The advantages of autism

[n2doc]

04 May 2010 by David Wolman

MICHELLE Dawson can't handle crowded bus journeys, and she struggles to order a cup of coffee in a restaurant because contact with strangers makes her feel panicky. Yet over the past few years, Dawson has been making a name for herself as a researcher at the Rivière-des-Prairies hospital, part of the University of Montreal in Canada.

Dawson's field of research is the cognitive abilities of people with autism - people such as herself. She is one of a cadre of scientists who say that current definitions of this condition rely on findings that are outdated, if not downright misleading, and that the nature of autism has been fundamentally misunderstood for the past 70 years.

Medical textbooks tell us that autism is a developmental disability diagnosed by a classic "triad of impairments": in communication, imagination and social interaction. While the condition varies in severity, about three-quarters of people with autism are classed, in the official language of psychiatrists, as mentally retarded.

Over the past decade or so, a growing autistic pride movement has been pushing the idea that people with autism aren't disabled, they just think differently to "neurotypicals". Now, research by Dawson and others has carried this concept a step further. They say that auties, as some people with autism call themselves, don't merely think differently: in certain ways they think better. Call it the autie advantage.

more

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627581.500-the-advantages-of-autism.html

[BrklynLiberal]

1. One fo the people who figured out the financial scam and made money from it was an autistic man.

There was a story about him on 60 Minutes.
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postx121793-0-0.html&sid=75f4b18b66b82c69bb9d7d58d1f56fd0

There is a new book on the financial crisis called "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis, author of "The Blind Side" and "Liar's Poker". One of the main topics covered is a hedge fund manager, Dr. Michael Burry MD, who Lewis believes was the first to catch on to what was wrong with the financial system. Dr. Micheal Bury has AS and it probably made his 'success' (I can't feel too good about predicting anyone's downfall) possible.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Have you ever heard of Temple Grandin?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Grandin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_figures_sometimes_considered_autistic

[Warpy]

2. I quite enjoyed the Aspies I knew at MIT

because their "little professor" habits provided me with a cheap education in a number of fields. An open ended question would result in an animated lecture, answering of questions, and a great deal of detail. Outside their fields, they were quite limited, of course, and when I needed to do something else, the emotional cues just wouldn't get through and I'd have to tell them I needed to leave.

They loved talking about what they were doing and I loved listening to it.

They do think quite differently. The focus on a narrow field is much more intense than that of normal people, which is why they tend to blow the doors off anyone else in the field. That focus carries a price, though, and that price is a lack of ability to focus on things like being able to pay their bills or interact at parties. One to one, they're great. In a group, they tend to panic very quickly.

I suppose my own extreme introversion helps me with them. I'm quite happy to find a panicky Aspie at any party, take them aside, narrow the focus, and get us both through a difficult evening.

In addition, they invariably have something useful to teach.

[Odin2005]

5. Hah, you decribe me very well.

:)

[Duer 157099]

3. One of my favorite TV shows is ReGenesis and there's an aspie guy

in it who works in the research lab in Canada, and he's the go-to guy for almost any data tidbit, he's amazing.

[Odin2005]

4. This is exactly why the Curbie assholes are dead set against Ari Ne'eman...

...being appointed to the national council on disability. God forbid we put a positive face on people on the spectrum, that migh take away donation dollars from Autism Speaks' racket!

And anyone who thinks 3/4ths of autistics are mentally retarded are the real idiots, as are the bigots that think we have no empathy based on questionable assumptions and a wrongful association between empathy and non-verbal communication.

[hedgehog]

6. I've often wondered if there are a lot of people on the autistic spectrum

who pass under the radar because they (we) are functional. Maybe it's 3/4 of known autistics who are classified as retarded. Maybe there are a lot more autistics out here who are very bright.

[Odin2005]

7. Yep, the high-fuctioning end of the spectrum wasn't recognized in the US untill 1994

This is the real cause of the so-called "autism epidemic", the high-functioning autistics are getting diagnosed.

My mom has suspected that her father, a bank accountant, had Asperger's Syndrome. he was born in 1917 and lived a decent life.

[hedgehog]

8. I think that often autism is diagnosed by listing a series of deficits.

Those who are savvy enough to imitate neuronormals aren't counted.

[Odin2005]

9. Yep. The more inteligent an autistic is the better one is at figuring out NT behavior.

But it's not fool-proof. There are many stories from older individuals on the spectrum going to self-described "regression" after a midlife negative event (such as a divorce or untimely death of a loved one) or after simply cracking after a lifetime of having to adapt to the NT work world.

[Demeter]

11. That Describes My Father--77 and regressing

Of course, my mother did a lot to keep him looking normal...she's been gone 12 years now, and his health issues are severe enough to attract attention. He's no longer independent, although he likes to think he is. Quite the control freak, too.

[SheilaT]

10. Aspies are pretty much NEVER

mentally retarded. If anything, they score well on the right side of the bell-curve of intelligence.

Can't comment on other forms of autism, but I know this about Asperger's.