Man of Honour
Exactly. The issue is not a lack of empathy, but if anything too much: human contact tends to overwhelm them.
Is Autism a medical issue?
- Thread starter jsmoke
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Exactly. The issue is not a lack of empathy, but if anything too much: human contact tends to overwhelm them.
Associate
I'm autistic. You're born with it. End of conversation. 
I think this is often the case.
For me, I have a terrible memory. Not because I forget stuff, rather I cannot forget stuff.
Most people can have rows and then forget all about it, possibly within minutes.
I can't, a Row is for ever, it never goes away.
Anger also=rejection.
The combination of the two basically makes normal relationships impossible.
The funny thing is, despite all this, my closest friends have always been Women, and they have always been very loyal and supportive.
(They do have to work out how to express their displeasure if I have done something wrong without getting angry however, it sometimes takes a while to work out how to do this)
Soldato
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I tend to describe it like acting, to mean you need to put in a concious effort to socialise, and as with actors becoming highly strung so to does a night out leave someone with autism drained.
Its not that they arent trying to fit in, quite the opposite it's a massive effort with low success rates meaning a feeling of being outcast.
As for lack of empathy thats like asking someone who's colourblind why they dont like red cars.
At least thats an insiders perspective
1) It is a physiological abnormality in the brain, you're born with it, it is definitely not the result of environment.
2) It is only fairly recently that diagnosis of high-functioning autism has become a thing. I displayed all the textbook symptoms when I was a kid in the 80s but had it written off as just trauma from my parents divorce.
It's hard to describe simply because it affects people in different ways. It's definitely not a lack of empathy, that is far too simplistic.
High-functioning autistics, particularly ones that are aware of the condition can through practice and effort hide the symptoms quite well, although it is mentally draining in a way I don't think a neurotypical person will ever adequately understand.
2) It is only fairly recently that diagnosis of high-functioning autism has become a thing. I displayed all the textbook symptoms when I was a kid in the 80s but had it written off as just trauma from my parents divorce.
It's hard to describe simply because it affects people in different ways. It's definitely not a lack of empathy, that is far too simplistic.
High-functioning autistics, particularly ones that are aware of the condition can through practice and effort hide the symptoms quite well, although it is mentally draining in a way I don't think a neurotypical person will ever adequately understand.
Interesting answer. That's what I was getting at, trauma can cause parts of the mind to shut down I believe, so severe trauma can cause severe closing up of crucial emotional areas the mind. If this goes untreated and is passed down through generations it could appear to be like autism, in other words untreated trauma could over a long period of time actually physically change the mind.
I would be really surprised to see 5 out of 25 pre-school children with an ASD diagnosis.
My son had a confirmed diagnosis at 4, but this followed 18 months of specialist appointments.
I would wonder how many of those children have an actual diagnosis.
Which probably leads back to the OP about whether some children are demonstrating ASD like behaviors because of their social upbringing.
I know that feeling, i had the same thing with my son. (confirmed at 4)
Days off from work where not days off but hospital appointments, at one stage I had to start sign language appointments so i could communicate with my son due to him not talking but luckily not long after starting these he started speaking and now i cant get him to shut up
lolThe only thing you 'pass down' is your DNA, and that isn't affected by any trauma....so no.
Like most things in the brain, the actual physiological causes of ASD are only crudely understood.
Soldato
Autism is a diagnosable medical condition. The waters have been muddied by people claiming to be autistic when in fact they are merely socially awkward.
Absolutely true. A lot of self diagnosis goes on in much the same vain that people claim to have OCD because they have to line up the spice jars label facing in the rack. On a side note, I thought I just had social anxiety and was diagnosed as an adult with Aspergers or ASD as we call it now. Kind of a reverse.
"Mollycoddling" children with ASD worked wonders for us. My son was diagnosed and statemented a few years ago but with a succession of outstanding teachers in a mainstream school he's now top of his class and probably the most well mannered, well behaved boy I've ever seen. Socially he's still got massive issues and probably always will have but they're not hard to work around as an adult.
Soldato
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If you take a wander through DSM IV or similar, you will usually find five or six things that seem to apply to you.
Most people have some symptoms to some degree.
But it's only a disorder if they have enough of the symptoms and all are severe enough to prevent you living a normal basic life without assistance or supervision.
Outside of that they're just traits, but people think it's some kind of excuse to absolve them of taking responsibility for themselves.
No it isn't, autism is a form of braindamage.
It is a "result" of some thing, and not at all natural.
Soldato
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It has been suggested that this is one possible explanation... but it's not a heavily subscribed theory, as yet. Seems to come from some questions over a couple fo vaccines occasionally causing a few autism-like traits (but not all of them), which is tantamount to causing brain damage, as well as some other non-autism traits which are definitely brain and/or nerve damage... but far too few incidents to be considered the likely cause, let alone the 100% guaranteed cause for all the weirdos in the world.
If it were actual brain damage, then almost every TV channel should be renamed The Autism Channel!
Caporegime
A friend of mines son hasn't officially been diagnosed with it. But you can tell he is very different to others of his age.
I noticed it, but didn't want to say, then the friend said about it. So it wasn't like the idea was put in my head then I came to the same conclusion!
And people say about how "it seems like everyone has it these days" a few things to consider...
- Population increase over time. There are just more people.
- Social media - news both personal and national spreads A LOT quicker than it did before. I know someone I haven't spoken to for years recently got her nose pierced. Wouldn't have known that without FB!
- Medical progression. Medically we know more about it and can catch these things earlier.
I noticed it, but didn't want to say, then the friend said about it. So it wasn't like the idea was put in my head then I came to the same conclusion!
And people say about how "it seems like everyone has it these days" a few things to consider...
- Population increase over time. There are just more people.
- Social media - news both personal and national spreads A LOT quicker than it did before. I know someone I haven't spoken to for years recently got her nose pierced. Wouldn't have known that without FB!
- Medical progression. Medically we know more about it and can catch these things earlier.
Soldato
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Sometimes an official diagnosis is more of a hindrance... depends.
Caporegime