What is Autism?

I consider high functioning autism more as an adaptation problem than a disease. Autistics are like tourists arriving in a foreign land. They are not used to the language, culture and systems. The patience, help and understanding shown by the "natives" can make their stay on Planet Earth more comfortable.

Autism does not affect everyone in the same way. There are both very mild and severe cases of autism, categorized into many sub-types. Because autistics look the same as non-autistics and have no physical deficiency, people find it hard to empathize with their "invisible" disability. Autistic children generally have difficulty in these few areas:

Difficulty with time - They may only understand 'now' and fail to learn from past experiences due to the lack of a Subjective Personal History. They are always fearful and anxious to know the future as they could not instinctively predict future events. They have difficulty transitioning from one activity to another as well as handling many unpredictable inputs at the same time. Unable to handle free time, they tend to develop rigid habits.

Difficulty with space - They may only see in two dimensions without the associated location, form, texture of objects. They may have poor body awareness and may not even notice that their body exists. This can cause difficulty controlling motor movements and judging whether it is safe to handle objects in a certain way.

Difficulty with human self - The concepts of "self", "other", "tribe (of people)", "(human) intentions", "emotional relationships" often elude them. They may only understand relationships in terms of trade and transactions. Subtle emotions such as the love and closeness that bond family members and friends may be completely absent. Without their own Subjective Personal History for comparison, other peoples' intentions are a mysterious puzzle.

Difficulty with sensory perception - Without a coherent perception of the world, they experience fragmented consciousness. Sometimes they may miss out the meaning in speech and not realize what happened, making them seem inattentive. They may lack the capacity to enjoy sensory and emotional pleasure, making life a frustrating series of compromises and chores. Even ordinary stimuli like the subtle flickering of fluorescent lighting, strong perfume and noisy hum of traffic can make life very difficult for them.

Difficulty with speech - Without the aid of bodily instincts, speech may be difficult or impossible for them as it requires a good coordination of their mouth, tongue, throat and lungs. Without the social instincts, the content of their speech is limited to what they want, do, see or know without the intent of influencing others.

Autism Misunderstood

First identified in 1943, professionals now classify autism into many categories including Autistic Disorder (usually severe autism) and Asperger's Syndrome (usually mild autism with high intelligence). Because every autistic express autism in a unique manner, professionals use the term "autism spectrum disorder" (ASD) to cover all autism-related disorders.

Autism is sometimes mistaken as social shyness, but in reality, it is about having a totally different consciousness. Autism is not just a label. Autistics do suffer because they are constantly misunderstood by the people around them and frustrated by not being able to enjoy the good things that life brings to the rest of us (like feeling the warmth of friendship, enjoying good food, being able to easily multi-task). It is not fun to be autistic.

While most autistics are low functioning and require help to survive, there are also able and intelligent autistics who have made important contributions to our society, such as Temple Grandin and Bram Cohen. Many speculate that Albert Einstein and Bill Gates are on the autism spectrum too.

Signs of autism

It is also common for autistics to suffer from depression or anger accumulated from their negative experiences with human society. Other common syndromes related to autism include:

Being Aloof to everyone - The autistic child may not show the warmth and closeness of a typical child, not even to his mother because he may not feel the emotional impulses to form social bonds.

Not knowing how to play and share - Autistic children do not know how to play and have no instinct to share their world. They tend to be unconscious of the world around them and unaware of the concept of "people". Thus, they will not point at objects of interest to share with people around them.

No common sense - An autistic often does not see the world as a coherent whole. They tend to misunderstand people because they could not feel the same emotions and bodily instincts. Thus, they may find it difficult to carry out instructions or perform chores using their "common sense".

Face blindness (Prosopagnosia) – Autistics often find it difficult to identify and distinguish faces. This is like trying to tell the difference between two sheep of the same breed, size and color. Instead of facial features, autistics often rely on location (like being in his own office), clothes and hairstyle to distinguish people.

Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD): Many autistics have difficulty filtering away background noise to understand speech. However, they can pass usual hearing tests and may even have super-sensitive hearing.

Autism Causes

Autism affects many more males than females. While professionals generally agree that a genetic factor exists, they have no conclusive explaination for why autism occurs.

Some people speculate that autistics are actually descendents of the Neanderthals, an extinct species which closely resemble modern humans. Perhaps the differences in autistic's body language and functioning are not really defects but merely Neanderthal behavior.

In the meantime, National Institute of Mental Health and the Cure Autism Now Foundation are doing social research on monkeys to learn more about autism. The Baylor College of Medicine in the USA is providing genetic testing for autism using Chromosomal Microarray Analysis (CMA).

Autism Education

Autistic children require a different approach to learning because they perceive and function differently from their non-autistic peers. Techniques such as the use of "social stories" are known to help them. Remedies such as EIP (Early Intervention Programme) reduce autistic syndromes and faciliate autistics to interact with the world around them. Certain drugs also help to make it easier for autistics to cope with their disability, although some of these drugs also have severe side effects.

What if I am autistic?

• Research - Find out more about autism. Take the online autism tests. If you have a strong feeling of "that's it, that's me", then perhaps you have autism. If not, be more cautious.

• Discuss - Talk to someone who knows you well. You must also find out your childhood history to be sure: the syndromes of autism are most apparent in young children, and it is often your childhood that determines if you have autism or not.

• Consider getting diagnosed - A diagnosis will help make your life easier because people will tend to be understanding about your differences. If you are from a needy family, you may be able to obtain financial assistance to pay for your diagnosis. Find out more from the autism organizations near you.

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Last modified: Wed, 19 December 2007
Note: This may be only a minor modification (e.g. changing a spelling mistake)