Ask an autistic

[VoidCat]

Imma tag @Guitar's Cry
Just cuz he teaches special ed he might have questions. Also @Polymath257 once I get my thoughts together I must thank you. I have an idea now. Imma ask some questions later in a different thread if I can think of any I'm always curious about neurotypicals and what's it like being nonautistic. Altho not all nonautistic people are neurotypical. Thanks for the idea. Since im having trouble putting my thoughts together imma first put forth this thread where nonautistic people can ask me questions about autism. I made a thread a while back like this but it's been a while thought I'd make another and maybe some the questions people ask an help me word the questions I have for nonautistic folk.

Imma tag @JustGeorge just cuz

 

[Guitar's Cry]

What do you find hardest when socializing? Is it verbal or non-verbal communication or both? Do you find it harder to read people or harder to get your own ideas across?

 

[VoidCat]

What do you find hardest when socializing? Is it verbal or non-verbal communication or both? Do you find it harder to read people or harder to get your own ideas across?

What I find hardest with socializing is the attitudes of other people. It's like we speak two different languages at times and it baffles me most nonautistic people care soo much about what other people think and follow arbitrary social norms without question. It's harder to read people then it is to get my views across.

 

[Spirit of Light]

Imma tag @Guitar's Cry
Just cuz he teaches special ed he might have questions. Also @Polymath257 once I get my thoughts together I must thank you. I have an idea now. Imma ask some questions later in a different thread if I can think of any I'm always curious about neurotypicals and what's it like being nonautistic. Altho not all nonautistic people are neurotypical. Thanks for the idea. Since im having trouble putting my thoughts together imma first put forth this thread where nonautistic people can ask me questions about autism. I made a thread a while back like this but it's been a while thought I'd make another and maybe some the questions people ask an help me word the questions I have for nonautistic folk.

Is there something you would say are good about being autistic? Or do find it to be mostly making your day difficult?

 

[VoidCat]

Is there something you would say are good about being autistic? Or do find it to be mostly making your day difficult?

Autism is a good thing. I just experience the world differently and it's beautiful. I find my autism to be a gift not a curse.

 

[Spirit of Light]

Autism is a good thing. I just experience the world differently and it's beautiful. I find my autism to be a gift not a curse.

That is so good to hear

 

[The Crimson Universe]

@RayofLight
What are some of the symptoms of Autism?

 

[Revoltingest]

Autism is a good thing. I just experience the world differently and it's beautiful. I find my autism to be a gift not a curse.

I find autistics easy to converse with.
Sure, many neurotypicals can be too,
But aspies are generally easier.
It might be a lesser tendency to read
mistaken inferences from subtext.

 

[VoidCat]

@RayofLight
What are some of the symptoms of Autism?

Hyper and hyposensitives to different senses.
Repetive movements
Inability to understand social interactions due to differences between how neurotypicals and autistics view the world
Literal thinking
Need for routine
Increased affective empathy but a decrease in cognitive empathy. If you need me to explain the difference let me know and I can do so.
Issues in communication. Some can be nonverbal
Differences in body language
Bluntness
Emotional dyregulation
Poor intereoception(the ability to understand how your body's feeling)
Some positives of autism:
Most find it difficult to lie
According to one study autistics are more likely to stick with their morals. I'll see if i can find it to send to you
Creative thinking
They can make connections and see similarities nonautistics might not
Increased spatial awareness

 

[VoidCat]

According to one study autistics are more likely to stick with their morals. I'll see if i can find it to send to you

Right Temporoparietal Junction Underlies Avoidance of Moral Transgression in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by a core difference in theory-of-mind (ToM) ability, which extends to alterations in moral judgment and decision-making. Although the function of the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ), a key neural marker of ToM and morality, is known to be atypical in autistic individuals, the neurocomputational mechanisms underlying its specific changes in moral decision-making remain unclear. Here, we addressed this question by using a novel fMRI task together with computational modeling and representational similarity analysis (RSA). ASD participants and healthy control subjects (HCs) decided in public or private whether to incur a personal cost for funding a morally good cause (Good Context) or receive a personal gain for benefiting a morally bad cause (Bad Context). Compared with HC, individuals with ASD were much more likely to reject the opportunity to earn ill gotten money by supporting a bad cause than were HCs. Computational modeling revealed that this resulted from heavily weighing benefits for themselves and the bad cause, suggesting that ASD participants apply a rule of refusing to serve a bad cause because they evaluate the negative consequences of their actions more severely. Moreover, RSA revealed a reduced rTPJ representation of the information specific to moral contexts in ASD participants. Together, these findings indicate the contribution of rTPJ in representing information concerning moral rules and provide new insights for the neurobiological basis underpinning moral behaviors illustrated by a specific difference of rTPJ in ASD participants

By the way they had to edit the paper several times cuz of ableism. This still stinks of ableism but it's better then it was. The scientists here view autistics being less likely to support a bad cause regardless of in a social situation or outside of it as them being a morally deficit cuz we don't consider if we are being watched or not. It is a heavily flawed study as they drew the wrong conclusions and ignored modern research showing autistics have no deficits in the theory of mind.. Due to their ableism they ignored a bit. But it does show that autistics aren't morally deficient as in the study autistics were less likely to support a bad cause in a social situation or not. Problem is scientists saw this as a bad thing so they did the experiment ok but since it gave them a positive result regarding autistics they had to make that good result into a bad thing.
This is common with autism the pathologization of non negative traits especially in academia and the medical field. Even the way autistic kids line up toys to play is a pathology according to some doctors but why when a kid is just playing? Just cuz it's not normal some ABA therapists seek to stop a kid from lining up toys and no one sees dictating how a kid plays when they are harming no one as strange except for autistic people perhaps.

Here is an article that breaks down the ableism from the paper:
Autistic People Care Too Much, Research Says

In the authors’ representational similarity analysis (RSA) based on the participants’ fMRI data, they found reduced right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) representation in the autistic participants compared to non-autistic participants, and argue that this reduction may somehow mediate this over-evaluation of negative consequences in autistic participants.

The rTPJ has been commonly investigated in autistic participants, mostly children, and is thought by some researchers to be used in Theory of Mind tasks. However, more recent literature has shown that autistic people do not have “worse” Theory of Mind than neurotypical people, but simply interact differently than neurotypicals do (Crompton et al. 2020; Heasman & Gillespie 2017).

Here, we show that ASD individuals are more inflexible when following a moral rule even though an immoral action can benefit themselves, and suffer an undue concern about their ill-gotten gains and the moral cost.

– Hu et al. 2020
Let’s break this down. Autistic participants were less likely to take “an immoral action” even though it “can benefit themselves.” That sounds like a good thing. That sounds like those participants have integrity. Then they specify that they “suffer an undue concern” – as if our concerns about immorality are unnecessary or unimportant, “about their ill-gotten gains and the moral cost” – about money that was obtained through means that didn’t align with their actual principles, and the weight of that decision.

I'll add the study edited that part after hearing said criticism

Here are some phrases that are used within this research article:

• “healthy group” is used when referring to the neurotypical group
• “ASD patients” is used when referring to the autistic group
• uses the term “atypical moral behaviors” when referring to autistic people
• “a core deficit in theory-of-mind (ToM) ability” as part of being autistic
• the difference between groups is a “dysfunction” in the rTPJ for autistic people

Just to be clear, this is one research paper. Not every autistic person is selfless, and not every neurotypical person is selfish. However, when researchers twist common positive human traits into autistic deficits (“inflexible” and “overly sensitive to morals”) it hurts everyone. Autistic people don’t care too much, they care correctly. Many autistic people have immense integrity. It’s okay to acknowledge that. In fact, it’s imperative that we acknowledge that.

The actual research done in this study is somewhat interesting, and could have implications for autistic adults especially regarding employment, socio-economic status, and homelessness. The researchers were just too busy pathologizing autism to notice

 

[VoidCat]

Hyper and hyposensitives to different senses.
Repetive movements
Inability to understand social interactions due to differences between how neurotypicals and autistics view the world
Literal thinking
Need for routine
Increased affective empathy but a decrease in cognitive empathy. If you need me to explain the difference let me know and I can do so.
Issues in communication. Some can be nonverbal
Differences in body language
Bluntness
Emotional dyregulation
Poor intereoception(the ability to understand how your body's feeling)
Some positives of autism:
Most find it difficult to lie
According to one study autistics are more likely to stick with their morals. I'll see if i can find it to send to you
Creative thinking
They can make connections and see similarities nonautistics might not
Increased spatial awareness

Oh I forgot a positive! Special interests. Autistics often have interests that they focus on to a strong level. Almost like an obsession.

 

[The Crimson Universe]

Oh I forgot a positive! Special interests. Autistics often have interests that they focus on to a strong level. Almost like an obsession.

Do you think a person with OCD can also be autistic.
I have OCD and anxiety issues btw.

 

[VoidCat]

Do you think a person with OCD can also be autistic.
I have OCD and anxiety issues btw.

Yes. Autism often comorbids with a lot of things. OCD and anxiety disorders are common comorbidites.

EDIT
I myself have adhd, anxiety NOS, dysgraphia, dyscalulia, and bipolar disorder... All tend to comorbid with autism.

 

[Polymath257]

What about how neurotypicals think do you find to be the most strange?

 

[VoidCat]

What about how neurotypicals think do you find to be the most strange?

Hmm. I'd say the fact they don't always say what they mean and ain't straightforward and direct. Of course this could be cultural some cultures are more blunt then others.

 

[VoidCat]

What about how neurotypicals think do you find to be the most strange?

Ah I thought of something even stranger! Pathologizing simple autistic traits that harm no one. Like me hand flapping or pacing. Why are these seen as so negative I should stop when it helps me and harms no one? Or lack of eye contact it's so strange folk get so mad over it.

Basically if im harming no one I don't get why folk get so mad over simple things that harm neither me nor them for no other reason then it's not normal.

I also dont get the thought process that cuz im autistic I must be suffering and want a cure yet the person never once asked me if I am suffering and want a cure. Im not and don't want a cure. Someone tried to perform a faith healing on me cuz of this and i dont get why especially with the lack of consent. I wrote about the failed faith healing that was done without my consent here A religious practice question (link embedded)

But it seems to be a common view autistics are suffering but it's only neurotypicals saying it. Most autistics I know seem to not want a cure

 

[JIMMY12345]

Imma tag @Guitar's Cry
Just cuz he teaches special ed he might have questions. Also @Polymath257 once I get my thoughts together I must thank you. I have an idea now. Imma ask some questions later in a different thread if I can think of any I'm always curious about neurotypicals and what's it like being nonautistic. Altho not all nonautistic people are neurotypical. Thanks for the idea. Since im having trouble putting my thoughts together imma first put forth this thread where nonautistic people can ask me questions about autism. I made a thread a while back like this but it's been a while thought I'd make another and maybe some the questions people ask an help me word the questions I have for nonautistic folk.

Imma tag @JustGeorge just cuz

I think autism is the most natural thing.Nature gives us lots of variables.I met one autistic person who had specific skills which were highly developed.Do you find your good at certain things like Art? Although admittedly it may be a voyage of discovery and you find this out later.

 

[VoidCat]

I think autism is the most natural thing.Nature gives us lots of variables.I met one autistic person who had specific skills which were highly developed.Do you find your good at certain things like Art? Although admittedly it may be a voyage of discovery and you find this out later.

Savants are rare