I interview Steve Silberman about his bestselling book, Neurotribes

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I view my autism as part imparment(executive function), a lot of it as a disadvantage of bieng small minority(especially the social cues,body language type stuff), and some positive aspects. I really view disadvantaged and impairments as two very different things. The impairments is the autism or co morbid or executive functioning fault. Disadvantage is just the bad luck of bieng born with thinking and reacting differently to 98% of the population and is not my fault of often not the NT society fault.

We have a variety of people here from people who view it as a curse to supremecists. I can't say that others are wrong for vieing their autism as a curse because I have not lived their life. You and others should not tell me my judgement after 58 years of bieng autistic about my autism is wrong.


That said it is unfair and ultimately a failed strategy to expect autistics to try to and be as NT as possible all the time with no recriprication. It is ok to realize a lot of my problems are caused by bieng a minority'rather then broken

The book by the self decribed very neurotypical person is very sympathetic to parents. Parents are viewed as victims of lack of knowledge, overly simplistic explanations and quackery but not of autism per se. Silbermen is against most of the money bieng spent for cures and is for most of the money bieng spent to help autistics now living

Really interesting interview. Thanks. I have ordered up the book and can't wait to start reading it.

I have had significant disability issues all through my life.....issues as measured by the NT world.....which in my opinion are inferior arrangements that one would not find in an inclusive advanced civilisation.

The need to constantly prove oneself (in sport, as a man, as a maker of money....to the exclusion of all the potential we have as a conscious species) is not what I consider an achievement that is needed in a modern, secular society....all it brings is endless wars and pointless suffering.

Do I want to be particularly able to do these things? No. Do I want to be free to use the potential latent in my different consciousness? Yes.

Am I disabled? No. I am differently abled,

Thank you. It's so good I wish I had written it. It's exactly what needed to be said, concise, apposite, insightful and refusing to feed the myth-makers with anything but truth. Well done John, I hope you are reading this. I hope some of the jeremiad parents actually hear your message long enough to consider the wider and deeper reality of the spectrum, if even for a short while. I suspect though they will have the opposite reaction, ie become more determined to spread global slurs and misinformation (otherwise we might get uppity, without them to put us in our low place..)

There is a lot more to this clash of the spectrums than one would be led to believe. I have witnessed this gulf between the barbarian and new consciousness with incredulity and consider myself a stranger in a foreign backward culture.

There is no other explanation for the wilful destructiveness of the majority.

John Robison brings up mostly good points in his article.
The comments section is farked up though, the same old sniping ad nauseum ad vomitum.
Also, there are some general issues with the way that ND advocates write about autism when they often come up with their pet theories of autism and generalize whatever they think causes autism or applies to autism to the spectrum, and it makes them seem not that credible.

@ Norny

What has your skin colour got to do with your addled opinions, or are autistics now a distinct race....is that your inference....if so, it amply illustrates my point that everything with those of your mindset is reduced to bare tribalism.

The spectrum as you correctly point out covers a wide range of states and degrees of physical presentation, just as the NT spectrum covers a wide range of similar functions, or in my opinion, malfunctions. Clearly in your world view being narrowly tribal as it is, bundling and grouping comes easy to the point where we are left with a core group of psychopaths in charge and that this the problem. The labelling and its resultant effects on all our lives, BY THIS GROUP. Ideally, we would rather negotiate our way out of this impasse than endure it a moment longer.

@ Norny

No. Because you are a social primitive and a flawed one and yet you presume to tell me you know or understand the core issues from this clearly half arsed world view.