This is a comment from a support worker who went to my friend, K and she told me about this.
I can see what was meant by this but don’t necessarily think this is the case. We know now that vaccinations are not the cause of autism so what is?
For one thing Asperger’s Syndrome is now included in the DSM5 which stands for diagnostic and statistical manual and common sense tells me this is the fifth edition of it. This means a greater number of people are now considered to be high functioning autistic whereas before I imagine people thus diagnosed were in a separate category.
For another thing, people were probably classed as eccentric, private and unsociable or gauche and odd before and their difficulties went unrecognised. Still not enough women are detected and diagnosed probably because of being better able to mask their symptoms and there is much discussion about it now and autism isn’t the only thing that seems to be on the rise. Cancer rates have soared along with diabetes and things like obesity so autism is just one of a number of growing features of modern life. Like cancer and diabetes, I suspect it has always been with us but people who can describe what living with it is like are also voicing their experiences and many, including me, do not see it as a disorder but a difference with disadvantages but distinct advantages, too.
Out of the loop
Not being a group joiner stops me falling prey to gossip and rumour. I don’t care about the latest fashions, never have. As long as I am clean and tidy and my clothes aren’t full of holes and shoes not down to their uppers if that’s not a contradiction, I am happy. My old-fashioned and out-of-date morality sees marriage as being better if the people are monogamous at least while they are married to one-another and on two occasions that view has prevented me from breaking up two partnerships, one of which was a marriage. Of course I know there are unhappy marriages and people are better off out of those so I make no judgements as to how others should behave though, until I knew better, I did so which cost me friends.
There’s a Peter Pan side to me which I hope makes me able to forgive if not forget in the way a child may forgive though this is not always easy. Being outspoken has sometimes meant risking unpopularity when those worse off need protecting and I’ve not been afraid to tell it like it is to people in authority when they have mismanaged places run by organisations for blind people which has also not endeared me to people who tell you they are interested in your views and want feedback as long as it’s positive and praises their efforts however awful they manage things and a sense of fair play makes me praise what they do right though they often conveniently forget this if the good they do is outweighed by the crass decisions they make.
Not lying easily and certainly not being able to hide it whenever I have tried to, means I am trusted and not breaking a promise means people know I’ll come through for them and apologise if I should forget. Of course these traits are not the preserve of people with Asperger’s and a white lie can stop someone being hurt and oil the social wheels. Hatred of too much small talk means I cut to the chase so that’s why I don’t see autism necessarily as a disadvantage. Who
Whose Box?
There are those who suggest that thinking outside the box may help solve the world’s problems and autistic people are good at that unless they are so hampered by it as to be Savants which prevents this but even those people have special abilities of their own.
My guess is that there is a gene somewhere which explains autism and possibly the expression of it may well be triggered by environmental factors. Certainly it can run in families. My mum was very strange in that she didn’t really make friends, nor did my brother and Mum was obsessed with all things Irish. One of my uncles was described as “simple” and one of my mum’s cousins was very emotionally immature although she did have an affair with a married man so was not shielded from that temptation by her autism if she had it. One aunt was diagnosed as schizophrenic which is often the case but who am I to say that diagnosis was incorrect?
Of course there are distinct disadvantages in being autistic and, when coupled with blindness, one set of drawbacks resulting from the first diagnosis exacerbates the drawbacks inherent in the other. Those who see and who have Asperger’s don’t get or understand blind people with it and blind people have a different experience from those who see and have autism as a life experience as well. One may be more isolated and have even fewer friends and possibly can’t make the social connections even to the point where a seeing autistic person does. One may not work if one is blind as well although I have and my friend K, does. One size doesn’t fit all in either group of course and circumstances alter cases but one set of providers of assistance may well try palming you off onto the other people responsible for helping those with your other set of challenges.
Which bit of me would I like to change?
Which bit of me would I to change? I’m not fascinated by blindness but I am fascinated by all the variants of autism and my brain wiring makes me who I am. Blindness is frustrating though I have adapted but that doesn’t make one quirky and your brain is you. If you know anything about the man who accidentally speared his head with a tamping iron then you will know how his personality changed afterwards.
I’m proud of being numbered among people such as Greta who courageously draws our attention to climate change and philanthropists who have Asperger’s, along with writers who are thought to have had it, even though I haven’t done anything newsworthy like they have. To be ashamed of it would mean being ashamed of my Australian friend and denying a huge part of my identity.
Dash of autism in all of us.
Everyone isn’t autistic nowadays but probably there is a dash of autism in us all but not enough to be diagnosed. Who hasn’t moaned when Radio 4 changes its schedule? Who doesn’t like their favourite coffee cup or seat especially once they get to an old people’s home? who doesn’t obey rituals, some invented by themselves and others practised by society? who doesn’t like some solitude or isn’t glad when visitors go home? who hasn’t read a book or seen the same film more than once? Who hasn’t rocked when in severe emotional distress? The foundations are there, it’s just the extremes of norm which mark people out as autistic. I feel more sorry for people who are so narrow minded that they hate others who don’t think or look as they do not people with a single-tracked interest range. Meetings and church services would be a lot shorter if there wasn’t so much waffle talked at the beginning and the ends of such events and if we were all truly sincere when we were asked a question and didn’t dissemble when we were asked what we thought of something there may be more trust between people. Of course it would be very hurtful if someone asked what you thought of them in their blue dress and you said: “awful! It makes you look like a brick outhouse”. All you have to say is: “I prefer you in your green dress” which gives the same message but more kindly. Why say: “Yes you look fabulous” if you don’t mean it?
A need for kinder people!
The question for me is whether there are more kind people in the world, and the answer is: “not as many as there need to be.” So, whether there are too many autistic people or everyone is autistic now presupposes that some are deliberately classifying themselves that way. In my case, I was well into my sixties before I knew, and quite frankly, I now have peace of mind since I lived all my life up till then puzzling over why I lost friends when many other blind people kept them, why I appeared eccentric even to myself, why I got told off as a child and young adult by family for not acting as they thought my intelligence warranted, and why a cupful of social interaction was enough for me. Work meetings and office politics didn’t appeal to me one bit. Groups may be cohesive but they are dangerous. Just ask anyone who has been the victim of group hatred or the pediatrician who was once mistaken for a pedophile. If more autistic people in this world prevented such hostility and hatred, then it wouldn’t matter how prevalent it is as long as those in need of help get it and those with and without it who are capable of showing kindness and compassion do so. Then the big multicultural and neurodivergent world in which we live may improve – it certainly could use it.