Aspies from others civilizations

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The absence of people from Islamic countries is surprising

Absence in this forum?

I don't know enough about Islam to to anything but speculate. Perhaps a disabled child is considered a source of shame to the family?

Or perhaps they are less likely to be on an english forum? The people on this forum is predominantly from english speaking countries and from countries where people naturally learn a lot of English?

Also, not all cultures have the same relationship to shrinks as we do. Or to those kinds of explanations for human behaviour.

From what I saw when I lived for a time in a Muslim working class community in the Middle East, this was not the case. Disabilities were typically accepted as something from God, no more, no less. This view was held within a world view that (as I understood it), all things are from God - good and bad, blessings and ills. This seemed consistent to me with a core idea in Islam of surrender of the self before God.

This is just one subjective experience through the eyes of a foreigner. I think people everywhere probably have the same instincts to accept or reject others who are different from themselves.

Some cultures probably don't have anything called autism; no conception. They are just called idiots or mystics or something else.

True. Strange how some cultures make mystics and some throw them in a well.

Where I live, I encounter people from a wide variety of cultures, including Islamic culture. I've met Muslims who speak fluent English, though the ones I've gotten to know don't seem to be on the spectrum. I'm sure Islamic aspies are out there, however, even if they don't discuss their culture and beliefs here. My own family is 75% Jewish and 25% Lutheran Protestant in ethnicity, though we don't practice any organized religion. I seldom discuss that, on the internet, or IRL. Thus, I don't make assumptions regarding anyone's religion or ethnicity if they don't explicitly state them.
My point is, I wouldn't be so quick to assume that there are no Muslims here, just because no one here advertises being Muslim.
As for Muslims presently living in Islamic countries, that's a tougher call. I know that some Islamic countries are dealing with a great deal of political unrest, and restrictions regarding personal freedoms. There might be some aspies in Islamic countries who are not able to freely access the internet. Even so, I wouldn't be surprised if there are more than a few members posting from Islamic countries, whether we know it or not. Not everyone advertises where they're from here.

There are a few here that I have noticed, and I am far from noticing everybody. I wonder why you say people from Muslim countries are absent?

We are Muslims (African-American too if more specifics is desired) living in the U.S. and my son is in the process of being evaluated. As the pp said, its not something I'd discuss unless it was in some way relative to a discussion (such as this one). We tend to be affected by pretty much anything the general population is affected with. I do foresee more challenges for my son that would be specific to our background though. I've yet to wrap my head around it yet as he's still so young.

I do think eggshell has a pretty good idea of our view on these matters. Pretty good for a "foreigner"!

It's tough to understand another culture without some frame of reference. Even among Christians, there are those that see autism as punishment from God and others that see it as a blessing. It's unfortunate that much of the misunderstanding between cultures is because of a penchant for focusing on the extremes and the dramatic. A case in point is the media's treatment of honor killings within Islam. While such things are not universal, the focus on such behaviors paints a false picture, playing on the fears rooted in ignorance and anxiety over the future.

I was raised Catholic, and I grew up on this exact same idea.

Of course, then I moved to the States where people routinely reject God because they're not getting things they feel God should've given them. Talk about feeling entitled.

So you see, it's not us, it's YOU.

If this is in fact true, then I'm sure language plays a part; but, I'd bet that there's a financial component, too.

There are about 50 countries that have a Muslim majority. Generally speaking (and contrary to the "oil-rich" stereotype), many of these countries are extremely poor on a per capita basis. There are a handful of exceptions: Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, and Brunei. Outside of those, you'll find mostly four-figure (i.e., less than $10,000/year) and plenty of three-figure (i.e., less than $1000/year) per capita GDPs. For comparison, per capita GDPs in the U.S., U.K., Australia, and Scandinavia (which is what we see a lot of here, right?) are in the $35,000-$50,000 range.

Quality of, and access to, all health care (and especially mental health care) increases as wealth does. This is easy to see even within countries. People struggling to meet basic human needs do not see mental health professionals.