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Signs of autism could be encoded in the way you walk

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Re: Signs of autism could be encoded in the way you walk

#171

Post by chneu »

bluefirebrand wrote: post #17

I suspect that there are signs of autism or other neurodivergences encoded in a lot of our body language, and we're really only starting to qualify what those behaviors are But we also should be careful not to over-diagnose neurodivergence based on outward behavior. Not everyone who fidgets is ADHD

I have several friends who are therapist/mental health professionals.

They've all mentioned parents shopping around for autism diagnosis for their children who have ADHD.

Apparently ADHD isn't cool, but autism is weirdly seen as "better".

Over diagnosis is already happening. Just like adhd and ocd.

Re: Signs of autism could be encoded in the way you walk

#172

Post by wvh »

ghushn3 wrote: post #103
benreesman wrote: post #93

I'm sure everyone involved means well, but we are really starting to embrace a culture of defining "normal" down to some arbitrary amount that seems to have no floor. I'm all for making sure that effective treatments are made available to anyone they might help, but couldn't a lot of this be addressed society just...being tolerant of diversity in people? Gating everyone through "thrives in American High School" as a…

I tend to agree, as an autistic person. And a lot of autistic people hold the belief that, "My autism is not a problem, your expectations that I behave like you do are the problem." If I need to move a little differently, or not hold eye contact when I speak, the fact that I get made fun of is the problem. If we just accepted, "hey, some people are like that" more, I think we'd have a lot fewer problems.

I suppose, beyond making fun of which is unacceptable, that some behaviour is considered "bad behaviour" if it would come from a "non-particular" person. People are highly sensitive to eye contact, voice tone and other subtleties to gage how the other person is feeling and how much of a threat they are. Similarly, overtaking conversations or appearing disinterested are also faux-pas in normal conversation and may indicate bad will or even a personality disorder.

As somebody who occasionally struggles to fit in socially, I have come to understand that I might come across in ways that do not reflect my inner feelings and that I need to add a bit more context and explanation, and just be more careful in general. You sort of have to help people to see where you're coming from to help them tune their social barometer somewhat sort of speaking.

At the extreme, you'd just start any conversation with "hey, I'm autistic, so if I appear a bit weird..." to hard-reset people's expectations and sooth their inner alarms. That is assuming they're decent folks acting in good faith.

Re: Signs of autism could be encoded in the way you walk

#173

Post by chneu »

cardanome wrote: post #31
bluefirebrand wrote: post #17

I suspect that there are signs of autism or other neurodivergences encoded in a lot of our body language, and we're really only starting to qualify what those behaviors are But we also should be careful not to over-diagnose neurodivergence based on outward behavior. Not everyone who fidgets is ADHD

In fact people with ADHD have also their peculiar walks: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/H1YsnuaYY-g > based on outward behavior Yes, neurodivergence can only be diagnosed based on how you work on the inside. It is not possible to diagnose based on outside behavior as people can show symptoms very differently and can mask their symptoms. And no, you obviously can not diagnose people based on how they walk. If anything…

Autism is being over diagnosed in the US for sure. It might be different in Germany but I know plenty of folks who have been diagnosed autistic after just a conversation or two with their therapist.

I know multiple therapists who have had parents try to get their kids an autism diagnosis because they think it'll help on admissions to colleges.

So be aware that what YOU experience is not what is happening elsewhere.

Autism is super cool on social media right now. So while the people who likely should be getting diagnosed likely aren't, many people who don't have autism are happily getting the diagnosis so they can fit in a group or have that label. Be aware that in the US, many people shop around to get the diagnosis they want and many doctors have happy to appease them. That's why antibiotics are massively over rxed in the US. Mental health is no different.

Re: Signs of autism could be encoded in the way you walk

#174

Post by close04 »

fsckboy wrote: post #99
suzzer99 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

High school is truly fun for maybe 15% of the students, is an utter nightmare for 15%, and has its moments but still generally sucks for everyone else.

maybe it's being 15 that sucks for 85%, and has nothing to do with high school at all.

It's probably both because you're 15ish in a herd of many other 15ish year olds. Maybe the fun factor is amplified, but so is the suck factor. Even a few traumas can leave a lifetime of scarring.

Re: Signs of autism could be encoded in the way you walk

#175

Post by chneu »

elric wrote: post #26

Human locomation is surprisingly complex. Maybe not that surprising, what with roughly 20 bones and 30 muscles in a single foot. That doesn't even include the joints needed for motion and the muscles required to move your legs or swing your arms while you walk. Allegedly some law enforcement uses gait analysis to identify and follow individual people on CCTV recordings. Gait has diagnostic value in some neurological…

Allegedly? Gait analysis isn't anything new and has been used for a long time. Israeli airport security is a good example.

Re: Signs of autism could be encoded in the way you walk

#176

Post by [deleted] »

teaearlgraycold wrote: post #80

One thing I’ve wondered is how broad is the autism umbrella? How much do two autistic people have in common other than being different than neurotypicals and thus having social difficulties? It seems to me that a condition defined by a difficulty with social signals could be extremely diverse in its causes and actual underlying conditions.

[deleted]

Re: Signs of autism could be encoded in the way you walk

#177

Post by chneu »

teaearlgraycold wrote: post #80

One thing I’ve wondered is how broad is the autism umbrella? How much do two autistic people have in common other than being different than neurotypicals and thus having social difficulties? It seems to me that a condition defined by a difficulty with social signals could be extremely diverse in its causes and actual underlying conditions.

Don't get too bogged down on the modern "autism" term. It's almost certainly going to change as we learn more about it.

Right now autism and neurodivergent cover huge swaths of behaviors/traits. This is especially true in the "social arena".

Just like back in the day when every kid that bounced their leg got an ADHD diagnosis. Now we know ADHD presents in a ton of ways and is usually present with other personality traits.

Re: Signs of autism could be encoded in the way you walk

#178

Post by sandworm101 »

BrandoElFollito wrote: post #145
ghushn3 wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tend to agree, as an autistic person. And a lot of autistic people hold the belief that, "My autism is not a problem, your expectations that I behave like you do are the problem." If I need to move a little differently, or not hold eye contact when I speak, the fact that I get made fun of is the problem. If we just accepted, "hey, some people are like that" more, I think we'd have a lot fewer problems.

The eye contact thing is interesting. I hate to make eye contact because I concentrate better when not watching the other person. And then I remember I should and it gets creepy because I am staring. This is to say that everyone is slightly different and a healthy dose of tolerance goes a long way. After all, some of your behaviour is probably annoying to others and you do not even realize it.

I read a paper once about female celebs/models and eyesight. They tend to have poorer-than-average vision. The theory was than poor eyesight increased thier percieved eye contact with stangers. (They could not see the other person and so would not look away.) This made them more noticable by others, which is not a bad thing when trying to get jobs in entertainment. An other theory was that they needed to try harder to focus when talking to people at a distance, say at a casting call, resulting in more eye contact.

Also, at extreem low body fat you start to loose the pad of fat behind the eyes, resulting in that sunken look of many supermodels. This of course can reshape the back of the eye and impact vision.

Re: Signs of autism could be encoded in the way you walk

#179

Post by chneu »

john01dav wrote: post #155
klipt wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess the question is why did we start labeling slightly socially awkward people as the same category as the people you describe in the first place?

The social protocol that low support needs autistic people use is similar to the social protocol that some higher (meaning those who can communicate) support needs autistic people use. The fundamental difference in my opinion (which is primarily formed from fairly extensive personal experience and thinking about it) is that autistic communication is fundamentally collaborative, while allistic communication is fundame…

Thanks for typing that up. It's a very good way of describing this.

I think autistic people are better at dropping their egos and working towards goals.

As an autistic person, I fucking LOVE building a plan with a clear set of goals and then accomplishing em. It has nothing to do with me as an individual, it's all about the big picture. I run into problems with people who can't drop their ego and work together because I just don't want to tolerate it.

Give me a STEM team full of autistics folks any day. So much less ego to deal with.

Re: Signs of autism could be encoded in the way you walk

#180

Post by andreykocevski »

suzzer99 wrote: post #96
benreesman wrote: post #93

I'm sure everyone involved means well, but we are really starting to embrace a culture of defining "normal" down to some arbitrary amount that seems to have no floor. I'm all for making sure that effective treatments are made available to anyone they might help, but couldn't a lot of this be addressed society just...being tolerant of diversity in people? Gating everyone through "thrives in American High School" as a…

High school is truly fun for maybe 15% of the students, is an utter nightmare for 15%, and has its moments but still generally sucks for everyone else.

High school is pretty fun in europe, especially where I am from. First year of high school is when you start drinking alcohol, smoking, going out, parties, girls, really all the cool stuff. Its the period when you step into the world of adolescence. But of course american high school experience is nothing like this and its rather depressing, considering I lived in the US and have known few high schoolers that were family friends of mine. They all were just drowned in homework, stayed at home, and played video games nonstop.
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