I love this piece. Before I knew I was autistic I could never work out why I could see potential solutions to stuff other people hadn’t thought of. When I realised it was related to the way my brain works I stopped feeling like a freak or a smart arse.
We don't yet know what the causes of austism/adhd are and there is increasing evidence pointing towards environmental factors. For the sake of argument imagine that some of these individuals had their issues caused by developmental damage due to exposure to pollution.
We don't know what these people would have been like had they not been damaged, the hyper focused individual who is socially awkward might have been hyper focused and a social butterfly. We simply can't know.
What if these individuals would have been even more capable had they not been exposed to toxins?
While I get what you are saying, that we should try and recognise the value in what might otherwise be seen as a negative thing, I think we should not overlook the idea that we might have been damaged and had something taken away and that this itself is an injustice.
As someone who is on the spectrum and used to run an Autistic pub group there is a massive range of functioning. One of the guys who used to goto the pub group later took his life because he couldn't stand being Autistic and I think about this every now and then to this day. It makes me feel sad and angry.
If we are damaged due to exposure to pollution we should be angry and demand answers, not accept the narrative that we just think differently. We don't know what we would be if we had not been exposed to pollution, but we need to know either way what causes autism and adhd.
If it turns out that we would have been autistic anyway then I'll be completely on board with the acceptance narrative. Until then I'm skeptical and will continue to raise awareness of the developmental damage that environmental toxins can create.
Interesting. I have a cousin with autism. He is quite smart, even has a degree, but he can't hold a job or live independently. I thought he had a disability, but he must just be lazy.
Is this a facetious? I can't tell. This doesn't mean all autistic kids are successful. It means that given the percent of people who have autism, there are a huge number of autistic kids at top schools.
Also, I don't think lazy is a thing. I don't think humans are lazy. We are naturally curious and engaged. People can look overwhelmed, or pensive, or a million other things. Finally, autistic inertia is a real thing. And it is far from lazy.
"This doesn't mean all autistic kids are successful." Of course I don't think you are saying all autistic kids are successful. It would be cruel of me to use irony in the face of delusion. But you do say "...all ages can have this autistic success...", and I think that this is counter-productive.
"...there are a huge number of autistic kids at top schools..."
OK. But even high school students are expected to know that statistical correlations are tricky. A can cause B or B can cause A. Or there could be other factors, C, D , E,... that are a more primary cause of both A and B. Here are some other statistical correlations: There are a huge number of foreign Chinese students at top schools. There are a lot of kids from wealthy families are top schools. Top schools are more likely to offer support programs like Neurodiversity Navigators and Mosaic.
"...I don't think lazy is a thing..."
Ok. What do you call it when a person has a pattern of not completing expected tasks, despite ample time and space, and a previously demonstrated ability? I'm not asking you what causes this pattern, how rare or common it is, how it might be seen as rational in a certain context, or about its moral value or role in social justice. Simply, what label do you use to describe this well-known pattern of behavior?
Isn't "autistic inertia" a euphemism for demand avoidance? Being autistic is not necessary to exhibit any level of demand avoidance. Again, if there is some correlation between the two, it may be that one causes the other or there may be a third (or multiple distinct factors of a) causative pathway that is primary.
So to explicate the turn of phrase, it's meant to be a criticism of assigning virtue as the cause of the correlation between top schools and autistic kids. I'm not sure if you are being deliberately disingenuous, or delightfully naive, and so I used irony to respond to both.
For naivete, I respond in kind, rejecting my previous view of autism as a disability, or an unchosen deficit of common and essential skills. After all, my nephew did get a degree. He is capable of completing complex, long-term tasks. He isn't disabled.
For disingenuity, I follow logic: My nephew is able, but does not. Whatever the cause of this pattern of behavior, it cannot honestly be called virtue.
Do you have thoughts about ADHD medication and focus? My son plays travel baseball and my pet theory is the ADHD kids are better when they’re off their meds. Baseball is a game of focus and if you don’t care about the sport, it can be incredibly boring. But of the adult pros I’ve talked to, quite a few were diagnosed later in life with ADHD. They focused on what they cared about, and ignored the rest. The meds seem to help kids pay attention to school but they lack the hyper focus in the outfield. Any ideas?
I totally agree. This is a really useful way to look at ADHD meds. I see it in my own life as well. I have a great ability to focus on what comes easily to me. I also have a great ability to focus on something I like that I'm doing with people I care about. People with ADHD want to do a lot that we can't make ourselves do. But if other people are doing it with us, we can apply our great focus skills more productively.
Giving kids ADHD meds so they can sit in a classroom seems sad to me. I love learning and I can't sit in a classroom. I don't think my life would have been better giving me ADHD meds to sit in class. My life would have been better having people understand how my brain worked and helping me to succeed on my own terms.
That said, there is so much of parenting that falls into the category of difficult and I have to get myself to do anyway. So ADHD meds to help a parent be a more responsive, emotionally available parent seems like a good use of the meds.
Before I knew I was gifted/autistic/ADHD I was constantly feeling like everything was a trick question. Like, the answers to everything were so immediately obvious that surely everyone else had already considered and arrived at the answer, and discarded is as being the wrong answer – therefore, the question must actually be a trick question. This belief/experience has led to lifelong overthinking and paralysis and social anxiety on my part (even though the correct answer always immediately arrived in my mind without needing to think about it). Of course, once I was diagnosed, I realised that no – everyone else had NOT already arrived at the answer. It has taken a massive load off my mind, and means I now speak up with the answer.
Framing autism as feeling like everything is a trick question resonates with me. I also feel like every situation is an example of where my mind blindness is hurting me. But in reality it's probably not every situation, I'm just so used to making unexpected decisions because of autism that I'm paranoid if I don't get outside input.
I love this piece. Before I knew I was autistic I could never work out why I could see potential solutions to stuff other people hadn’t thought of. When I realised it was related to the way my brain works I stopped feeling like a freak or a smart arse.
I had the same experience! Knowing I have autism makes me better understand what I'm good at.
We don't yet know what the causes of austism/adhd are and there is increasing evidence pointing towards environmental factors. For the sake of argument imagine that some of these individuals had their issues caused by developmental damage due to exposure to pollution.
We don't know what these people would have been like had they not been damaged, the hyper focused individual who is socially awkward might have been hyper focused and a social butterfly. We simply can't know.
What if these individuals would have been even more capable had they not been exposed to toxins?
While I get what you are saying, that we should try and recognise the value in what might otherwise be seen as a negative thing, I think we should not overlook the idea that we might have been damaged and had something taken away and that this itself is an injustice.
As someone who is on the spectrum and used to run an Autistic pub group there is a massive range of functioning. One of the guys who used to goto the pub group later took his life because he couldn't stand being Autistic and I think about this every now and then to this day. It makes me feel sad and angry.
If we are damaged due to exposure to pollution we should be angry and demand answers, not accept the narrative that we just think differently. We don't know what we would be if we had not been exposed to pollution, but we need to know either way what causes autism and adhd.
If it turns out that we would have been autistic anyway then I'll be completely on board with the acceptance narrative. Until then I'm skeptical and will continue to raise awareness of the developmental damage that environmental toxins can create.
Interesting. I have a cousin with autism. He is quite smart, even has a degree, but he can't hold a job or live independently. I thought he had a disability, but he must just be lazy.
Is this a facetious? I can't tell. This doesn't mean all autistic kids are successful. It means that given the percent of people who have autism, there are a huge number of autistic kids at top schools.
Also, I don't think lazy is a thing. I don't think humans are lazy. We are naturally curious and engaged. People can look overwhelmed, or pensive, or a million other things. Finally, autistic inertia is a real thing. And it is far from lazy.
"Is this a facetious?"
No, more like a sarcasm.
"This doesn't mean all autistic kids are successful." Of course I don't think you are saying all autistic kids are successful. It would be cruel of me to use irony in the face of delusion. But you do say "...all ages can have this autistic success...", and I think that this is counter-productive.
"...there are a huge number of autistic kids at top schools..."
OK. But even high school students are expected to know that statistical correlations are tricky. A can cause B or B can cause A. Or there could be other factors, C, D , E,... that are a more primary cause of both A and B. Here are some other statistical correlations: There are a huge number of foreign Chinese students at top schools. There are a lot of kids from wealthy families are top schools. Top schools are more likely to offer support programs like Neurodiversity Navigators and Mosaic.
"...I don't think lazy is a thing..."
Ok. What do you call it when a person has a pattern of not completing expected tasks, despite ample time and space, and a previously demonstrated ability? I'm not asking you what causes this pattern, how rare or common it is, how it might be seen as rational in a certain context, or about its moral value or role in social justice. Simply, what label do you use to describe this well-known pattern of behavior?
Isn't "autistic inertia" a euphemism for demand avoidance? Being autistic is not necessary to exhibit any level of demand avoidance. Again, if there is some correlation between the two, it may be that one causes the other or there may be a third (or multiple distinct factors of a) causative pathway that is primary.
So to explicate the turn of phrase, it's meant to be a criticism of assigning virtue as the cause of the correlation between top schools and autistic kids. I'm not sure if you are being deliberately disingenuous, or delightfully naive, and so I used irony to respond to both.
For naivete, I respond in kind, rejecting my previous view of autism as a disability, or an unchosen deficit of common and essential skills. After all, my nephew did get a degree. He is capable of completing complex, long-term tasks. He isn't disabled.
For disingenuity, I follow logic: My nephew is able, but does not. Whatever the cause of this pattern of behavior, it cannot honestly be called virtue.
Do you have thoughts about ADHD medication and focus? My son plays travel baseball and my pet theory is the ADHD kids are better when they’re off their meds. Baseball is a game of focus and if you don’t care about the sport, it can be incredibly boring. But of the adult pros I’ve talked to, quite a few were diagnosed later in life with ADHD. They focused on what they cared about, and ignored the rest. The meds seem to help kids pay attention to school but they lack the hyper focus in the outfield. Any ideas?
I totally agree. This is a really useful way to look at ADHD meds. I see it in my own life as well. I have a great ability to focus on what comes easily to me. I also have a great ability to focus on something I like that I'm doing with people I care about. People with ADHD want to do a lot that we can't make ourselves do. But if other people are doing it with us, we can apply our great focus skills more productively.
Giving kids ADHD meds so they can sit in a classroom seems sad to me. I love learning and I can't sit in a classroom. I don't think my life would have been better giving me ADHD meds to sit in class. My life would have been better having people understand how my brain worked and helping me to succeed on my own terms.
That said, there is so much of parenting that falls into the category of difficult and I have to get myself to do anyway. So ADHD meds to help a parent be a more responsive, emotionally available parent seems like a good use of the meds.
Penelope
Before I knew I was gifted/autistic/ADHD I was constantly feeling like everything was a trick question. Like, the answers to everything were so immediately obvious that surely everyone else had already considered and arrived at the answer, and discarded is as being the wrong answer – therefore, the question must actually be a trick question. This belief/experience has led to lifelong overthinking and paralysis and social anxiety on my part (even though the correct answer always immediately arrived in my mind without needing to think about it). Of course, once I was diagnosed, I realised that no – everyone else had NOT already arrived at the answer. It has taken a massive load off my mind, and means I now speak up with the answer.
Framing autism as feeling like everything is a trick question resonates with me. I also feel like every situation is an example of where my mind blindness is hurting me. But in reality it's probably not every situation, I'm just so used to making unexpected decisions because of autism that I'm paranoid if I don't get outside input.
thank you so much for this.