Rant for 25/10/07 - Thoughts on Neurotypes
Over the years, I've learned a number of different social coping mechanisms, allowing me to blend into various social situations, to an extent.
It often goes through my mind that if I were to travel back in time and teach my younger self these techniques, this "alternate me" would probably not have been diagnosed as Aspie, due to not having "Qualitative impairment in social interaction".
This makes me wonder how many autistically-minded individuals are considered not to be autistic on similar technicalities.
Essentially, I blame this on defining autism and aspergers in terms of deficiencies - The DSM criteria offers no insight into the autistic mind, choosing instead to list the things we're not as good at.
One of the goals of the neurodiversity movement, at least in my opinion, is to move psychiatry and the public from thinking of autism as "just a disability" to thinking of it as a difference in neurological wiring. While doing so, it's probably a good idea to fix the definitions themselves.
The new "Autistic Neurotype" would be defined in terms of autistic thought processes, not in terms of things we're not as good at. As such, it would include people usually excluded due to proficiencies in certain areas.
Here's some more food for thought - How many other mental differences could this be applied to? For example, could a "Bipolar Neurotype" include people that habitually have long periods of activity followed by long periods of inactivity? And could there be other neurotypes as yet undiscovered, because they did not present significant enough disadvantage?
In treatment terms, neurotypes including people without categorizable problems would mean that all treatment would have to be individually tailored, rather than "one size fits all".
The ultimate step would be to introduce the "Social Neurotype" to replace the previous neurotypical category - including a similar write-up of thought processes, etc. This would finally put NT's on an equal level to others, by presenting their information in exactly the same way as everyone elses - a much better alternative to the "problems" vs "no problems" ideology we currently have.
I hereby open the table for discussion...
This sound like a good Idea. I thought up of something similar, but instead of making a new "neurotype", my idea was to create a whole new word and definition well away from "autism". That way, we can get a step closer to getting rid of confusion from the "mercury causes autism". That way we can give use word "autism" to define those that are really mercury poisoned, and give a whole new word to define those with different brain wiring. But I see plenty of problems and loop holes with my idea, and there are quite similar loop holes with your idea.
Rant for 31/10/07 - Responsibilities of the Camoflagable
It's occurred to me recently that if I'm serious about the issue of Autistic Rights, as a camouflagable spectrumite, I have a huge responsibility as to the way I live my life - people with the ability to camouflage themselves as NT's (to an extent) have the best chance of breaking down some of the misinformation about autism.
For starters, now that I've achieved some moderate success by NT-world standards (i.e. holding down a steady job, being in a relationship, etc), I have a responsibility to "out" myself - showing those around me that autistic people are real people with real personalities. It's unfortunately easy for people to dismiss visibly different people - as a camoflagable autistic, it is more difficult to be dismissed out of hand.
From here, I have a responsibility to be a paragon of goodness (which is ironic, considering my online name). After I'm outed, any negative behavior will be held against all autistic people, in the sense that they could blame the negative behavior on autism.
Another responsibility I have is to nurture and show my uniqueness and general weirdness. If I fail to do this, I will be seen as an autistic person who "got over it", and possibly used as an example against others. For example, someone could say "I know an autistic person, and he seems completely normal - you just mustn't be trying hard enough".
I also have the responsibility to enjoy life and all it has to offer - any less, and autism will be a "tragedy".
In short, if I'm serious about autistic rights, I have the unavoidable burden of aiming to be the best person I can possibly be, in every possible way, all the time. The fate of an entire neurotype depends on it.
But no pressure...
I would like to & will do similar, but I lack a diagnosis without this I suspect that I would be dismissed as 'just eccentric'.
As soon as I am able to obtain a diagnosis..I will do this ASAP
Life is difficult as is meant to be. I think anyone who says differently is misrepresenting life.
Of course they are.
the fact is at 1 in 166, the impact of less than 1% of the population on the other 99% is not likely to be that great and MOST people would not have the slightest idea what autism is.
In this particular area there may well be a higher number of those on the Autistic Spectrum than in the rest of the UK, therefore here many people do have a fair amount of information, but this will be of low functioning people.
So....Our collective duty may be that if we protect, support, nature and educate each other we will be stronger and more self-confident in a world that can really test us and our ineptitudes.
Yes I totally agree.
I like to think that my day to day behaviour and interactions coupled with coming out to a select minority will have far more implications than the talks I have done or the academic interviews I have had. Why? Because at different times in their life those people I have told who were ignorant of autism will no doubt have opportunity to mention about a bloke they know or used to know called Rossco and the things they will say will be positive. It will have a roll on effect.
It doesn't sound that pro-active, but tell me what would be being risked by doing otherwise? Become militant - you get denounced. Scream "Poor me" - you get pitied and devalued. Expose yourself to all and sundry - you get further isolated. Segregate yourself and you lose societal benefits.
If you can fit in best can and don't ask for any quarter, If you are prepared to struggle through life regardless, If you can be accepting and supporting of others, then people are likely to respect you regardless of your condition and this will positively influence their personal view of what autism means to them.
I can't do interviews or talks & I'm certainly not "screaming poor me", I have spent a lifetime ' fitting in regardless '.
I am already 'exposed' in this small community as is my oldest son in the sense that we are considered to be more odd than most even for here, but generally we are respected for our skills & abilities.
If there are any other high functioning AS people here I am not aware of them, ( the hidden ones ) low functioning yes..just like everyone else.
As the local knowledge is almost solely about low functioning Autism ( & generally 'curbie' ), I see no problem in being one of the first to state that I am one of ' the others '.
" Here I am, an old woman who has survived life with AS, has experienced good & bad times without any attempts at cure....this is why you think I am weird, but you also know that I am useful."
If this attitude would help others who are feeling isolated, then I'll go for it.
[
To truly have a feeling of personal achievement, only one thing will do - to task yourself with a "Great Work".
A Great Work - and yes, the capital letters are mandatory - is a task, creation, or social achievement that gives you joy entirely in and of itself. It can be anything at all, as long as it's fairly impressive in scope.
The best part about a Great Work is that because it can be anything at all, anyone can achieve one. A creative person might task themselves to write an epic novel, paint a picture with an impressive concept, direct a new play, or any other creative endeavor. A humanitarian might dedicate themselves to raising the profile of a charity, or to defending against human rights abuses. A scientifically inclined person might invent or research something impressive. A fun-loving person might attempt an entirely random feat (the mentos & diet coke routine comes to mind... *grins*).
The only thing to remember is to make sure that your Great Work is entirely separated from the things above. Make sure that it is something that will bring you joy even if it makes no money, offers no social status, and everyone else in the world dislikes it.
The best part about a Great Work is that you don't even need to have finished it for it to improve your life - simply setting out on the journey will be enough to make you feel happy. Each little step towards achieving it will make your day, and each setback will help you unlock hidden reserves of inner strength.
At the end, you'll know for a fact that you've achieved something, because it will have taken a lot of hard work. This absolute knowledge of personal achievement will be something you will have with you for the rest of your life.
[/quote]
Actually my great work is raising Hope to adulthood. I really, really, really feel it is more important, has wider implications, and more joyful ultimately than anything the most important CEO, politician, small or big town lawyer, could ever accomplish.
Also, in a way I am an educator, writ large so understand a LOT the sense of accomplishment teachers must sometimes feel.
It is my life's work. I live for Hope and after that I suppose I live for travel and the occasional perfectly worded poem. Or two hours peace on my porch during some really nice mild weather.
To truly have a feeling of personal achievement, only one thing will do - to task yourself with a "Great Work".
A Great Work - and yes, the capital letters are mandatory - is a task, creation, or social achievement that gives you joy entirely in and of itself. It can be anything at all, as long as it's fairly impressive in scope.
The best part about a Great Work is that because it can be anything at all, anyone can achieve one. A creative person might task themselves to write an epic novel, paint a picture with an impressive concept, direct a new play, or any other creative endeavor. A humanitarian might dedicate themselves to raising the profile of a charity, or to defending against human rights abuses. A scientifically inclined person might invent or research something impressive. A fun-loving person might attempt an entirely random feat (the mentos & diet coke routine comes to mind... *grins*).
The only thing to remember is to make sure that your Great Work is entirely separated from the things above. Make sure that it is something that will bring you joy even if it makes no money, offers no social status, and everyone else in the world dislikes it.
The best part about a Great Work is that you don't even need to have finished it for it to improve your life - simply setting out on the journey will be enough to make you feel happy. Each little step towards achieving it will make your day, and each setback will help you unlock hidden reserves of inner strength.
At the end, you'll know for a fact that you've achieved something, because it will have taken a lot of hard work. This absolute knowledge of personal achievement will be something you will have with you for the rest of your life.
[/quote]
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reply:
Actually my great work is raising Hope to adulthood. I really, really, really feel it is more important, has wider implications, and more joyful ultimately than anything the most important CEO, politician, small or big town lawyer, could ever accomplish.
Also, in a way I am an educator, writ large so understand a LOT the sense of accomplishment teachers must sometimes feel.
It is my life's work. I live for Hope and after that I suppose I live for travel and the occasional perfectly worded poem. Or two hours peace on my porch during some really nice mild weather.
She sounds like she is very lucky to have you Ellen
I also waited three years to conceive her, so she was really, really wanted. I drove before work twenty or thirty miles to be seen by the best infertility doc in Atlanta in Atlanta traffic to conceive her. I couldn't tell anyone at work either. In the end I did it on my own after quitting a stressful job.
When they called with her sex I jumped up and down in the kitchen just overjoyed- I never thought I'd have a girl since boys run on both sides of the family in a fairly big way. She is the first girl on her father's side since 1885 or something.
My nicknames for her are:
Hopie Clo (her middle name is Clotilde, after the French saint) pretty girl and princess
No rant tonight - I'm dead tired from box packing. Expect normal programming to resume tomorrow!
EvilZakkie, I do enjoy reading all your rants ( mini Great Works?)- they make me think..and then think some more..
(I was quite glad to have that extra day after Atomic Idealogy to factor some more thoughts)
Quite Ok to have a wee break-though it is funny how used to something one can get and I did miss rant reading this morning here..
Looking forward to tomorrow!
Going to take another break on the rant tonight. Lately I've been staying up to 1am or so trying to finish off rants, and with a 6am start for work, it's been taking its toll... This is still a fairly new skill I'm trying to develop, and it's still taking me a long while to come up with interesting topics. Hopefully I can eventually "break through the wall" and turn my creative writing ability on and off at will, but until then, I think sometimes I just need a recharge.
I'll try to get up to regular viewing again over the weekend - Signing off for now!
I will miss the everydayness of it all but completely understand. And thanks for all your rants so far. I believe it is much more difficult to find a topic, think about it, and then write about it intelligently- than to simply sit back to read all about it. However, one can hardly just passively read anything that you have written here-you have good ideas that provoke thinking.
er..can thinking be provoked? I am having trouble coming up with just ONE word
Your rants are also hugely interesting and much fun to read. You ARE a creative writer, EvilZakkie.
Take all the recharging time you need and want.
( beed and bont?)
'bont' needs one of those little 'r' trademark circly-things. Good word, great idea.
Shirley MacClaine (the actress) has written about how we are just energy in lots of her metaphysical books like "Out on a Limb" but if you REALLY want the straight scoop about this topic read Meher Baba's God Speaks or "The Everything and the Nothing", both available either at a large city library or through amazon.com Aussie poet Francis Brabazon was a follower.
God Speaks is a bit difficult the first time round- very cerebral...as is seen in the quote below.
Here's a quote to get you interested:
GOD DREAMS DIVINELY
"Just as a man, who wakes up from his sound sleep state, has invariably to pass through the state of dreaming first and then wake up completely, gaining full consciousness after the semi- conscious state of the dream (which may last for a very long duration or may last only for a split second), so, too, is it the case with God in the God-Is state. Before completely waking up from His original divine sound sleep state, God necessarily experiences the divine semi-conscious state which is the divine dream state or the creator state.
The original, infinite whim, as the Cause, manifested the first trickle of most-finite consciousness in God. This most- finite consciousness made God, now in a semi-conscious state, experience through sub-consciousness the most-finite impression of the latent Nothing which was also manifested as the Nothingness. This experience of the most-finite first impression of Nothingness began the "divine dream" — the creation of the universe.
Thus the first trickle of consciousness in the God-Is state infused God with the divine sub-consciousness which in turn bestowed the divine semi-conscious state upon God Who was in the divine sound sleep state. In this divine semi-conscious state, God dreams divinely and experiences the divine dream, or the Creation, much before the real, divine awakening state, which state, awakening Him completely, would give Him the experience of God fully conscious of His infinite, unbounded and unlimited divine nature.
This divine sub-consciousness of God also emerged from the Nothing which was latent in the God-Is state of the Everything, and necessarily was projected through the creation point, or Om point, in the original absolute vacuum of the Everything.
The very vibrations of the projection of the divine sub-consciousness of God, through the creation point in the original absolute vacuum, bestirred the divine sound sleep state of God and made manifest the original breath of God, or the original Word — the divine nad — together with space, time and the cosmic universe, with all of its paraphernalia of the limited and finite ego, mind, energy and the individual and multiple forms. "
Excerpted from from God Speaks by Meher Baba, pp. 102-104. Copyright 1973 Sufism Reoriented, Inc. Used by permission.
ALSO:
GOD DESCENDS INTO THE
REALM OF ILLUSION...
It is for love that the whole universe sprang into existence, and it is for the sake of love that it is kept going.
God descends into the realm of Illusion because the apparent duality of the Beloved and the lover is eventually contributory to His conscious enjoyment of His own divinity.
The development of love is conditioned and sustained by the tension of duality. God has to suffer apparent differentiation into a multiplicity of souls in order to carry on the game of love. They are His own forms, and in relation to them He at once assumes the roles of the divine Lover and the divine Beloved. As the Beloved, He is the real and the ultimate object of their appreciation. As the divine Lover, He is their real and ultimate savior, drawing them back to Himself.
Thus, though the whole world of duality is only a illusion, that illusion has come into being for a significant purpose.
Love is the reflection of God's unity in the world of duality. It constitutes the entire significance of creation. If love were excluded from life, all the souls in the world would assume complete externality to each other; and the only possible relations and contacts in such a loveless world would be superficial and mechanical. It is because of love that the contacts and relations between individual souls become significant.
It is love that gives meaning and value to all the happenings in the world of duality. But while love gives meaning to the world of duality, it is at the same time a standing challenge to duality.
As love gathers strength, it generates creative restlessness and becomes the main driving power of that spiritual dynamic which ultimately succeeds in restoring to consciousness the original unity of Being.
Excerpted from from Discourses by Meher Baba, pp 115-116. Copyright 1987 Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public
Happy reading!
Here's a quote to get you interested:
GOD DREAMS DIVINELY
Interesting idea, and I might have to have a look, just for curiousities sake.
Interesting though it might be, this theory has very little to do with mine, as I do not believe in God - regardless of what sort of god-energy-complex theory God is described as.
I know I already intuited that you didn't believe in God, I don't know how I knew, I just knew.
If you buy the books, ignore the references to God and just read about the science behind the metaphysics I guess is the best way to put it..........
Its the same old EZ... he's just been over posting, I assume, and came up with another account to use...
Bingo! *grins* I just reached the 20 posts per day limit yesterday.
How does one know one's limit is reached? Having said that I doubt that I will ever reach 20 posts a day-takes me a long time to write one actually- not that I don't have lots to say...
Hmm, can we bank our unused posts? Trade or Sell 'em??
I bont the next volume of Pokemon manga.
Another similar type of motivation is self-denial. This involves giving yourself a list of enjoyable things that you wont do for a certain period of time, in order to give yourself incentive to do more important things. The main flaw with this approach is that it doesn't work - you'll end up doing little non-productive things that aren't as much fun as the things you're denying yourself, or you'll end up doing small tasks to put off doing the big tasks. To get yourself to do something, always remember to actually plan to do that thing. Just planning not to do something else isn't enough.
OHMYGOSH!! EXACTLY!! Tell that to my parents when they say no computer until homework is done, please.
[quote=EvilZakkie]
Rant for 27/11/07 - The nerd/autistic alliance...
Right now I bet if you talked to an industry exec he/she would tell you that "nerd movies" are one of the biggest money grosses going, if not THE biggest. I am getting long in the tooth and my memory is faulty with this stuff (the teen years were soooo long ago, folks), but recent nerd movies include "Superbad" which was super funny (and I am picky), "Real Genius" with a young Val Kilmer, "Revenge of the Nerds, I and II", and this one sounds interesting (Amazon) "Party Nerds Toga Bash: Assault of the Party Nerds/Heavy Petting Detective" ~ Rajnish Babakan, Michelle Bauer, Amy Burr, and C. Paul Demsey (DVD - 2005).
That time travel thing bothered me before... I think it was in Back to the Future.
very true... how sad that he would jump into a time that doesn't exsist, he may never recover.
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