[Faith-talk] autism

[Sandra Streeter]

More points about autism (I’ll catch them as they come to mind):


Some myths and misconceptions:

-- We are unable to empathize. We may not be able to outwardly express it, but we can definitely feel with/for others. In fact, one of the most sensitive people I ever knew has AS, and she is extremely careful to check in to see if a remark she made may have been insensitive—most non-AS folks don’t do that, I’m sorry to say!

-- Autistics are all alike. The friend mentioned above has said she doesn’t think I have AS, and I smiled and went, “Ha, you haven’t seen my list!” (meaning, of qualities/tendencies on the autism spectrum). I think it’s Autism Speaks that uses the slogan, “If you’ve met one autistic, you’ve met one autistic,” or something to that effect. The thing is, just as with the non-AS population, there are as many manifestations and combinations thereof among us, and no one person will manifest the same way or to the same degree. While I never had the inability to process humor (except occasionally sarcasm where someone was so dead-pan that I didn’t pick up the cues, and it took a while to recognize they were kidding), I did have a tendency to fixate on pet topics—still do, if you look at my reading list, ha, ha—the difference now is, I’ve learned to try to channel conversations out of range of my topics sometimes. Most AS people like deep touch—I like it the lighter, the better, and it’s especially good if you warn me before swooping in—boo much, or too soon, and the sense of having been touched lingers too long and I get uncomfortable (though, by no means, as freaked-out as the character Rain Man, thankfully). Also, I don’t have the difficulty with the feel some clothing that some of my AS peers have;  and I love to sift round stones and small shells through a hand, for tactile stimulation. While we’re often thought of as struggling with abstract thinking, that’s less true for those of us who write poetry, for instance; I still struggle with algebra, though, and really, anything mathematical (our artistic director plans to work in Solfedge next year, and I dread it, because I can’t process a question about note intervals AND try to figure out what syllable it is that fits the note we want to land on, for instance; though, I do think revising some craft patterns has helped the mathematical struggle somewhat).

-- Autism is hopeless. While there are plenty of snake-oil salesmen out there with oddball “cures,” I do think that there are ways of entering an autistic person’s world and getting them to enter yours—you just have to try different things. Just as there are many manifestations and combinations of manifestations amongst AS folks, there is a plethora of ways to help them progress to be the best they can be. College and adult life experience did a lot for me—I’d learn from modeling other people’s social skills, reading counseling literature, experiencing music or books I wouldn’t have chosen on my own... Plus, I think that, in many cases, there doesn’t have to be an outright “cure”: where would science be if some geeks hadn’t spent all their time holed up somewhere figuring out physics formulas! I think that, especially for the more-severely-affected, we should definitely address some behavioral and sensory overload issues, so that they can feel more at ease in the world at large, but there’s a time and place where the autistic brain is invaluable to society; as with blindness, there are many gifts in having AS, and we all need to just look for them—for instance, for me, because I have several running, longstanding areas of extreme interest, if you want to know about Emily Dickinson, I can give you some info, since I’ve probably read 20 books about her or featuring her poetry. (BTW, other major areas of fixation for me are: psychology, especially about eating disorders, family systems and neuroscience; autism; and music, of course). We also have great detail minds—I may not have one for math, but when I’m proofing something for literary content and style, I spot things that some don’t pick up on—it’s also why, given a chance, my choices of words are extremely precise, to the point that I sometimes get accused of stubbornness or of missing the point, because I can’t let go of whatever issue, or of my c choice of wording, which, to me, seems more accurate than what I’m hearing outside..


To be continued—all I can think of for now.





Sandra

Not “Revelation” – tis – that waits
But our unfurnished eyes –
(Emily Dickinson)

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