Is Autism a medical issue?

[jsmoke]

Or could there be an arguement for it being the result of social conditioning. I have had quite a bit of dealing with autistic people, it is usually very tunnel vision outlooks and if they have a sword to bear then can be pretty tricky going. But I still wonder if generations of specfic treatment can lead certain areas of the mind shutting down and hence the person not functioning to some kind of default level.

So what do you think, I think I can accept truely that characters like 'Rainman' are a result of a medical condition, but I find the autistic spectrum such a curious thing between personal treatment v. medical abnormalities.

 

[jsmoke]

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.

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.