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Signs of autism could be encoded in the way you walk

sciencealert.com

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

#161

Post by p1dda »

npteljes wrote: post #152
p1dda wrote: post #142

Why would anybody need this tech? Are we hunting autistic people? Please stop.

Autism, like many other mental conditions, is not very well understood. For example, diagnostics is problematic, because the classification changed recently, and the diagnostics protocols involve observers of childhood development, which not every adult can provide. So, additional signs like the one described in the article could help people get diagnosed in the future. It could also help people hunt autistic people.…

You're right that it can be difficult diagnosing children but that is why, at least here in Europe, kids are observed by medical professionals along with their parents over several visits to child and adolescent psychiatric units. Sometimes they are even admitted to get even closer to a correct diagnosis. Also, almost all parents will seek help very early if they have any suspicion of disease in their child which makes this tech useless and probably stigmatizing to kids and families.

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

#162

Post by chneu »

CalRobert wrote: post #151
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…

The redefinition of "autism" from "can't talk, stims constantly, maybe bangs head against the wall, serious danger to themselves" to "kinda awkward savant" seems like it has been profoundly harmful to people who want to find new therapies for those in the former group. Maybe normalizing it was a way for insurance companies and school districts to get out of funding appropriate measures for people who literally can no…

Autism wasn't redefined like that. Not by the medical community. Social media took hold and it became the new OCD. People think liking straight lines on their desk means they have OCD. Same with autism, people think not liking a loud noise is autism.

I think a lot of people confuse neurodivergent with autistic as well.

The whole field needs a reorganization anyway. I've talked to dozens of therapists about this and I've received wildly different answers on what autism even is.

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

#163

Post by chneu »

rootsudo wrote: post #144
yndoendo wrote: post #97

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…

I have the same thoughts and reasons why and to see someone else write this is just spooky.

Lol same. I was reading that thinking, "Is this me?"

I take the stairs at work and the stomping people do is so loud, lol.

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

#164

Post by torlok »

As usual when it comes to psychology, the study sizes used in the meta-analysis paper are comically tiny. It always blows my mind that psychology is treated as science, when the vast majority of the academic work is statistical studies on 3-4 digit sample sizes in arbitrary conditions or, even funnier, self-assessment.

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

#165

Post by chneu »

MangoToupe wrote: post #117
bane wrote: post #85

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…

> 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…

A lot of people are really desperate to be in groups. Humans do this naturally.

A lot of labels put people in boxes or limiting groups. This changes how they think about themselves. Instead of discovering new things people will reject/ignore new things that don't reinforce their labels/boxes.

The one constant in life is change. Putting yourself in self-imposed labels/boxes stifles ones ability to properly interpret change. Their viewpoints change to fit their labels.

Nobody is saying labels are bad. But letting labels define you? Thats often the issue.

Social media has made this problem much, much worse.

I think a great example is teenagers who are looking for their clique. We all look back on ourselves and laugh at how desperate we were to fit in and the silly things we did/wore/etc. Adults do the same thing but with much more severe consequences and the reflection often never happens.

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

#166

Post by hresvelgr »

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…

In terms of treatment, I'm under the impression that "normal" is the minimum bar of commercial productivity and psychiatry/psychology is primarily used to curtail social deviancy to maintain this.

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

#167

Post by swores »

dns_snek wrote: post #52
dkga wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Prescription”?

I don't understand the scare quotes, prescription for ADHD medication, typically psychostimulants.

They're sometimes used as scare quotes, but they're not scare quote marks they're just quote marks. If quoting a part of somebody's comment to ask about it you're supposed to use them. (That said, I don't know what they were asking about, but you're probably right that they wanted to know what kind of drug was being talked about, or weren't familiar with that word in a medical context at all.)

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

#168

Post by chneu »

brendoelfrendo wrote: post #84
esseph wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another trait that seems to occur in both people with ADHD but also ASD is toe walking, aka walking with the heel lifted in the air.

Wait, is that why I do that?

Could be. There are also a bunch of physical reasons this might happen.

You could have just learned to walk weird, as well.

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

#170

Post by aa-jv »

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…

>we are really starting to embrace a culture of defining "normal" down

People forget that apsergers and autism as a subject were born from the eugenics movement. Asperger’s work on autism was shaped by the Nazi regime’s eugenics and race hygiene policies, which influenced his definitions and categorizations of autistic children.

These classifications serve only to justify atrocities.

There are folks out in the world today being repressed because they don't fit into some cultural ideal set in place by the totalitarian-authoritarian doctrine of eugenics, which has been used for nefarious purposes for over a century now.

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