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Xyzzy
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29 Aug 2011, 11:32 am

I'm not sure that I get this whole "Autism Epidemic" thing. I wanted to share some of my thoughts and see if I'm missing something or if I'm completely off-the-rails.

I, personally, am generally OK with small groups of people that I know well. As a child, I was considered precocious, a bit of a loner and "different", but not in a bad way. I ran into the occasional kid that was like me and we either got along really well or just stayed the heck out of each others way.

When my community was small, people knew me, knew how to relate to me and it was "different", but normal that I'd prefers animals to people, hang out with the adults, take all the toys apart, "say the darndest things", play well on my own, be better in one-on-one situations, not do well meeting new people, etc. There wasn't anything "wrong" with me, it was just different. It was part of who I was and that was OK. I wasn't a victim of the autism epidemic.

If you look at history and literature, the stereotypical artisans, scholars, writers, farmers, blacksmiths, etc. could easily be slapped onto the autism spectrum, but they weren't labelled as having a problem. The communities just accepted them as they were and they'd find a place in the society. Even possible examples of low-functioning autism can be seen in the mute kid, the kid with the meltdowns, the recluse, the eccentric or irrational artist, etc. Again, these traits were viewed as eccentricities and not a "problem". When there was a strong community support structure, it probably wasn't as overwhelming for the parents of severely autistic children, either.

I don't think that Autism is more prevalent now. I think that it's more recognized, possibly more severe (in a world with exponentially more input) and now less acceptable as we've drifted away from small supportive communities. I know that my being "different" didn't even register on the radar until my family moved to a new community. Then I went from being weird in a "cool/smart/interesting" way to being weird in a "freak" way. It just got worse when I tried to enter college and the workplace.

In a small school, there was no problem. I knew everyone in my social group and I didn't get freaked out when one new kid came in, because I knew everyone else. Then all of a sudden I was in a school with 1000 students and I was seeing new faces in every class and I was totally overwhelmed (and it made me "more weird")

A blacksmith in a village who doesn't make eye contact, speaks in one syllable grunts and doesn't like smalltalk is almost a stereotype. They'd be a respected member of their community and the community would accept them. That same blacksmith is now an engineer in a multi-thousand person company and they're expected to attend meetings, do presentations, attend social events, and continually meet and interact with new customers. Now, instead of being a unique, respected and essentially "normal" member of the community, they're a commodity employee with severe social and behavioral problems (i.e.: they're broken and need to be fixed)

I think that Autism was probably just as prevalent as it is now, but our society is making it much harder for Autistics to cope. There's too much pressure to socialize. Too much input. Too many people in one place. Even 100 years ago, it would have been rare for an employee to attend a large conference or professional training event even once in their career. Now it's almost a job requirement to do it at least annually.

Back when travel was expensive, a special class of people known as salesmen were the ones that dealt with customers. Now the people designing the widgets are expected to attend customer meetings and to meet dozens of new people every time a new contract comes around.

I think that society is what's changing and not us.

What's giving me hope is that technology is right at the point where we're starting to get an advantage again. The NTs are at a disadvantage online because they lose their visual cues, body language, tone, inflection, etc. We're used to dealing with information as information without all of that weird extraneous "stuff". We've had experience interpreting intent intellectually rather than through our senses. We've got the focus to sit in front of a computer screen and communicate without the obsessive need to smell people and touch them. (though, honestly, I don't even like seeing and hearing them that much. Email and instant messaging are still a way better fit for me)

I think that we're coming into an era where we might have the advantage again. Where it's ok to be a 1-to-1 person and not the life of the party. Where creativity and new perspectives are what's going to be more valuable than fitting into the company-issued suit and tie or the Stepford Homeowners Society. The NTs are welcome to have the commoditized jobs, lives and experiences. But I think that the internet, virtual workplaces and technology may allow us to be part of a community that understands, accepts and embraces our differences again without us having to change to fit into the mold.

Of course, this is assuming that we aren't all "cured" any time soon and that the NTs don't just create a perfect mirror of the external world in cyberspace. (I firmly believe that telepresence is a sin against Aspies. It's cool technology, but it just brings all of the disadvantages of face-to-face group meetings back to a perfectly functional web meeting.)


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Fnord
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29 Aug 2011, 11:42 am

Make the list of symptoms broad enough, and just about everyone will qualify.

For instance, back about 30 years ago, it was "fashionable" to cite just about every form of authoritative and/or parental behavior as some form of abuse against children. It got to the point where even using a firm voice to say "No" to a child in a public place could be construed as abusive.

Now we have overly self-indulgent adults proclaiming "It's not fair!" whenever they're denied something that they didn't earn.

What's to become of society in 30 years or so when manners and smooth interpersonal relations are brushed away because "everybody" has been (self-) diagnosed with some form of AS/HFA?


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CockneyRebel
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29 Aug 2011, 11:59 am

I agree with the OP. There were as many people on the spectrum, years ago. It's just that ASDs are more recognized these days.


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29 Aug 2011, 12:18 pm

Th O.P. has very valid points. I grew up knowing I was "Autistic" but I never thought much about it. When I was in a small school, people respected my intellect. When I was going to a large school, I got the harassment and bullying, etc. The problem with "all of the new information" about autism is the fact that we are easier to spot and therefore have a label slapped on us. The only good part of this label, if we get it when we are young may be the fact that schools will teach things in a way that it is easier for us to learn. The bad part of the label is that it paints a big target on us for the only industry that is legally allowed to practice discrimination - insurance companies.

Fnord also has a valid point when he says, "Make the list of symptoms broad enough, and just about everyone will qualify." Those who are severely autistic to the point of being nonverbal used to be labelled "mentally ret*d." It's not the proportion of autistic people which is changing but rather the recognition of it and the definition of autism that has changed.


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29 Aug 2011, 12:36 pm

If you read case studies of childhood schizophrenia in the 1960s, you'll have a pretty good idea of where the so-called autism epidemic really came from. Nowadays, childhood schizophrenia affects around 1 out of 10,000 children and is mostly similar to adult-onset schizophrenia. In the 1960s, almost every special ed class had a few schizophrenic kids, and if you look at the actual behaviors without necessarily accepting how the people of that time interpreted them, you'll see that the vast majority were easily consistent with autism.

For example, it used to be that a child who regressed was never diagnosed as autistic, even if they acted classically autistic post-regression. I find it ironic that nowadays many parents will claim their child regressed into autism after vaccination and also claim there's a massive autism epidemic without even realizing that their own child would not have been considered autistic a few decades earlier.



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29 Aug 2011, 12:46 pm

Xyzzy wrote:
I think that Autism was probably just as prevalent as it is now, but our society is making it much harder for Autistics to cope. There's too much pressure to socialize. Too much input. Too many people in one place. Even 100 years ago, it would have been rare for an employee to attend a large conference or professional training event even once in their career. Now it's almost a job requirement to do it at least annually.

Back when travel was expensive, a special class of people known as salesmen were the ones that dealt with customers. Now the people designing the widgets are expected to attend customer meetings and to meet dozens of new people every time a new contract comes around.

I think that society is what's changing and not us.


This is probably at least somewhat true, I am not sure the rate of autism has changed much over the course of human history but society definitely has. Lots of people consider the 1950s as the birth of the 'teenager', and I think this is significant in terms of autism. Before the 1950s children followed in their parents footsteps a bit more, they dressed like their parents, listened to their parents music, etc. The 1950s gave rise to the suburbs and a started to make sales and office jobs a much more vital part of the economy, as opposed to the more rural pre-WW2 America. So kids had much more free time to form their own social circles that didn't revolve around their parents. This is about the time that autism started becoming diagnosed more frequently, all of the sudden a new generation of kids were sort of pushed into a highly confusing social world ran by children and teenagers, and the ones with less social intuition started to stick out more.

Before the 1950s and beyond I think it was more acceptable for children to stay at home with their parents or attend social functions with their parents (where they would meet other kids). Our society has shifted so much, it is now weird for a kid to want to spend a Friday night reading a book... they are supposed to go out and play with other children. In general I don't think our society is as busy working as it used to, sure we work 40 hours a week but a large part of our jobs now are the social aspects of it. I worked for a few months in a corporate setting and looking back on it I realize that they didn't really want the most skilled candidates for the job, they wanted people that could do small tasks in teams and effectively communicate with each other. To some extent this kind of work has been around for a long time, but its only been the last 60 years or so that it has been the dominate part of the work force.

So I think what has really happened, to some extent, is that society has just become or oriented on socializing and those of us who have problems understanding social interaction stick out a bit more. I know when I worked as an intern at a large company (a 'post-1950s job') a few years back I felt completely out of place, and I think a major part of that lies in the fact that technical skills are downplayed to office interaction, attending meetings, communicating with co-workers, etc. Recently I have been doing more carpentry and construction type work and I find I can fit in better... this seems like much more a 'pre-1950s' style job--it is much more skills-focused than communication-focused--and it works out much better for me because of that.


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Xyzzy
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29 Aug 2011, 12:49 pm

Everytime that I see your handle, I can't help but hear a Monty Pythonesque delivery in my head that "e's pining for the Fnords".
...sorry...off topic...I just had to share.

Fnord wrote:
Make the list of symptoms broad enough, and just about everyone will qualify.

For instance, back about 30 years ago, it was "fashionable" to cite just about every form of authoritative and/or parental behavior as some form of abuse against children. It got to the point where even using a firm voice to say "No" to a child in a public place could be construed as abusive.

Now we have overly self-indulgent adults proclaiming "It's not fair!" whenever they're denied something that they didn't earn.

What's to become of society in 30 years or so when manners and smooth interpersonal relations are brushed away because "everybody" has been (self-) diagnosed with some form of AS/HFA?


Great points.

I'm still not entirely sure if I'm an Aspie or not. I certainly have issues and a history that seems to line up well. I've been absorbing this for awhile now and it all fits so well, that I've actually started to think of myself as an Aspie. You're absolutely right that the broadness of the symptoms really does open the door for this "epidemic". But, correlation doesn't prove causation. It's quite possible that I'm falling into the same trap that some of the parents do. While it wasn't part of the topic, you may have single-handedly convinced me of the need for a formal diagnosis. (though I'm still terrified of the implications of being labelled. Self-identification in an anonymous forum is one thing. Having my HMO acknowledge it is a completely different matter)

I don't think that diagnosis of AS/HFA should ever be an excuse for bad behavior or bad manners. Inappropriate is inappropriate and I don't think that any conditions should provide a free pass. Yes, we can be understanding of slips, but it's still important that they be treated as inappropriate and dealt with. I think that those indulgent parents are doing everyone a disservice. (which I think was your point)

I consider myself to generally have above-average manners, but I'd be embarrassed to have someone able to see inside my head. I've learned to keep my thoughts to myself unless asked outright and I learned the power of apology fairly early. Rudeness was something that simply wasn't tolerated by my parents. Over the years, I've watched and learned how to behave without really understanding it. It's like some weird cargo-cult thing to me, but it gets me through the day. I actually took interview courses where they videotaped you interacting with other people and it was much easier to see what I did right and what I did wrong when viewing it from the outside. The only things that I haven't been able to successfully mimic are those silly little social chit-chat things, recognizing people out of context and maintaining prolonged eye contact. Though, even those I can generally cover up or gloss over without offending anyone. I wonder if it's possible to be considered "highly functional" if you aren't capable of learning manners. (though there are quite a few NTs that I know that have terrible manners as well.)

I do remember that when I was growing up, the eye contact thing with adults wasn't considered a problem. Unless an adult was giving you instructions of some sort, keeping your eyes averted was considered a sign of respect. I wonder how acceptable some AS traits are in different cultures and if some of the "epidemic" may, in part, be a result of the westernization of the world.


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