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

Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

medicalxpress.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

291–300 of 358 posts

Re: Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

#291

Post by giantg2 »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #185
giantg2 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I knew someone in high school that had ADHD. He totaled many cars when he wasn't on meds for things like game day for sports (not sure if that's a performance or health thing). What baffles me, is how someone diagnosed with a condition that affects driving is allowed to drive without the condition being treated - especially if they are under a prescription and just not taking it, and also if they have multiple accide…

> We already require this for people with seizures, for people needing glasses to wear them, etc. But then you have the same problem against something which is much harder to measure. Many people have glasses even though their vision is mostly fine and it's perfectly reasonable to drive without them, the glasses just make things slightly more focused. Other people are effectively blind without corrective lenses. ADHD…

The easy thing to measure with it is how many accidents are attributed to the person in a given time period. If you have 5 accidents including totalling 3 cars in the last 2 years of high school, you shouldn't be driving.

Re: Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

#292

Post by ModernMech »

RCitronsBroker wrote: post #279
zazazache wrote: post #248

As some one who is let’s say “autism adjacent” it really bothers me when people discuss a cure or prevention. I mean I get it, but this is also who I am and I wouldn’t want to be someone else.

as someone who’s also autism adjacent and content with it, let’s still recognize that it’s not called spectrum for nothing. Yes, one’s norm of "functioning" can be more dependent on society than you’re own opinion, but I’ve witnessed several individuals on the "lower functioning" end of the spectrum who really didn’t seem like they were content with the way they’re living life. I’m not infallible, but it definitely s…

At minimum we should center such people in these discussions rather than talk about them with pity or only when using them to advance a rhetorical point. I want to hear from people with the highest support needs on this issue the most.

Re: Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

#293

Post by gizmondo »

ModernMech wrote: post #290
gizmondo wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> On the other hand, if "prevention" is about culling the gene pool, I'm dead set against that. Well, you can be against it by raising autistic children yourself, it seems you're in a perfect position for that. Why people feel they have the right to demand that from others is beyond me.

The problem is that when you teach society that a certain “kind” of person needs to be culled, that is a stigma about people in that group. IME such strong feelings don’t don’t stay relegated to your personal choices, they get reflected at a broader policy level. People say “well it was your choice to have such broken people, we gave you a pill that would make that not possible. Therefore we las a society will not su…

The slippery slope scenario you described didn't happen with the Down syndrome for which there is a reliable screening. There are a few people want to ban that screening and they use exactly the same arguments (also it's eugenics!). We're lucky that at least these people are rightfully viewed as insane.

Re: Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

#294

Post by zazazache »

cwillu wrote: post #284
zazazache wrote: post #248

As some one who is let’s say “autism adjacent” it really bothers me when people discuss a cure or prevention. I mean I get it, but this is also who I am and I wouldn’t want to be someone else.

As someone who has been diagnosed, it really bothers me when people tell me I'm not allowed to want to not be this way. For some people, it's a hell.

That’s even worse, of course you are allowed your own feelings. What gives me the creeps is when people start talking about prevention it easily slides into eugenics or other things that deny poeople agency or even their humanity.

There is a similar thing for deaf people. Or how screening for Down’s has changed the reality of raising a child with it.

Re: Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

#295

Post by ModernMech »

WA wrote: post #274
mewpmewp2 wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You don’t even have to go to the extreme end. Ask people with milder presentations, and they’ll be able to tell you about all sorts of confusing interactions and frustrating situations they’ve experienced that wouldn’t have happened if they were neurotypical. Hard to say that doesn’t impact their quality of life. Sure, I had rough childhood, but looking back, I wouldn't want to be someone else. The way my brain foc…

> I had passion as a kid, interest in weird things, but school and the social environment killed every little bit of it. As a parent of an autistic kid: How would you cultivate that? Our son is autistic, he is 8 years old. He started to hate school. All he cares for is Minecraft and Magic: The Gathering. It's a bit sad to see that he seemingly drowns his curiosity by immersing himself mentally only in these two topic…

Best I can say is lean into it. Make everything those themes or adjacent to them in some way. You’re lucky because Minecraft is a gateway to computing in general. Find out what he specifically likes about it and then figure out how to use Minecraft to build a bridge toward real world skill that still include everything he likes about Minecraft.

Forcing him to do things he doesn’t want to will be next to impossible. RSD is real and irrational. You can trick him into wanting to do things though.

And by trick I don’t mean deceive but just to make him thinks he wants it. Give him a choice and let him choose, but make both options good. Don’t force him to do things your way or the correct way as you see it.

Autistic people like to build and use our own systems, so that’s probably what he likes out of Minecraft, a world he can shape to his liking. He rejects the real world because it forces him to be something he doesn’t want to be.

Re: Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

#296

Post by ModernMech »

squigz wrote: post #275
yareal wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty sure the person you are responding to is just being an asshole, inadvertently demonstrating your point that this isn't a safe place for autistic people.

I was only responding in kind. And I'm autistic myself, so. Honestly, the only hostility toward austitic people I see around here is the person invalidating and ignoring the opinions of others within the autistic community.

I’m not invalidating opinions from autistic people tho, I said many times autistic voices should be centered.

When I typed what I had said before about not seeing any different opinions here from autistic people it was not because I was ignoring your opinion but because I had not seen it. Your opinion is valid.

However I don’t honk you were only responding in kind in your last reply — the poster was simply asking a question and you replied with sarcasm.

My question and concern for you is: are you not worried that such efforts will further stigmatize autistic people as in need of a cure without ever actually offering one?

For me the worst of both worlds is one in which people earnestly work for a “cure” to a problem that can’t be solved through medicine, all while making the societal problem intractable (as everyone is pushing for that miracle cure).

Re: Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

#297

Post by ModernMech »

Perenti wrote: post #264
faeriechangling wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was diagnosed at 4, I have legal paperwork proving I permanently cannot live independently, as such paperwork is necessary for impoverished families and adults to access certain social and financial benefits. I currently live independently. Despite me being in this category you describe, I do not believe I have a condition that should be prevented if possible. I see researchers like FTA as having a conflict of inte…

The level of severity being discussed here is non-verbal, screaming all the time, just in a state of abject terror. These people have _severe_ ASD.

Do you have an example of an autistic person screaming in terror all the time?

As in all the time I mean, not just the times you’ve seen them.

I’ve never met someone who does that so I’m curious how it works.

My friend growing up was nonverbal, we used to play legos together. He would scream when he was touched and forced to do things, but it wasn’t all the time. So I imagine someone like your describing would feel that sensory overload all the time. I’m wondering if it is ever alleviated through dark or silence, and if not that would be hard to live with.

I guess in my experience autistic people don’t scream when they’re left alone, but my experience is very limited.

Re: Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

#298

Post by rexer »

cwillu wrote: post #283
m00x wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

^^^^ Better to read the paper instead of the pop journals. Most writers don't understand the issues fully and make mistakes, or sensationalize the discovery.

“This ^” style comments work very poorly on a site that doesn't maintain temporal ordering of comments.

I’ve only ever seen “this ^” refer to the parent comment, not the one directly above it as you mention. So as long as the comment hierarchy is maintained (which it is on HN) then the reference is clear

Re: Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

#299

Post by Netcob »

mrangle wrote: post #215

>suramin They're investigating the use of a drug that they don't understand to treat a condition that they don't understand, through the lens of one model that variously competes with or incompletely conforms to a myriad of other models of the condition. In order to what? Nebulously "manage" a complex neurological difference that will always defy reversion to anything else? It sounds like they want something that the…

I don't have a lot of experience with using research papers, but I feel like people writing these articles don't either.

> In 2017, Naviaux and his team completed early clinical testing for suramin, the only drug approved in humans that can target ATP signaling and which is normally used to treat African sleeping sickness.

What's even the point of writing this? I found two papers, and the effects were so weak that it's hard to tell whether it even makes sense to pursue this further. Most results were not statistically significant, and the one that was did not come from a higher dosage.

But it's this sort of reporting that makes desperate parents give their children bleach enemas and horse dewormer.

Re: Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

#300

Post by WA »

ModernMech wrote: post #295
WA wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I had passion as a kid, interest in weird things, but school and the social environment killed every little bit of it. As a parent of an autistic kid: How would you cultivate that? Our son is autistic, he is 8 years old. He started to hate school. All he cares for is Minecraft and Magic: The Gathering. It's a bit sad to see that he seemingly drowns his curiosity by immersing himself mentally only in these two topic…

Best I can say is lean into it. Make everything those themes or adjacent to them in some way. You’re lucky because Minecraft is a gateway to computing in general. Find out what he specifically likes about it and then figure out how to use Minecraft to build a bridge toward real world skill that still include everything he likes about Minecraft. Forcing him to do things he doesn’t want to will be next to impossible. R…

Thanks, coincidentally, I listened to a podcast episode about RSD (assuming you mean Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria) this morning and yeah, it is absolutely real. He's extremely sensitive to criticism, which often results in a vicious cycle. Will try to work with Minecraft to give him more topics. So far, he didn't like the whole Redstone logic stuff, but maybe it'll come in a bit. His mathematical abilities are actually quite good (and so are his language capabilities).
Post reply on HN