I would agree that the overall numbers are constant over time, BUT, no one tried to make a living off the strange kids before, and there is a strong move to social conformity where any differance stands out.
The impairments in three domains of functioning and the turning toward self, like that was a crime, are an outside view. I am self centered, on another path, and being social does not fit my plan.
I am three kinds of rude, I do not see others as important, unless they are to me.
I see a medical need, some folks are very strange and should not be running around free, much like some are a police matter. As there was nothing the medical could do, they empowered witch doctors to sort nuts. This type of work attracts people who think of being nuts, so Psychology was born.
There are a very limited number of nuts to sort, and an over supply of Psycholigists.
They have social needs, money, and will do anything to get it. They have turned on autism much like the discovery in 1936 that Jazz men smoking weed were causing the fall of Western Civilization, and should be jailed. There were just not enough bank robbers for ambitious G Men, so new crimes had to be invented.
Their view is a lot more people need to be treated by Psycholigists, or we need a lot less Psycholigists.
Turning inward towards self does sound anti government, and without government and religion to tell us what to think, we would need a lot less government and religion. We are a subversive minority.
I am from a time before TV erased regional accents, the rise of a standard english has replaced them all, the same force is now applied to Neurology, we should be one group, same speach, same thoughts, same leader, wearing the same gray uniform, and marching in step. We are a subversive minority.
Being autistic and qualifying for disability are seperate. Disability does take impairments in three domains, out of a dozen, but if you are rich, you can collect all twelve, and not be disabled.
From my view 100 out of 100 are different, and Psychology is trying to claim that 98 are the same.
No one in my past ever thought people were the same. Types gathered in neighborhoods, had churches, and had only ritual contact with some of the other groups. In that cuture you were of your group more than of your differance.
As I recall on the, "Were we the artisans of old," I pointed out that apprentices were us, narrow focus, no social life, yet rose to become masters of a trade, the richest and most educated, while 99% farmed for a living, hence developed other customs. Up until a hundred years ago we were in demand.
The concept of uniformity makes armys and factories run, and as machines replaced farm boys, something had to be done with them. In both armies and factories they were forbidden to speak to each other. As machines replaced factory labor they were moved into offices, and now comes being social, but at a lowest common denominator level, sports and the rack on that new girl in accounting.
Now differances stand out, and hundreds of generations apart the apprentices and the farm labor do not fit together, and it is the farmers who complain.
We work too much, and make them look bad, we talk like books, and even read them, and we do the things they can not, like keep the computers running. They cannot complain about that, so it is, does not make eye contact, is not social, is blunt and direct, has no interest in sports, and does not share in the office group think.
They have won, we have been pushed out of the job market, replaced by a football buddy, and there was a need to send products abroad to get made, for they were not productive, and without us, there are a lot less new products. The only answer for business was unemployment, the farmers wanted to get more for doing less, and Detroit is the result. 15% unemployed official, likely twice that, and it is going to stay that way.
Full employment used to be 5% unemployment, now 10% is going to be the new standard. 15 million unemployed, and everything is still running. The market is up because they were a drag on production.
Machines replaced them on the farm, they were moved to factories, that lead to a hundred years of war, for factories must have markets, and fight for them. Then machines were built that did not need them, and they were moved to sales, office work, but computers and the internet do it bettter.
We got run over by their movement, but it is like the 70s, IBM laid off the geeks and kept the suits. The geeks started the personal computer business. The internet replaces sales calls, products can be compared, and vendors. Software keeps up with the accounts, and computers are much cheaper than people.
As Warsie points out, on the web he has a lot less limits, I have the same. The percentage of people who make use of the internet is small, and seem to have our quirks. We will continue putting farmers out of work.
I think we will regain our position of a hunded years ago, seeing the new markets, and being able to reach the world on line.
The farmers have the problem, they are no longer farmers, factory workers, office workers, and no one has a use for them. The land is more productive without them, the factories run lights out production, and office work is done by computers. Some are trying to make a living from autism, but their own numbers say 40% recover on their own.
We should thank them, for their rantings lead to Wrong Planet, where we can view it from our point of view. We do have a lot in common, and so does the other 99%. Our world is becoming educated, theirs is falling apart. As part of that when stressed they look for someone to blame, and we seem handy.
As Greentea points out, 30 years ago we were just part of the workforce, now we do not get hired, or if we do, we do not fit with the new social, and it does not last. We are back to where we were when we did not fit into farm culture, and became apprentices.
ASDs may not be rising, or getting more intense, but our relation with the larger group is bringing up the subject, and ever since Rainman strangers ask me how they can win the lottery. Some call me autistic, and I claim to not be familier with it, and ask them to define it. None have, but they act like they can get away with anything. In the last decade I am much less able to deal with the world, and much more able to deal with them through the internet.
I resort to things like telling them the VA Doctors said Psychopath, but they did release me, twice so far. It has a calming influence on them.
I have mostly been self employed, and was told I did not have a real job, like Enron or Worldcom, but now they ask if I am hiring.
We do fit in the world, not well, but we have survived the worst of times. Recessions lead to a loss of status and break up social networks, we do not have any. For most identity comes with the job, their loss is total. For the self centered, nothing changes. My sales are down, but so are the prices I pay for good stuff.
In America 1% means 3 million, and as we do earn less, we have less debt, and do not buy the status items, or do at thrift stores. When people have to leave, they have no future, the curb shopping is great. I have been buying machines for 25% of what I would have paid a year ago. Rents are way down.
We are the group that will play with what is now available, things over people, and that will start many new survival busineses. I do not think this economy can be restarted, nor would I want to. Small projects that can live in isolation are the future. We have survived much worse times.
07 Oct 2009, 10:45 pm
Blade Runner
