As someone who took care of a terminally ill person with far too many TMI problems a couple of years ago, I can honestly say that multiplicity is not about dissociation in our case. We wished to high heaven we could dissociate. Didn't work. We really aren't very good at dissociating, never have been.
The myth of the gifted autistic is like the myth of the gifted multiple -- it's overcompensation, just like you said. I have worked with severely affected Kanner's autistics who were also mentally retarded. They were pleasant kids, but gifted they weren't. What they did have was focus, so they could bring all their attention to bear on the task at hand. They could thus work very fast, but we've seen our non-autistic stepmother hook rugs and crochet bedspreads at equally phenomenal speeds. The actual ratio of high IQ multiples, autistics, etc., is probably the same as the ratio of high IQ singlets, non-autistics, etc. It just surprises the hell out of everyone when non-verbal autistics are given a way to communicate and it turns out they've heard every word you've said about them and have opinions and thoughts and beliefs of their own just like everybody else.
*points to what you said about crisis mode* That pretty much matches our view of it, too.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2005-03-19 03:01 pm (UTC)The myth of the gifted autistic is like the myth of the gifted multiple -- it's overcompensation, just like you said. I have worked with severely affected Kanner's autistics who were also mentally retarded. They were pleasant kids, but gifted they weren't. What they did have was focus, so they could bring all their attention to bear on the task at hand. They could thus work very fast, but we've seen our non-autistic stepmother hook rugs and crochet bedspreads at equally phenomenal speeds. The actual ratio of high IQ multiples, autistics, etc., is probably the same as the ratio of high IQ singlets, non-autistics, etc. It just surprises the hell out of everyone when non-verbal autistics are given a way to communicate and it turns out they've heard every word you've said about them and have opinions and thoughts and beliefs of their own just like everybody else.
*points to what you said about crisis mode* That pretty much matches our view of it, too.