What would and Autistic Country be like?

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Sillybrain
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26 Jan 2022, 6:55 pm

Just a fun thought experiment about what people think a society made of autistic people would be like.

I assume it would be kind of amazing, because there would be so much less... nonsense?

My guesses would be:

We would learn and speak "Phonetic Latin"
Because they don't have "there, their, they're" nonsense. And the words would be spelled as they sound.

We would use the metric system.

We would have the world's most renowned and brilliant craftsmen, innovators, historians and experts and athletes, per capita.

We would have the worst diplomats. Ever.

We wouldn't have traffic issues, and our road systems would be straightforward and intuitive, because our city planners would be amazing.

What else?



Joe90
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26 Jan 2022, 8:11 pm

I don't think I'd like to live in an all autistic society...except for loud noises not being relied on so much for alertness. But the burden would be on us "mild" Aspies with social NT traits to do all the communication side of things (you can't really run any civilization without communication, and we're not all incapable of communication).

But being so we're more open-minded of people's differences, there'll probably be less judgement with people who like to flap their hands in the street.

There'll probably be less crime too, as a lot of autistic people are more honest and prefer to treat others how we like to be treated.

We'll probably help each other out if someone has a meltdown in a store rather than stand and stare.


Or maybe it won't be much different to an NT society. Saying an autism society wouldn't work is the same as saying autistics are too stupid to run a society. I think autistics would be capable of running a society if they were the majority since humanity began.


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Fnord
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27 Jan 2022, 9:28 am

Sillybrain wrote:
What would and Autistic Country be like?
Quiet, nonproductive, and isolationist.



kraftiekortie
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27 Jan 2022, 9:32 am

Most anything involving a large group of people require cooperation with other people.

If everybody wants to go their own way, nothing substantive will be accomplished.

If there were a million Krafties in a country, the country wouldn't last long. That's because I'd rather sit home and hang with my tablet than serve in Congress or go out and restore electricity to folks after a major storm.

Temple Grandin is autistic, and she invented some very useful things. She knew she had to cooperate with the "greater" NT society in order for her inventions to be publicized.



Elgee
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27 Jan 2022, 9:31 pm

No night clubs.
No leaf blowers.
No parents freaking out at their kids' ball games.
No worship of Kardashian-like people.
No worship of pro athletes.
No dumb dances on TikTok.
No loud movie theatres.
No hand shaking.

By the way, there are many languages that don't have the oddities of English such as their, there and they're.



Dylanperr
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31 Jan 2022, 5:32 am

As a proud autistic I think it would either work perfectly largely because a good amount if not most of autistic people can live on their own. Disclaimer: As much as I hate functioning labels I am going to have to use them a couple times.

It could also be an utter nightmare to and yes I am very much aware that the majority of autistic females go undiagnosed but however if this hypothetical autistic country has the same gender imbalance that autism does in the real world it would pretty much be screwed demographically for a very long time. The reasons why colonial Canada especially in New France and Ruperts Land had such sparse populations was largely because the amount of men far exceeded the amount of women with there being 5 men for every woman. It also depends on what type of autism and if the autistics in this nation have massive developmental delays and they made up the entire population the nation would be screwed.

If there were a couple of alterations such as having an even autistic male to autistic female ratio by being able to diagnose autism more effectively and it would also help to find a way to get rid developmental delays in more severely affected people to make them higher functioning (autism or not developmental delays are the worst). I think an autistic country could work out perfectly if were defining autism as Aspergers/High Functioning and this is not to say that we have it easier because we just like everyone else with or without autism can have it hard. Having autistic special interests greatly expanded could ultimately do wonders for most societies and this hypothetical autistic country would most definitely be one of them.



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31 Jan 2022, 8:19 am

Fnord wrote:
Sillybrain wrote:
What would and Autistic Country be like?
Quiet, nonproductive, and isolationist.


I knew someone would say that lol..

Same with me too. It'll be a nation with a very low GDP, probably little in the way of industry and heavy machinery, little in the way of transport and a unsustainably low birth rate combined with a very high number of people on welfare. Of the highly gifted that do exist, they will be under immense pressure effectively babysitting a vast amount of the population.

It will also immediately be invaded by Russia or China. The countries only defence will be not answering the front door when soldiers ring the doorbells hoping they'll go away.

Even if it isn't somehow invaded, there will be a civil war and it'll be a very short and brutal one between bed wetters who cry when watching Bambi and the ones with some degree of courage who get tired of living for reasons already mentioned. A true seal clubbing one way or another.


Basically it'll be a complete disaster.



Nades
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31 Jan 2022, 8:22 am

kraftiekortie wrote:
Most anything involving a large group of people require cooperation with other people.

If everybody wants to go their own way, nothing substantive will be accomplished.

If there were a million Krafties in a country, the country wouldn't last long. That's because I'd rather sit home and hang with my tablet than serve in Congress or go out and restore electricity to folks after a major storm.

Temple Grandin is autistic, and she invented some very useful things. She knew she had to cooperate with the "greater" NT society in order for her inventions to be publicized.


I'm mostly like that too. I prefer isolation but grudgingly cooperate when needed. Overall here still wouldn't be enough cooperation though.



Fnord
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31 Jan 2022, 9:36 am

Nades wrote:
. . . Basically it'll be a complete disaster.
Or an overcrowded gulag/ghetto, where those of us who cannot "pass" are dumped and left to fend for themselves.



Nades
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31 Jan 2022, 10:27 am

Fnord wrote:
Nades wrote:
. . . Basically it'll be a complete disaster.
Or an overcrowded gulag/ghetto, where those of us who cannot "pass" are dumped and left to fend for themselves.


I feel this could also be the case but done out of necessity rather than spite.



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31 Jan 2022, 10:34 am

Nades wrote:
Fnord wrote:
Nades wrote:
. . . Basically it'll be a complete disaster.
Or an overcrowded gulag/ghetto, where those of us who cannot "pass" are dumped and left to fend for themselves.
I feel this could also be the case but done out of necessity rather than spite.
Whose necessity, pray tell?



Nades
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31 Jan 2022, 10:56 am

Fnord wrote:
Nades wrote:
Fnord wrote:
Nades wrote:
. . . Basically it'll be a complete disaster.
Or an overcrowded gulag/ghetto, where those of us who cannot "pass" are dumped and left to fend for themselves.
I feel this could also be the case but done out of necessity rather than spite.
Whose necessity, pray tell?



Well, with unemployment rates typically at 70% for aspies excluding the elderly and kids to look after, the pressure on a small minority of the population to feed that many mouths will be immense.

I can't see such a nation lasting for long without either
descending into a civil war or cut throat politics becoming the norm. That small minority will also naturally hold a lot of power in addition to being under considerable stress in an unsustainable economic disaster so it'll be less of a case of democratic negotiation and more of a case sudden purging. Purging either subtly or less than subtle.



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31 Jan 2022, 11:23 am

Nades wrote:

Well, with unemployment rates typically at 70% for aspies excluding the elderly and kids to look after, the pressure on a small minority of the population to feed that many mouths will be immense.

I can't see such a nation lasting for long without either
descending into a civil war or cut throat politics becoming the norm.


You're employment stats are based on people being under diagnosed. It's easy to imagine that number falling to 20-30%, and that is based on the idea that a world designed for autistic people wouldn't be better at getting autistic people working.

That's not to mention a lot of unemployment in the autistic community revolves around cyclical issues.

I.e. people who can't find mates are radically more likely to underperform in the work place.

When you address all these factors, yes overall things would be poorer, but not radically so. A large number of people in our society are underemployed regardless of their autistic status.


And there's reason to think society would be a lot more efficient with certain aspects of life. For example crime would in all likelihood be less of a concern.

Would an autistic country be rich as Sweden obviously not, would be comparable to Hungary or Romania? Probably.



Nades wrote:
That small minority will also naturally hold a lot of power in addition to being under considerable stress in an unsustainable economic disaster so it'll be less of a case of democratic negotiation and more of a case sudden purging. Purging either subtly or less than subtle.

This conclusion is dependent on the above.

The wonder of power structures is that they generally trend to be more efficient in their usage of resources.

You want the smartest hardest working people running your society. It's when societies refuse to do this that things truly goto hell.

The dystopian scenario would be that the better abled have more children and in a few generations, their genetics dominate the gene pool. Which isn't good but not the worst thing that could happen anyway.


Anyway I'm sick of the dog piling on the idea.

Could things be worst sure, is it gonna create a paradise obviously not. But could it offer modest improvements in living standards for those that can work probably absolutely.



Dylanperr
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31 Jan 2022, 1:51 pm

Nades wrote:
Fnord wrote:
Sillybrain wrote:
What would and Autistic Country be like?
Quiet, nonproductive, and isolationist.


I knew someone would say that lol..

Same with me too. It'll be a nation with a very low GDP, probably little in the way of industry and heavy machinery, little in the way of transport and a unsustainably low birth rate combined with a very high number of people on welfare. Of the highly gifted that do exist, they will be under immense pressure effectively babysitting a vast amount of the population.

It will also immediately be invaded by Russia or China. The countries only defence will be not answering the front door when soldiers ring the doorbells hoping they'll go away.

Even if it isn't somehow invaded, there will be a civil war and it'll be a very short and brutal one between bed wetters who cry when watching Bambi and the ones with some degree of courage who get tired of living for reasons already mentioned. A true seal clubbing one way or another.


Basically it'll be a complete disaster.

But with a couple alterations such as having an even male to female population and a way to get rid of developmental delays in the more severely affected parts of autism as well as comorbidities I think it could be a great power with a lot of industry and transport.



Last edited by Dylanperr on 31 Jan 2022, 1:56 pm, edited 2 times in total.

kraftiekortie
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31 Jan 2022, 1:52 pm

That's if they cooperate with each other.....and not have meltdowns and shutdowns when the going gets tough.



Fnord
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31 Jan 2022, 1:57 pm

Dylanperr wrote:
Nades wrote:
. . . Basically it'll be a complete disaster.
But with a couple alterations such as having an even male to female population and a way to get rid of developmental delays I think it could be a great power.
A "great power" in what way?

Getting rid of the developmental delays would mean the people would no longer be autistic -- no autistic people means no autistic country.

Evening out the male/female ratio would provide no benefit that does not already exist.

Doing both would make the country like any other neurotypical country with a similar male/female ratio.