Comments on: What’s MSSNG in #Autism? – By John Elder Robison

By: Lainney

Lainney — Sun, 28 Feb 2021 08:28:31 +0000

When I was younger 3yrs. old, I was taken to Psychs, evaluated on how I was playing with a family of dolls and a doll house.

Years later, I was exposed to an event, began displaying behaviors, then was told I had some disorder, hospitalized, and medicated (which mom said I wasn’t, and no more meds, no problem or so I thought).

Fast forward another three decades or so, still seeking care from Psych professionals and after a few more concussions, sutures, auto, swimming, and bicycle accidents, oh and after conceiving a few children too, They never made any mention of possible brain injury, testing for one, knowing my sorted health history.

Strange how the mental illness diagnostic symptoms and TBI signs/symptoms are VERY similar. And I’ve not yet met anyone diagnosed that has ALL the symptoms of any disorder.

My TBI was evidenced by an MRI I requested from my health doctor in my mid 40′s, since memory had increasingly become a source of angst, ever since my teens and early 20′s.

By: oceanrollercoaster

oceanrollercoaster — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 12:46:59 +0000

I take MSSNG to mean that I, individuals are missing from Autism campaigns. I think we should be bringing correct knowledge & awareness to the general public, but that Autistics should be behind that movement (I’m sure many of you feel the same).

The other point I have is that I am against finding the genes for Autism. I believe in the ‘perfect storm’ theory that IgA mentioned. So many medical issues are nature + nurture, so it makes sense that Autism would be too. I am severely concerned that if the genes were found, that fetal genetic testing would be carried out, and potentially Autistic individuals would be aborted purely because of that. Tests can be wrong, and additionally, Autism is not a curse that people should be killed over! I admit there may be some benefits to finding the genes related to Autism, but I don’t think it outweighs the downfalls currently.

By: [email protected]

[email protected] — Sun, 01 May 2016 16:47:40 +0000

Too many normal people pretend to want to “help” autistic people. But what does this mean? In 1876 the Canadian government passed the Indian Act, a program to take native children away from their families and place them in boarding schools for the purpose of “civilizing” them, teaching them the kind of “social skill” autistic people are taught today, such as beginning every social intercourse with the irrelevant question, “How are you doing?” without specifying how the person is doing what, how to make eye contact, etc. The native children were forbidden to speak their native language in these schools, they were required to dress the “civilized” way, to emulate a culture that presumes itself necessarily superior to the savages whom they were converting to Christianity. Like autistic people, society regarded these children as wild horses that needed to be broken for their own good and made to conform, to become something more socially acceptable than who and what they were. It was no different from the Feminine Boy Project, where a boy was behavior modified by an ABA program to teach him to prefer such masculine toys as football helmets and trucks over dolls. They successfully changed him and he grew up to commit suicide.
When the “charitable” administrators of the program became frustrated by the native children’s failure to conform perfectly enough to the “superior culture” they were punished, eventually with physical violence and sexual exploitation, “for their own good.”
Today the same thing happens to autistic adults. The woman who flaps her hands when something excites her is scolded by her co-workers to “act normal” and learn how to go outside for a cigarette break like a normal person would do.
Arbitrary etiquette becomes a substitute for any serious system of ethics as those “charitable” people scold you for driving the speed limit instead of going 10 mph over like everybody else or they raise hell over how you make people uncomfortable if you do not hold a glass of soda at a party and pretend that you are drinking like everybody else. In short, they want to change you, mold you into their own likeness. You are their project they can be proud to show off to their peers.
That is why we should not trust those who exclude autistic people from deciding how they presume to pity us and to “help” us. They want to take over and micromanage out lives and “correct” us into thinking the way everybody else thinks and living the way everybody else lives so that the world will reward us by making us successful in life.
The Canadian program practiced the ultimate sexual violence of forced sterilization of those children who would not conform and society wants to do the same thing by preventing autistic people who cannot conform to a culture that is not superior from decent employment and opportunity to marry and start families. This is consistent with the sexual molestation of institutionalized autistic children and this is why I place society or the system on my personal sex offender registry and assign the credibility of its opinions on what behavior it considers appropriate accordingly. What can society, which dares to tell us how to live, but “Eat your heart out Jerry Sandusky.”

By: IgA

IgA — Sun, 01 Nov 2015 17:26:05 +0000

I forgot to add, that there are many possibilities — so many in fact there might not be a way to figure out exactly what causes neurodiversity.

* Genetic
* Genetic + other factors = perfect storm
* Other Factors

I like the perfect storm idea — it goes with how the Earth is in the Goldie Locks zone in our solar system. We may have developed like the Earth developed.

By: IgA

IgA — Sun, 01 Nov 2015 17:10:49 +0000

What is missing? — NT understanding of AS.

I learned that our circulatory system (all creatures with circulation of blood) are not developed based on genetic instructions. Our circulatory system develops using exploratory methods — it isn’t really developing using our genetic code. There are initiation codes, but the actual growth of the arteries, veins, and capillaries occur by a crude method of ‘what functions is kept and what doesn’t become functional is reabsorbed’.

The definition of function (from the perspective of the developing circulation system foremen) isn’t clear to me though. I only have an undergraduate level of knowledge on this subject.

With that knowledge, it seems to me that the same occurs with the nervous system. The initiation occurs with genes, but the out growth occurs by exploratory methods. If something becomes functional, then it stays as part of our system, and if it is determined something isn’t functional then it gets destroyed — similar to the webbing between our fingers and toes undergo apoptosis (cell death).

What if neurodiversity occurs as a consequence to that exploratory systems foremen saying ‘this isn’t needed’ (when it really is needed, but is too slow to become functional). Or they don’t remove parts of the system that needed removing — it accidentally became functional when it should have been discarded — like too many connections in a few areas, or too few in others.

Structures of the nervous and circulation systems are at work in neurodiversity, but they may not be genetic in nature. It just might be due to the fact those systems develop like an ant colony follows the trail left by scout ants. The fact that AS seems to run in families occurs because the scout ants found food. It Worked before, so it continues to work in siblings — the proliferation of the exploratory methods have genetic component — the balls were let go at the same place, at the same speed, with the same force, like in the game Plinko.

Sometimes same conditions mean similar outcomes, but not necessarily genetic.

By: trayder

trayder — Sun, 16 Aug 2015 23:22:17 +0000

I hardly see myself as missing anything. As opposed to those around me, I have a clear and logical notion of cause and effect, I am consistent in what I say and how I say it, if I avoid making eye contact it is largely because I am wary of those who live through their emotions. And finally, I can be quite productive if left alone to actually get at the task.

I hardly think I am missing anything. I may be resident on a planet on which I am possibly a foreigner but that is a challenge to me to adapt not suggestive of anything lacking in me.

Trayder

By: 42nd try

42nd try — Sun, 14 Jun 2015 15:04:01 +0000

As an Aspie i have battled with every single authority i’ve ever encountered, and lost 99% of the time. I believe this is because people( w. authority especially) don’t want to discuss problems they want to win an argument and while this is of course pointless on so many levels it still is, and will continue to be so until reason as a skill becomes respected again. Fat chance…

By: mother0fthree

mother0fthree — Wed, 20 May 2015 15:31:15 +0000

As the sole parent and ex-wife of two different Aspies, one that is diagnosed and one that refuses to even consider it, I can tell you that what is missing is the support for the families of Aspies. Without me, my son would have had no safe place in the world since he was diagnosed at age 11 (now 14). Just like being on an airplane, I need to put my oxygen mask on first and then take care of him but I am the invisible one and the one missing. I hope that the world can figure this out and stabilize the family and support system for Aspies so that we can find the strength, money and time to find ways to support the Aspies that we love. I refuse to let my son turn out like my ex-husband but at what cost for me?

By: ShyGigyas

ShyGigyas — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 15:24:14 +0000

That is incredibly insulting, especially coming from an Aspie like me who’s been told for years “We need to get you some social skills”. I mean what are you going to do, purchase them at the store??? On the subject of Autism Speaks I have heard of the organization but I just did not know that they were that infamous.

By: dhcamp

dhcamp — Fri, 17 Apr 2015 14:32:17 +0000

I used to feel like I was missing things. I could not communicate with my peers as others could. I could not understand why what I said was insulting to others, why people got annoyed with me when I discussed things I like and wht I could not figure out if someone was being sarcastic or not. I used to feel like i was missing things from my “toolbox” if you will.
Then I realized i just had a different set of tools. I realized that I could look at a face and see the difference in the mouth, the squint of the eyes, body posture, vocal tones and even how someone is keeping their arms. All of this adds up to an emotion or state. Using this, what equates to a math problem, I am able to (usually) tell someones state better than a neuro typical. I worked in door to door sales to test myself and was able to do a pretty darned good job.
Whats my point? There is NOTHING MSSNG! We have a different set of tools to learn. And in some cases, those tools are more effective than NT tools!