Autism

[Fangtuft]

i dont know anyone who has it, but i dont know what on the spectrum means either

[CrazyNuka]

Well, to tell you the truth, yes I do have autism. However I don't really mind about it. I did many mistakes and I know that I learn from them and I won't do it again. I can't do some things a normal person can do so that pretty much explains it. But I knew that no matter what, my parents and my friends will always help me out and be there for me no matter what. I am so glad to have them in my life. <3 It doesn't matter what disorder I have, I am who I am. ^^

[Tsuki]

I don't have it but I know people with it. One of my very good friends has it.

[mamaprince]

I'm Diagnosed With Aspburger's Syndrome.

[Regulus]

[quote="Fangtuft"]i dont know anyone who has it, but i dont know what on the spectrum means either[/quote]

Basically, it means this:

Think of a light switch. It's either on, or off. Suppose being autistic is like having the light off, and being a 'normal' person is like having the light on.

That is a very oversimplified way of thinking about it. Instead, the autism spectrum identifies the brightness of the light. It means that someone can be partially autistic, or partially normal.

At one end of the spectrum, there are people who are so severely autistic that they cannot speak. Those are the people who usually come to mind when the subject is brought up.

But it's not always like that. For all the severe cases, many more people are autistic, but to a far lesser degree. That's what you'd call Asperger syndrome. Many people who have Asperger syndrome are capable of living healthy, normal lives (it's just not easy). Some of them don't even know that they have it.

In fact, even most 'normal' people have at least one or two autistic tendencies. Introversion, in itself, is an autistic trait. So is being socially awkward, having intense obsessions, having difficulty controlling emotions, not wanting to hear loud noises, and so on. Autistic traits, with less severity, are totally normal.

One of the few guys that I got to know in high school had Asperger syndrome. It was very difficult to talk to him, but at the same time, he was the most brilliant person I've ever met. He was a walking, talking encyclopedia of knowledge, kinda like Wikipedia in human form. Ask him a question about something science-y, and you'd get a 30 minute lecture.

As for myself, I have quite a few autistic tendencies. If it comes down to it, I'm probably not autistic enough to warrant a diagnosis. But, that being said, after being a social outcast in secondary school and doing weird things as a kid, I can relate.

Heck, I'm an introverted, socially awkward engineering student with more than 7000 posts on a Lion King forum. I'm also a guy who is a fan of My Little Pony. At the very least, I'm probably a little bit autistic.

But maybe I'm not. Who knows? Psychology is complicated stuff.

It's nearly impossible to categorize and classify things like that, in their more subtle form. In the end, I'm Regulus and that's all there is to it. I can be weird at times, and sometimes the way I think can be a little sideways—I know it, and I don't really care. I am who I am, and regardless, I wouldn't want to be anyone else.

[mamaprince]

It Was Always Hard For Me to Talk to People When I was in school. Took me Forever to say Hi to People.

[Gemini]

My older brother was diagnosed with autism and I believe his brain was damaged or something as a child. From what my parents tell me, he didn't talk for years... so yes, I do know someone with it. He's 21 now, and he can't do a lot of things on his own (like take care of himself, go to college, drive a car, etc...) but he's probably one of the sweetest people you'll ever meet. Every once in a while I'd meet someone at my school who said they worked with him and that my brother was so nice and etc.

I love him a lot, but his diagnosis was really hard on my family for reasons I'd rather not explain. It's kind of sad knowing he won't be able to do so many of the things us "normal people" take for granted.

That said, there's a lot of unanswered questions about what exactly it is, how people get it, if it's genetic, whether or not vaccinations contribute... and stuff like that. There's also many types of autism. I know some people at my school with versions of autism/Asberger's/etc who are very intelligent, take normal classes, and are fully functional, minus the odd social quirk here and there. Whereas some people on the other end of the spectrum have to take special education classes, have problems with speech/communication, have many nervous tics, etc. So it really depends on what type you have.

[DGFone]

I hope I am not the only one who thinks that the Holy Grail of medicine is to cure all disabling but non-lethal diseases like Autism versus finding a cure for cancer so that already quite old people can live a few more miserable years more...

Gemini: There are many reasons why Autism can strike someone, but vaccination is certainly not one of them.

[Gemini]

As bad as that sounds, I kind of agree. A long-term cure for autism would be fantastic for a lot of people. I mean, yes, cancer is deadly, but to be honest... there *are* treatments for it. Something virulently contagious and with a virtually 100% mortality, like AIDS, would seem more pressing and important than cancer.

(I mean no offense to people have cancer.) But anyways...

[quote="DGFone"]Gemini: There are many reasons why Autism can strike someone, but vaccination is certainly not one of them.[/quote]

I honestly don't really know what to believe on that subject, since I have yet to come to my own informed conclusion about it. My family and the scientific community say two different things, so naturally I want to do research first... My mom was convinced for many years that they were the cause of it (or at least had something to do with it), and she did a lot of advocacy work for autism... but I want to be my own person rather than just take something someone tells me.

That does makes sense, right?

Like I said, a lot of things I'd really rather not explain. It's kind of a long story and something I'd really rather forget about.





... Moving on from that subject, though... yeah, my brother tried all these different treatments as a kid but nothing really worked. I guess he just is the way he is for a reason... unless they do come up with some miracle cure. Which seems unlikely since, as we've established, there's not a lot we know about it and it has a lot of different effects on different people. *shrug*

I actually had a few odd tics as a baby, and after my brother my parents thought I might have had autism, too... but apparently I wasn't diagnosed with it and I ended up as a (mostly) "normal" child. After meeting several people with autism and Asberger's, I certainly wouldn't go so far as to say I had it. BUT. I can be very introverted and I've always been known for being smart... I believe it was Regulus that said that some autistic traits can occur in otherwise average individuals, so maybe was what happened to me. Might not be that uncommon. xP

[Regulus]

Okay, first things first, Autism is genetic. It's not caused by vaccines, or any other sort of environmental thing, or what-have-you. Significant evidence suggests that it is almost entirely hereditary, because most people who have autistic children have their own fair share of autistic traits. Most people who are diagnosed with Aspergers also have parents who possess very similar traits, as well.

The way I understand it is like this:

There are nearly an infinite number of human traits that are genetic, such as height, hair color, eye color, skin color, and whatnot. In addition, personality types have a huge genetic component as well.

When you're born, you get a combination of those traits; half are from the mom, and half are from the dad. If you get a little bit of autistic personality traits from your mom, and a little bit from you're dad, they can add together and cause what we call autism, in its noticeable, diagnosable form.

The way I see it, autism is just the name for a collection of traits. Because it affects so many people, and all in different ways, I'm almost entirely convinced it isn't actually a unified thing to begin with. I don't think there is any one specific genetic component that causes it.

In essence, I speculate that autism is the effect of a bunch of different genetic traits working in synchronization to make one's life harder than it needs to be.

As such, one does not simply "cure" autism. It's not a disease, and it's not an illness. It's an atypical brain structure.

You can't treat it effectively, because it's just not like that. It's not like you could just take a pill or flip a switch, and then have everything inside the person change on a fundamental level. That autism is part of the person—it's part of who they are.

So, how do you cure autism, you ask? Selective breeding. Sterilization. Mass genocide.

And even then, that probably wouldn't work, depending on how recessive some of the traits are.

Now that I've said all that, I'd actually like to end on a bit more of a positive note. Because autism isn't a disease, I don't actually think treating it as such is the right thing to do.

Many people with Aspergers happen to be highly intelligent, and even if they're not, they're usually very ambitious, and excel at one thing or another.

Sure, it sucks to have to live without being able to do certain things, but can anyone deny that we need such people in our society as a whole? Y'know, if someone managed to "cure" Sir Issac Newton by making him act more social instead of focusing on his work, would he still have created calculus? If not for people like him, would we even have modern physics today?

What about Michelangelo, Emily Dickinson, or Leonardo da Vinci? Maybe those people weren't autistic, per se, but they were all probably on the spectrum.

The stability of any given population is dependent on its diversity. We need all kinds of people to have a fully functioning society, and that includes autistics. There's no one correct way to be human, and that's that.