131–140 of 273 posts
I dunno, this seems kind of junk sciency. There's all kinds of reasons to walk all kinds of ways. Walking on toes, or pointing your feet have almost never been a notable feature of people I know who are clearly on the spectrum. Conversely, the people I know who do have notable gaits all come from something else and none of them (as far as I know) have autism. Anecdata: My paternal side has some kind of innate prefere…
I dunno, this seems kind of junk sciency. There's all kinds of reasons to walk all kinds of ways. Walking on toes, or pointing your feet have almost never been a notable feature of people I know who are clearly on the spectrum. Conversely, the people I know who do have notable gaits all come from something else and none of them (as far as I know) have autism. Anecdata: My paternal side has some kind of innate prefere…
China and Israel use gait surveillance tech because it uniquely identifies people. No amount of face paint, costumes, or slouching can evade this form of detection, but surely the Ministry of Silly Walks can try.
I don't think this says anything about (insert any neurodivergence-ism). Not enough evidence to make this claim.
I am hesitant to post this because of JFK JR and ignoring with the politicians in power against ASD. Gait is not constant in the stride. It all depends on the footwear. The constant for me is being silent while walking. Be the ball of your feet or the heels. Having auditory issues / sensitive to sound, I walk to be silent and unheard. Walking and scaring wildlife and other humans was a personally taught process. I ca…
lots of households don't wear shoes indoors. heel stomping around is much, much louder than ball-walking.
Honest question: What does this really bring to the table as a diagnostic tool for autism? By the time that you're evaluating gait, you're evaluating a lot of other things, too, since autism usually starts appearing during childhood. Obvious things, like trouble socializing, learning, and processing stimuli. I'm not a doctor or involved in any sort of diagnosis, treatment, or curing of diseases or conditions, but giv…
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> that turn into self-inhibiting labels that restrict personal development Say more. Why do you see these labels as inhibitory rather than liberatory? I have a complicated relationship with the label given a lack of a formal diagnosis and many years of accusations of ASD, and I haven't identified any positive side of a diagnosis and will likely never pursue one. But this doesn't mean the label hasn't helped me connec…
I think labels are fine but making it the most significant part of your identity is where it can be self-inhibiting. If you feel engaged in life and not limited, you are doing just fine.
Cool time to show off my gait/foot scan https://my.volumental.com/en/fleet_feet_rics/5128511c-cd88-4... Shoes are evil. Barefoot all the things. I think I might be a bit autistic...
The most autistic people I know wear sandals all year round. People laugh about sandals and socks but you're right -- shoes are evil! I'll take looking like a dork over having sore feet all the time.
https://runrepeat.com/asics-gel-nimbus-27
You can walk, run, stomp around in them all day and your feet will thank you.
They do have some cons though. They are expensive and not very eco-friendly (hard to recycle).
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People should be careful with basing psychological stereotypes on gait, as there's already an extensive legacy framework of stereotypes based on gait—are these new stereotypes meaningfully different medical observations grounded in facts, or are they just more stereotypes? Literature on Native Americans, for example, often claims that they walk on the balls of the feet in distinction to "the Anglo," who walks on his…
My understanding is that forefoot striking is common in any culture where going barefoot is typical. It doesn't feel good to slam your bare heel onto the ground all the time. It's only tolerable if you're wearing shoes. We should really consider heel striking to be the unusual non-default behavior here, the same as how prevalence of chairs means many Westerners have shortened Achilles tendons and lost the ability to…
I find walking on concrete is more comfortable when using the whole foot, so just barely tip-toeing rather than my usual heel striking. In general, it's not a good idea to walk on hard surfaces barefoot or in sandals excessively, no matter what the FiveFingers crowd might believe. I discovered plantar fasciitis the hard way [pun not intended].
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…
Society is tolerant of diversity in people.
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I would call this study a limited data-point, rather than a conclusion. Personally I'm more concerned with the definition of autism itself, which is so incredibly broad that it actually defies most generalisations. For any given symptom or characteristic there may be an autistic cohort in a vastly different part of the spectrum to whom it patently does not apply.
It's because the definition of autism isn't a collection of traits or symptoms; it's essentially defined by how other people experience you as opposed to how you experience the world, and there happens to be a lot of comorbidities, so to speak