My first understanding of autism came from a religious magazine I read in elementary school. The mother of an autistic child talked about her hardship with the things that led up to the diagnosis and how she was worried about the future. Which can be fine as there is hardship and a lot to consider, but the way she described it impacted how I saw autism for about 25 years of my life. I thought it was this super debilitating thing that made it so you couldn't communicate with anyone and might not even realize you exist among people, kind of like a zombie. I thought that it had an onset of around 4 years old and there was no possible way to know if your child had it until one day your happy talkative child stops looking at you and doesn't talk anymore. Almost like a walking breathing vegetable that was going to need every care done for them and the only reason you care for them is because you're mourning the child they were and could have been had this "autism" not taken hold of their body and brain. Now, of course, I know sooooo much better. But that led me to ignore the signs in my son because he was obviously not a vegetable and still full of life, even if he couldn't say many words. It wasn't till he got evaluated with the school for speech delay that they also talked about autism and I went down the rabbit hole. Now, I believe I likely am too and I didn't have any speech problems, but I did (still do) have a hard time with conversations so I usually stay quiet.
@jmvanzalinge5023 Thanks for sharing your journey-it’s amazing how early influences shape our understanding of autism. So many people have similar experiences where a single narrative impacts them for years. In my TEDx talk, I explore why it's crucial to reframe these outdated views on neurodiversity and embrace a more inclusive understanding. If you're interested, here’s the link: ruclips.net/video/Fx2-VHDLJT0/видео.html. Appreciate your openness-it’s conversations like these that help break down those old stereotypes.
when you say theory of mind is out dated what are you talking about? are you talking about the capacity to have theory of mind, which can be shorted to running simulations of other minds in our head (not necessarily accurate simulations). I have seen the idea that autism is connected with hypoactive end of the scale of theory of mind. for example a person still much capable of it but it happening needing a stronger trigger to activate or be consciously done. the opposite end of scale a hyperactive theory of mind would be triggered easily and often, even for things which have no mind, it has a stronger signal such that one not only has this going on in their head but it becomes auditory. this is explanatory for schizophrenia. or are you referring to some different theory which tried to explain autism
@darkpheonix77 Good question! When I say “theory of mind” is outdated, I’m challenging the idea that autism means a “lack” of empathy or mind-reading, which oversimplifies things. Your idea of a spectrum of activation fits well with newer thinking. I touched on these ideas in my TEDx talk about neurodiversity-here’s the link if you’re interested: ruclips.net/video/Fx2-VHDLJT0/видео.html. Appreciate the thought-provoking discussion!
My first understanding of autism came from a religious magazine I read in elementary school. The mother of an autistic child talked about her hardship with the things that led up to the diagnosis and how she was worried about the future. Which can be fine as there is hardship and a lot to consider, but the way she described it impacted how I saw autism for about 25 years of my life. I thought it was this super debilitating thing that made it so you couldn't communicate with anyone and might not even realize you exist among people, kind of like a zombie. I thought that it had an onset of around 4 years old and there was no possible way to know if your child had it until one day your happy talkative child stops looking at you and doesn't talk anymore. Almost like a walking breathing vegetable that was going to need every care done for them and the only reason you care for them is because you're mourning the child they were and could have been had this "autism" not taken hold of their body and brain.
Now, of course, I know sooooo much better. But that led me to ignore the signs in my son because he was obviously not a vegetable and still full of life, even if he couldn't say many words. It wasn't till he got evaluated with the school for speech delay that they also talked about autism and I went down the rabbit hole. Now, I believe I likely am too and I didn't have any speech problems, but I did (still do) have a hard time with conversations so I usually stay quiet.
@jmvanzalinge5023 Thanks for sharing your journey-it’s amazing how early influences shape our understanding of autism. So many people have similar experiences where a single narrative impacts them for years.
In my TEDx talk, I explore why it's crucial to reframe these outdated views on neurodiversity and embrace a more inclusive understanding. If you're interested, here’s the link: ruclips.net/video/Fx2-VHDLJT0/видео.html. Appreciate your openness-it’s conversations like these that help break down those old stereotypes.
when you say theory of mind is out dated what are you talking about? are you talking about the capacity to have theory of mind, which can be shorted to running simulations of other minds in our head (not necessarily accurate simulations). I have seen the idea that autism is connected with hypoactive end of the scale of theory of mind. for example a person still much capable of it but it happening needing a stronger trigger to activate or be consciously done. the opposite end of scale a hyperactive theory of mind would be triggered easily and often, even for things which have no mind, it has a stronger signal such that one not only has this going on in their head but it becomes auditory. this is explanatory for schizophrenia.
or are you referring to some different theory which tried to explain autism
@darkpheonix77 Good question! When I say “theory of mind” is outdated, I’m challenging the idea that autism means a “lack” of empathy or mind-reading, which oversimplifies things. Your idea of a spectrum of activation fits well with newer thinking.
I touched on these ideas in my TEDx talk about neurodiversity-here’s the link if you’re interested: ruclips.net/video/Fx2-VHDLJT0/видео.html. Appreciate the thought-provoking discussion!