Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Autism is a “disorder” only because the world is neurotypical

andarilhoacordado.medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 68 posts

Re: Autism is a “disorder” only because the world is neurotypical

#21

Post by dsjfalksjdflksa »

faeriechangling wrote: post #20

Autism has comorbidities like digestive problems, sleep problems, seizures, sensory issues, and weight control. One sees mental health issues like anxiety, depression, and increased rates of burnout which do not seem to be merely environmentally caused. You might be able to spin something like anxiety as a sometimes benefit, but it's hard to spin regular digestive issues as being some kind of useful variation. The au…

The problems related to eating are likely because culture around eating is very "neurotypical."

Re: Autism is a “disorder” only because the world is neurotypical

#22

Post by jart »

gregjor wrote: post #19

“Let them…”, “Make them…”, etc. I get the impression the author thinks “neurotypicals” should handle autistic people like pets or slaves. I think the author confuses a literal spectrum of behaviors with their clinical labels. The DSM is a diagnostic tool, not a catalog of identity labels.

That's kind of a hurtful thing to say about the author who I'm sure has good intentions. People who reach to medical literature for a sense of identity it's symptomatic of a deeper issue that deserves a certain degree of compassion, although in the case of aspergers syndrome I don't people would embrace it as an identity if they knew what it used to be called. Elon Musk was hiding it this whole time.

Re: Autism is a “disorder” only because the world is neurotypical

#23

Post by gregjor »

jart wrote: post #22
gregjor wrote: post #19

“Let them…”, “Make them…”, etc. I get the impression the author thinks “neurotypicals” should handle autistic people like pets or slaves. I think the author confuses a literal spectrum of behaviors with their clinical labels. The DSM is a diagnostic tool, not a catalog of identity labels.

That's kind of a hurtful thing to say about the author who I'm sure has good intentions. People who reach to medical literature for a sense of identity it's symptomatic of a deeper issue that deserves a certain degree of compassion, although in the case of aspergers syndrome I don't people would embrace it as an identity if they knew what it used to be called. Elon Musk was hiding it this whole time.

I think it’s “hurtful,” or at least ignorant, to imply that people with autism spectrum disorders need to be allowed or made to do anything. Good intentions aside, bad information doesn’t help anyone.

I was diagnosed as “borderline autistic” as a child and was later told I showed signs of Asperger’s. I’ve never thought of it as an identity, just a glitch in my personality. It’s a disorder in the sense that it sometimes interferes with how I deal with people and situations, but I wouldn’t call it disabling. I’ve known people with far worse symptoms.

The author claims “ Autistic individuals don’t have any difficulty communicating with another autistic.” That makes me wonder how much the author knows about severe autism. I agree with the previous posts about the author presenting a Hollywood version, equating often debilitating autism spectrum disorders with “Rain Main” superintelligence or idiot savants. It should be obvious that Elon Musk functions at a very high level. I don’t think he makes a good poster boy for autistics.

Re: Autism is a “disorder” only because the world is neurotypical

#24

Post by _y5hn »

threatofrain wrote: post #15
camehere3saydis wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's not a moral judgment or a be-all-and-end-all of a person's value. But it is, even though it actually means nothing at all. Let me try and explain. Our society prides itself on being both rational and egalitarian at the same time. Its most basic ideological paradigm basically says: "everyone is equal". Of course, that is a meaningless statement - people themselves are not quantities to be measured and compared;…

This definition of "rational" strangely excludes values such as reliability, endurance, initiative, charm, beauty, or leadership. But when has it ever been the case in any society for people to simply bow down to geniuses? Hasn't intelligence often taken a backseat to charm and beauty? Intelligence is but one value competing in an ecology of values.

After someone died, it's ok to revere a person. Generally, it's unhealthy to put alive people on pedestals too.

Re: Autism is a “disorder” only because the world is neurotypical

#25

Post by faeriechangling »

dsjfalksjdflksa wrote: post #21
faeriechangling wrote: post #20

Autism has comorbidities like digestive problems, sleep problems, seizures, sensory issues, and weight control. One sees mental health issues like anxiety, depression, and increased rates of burnout which do not seem to be merely environmentally caused. You might be able to spin something like anxiety as a sometimes benefit, but it's hard to spin regular digestive issues as being some kind of useful variation. The au…

The problems related to eating are likely because culture around eating is very "neurotypical."

That's a pretty vague assertion. I definitely I know autistic people who just eat nothing but macaroni and cheese or something with tons of choice available to them. I don't think culture is forcing people into these problems.

One of the theories around autism and eating is that it's related to alexthymia, which also prevents you from feeling your own emotions, but also impairs non-emotional perception like hunger or digestive signals. I've heard theories such as that this could be caused by poor filtering autistic people have of information within their body and general information overload.

I've also heard the theory that autistic people having sensory abnormalities can have unusual food preferences that can lead them to have poor diets and that can cause other health issues. I've even seen this happen indirectly where somebody avoided buying chicken breast because they can't handle the sliminess while preparing it. Not only have I seen this repeatedly both online and in life experience it's something I sometimes see openly defended on the grounds that an autistic person forcing down a balanced diet may be tortoruous depending on the nature of their issues. This is one of those "hmm, perhaps some of these people may have some problems and maybe not everything is a cultural construct" moments I had that really formed these experiences.

Generally autism also correlates to low executive functioning which itself correlates to poor weight control and diet.

Re: Autism is a “disorder” only because the world is neurotypical

#26

Post by ceceron »

chadcmulligan wrote: post #6

I think this is a Hollywood view of autism - its not like that in real life, sure there's some people on the spectrum that are genius, but there are a lot that aren't and have more significant life challenges.

I was a volunteer in the place helping parents of autistic children. Sure, there are autistic people able to study / work / write books (I knew at least one), but for many just a gentle touch makes their nervous system short circuit. In their case sentence "Autistic individuals don’t have any difficulty communicating with another autistic" is just a lie, it's like there was an invisible bubble wrapping them and separating them from the world we know.

Re: Autism is a “disorder” only because the world is neurotypical

#27

Post by jart »

gregjor wrote: post #23
jart wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's kind of a hurtful thing to say about the author who I'm sure has good intentions. People who reach to medical literature for a sense of identity it's symptomatic of a deeper issue that deserves a certain degree of compassion, although in the case of aspergers syndrome I don't people would embrace it as an identity if they knew what it used to be called. Elon Musk was hiding it this whole time.

I think it’s “hurtful,” or at least ignorant, to imply that people with autism spectrum disorders need to be allowed or made to do anything. Good intentions aside, bad information doesn’t help anyone. I was diagnosed as “borderline autistic” as a child and was later told I showed signs of Asperger’s. I’ve never thought of it as an identity, just a glitch in my personality. It’s a disorder in the sense that it sometim…

And how did people like the author treat you as a child?

Re: Autism is a “disorder” only because the world is neurotypical

#29

Post by NoPie »

oceanghost wrote: post #11
chadcmulligan wrote: post #6

I think this is a Hollywood view of autism - its not like that in real life, sure there's some people on the spectrum that are genius, but there are a lot that aren't and have more significant life challenges.

Came here to say this. My best friends daughter is 10, and non-verbal. She can barely dress herself and can't tie her shoes. It's heartbreaking. For every Elon Must there has to be a hundreds of thousands of kids like this.

But for every kid like this there could be 10 austistic people with average or even above average IQ.

Honestly I don't know but if autism is due to genetic differences then greater proportion will be with slight deviations from normal population.

In fact, Elon Must said that he has Asperger's. Some prefer to avoid this label but I find it very useful to actually distinguish autistic people with average IQ (or better) from really disabled.

Post reply on HN