Autism

[aliasalixx.livejournal.com]

Someone posted this on another board I post on... why does it seem that almost every system has at least one member who is autistic?

Comments

[qilora.livejournal.com]

with systems with a large enough members, it might simply be a law of averages sort of thing...

just as the more folks you have, the greater the chances you'll find folks of other genders than the body, etc.

just a thought.

Ulla & Co.

[sharpsight.livejournal.com]

(...no idea...)

(*wonders somewhat about the statistics*)

(*for the record, several years ago was or were (or whoever existed at the time was) diagnosed with asperger's syndrome*)

[kasiya-system.livejournal.com]

We do not. Of course, we don't know everyone who exists within Kasiya. There are a few that we know of who may appear to be so, but their behaviours are due to witnessing or experiencing traumas.

[aliasalixx.livejournal.com]

Well, I admit Ali hasn't been professionally diagnosed or anything, but it's the diagnosis I think fits her. But I may be wrong.

[pthalo]

I think it's the same for my system. I haven't met everybody personally so I dunno. I have speaking problems, but am not autistic and I know someone who is uncomfortable with spoken language to a much more severe degree than I am, but autism is a lot more than that and I think it's trauma based anyway. She's more comfortable with ASL than spoken English and I doubt she knows Hungarian, but isn't deaf and probably isn't physically mute, just has inhibitions about speaking.

[karma-silenced.livejournal.com]

I don't think anyone in my system is autistic. >_>

[hellmutt.livejournal.com]

Is that a recognised statistic? That'd be interesting.

[aliasalixx.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's recognised or anything, it just seems to be a recurring thing.

[echoesnspectres.livejournal.com]

Our body is autistic. Anyone who spends more time either fronting or oblivious than, say, in another world, or in a story, or whatever, is going to be autistic for that reason. Others may not view themselves as autistic, but still have to deal with the fact that when they front, they will be more autistic than they usually are. And we don't have any two people who are autistic in the same way; which has to do, we think, with their age, the age of the body, the state of the brian, and maybe other factors at the time they were or became a common fronter.

We don't know why there should be autistic members in systems whose body isn't autistic, but then we don't know why there shouldn't be, either.

[aliasalixx.livejournal.com]

We're the opposite. The body isn't autistic, but we have at least one person who (probably) is.

[shandra.livejournal.com]

We don't, as far as I know. :)

[kangetsuhime.livejournal.com]

Eh? Since when? Doesn't seem that way to me o.O

I've noticed some people mentioning it, but seriously, it's just pot luck.

[aliasalixx.livejournal.com]

That's what I was thinking, but someone else mentioned it to me, so I thought I'd throw it out there and see what ppl thought.

[judiff]

we're all on the autistic spectrum becos we share a brain that's like wired autisically (we are diagnosed with NLD)

[eosphorus.livejournal.com]

perhaps because it is very easy to self-diagnose when one reads about the symptoms of things online.

[spookshow-girl.livejournal.com]

It's also tricky business. I have some experience in that regard, outside of multiplicity. It's extremely important to remember that most characteristics and symptoms of certain disorders are perfectly normal to have to a certain degree. Trouble is, not even the psychs can agree on the line that divides normal from disorderly.

--Me

[blackwing-angel.livejournal.com]

None of us are autistic. We've never even been close to that.

We were officially diagnosed as "splintered" with ptsd.

[sethrenn.livejournal.com]

*blinks* What therapist/clinic did you go to where "splintered" was an actual diagnosis?

I've seen doctors specify in case notes that they thought patients were "polyfragmented" (usually just means there are too many people for the doctor to keep track of) or had a "fragmented personality," but in most places I've seen, they have to give you a diagnosis from the DSM-IV (in the US) or the ICD10 manual (most other English-speaking countries).

[shatterstorm.livejournal.com]

We've no autistic ones in here.

[aliasalixx.livejournal.com]

Ok then, maybe I was wrong.

*hides*

[zaecus.livejournal.com]

Nah. It's good to ask these things.

Right now, the whole PDD spectrum is being used to classify anyone who just doesn't fit in socially (in whatever way the doctor thinks they should).

A category that broad lends itself to slef-diagnosis, and most people just say "autistic" or "Asperger's" without realizing what those words mean.

[saturniakitty.livejournal.com]

None of us are.

[duathir.livejournal.com]

"Autism" is a label invented by the psychiatric establishment to categorize those whose behavior does not conform to their narrow, arbitrary view of normalcy. It is pseudo-science - those called "autistic" do not necessarily match any specific patern of thought or behavior, nor has any physical cause of what is called autism been demonstrated. The diagnostic criteria are all behavioral, and the descriptions of those behaviors are highly biased. The presumption that certain people think and behave differently than the norm because they have "different neurological wiring" is speculation beyond the data at best.

Thirty years ago, those who are now called autistic were called schizophrenic. No physical basis for what is called schizophrenia has ever been demonstrated either. In another thirty years, the diagnostic categories will probably have changed again, and yet still will have no scientific validity.

If some people (such as my sister) choose to accept the specious categories of psychiatry, which is not a branch of medicine but rather an instrument of social control, that is their choice. I do not accept it, either for myself or for my Kin.

[appadil.livejournal.com]

...I was all set to do a big long angry frothing rant here, but I came to the realization that doing so would take more time, energy, and negativity than it was really worth.

Instead, I'd just like to point out that the autism/schizophrenia thing is less of a case of misdiagnosis or mislabeling than simple linguistic change. The term originally referred specifically to the self-absorption noticed in many schizophrenics- it was only later after it fell out of usage in discussion of schizophrenics that it was applied to people with the range of behaviors, perceptual differences, and documented neurobiological differences that are now labeled as the "autistic spectrum".

[nynomi.livejournal.com]

We have one we called mildly autistic but have been told it was sensory integration disorder instead.

[appadil.livejournal.com]

Considering that sensory integration issues are a part of most autistics' experiences, that's not a terribly surprising misdiagnosis. (I know it's certianly been an issue for ME at times!)

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

Almost every system, or almost every system that person has met on line? Online is a relatively small sampling. She needs a wider demographic.

In my opinion, a lot of what is called "autism" today shouldn't be. It's fashinable today to describe a group of normal or variant normal behaviors as autistic or aspie (e.g., the guy who keeps a one-liner diary every day of his life for forty years) just as it's fashionable to describe absentmindedness as "dissociation".

[appadil.livejournal.com]

Huh? I've never seen people using it as a "trendy" thing, but that could be just because I don't really run in the sort of circles where people do things to be "fashionable".... All of the self-diagnosed Aspies I've met seem to be really full-blown Aspie with sensory issues, perseverations, stimming behavior, various agnosias, etc... then again, most of the self-diagnosed Aspies I know are on the Asperger comm, so I've obviously got a very biased sample.

..the Internet is also a biased sample, I think. There's a higher proportion of Aspies on the 'net than in the "real world" because for many of us it's easier to communicate through the written word than face to face- among other reasons, it's easier to 'read' people when you don't have to try to interpret facial expressions/vocal tone/body language, etc and people aren't trying to force you to make eye contact.

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

For the record, we have never been formally diagnosed with any form of autism, despite the preponderance of chen in our early years whose behavior could certainly appear autistic to an earthworlder.

Some people in this system have referred in prior posts to the shared brain's neurological predispositions to apparent autism in order to describe the way frontrunners handle it. But these people are making an educated guess based on intensive self-assessment over several decades.

[hersexywench.livejournal.com]

we have 2 girls in sweetssystem/poohcrew who have Downs Syndrome. When asked how they got it or if they knew, the older one(ones 5 and ones 10) replied that the bodys father used to call someone stupid, lazy, and retarded all the time, and thats how they were born with DS. Apparently at those ages this was the bodys definition of those terms? shrugs

[tempusfrangit.livejournal.com]

Not sure if we do. I don't think we do. We have someone paralyzed down the right side. One blind, one deaf.. one who can't/won't talk.

[bizamoogie.livejournal.com]

yeah, there's a mute in my system as well.

well, technically 3 mutes. but.. whatever.

[appadil.livejournal.com]

If anyone is interested in getting some kind of numerical result back, there's always the AQ Test (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aqtest.html). It's not by any means diagnostic (and some of the criteria can overlap with other conditions), but it's a fun "toy" nonetheless.

Edit: Err.. when the server isn't on the fritz, anyway. ^^;;;

[laurenthemself]

Nobody in my system is autistic, but I think it's an interesting observation that quite a few people (of those who post here)/ seem to have at least one autistic system member. As qilora said, though, probably the law of averages...

[stealthdragon.livejournal.com]

The three people in this system all have aspie-ish tendencies. We think it may be a trait of the body.

Ar. is the most severely affected - we suspect that the language virus doesn't sit well with her, and it's rare to 'hear' her lapse from meaning-level communication into words. Then again, it might be because we can't hear her think most of the time. She hasn't bothered to enlighten us.

- An.