Offensive blog entry about the term Autie (Ransom Notes)

Post Reply New Topic

Uh..., autism? The current clinical picture of autism states that neurological damage, damage to specific parts of the brain is what causes it; kinda like any neurological condition. Even the much loved Attwood says the same thing; something goes "wrong" in the brain of those with AS/AD at birth, before and/or after. Something that repairs damaged cells in the brain should technically reverse the symptoms of autism (whether it can be applied to a fully developed brain or not is out of my league).

Well, quite, Alex!

What exactly are they seeking to 'cure'?

Certainly there are people on the spectrum whose autism is severely disabling : NTs call them 'low-functioning' - but in whose terms are they 'low-functioning'?? All the 'low functioning' people I've met have seemed to be contented enough if supported well and kindly.

'High-functioning' people like me quite like our brains the way they are! Well, at least, I like my brain very much! I have nothing to 'cure'!

To me, all this 'cure' business appears to be yet more NT pressure to fit in with some subjectively 'better' norm.

It's also about £££$$$money. It costs a lot to make accommodations for people who are 'different'. It's cheaper in the long run to eliminate us.

God, it's frightening to live amongst a clone tribe which wants everyone to be the same, 'superior'...

(did someone whisper 'facist eugenics' just then...? could have sworn they did...)

Frankly, whenever someone mentions the term "cure" yet again in relation to autism, I feel like Alice beyond the looking glass.

The term makes no sense. There is a very good reason why nobody has ever talked about a "cure" for major mental illness, for example: there is none. Granted, with a combination of medication, therapy, and, most importantly, self-improvement and a supportive environment, many people do recover, and many others make a good adjustment. But there is no panacea such as that is suggested by the word "cure", and everybody knows it too well. Bear in mind, this is mental illness, which, by definition, is not inborn (though the reasons predisposing to it usually are) and treatable.

Now, autism is an innate neurological condition. In other words, it allows for therapy, adjustment or whatever, but it is not really treatable. Talking about a "cure" here makes less sense than anywhere else, and I feel the term is a deliberate linguistic distortion which serves to mask a number of less-than-ethical things (beginning with manipulative parents who want their children to miraculously turn into "normal" ones since this is what they, the parents, want, and ending with mental health professionals with dubious credentials making money from dubious therapies, or genetic research aimed at developing screening tests which would allow one to abort a foetus shown to have autism).

I guess the most surprising thing is how many people actually buy into this term, are completely comfortable with it and don't see that the thing it is supposed to signify is simply not there (but a number of other, less expected things are). It's as if the existence of the term conjured up the reality of a cure. As George Orwell said, they who control language also control people's minds.



I have a feeling it will never come as far as this. Remember what started happening to many babies with Down's Syndrome after a pre-natal test for the condition had been developed? The same may well start happening to autistic babies too, once an analogous test is availiable, and that will be the final outcome of the whole "cure" issue.

Last edited by ixochiyo_yohuallan on 29 Dec 2007, 10:18 am, edited 1 time in total.

It's easy to say "Autism" but Autism has a collection of different manifestations that present themselves differently in every person. Would curing 'Autism' affect other parts of an autistic's' brain in a negative way? Would the cured autistic lose his personality? Would it ever be possible to "cure" an autistic person without him losing what makes him who he is? That's why I can't say I'm pro or anti cure when none exists and it seems like it won't exist any time soon.

Scientists largely don't understand Autism. That's part of the reason that parents are resorting to dangerous pseudo-scientific procedures that don't do anything other than harm their children.

alex, ixochiyo_yohuallan, et alli,

Valid points. Having autism does provide a unique experience, a unique way of viewing things, but like everything, there's a stage where it does more harm than good; just as there's the same where it provides more good than bad. They say that family members of those with autism can display the traits of such, just not in as severe a form; all "good", none of the "bad". Take my mother for example, she's as intelligent as me in pattern recognition, and pattern recognition is my "thing", she has none of my faults that make it so hard for me to live in society. Professor Attwood will tell you this too. We have the ability to focus on a single topic till we've mastered it to the potential of our brains; "normal" people have done the same, and will continue to do the same.

Some say that personality isn't affected by a PDD; how you deal with said PDD depends on your personality. Some say that there's a broader "Asperger's" personality type, one that family members of autistic individuals may exhibit.

Gifts and curses, just some have more curses than gifts.

Personally, it'd be cool if they focused on finding, and possibly creating some type of "sedative" that calms the autistic hypersensitivity to the environment without totally knocking the individual out. For some people, standing in the presence of a couple of strangers is as bad as a night club for people higher up on the spectrum.

I don't know how to answer the eugenics concern.

Taking these numbers as a level of impairment, which lead to a Dx, there are still many who post who do have jobs, who are making it in the world, and who have few or no friends, no social skills, and cannot get a date..

So there are more than are being reported, with that percentage on the high functioning end.

The whole field relates mostly to children, so yes, many do live at home. Most reports say, the school years were the worst. Adult outcomes seem ignored.

Some here do live with their parents, but they are young. Many more in the university, or working, same social problems.

From what I have heard it is not enough of a disability, in it's self, to collect disability payments here, (US), unless there are other conditions.

So I still get 90+% who do function in the world, who's main issues are social impairment, and related problems in occupational skills.

My issue is an inability to talk about football, or Hollywood, with people who have a much greater inability to speak of books, history, technology, or anything else I would consider a real subject.

I cannot see how this is damage, or something is wrong with my brain. I have more than other people, and part of that is a lack of desire to be social for the purpose of being social.

I am not here to spend my life looking at the photos of stranger's grandchildren.

Attwood is wrong, he would think of removing the Neocortex, like a tumor. Evolution shows the brain has continued to develop, into a more complex system, and if it is showing up in 1% of people, and is becoming more common, that is the most likely reason.

Less social dependance, more focused thought, and the ability to hold a thought over a longer period, high IQs in spatial relationships, very strong talents appearing, all point to an evolving system.

It was less than 40,000 years ago when long headed babies were born. It was a mutation that allowed a bigger head to pass through the birth canal. All of the round heads thought it was wrong, they treated the defect with a rock to the back of the long head, showing how it was defective, but 1000 years later, there were no more round heads, all skulls are long.

This is the time the high forehead appears, frontal lobes develop, and with that, a sudden vast improvment in tool making. According to round head records, long heads had social problems, they just did not fit in, were always asking questions, and could not make stuff right, the way that it had been made for millions of years.

Round heads were pack hunters, they chased game. Long heads thought about where the game would be, went there, and waited.

If brain damage could be repaired cell at a time, which would take reprograming the DNA in every cell in the body, if areas of the brain could be activated, the chit chat lobe, the sniffing asses in the pack lobe, there would be other unxpected results. IQs of 500+ and what would seem to all of us, total madness. I have heard 11% brain useage tops, anyone want to deal with a 25% active brain?

The most likely outcome would be to produce more Autism. The traits, focus, mechanical and electronic abilities, applied intelligence, would destroy the planet, for humans do not adapt well to sudden change.

People produce their world as they go. Most new things have taken twenty-five years to become used, and the use was different than the original idea. Computer=Business machine. It is how it was used by the first generation that grew up with it, that shows the true use.

Windows 95, with a CD, and dial up, was a watershed event. It is only twelve, now a WiFi laptop, with DVD. Wiki, WP, are by products of technological change, a change that has come from one small group, and is used by that group. It is an extention of the brain, an autistic brain.

The very nature of the Internet is impersonal. No reading faces, eye contact, tone of voice, guessing what another is thinking, body language, all of the stuff people want to cure in us.

Wiki is an example of a group mind. WP is another. I cannot be everywhere, but when I want to learn, the information is now available. I make my living on the Internet, the buy/sell part of the brain. I am producing a book, and input comes from Europe, Mexico, and other places.

I see a basic conflict. Neurotypicals say they have "the" group mind, and everyone has to conform to it, but the growing world group mind is technological, and mostly inhabited by, and shows the characteristics of, Autism. One is static and declining, the other is becoming the world market in goods, services, knowledge, and social networks. It is barely a teenager.

I am not the only one who sees WP as the most social, intelligent, and helpful place on the web.

Danielismyname is as socially impaired as they come, and the voice that I most understand. His words need no sorting or editing to go directly into my mind, and fit my knowledge base. To me he is the Enlightened One, my teacher. The idea that he would become homeless or dead without his mother upsets me. He is a Culture of One, an Endangered Species, and fully worthy of protection and a comfortable life.

Our social network must grow to include all of life.

I do not have all the answers, but I do have a lot of good questions.

Yes, exactly.

In general, it would be better if they focussed more on providing assistance for autistic adults. Autism is portrayed in such a way that it often seems to be a children's problem only - which of course is untrue and adults with autism need just as much support. But from the way things are phrased, it would appear that autistic adults just drop off the face of the earth once they turn 18 or 21 (or earlier than that), and simply cease to exist (this is another aspect to the whole issue that gives it a wrong sort of twist).

So what messages do we want to get across? Lists are always a good way to present things simply. We could compile the Top 10 Autism Myths peddled by Austism Speaks, and offset them against quotes from real people with AS i.e. US. After all we're the ones who should be speaking for ourselves.

IMHO this is how I see things:

AS is a developmental DELAY caused by a rewiring of the brain in vitro. This means that some of us are born with some heightened abilities (like language, maths, music, pattern recognition etc.) but also some weaknesses like motor control, face-blindness or interpersonal skills and heightened sensitivity to things like noise, light or touch.

Due to the brain's plasticity different parts are used to compensate and over time and with practice we can master the skills other people are innately born with. With early intervention, the right therapies, understanding and quiet controlled environments, by the time we reach adulthood we can be as successful as any other human being - independent of the wiring we had when we were born.

That's how I've been explaining it to my friends. Anyone disagree?

IMO, we always evaluate differences as strengths or weaknesses relative to some standard. I prefer to simply call them differences, or neurodiversities, and not judge them in terms of absolute categories.

How on Earth do you know? Stats can prove anything.

How many autistics and Aspergic people are misdiagnosed?
How many undiagnosed?
How many are self-diagnosed?
How many are hidden or excluded from the population for other reasons?
How big is the sample they are using?
Is this sample representative?

Last question are you agreeing with Alex to improve your position here?
(I don't think he notices or considers you more than the other 10 000 members here. Not saying he is mean but you are one of many and not an important one at that. Nor am I and I readily admit it)

The Autism Spectrum isn't associated with brain damage. Those were old hypotheses that never held up. Instead, it is neurodevelopmental, with prenatal roots. Likely within the first ten weeks of foetal life.

I hate how the parents groups always make it some kind of pissing contest: "My kid has more autism than you!! !! !! !!"



What am I supposed to say? "Congratulations?" That doesn't make me un-autistic. "Autistic Disorder" isn't some trump card.

"Your child has Autistic Disorder? Ah well, then you can bid 2 spades. --No wait, you say they can't talk or type either? Well then, 4 no trump for you! Sorry, adult aspie person, you're just not autistic enough. You lose the bid."

(Sorry if that didn't make sense for anyone not at all familiar with Bridge. But 2 is a poorer bid than 4, and if you lose the bid then you're worse off in the game many times.)

Don't know why I used a Bridge analogy... I don't even play Bridge...

Not really applicable - Down's Syndrome is due to a specific trichromosomal abnormality (an extra chromosome on what should be the 21st pair), while the alterations so far discovered that can contribute to autism are a staggering array (the most common, at site 16p11.2, occurs in approximately one percent of autistics assayed). You can't point at just one change (say, a missing bit of DNA on the 11th pair) and say, "That, right there - that's THE cause of autism. Your kid's gonna be uncommunicative."

FWIW, my wife, who is quite NT, is violently against any idea of "curing" either myself or my daughter (who would probably be classified as LFA, but whose functioning improves constantly as she learns new ways to adapt herself to the world, as it stubbornly refuses to adapt to her). She regards that as an attempt to remove the husband and daughter she loves, and replace them with Stepford people. She'd rather deal with my perseverations, and our daughter's occasional meltdowns, than do without us altogether.

For myself, I find it useful to sometimes invert the terms. NTs have splinter skills in socialization and face memory, for instance, but seem positively disabled in the ability to concentrate on anything interesting for more than a few minutes. They always have to run off and have someone else confirm for them that this should, indeed, be catching their attention - and if that validation isn't forthcoming, they have to abandon the interest. Poor things. Someone should find a cure for their condition!

Last edited by DeaconBlues on 20 Jan 2008, 2:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

For the record, I never used "the N word", and understand a bit why people find it offensive, but it IS based on a term that MANY groups used to refer to the people. ALSO, many blacks DO refer to others in their group that way. It is used as the black equivalent of "poor white trailer trash"(A phrase some whites use to refer to some stupid and poor whites that have crude manners).

BTW I am caucasion, and not too crazy about THAT term, even though I understand that we are called that because ORIGINALLY the earliest bones that were found that were of the same race were found in the caucasus mountain range. Ironically, the etymology and history indicate that it was earlier in scandinavia! Maybe we should be called scandies!

Frankly, I think autie sounds nice and, if autistic people don't tend to mind it, GREAT! Aspie sounds nice ALSO! I for one would say GREAT! Frankly, I like autie and aspie better than caucasion!! !!

Alex, Maybe you should just tell him that even some LFA people have said they like AUTIE, and many aspies like ASPIE, and he should be quiet because he isn't part of the group anyway. You shouldn't get too excited about it though.