"A large number of apps have been introduced to assist the autistic, and they seem to fall into three categories: those that help with attention span, those that help with communication, and those that help with organization."
TCGirl said:
Good to know that there are people looking for ways to help people with autism and [turn off music] asperger's syndrome.
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7 comments:
I'm not an autistic child, but I think I could use all of those.
Interesting article; thanks. Good to know that there are people looking for ways to help people w/autism and [turn off music]asperger's syndrome.
Meant to mention that I have just finished reading Daniel Tammet's memoir 'Born on a Blue Day' (now, I'm curious to know what color my birth date is! lol!) which was very interesting and helpful. Am, now, reading 'Embracing the Wide Sky' an equally helpful and fascinating read.
A vid that I had also found, during the previous research, that gives hope regarding Autism and Asperger's Syndrome.
...and Autism and meltdowns. :-(
I remember my overly Freudian Psychology course in 1st year, and how it placed autism in the "catalog".
What we commonly consider as "insanity" in daily life is usually the extremes of thoughtlessness, with all their possible causes: from plain selfishness, to mindless bigotry. It's simply "non-use of sense".
Clinically, only psychoses can ever be considered as "insanity" (or, more aptly, "serious mental illnesses"), and still there are all degrees. We all have a certain schizoid component to the mosaic that is our personality, therefore either "we are all more or less insane", or we only are so when it gets too important. Children normally go through most of the the "abnormal" parts of the spectrum: random thinking and social withdrawal of schizophrenia (usually while still babies), entirely self-centered like paranoia, "hyper" alternating with overly calm as in maniaco-depressive ("bipolar") disorders...
The only true sensible(!) criterium is whether one is able to integrate to society, and this does NOT imply conformism.
(You may ask me about stuff like anxiety or depression. These are considered "problems", not ilnesses from a fundamental point. Illnesses usually cannot be fully cured, unlike neurotic problems.)
What I meant to get at, is that autism was once considered as the lowest-spectrum psychosis, "the gravest of insanities", but this is a dramatically hasty simplification. Autists actually challenge our capacity for open-mindedness and accepting that which is very different but still a viable way of thinking. It is "the way they are", and can learn to fit in while retaining their nature.
As for schizophrenes, which IMO are the only "true" instance of insanity when their thought processes become clinically abnormal and nonsensical, it is a little known fact that 99% of them are only a danger to themselves. Therefore they are sick, suffering people who need our help, not our rejection. Their problem causes them great pain, because they're just self-aware enough to know that "their mind is escaping their control".
Mark my words: schizophrenia will be the last great challenge of Psychiatry, the ultimate terra incognita. They're the only true instance when the brain truly starts misfunctioning without an organic cause.
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[second and final part]
As for schizophrenes, which IMO are the only "true" instance of insanity when their thought processes become clinically abnormal and nonsensical, it is a little known fact that 99% of them are only a danger to themselves. Therefore they are sick, suffering people who need our help, not our rejection. Their problem causes them great pain, because they're just self-aware enough to know that "their mind is escaping their control".
Mark my words: schizophrenia will be the last great challenge of Psychiatry, the ultimate terra incognita. They're the only true instance when the brain truly starts misfunctioning without an organic cause.
Most "insane" people in "daily life" are in reality neurotics, whose lack of empathy and/or open-mindedness turns into unwitting monsters.
So far, ALL "great criminals" were found to come from horribly dysfunctional families that failed to teach them to love. I shudder to think how bad Adolf Hitler must've had it.
I don't mean to excuse the guy's crimes of course, nor to break speed records in confirming Godwin's law, just trying to understand by gaining perspective. Maybe some day we WILL score a major victory for our species by removing the main source od Evil: absence of discerning Love.
That day, autists, just like the deaf and the blind, will become a normal part of our society, welcomed for the unique potential which their difference holds. I can assure you that Albert Einstein was anything BUT emotionally normal. You can be "normal", let alone "standard", and at the same time a genius.
The main problem of autists? It's that the rest of us often just don't understand them. It's a problem with Society, more than with themselves.
Many of us similarly don't really understand children!
I wonder how much Political Correctness, breaking its own habits, is helping change this situation, and how much it is merely hiding the problem. It's not about changing the way we speak, but the way we THINK.
Starting by getting rid of that reflex to judge and label everyone.
He who judges others only reveals someething about himself: that he's a thoughtless judgementalist.
I'm happy to say that I have friends of all sorts: pious and atheists, young and old, men and women, standard and brilliant and intellectually/emotionally challenged. They are all truly my friends. I try to understand them all. :-)
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