassisted.
I sometimes wonder if the mental health field has damned the people they call autistic while believing they're helping them. The insistence on labelling peoples psychological quirks as a "disorder" it hurts people in profound ways.
I fully acknowledge that conditions affecting the brain will have a much larger impact on one's identity. That much is obvious. That being said, if I had the option to "correct" most of my personal atypical genetic "variations," I would do so. Colorblindness? Yep, I don't want that. Congenital flat feet? I don't need those. IBS? No thanks. Hair loss starting at 17? Nope! Weird neurological symptoms no doctor has ever…
How do you know its genetic? Things like mercury does that too. I don't like to bring this up too often if I have no data at all because it sounds so alarmist, but I can only post publically so just in case... My own unfortunate experience: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19575424 Do you have any tooth fillings, for example, if so what kind? Was the source in my case. Jaw bones in very bad shape, never noticed b…
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> most neurotypicals would refuse to be reincarnated as autistic if given the choice. The autistic people you know are the lucky ones. 80% of people with autism have intellectual disabilities(low iq) and as many as 50% are non-verbal. It's more than not wanting to be someone perceived as quirky or strange.
> 80% of people with autism have intellectual disabilities(low iq) and as many as 50% are non-verbal. That's because diagnosis is geared to those people. Adults who cope relatively well in most situations don't know they have autism, don't seek a diagnosis, and there isn't a dx service available to them if they do know what to ask for.
There's an observation I made a while ago: pretty much all people that I heard stating that they are "on the spectrum" were americans. Why is that? I never checked but I would be surprised if the prevalence is higher than in other western countries. So what is it? Is it better diagnosed or just wrong (wrong diagnosis, self-diagnosis, pidgeonholing bc it's cool to be non-average,...), or maybe there is an issue that p…
Every human is "on the spectrum". The guidelines are extremely flimsy and if you've ever been stressed in a social situation you're essentially on the spectrum. In software engineering I hear it almost as a joking term of endearment.
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Why would you mention Japan when the word hikikomori exists?
Hikikimori is not synonymous with introversion.
There's an observation I made a while ago: pretty much all people that I heard stating that they are "on the spectrum" were americans. Why is that? I never checked but I would be surprised if the prevalence is higher than in other western countries. So what is it? Is it better diagnosed or just wrong (wrong diagnosis, self-diagnosis, pidgeonholing bc it's cool to be non-average,...), or maybe there is an issue that p…
An acquaintance was involved in diagnosis of autism in US schools. There are autistics that clearly have something severely wrong with them. They flap their hand, frequently have extremely low IQs, and are not going to be able to effectively participate in society in any meaningful way. You don't need much any expertise to diagnose these people, other than to know that autism exists. Her expertise came in diagnosing…
Forty years or so ago, we decided that many of the people in total mental institutions would have better lives outside of those institutions---there was no need for them to be effectively incarcerated. So we closed the institutions. For the last forty years or so, we have had a growing problem of those with severe mental illnesses becoming homeless. Progress?
How many of those homeless would choose to re-enter those institutions if they were available? Would you rather be homeless or in jail if given the choice? Perhaps we can find a third option where safe and supportive communities are provided that have various levels of minimal removal of agency.
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I meant that people on the spectrum can come across as cruel or abusive or hurt others without intention to and regardless of what they feel inside. That is not about signals only. I mean the impact on others is there. Unintentional, but real. Then it leads to retaliation which in misunderstood and whole thing may lead to escalations and at worst bullying. That is more then inconvenience.
Retaliation is a strategic last resort that is intended to deter cruel people from hurting us, when appeals to empathy are expected to be ineffective. If someone hurts you accidentally, and you can tell (because he can reliably express empathy), you won't retaliate; you'll ask for an apology. If someone hurts you out of cruelty , expecting an apology is actually counterproductive; you'll either get the authorities in…
No matter what you do. You always lose. The only escape is withdrawal. Temporary or permanent.
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An acquaintance was involved in diagnosis of autism in US schools. There are autistics that clearly have something severely wrong with them. They flap their hand, frequently have extremely low IQs, and are not going to be able to effectively participate in society in any meaningful way. You don't need much any expertise to diagnose these people, other than to know that autism exists. Her expertise came in diagnosing…
As noted elsewhere here by others, the clinical definition of Autism has radically changed recently, with Asperger's being folded in. This was done- in a vain attempt to increase funding for children with Asperger's, IMHO.
It's absolutely mind boggling how the bible of psychiatry can be so dominated by politics and have very little actual connection to replicable science or empirical data.