1000Knives Wrote:
Quote:
Regarding HFA/Aspergers, from the OP of this thread, I think it's almost the inverse that is happening. It's more that people with Aspergers are becoming obsolete in today's "Brave New World." Not the reverse where Aspies are coming out of nowhere like Xmen or something. It seems rather improbable that things have massively changed in genetics like that over the past few years, and because of it, autistic savants run rampant around society.
I think in the past, the world was just a kinder place for people with Aspergers, or it had a direct advantage, which is why it's still part of the gene pool. Remember, Aspergers and HFA was only identified in the 20th century. Before that, the nonverbals would just be called mutes, dumb, etc. The "Aspies" however, I want to make the argument that Aspies had it awesome. Aspies would be the rulers, inventors, etc of societies of old. Basically, read of Newton, Tesla, Einstein, etc, most people say those people had Aspergers, usually pretty severely. Nobody cared. Why? What they had to offer more than made up for their social nuances. Also, lots of things people have problems with on this board were completely a non issue in the past. Have trouble finding dates? Arranged marriages, problem solved! Also, there was less media in general back then, so people's perceptions of a normal person were only able to be based directly upon people around them, they had no outside ideas about how people were "supposed" to act. In societies in general, too, it was not coed, so you'd not have to worry about the nuances of a coed society. As most people know, being around other people of the same sex is generally socially easier and less demanding, less "acting" required.
I could go on and on about this subject with historical points, but my main point is, I believe Aspergers, genetically, is tending to get "phased out" which is why we notice it in the first place. Jobs, for example, at least here in America (who knows, I could be completely talking out of my ass for the entire rest of the world) if you look at application questions, very little is dependent upon what you can actually do. Most questions are along the lines of "How good are you at being a team player?" and how socially extroverted you are. I've even had job applications (Autozone) give a complete 70 question psych eval with questions completely not pertaining to work like "I like to play tennis, true or false." "I like shooting guns, true or false." Life now, simply, is not about what you can do performance wise, it's about how well you can "relate" with people. Oh well, I'm rambling now, sorry.
O Brave New World!
No I think that things are much better for Aspies now than they were in the past, and I don't understand why you equate us with "non-verbals."
Conformity was the bedrock of society in most ancient civilizations, the church and the state were one. Those in power used the standardized thinking of the mob to enforce their rule, people who didn't think the same way as everyone else were burned as heretics, publicly flogged, put in stocks so everyone could throw eggs at them and laugh at them for socially or politically incorrect thoughts and actions. If a murder had been committed, the weird and reclusive person around the corner was immediately thought to be guilty, dragged through the streets by the victims family and their friends and neighbors, and hanged from the nearest tree.
We aren't all rulers and inventors , and I don't believe that Einstein and Newton and all these other famous people that are claimed to be Autistic really were, and even if they actually were, they represent a small minority of unusually successful Autistic people.
It is true that they are placing increasing emphasis on being a "team player" and "extroverted" and the like, but we now have anti-discrimination laws that work in our favor, and a welfare state to catch us when we fall. Give me today instead of ancient Egypt or medieval Europe any day.
15 Oct 2011, 4:20 pm
