Is autism brain damage?
sartresue
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ASD is not brain damage, however many people with brain damage also have ASD. Research has been carried out and it suggests that in some ASDians there is a difference in brain structure, function and development. However this does not always hold true.
ASD is also not a phsychiatric illness, however many people with ASD also have the cormorbidities of Psychiatric disorders.
ASD is considered a neurodevelopmental disorder.
::side steps drama::
No. I see it more as an operating system problem. You have the correct hardware, but maybe the software works a little differently.
Autistic people are more left brain, not more brain damaged.
The only brain damage I have was from after I was autistic - from banging my head with my fists as a child.
Giftorcurse
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I daresay I haven't seen anyone here bashing the elusive NT with anything resembling the militancy and hysteria I'm sensing from you. I don't think anyone on WP expects the world to come to a screeching halt and all of society restructured to suit their personal whims. However, I also feel it is not unreasonable to hope for some recognition from the community at large and thus a modicum of compassion for the emotional burden of the handicap we carry. Just because we aren't out dancing atop floats in a parade doesn't mean we don't deserve to be recognized as existing and having rights.
And words like 'deficiency' are insensitive to the point of cruelty. It might be time to live up to that moniker.
No. I see it more as an operating system problem. You have the correct hardware, but maybe the software works a little differently.
Autistic people are more left brain, not more brain damaged.
The only brain damage I have was from after I was autistic - from banging my head with my fists as a child.
I don't think so. There are many right-brained AS (like me). Autistic have more male-brain, it doesn't mean left. Right brain is used for both empathy and systemizing, left brain is used for both language and analyzing. Women tend to use their 2 emisphere for empathy and language while male for systemizing and analyzing.
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Planes are tested by how well they fly, not by comparing them to birds.
I would like to take issue with something that pezar said; -
"You can't fix a brain once it's been damaged, generally."
I run a child development consultancy called 'Snowdrop' (I was also dad to a little boy who was brain damaged who diplayed many symptoms on the autistic spectrum) and I treat many children who have autism. Autism in my experience is a destination which can be reached by more than one route. One route is through genetics, - increasingly more and more evidence is coming to light concerning genes which can cause autism. Another route is brain damage. I see children who have been starved of oxygen at birth, who'se problems clearly fall within the 'autistic spectrum.' Indeed I feel so strongly that this is the case that I wrote a blogpost about it on my blog, 'Snowdrop Blogspot.'
As for fixing damaged brains, well we now know that the brain is plastic, it reorganises its structure and functioning all the time is response to it's environment. This is a process called 'Long Term Potentiation.' We also know that new brain cells are manufactured throughout life in a critical area of the brain called the hippocampus, which is heavily involved in memory and learning. What I do is to provide a developmental envionment, through a programme of developmental stimuation to encourage the brain to respond in this way and lo and behold, most of my kids, including those who have autism, make progress. So you CAN positively influence the way a brain functions, even when the child has autism.
i assumed autism was some kind of frontal lobe damage, especially in an area called "mirror neurons"...these neurons allow NT's to comply and adapt to each other. because of this damage the brain rewires itself and causes short circuits in certain areas giving us heightened abilities in these areas.
for example, my frontal lobe should deal with social skills, but that's where all my musical ability/knowledge is stored, my practiced and learnt NT social skills are in the back of my brain in a part you'd usually use to store facts and school lessons. through practice it was possible for me to wire these bits up, although its still far from perfect, my brain will priorotise musical and visual stimuli over anything a person says to me so i have to concentrate to listen to people sometimes.
im only assessing the word damage in comparison to an NT brain, im fully aware that i just have different strengths and weaknesses, and am not damaged.x
poopylungstuffing
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No. I see it more as an operating system problem. You have the correct hardware, but maybe the software works a little differently.
Autistic people are more left brain, not more brain damaged.
The only brain damage I have was from after I was autistic - from banging my head with my fists as a child.
I don't think so. There are many right-brained AS (like me). Autistic have more male-brain, it doesn't mean left. Right brain is used for both empathy and systemizing, left brain is used for both language and analyzing. Women tend to use their 2 emisphere for empathy and language while male for systemizing and analyzing.
I would concur...I am very right-brained.
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"Ifthefoolwouldpersistinhisfolly,hewouldbecomewise"
"Autistic people are more left brain, not more brain damaged. "
I don't like to generalise because every person with autism, indeed every person is unique, but I think the evidence points to the fact that people with autism (people first, label second) are wired differently. It's the wiring diagram that is not the same as the mainstream peopulation. I do have a reference for this but as yet I am not allowed to post links.
So we have auties who seem to be brain damaged, and people are trying to "fix" the damage. You can't fix a brain once it's been damaged, generally. Once somebody figures that out, the next step is rejection-"you act weird, so I'm not dealing with it/you" and pushing the person away. The innate tendency of all lifeforms to reject damaged members of the species, since they can't be of assistance to the group, is active here. Aspies can't get a date, thus pitching us out of the gene pool. A NT woman is wired to look for a mate who is a protector and a provider. If a man doesn't measure up, she rejects him. A brain damaged man can't protect and provide.
Aspies keep getting banned from forums for this reason. I'm considering leaving a forum where many of the members are former military (that survivalist forum where I keep getting called whiny and weak). The military mindset is an exaggerated version of the natural evolutionary mindset. We succeed or fail as a group. The wounded must be removed lest they drag down our chances of survival. The weak are potential trouble sources, since they threaten cohesion. This is buried DEEP in the human brain. Society is built to reject aspies, since we are walking wounded and must be jettisoned lest we threaten group survival.
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http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/autism.htm
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