The boy whose brain could unlock autism

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It takes one to know one. I'm still wondering why all these people are writing the book on it, when they are not it. People look through the looking glass to see what it is about, write about it, speculate, make determinations, and there is a person on the other side. Plenty capable of telling them.

I'm glad, I was starting to worry I was the only one! I'm actually working on getting into research so it doesn't take another 30 years for more of this kind of research. Like babybird, I'm a take life by the horns kind of person. Though it might end up taking 30 years anyway considering how much school you have to go through to get there. :P

Umm... Really? According to current studies using High Definition Fiber Tracking, it appears that autism is actually the result of DRASTICALLY different structures in the brain...



Temple Grandin's Brain is on the left.

The experiencing the world too intensely is how YOUR autism manifests... I don't have that particular brand of autism... but even if we all did, it would be a symptom... not a cause

Yes but why can't they ask a person with autism what it is like? sure it is good if they study what causes it to be like that or what might help with the difficulties it comes with.....but it is a little annoying when it seems like researchers don't really take into account what autistic people themselves say about how it effects them I mean I am sure pleanty of autistic people have mentioned things along the lines of what this article talks about.........but now its a new 'discovery' that researchers should get all the credit for .

I think these neurological scientists, and their affiliates are having fun with the autistic mind in a sence that they have some way of differentiation. They learn more about the mind, and how it works, because they have something to compare. It is the question that drives them to understand. Scientifically, they are learning new things. The psychological nature of the thing is confused, misread, miswritten, and not understood very well by the ones who are not. you.... idiot savant!! !

The problem with asking people what they think (from a purely scientific stand point) is that it's full of personal bias. This is why psychology is considered a soft science. They don't have objective enough methods. There's a world of differnce between telling someone that something is true (like saying the sky is blue) and telling someone why it's true (like telling a person that we see the sky as blue because of the way the atmosphere is filtering light and how our eyes percieve that light). The theory alone isn't much more impressive than telling someone the sky is blue and maybe it has something to do with the sky, our eyes and light. But, as far as I know, they plan on proving the theory. It's just the start of a much longer and detailed process. I'm excited about what the results might bring because it's a really good place to start from. It may actually become a discovery.
Scientists get credit for the way they do things. That's what science is, a method of proving things. This theory is very personal to him so it's a big risk for his career. He really shouldn't be involved after getting things set up or it will discredit the process. Even just having people under his employ to do the work is going to be a strike against it. Gotta get some people that have an absurdly good reputation on board.
But I'm still a student so my understanding isn't as complete as I'd like for these kinds of statement.

The main reason they cannot ask someone what it is like is that language is an imprecise way to express anything.

[quote="Dhawal"]https://medium.com/matter/70c3d64ff221
Autism changed Henry Markram’s family. Now his Intense World theory could transform our understanding of the condition.

Maia Szalavitz in Matter[/quote

They can study that kid from now till doom's day and they will not be one bit closer to understanding the causes of autism. Autism is not a disease. It is another way for human brains to develop. At one time being autistic might have been a survival characteristic.

Compare this situation to sickle cell anemia. In Afriaca, this actually protects against malaria and sleeping sickness, which is why the condition has never disappeared from the human genome possibilities.

ruveyn

This is where we have a fundamental disconnect in language... Because, by the definitions of disease... we DO have a disease... And by stating that we do not, we sacrifice any right to ask for accommodations of any sort...

I agree to disagree. If you look up the definition of disease, everyone has one. You can pick anyone apart. There is no exceptions. It cancels itself out. The way it is written in Wikipedia, sounds more like an overexagerrated complication of the English language.

People cannot give autism to you, but they can make the symptoms worse. If someone makes my symptoms worse for me, do they have a disease too? According to the definition, they do, and theirs is not listed as anything in DSM, or anywhere else for that matter. It's normal. A contradiction of definition.

Then again, I guess humanity is just one big disease. Just like the definition states.

One, I'm Willard on this one.
I figured out years before I was diagnosed that my issued stemmed from what I thought of as having less sensory filtering than most people.

Two, Feralucce is correct in calling it a disease, though I'd prefer the term 'disability', because to even be diagnosed the symptoms have to significantly and regularly interfere with your functionality over a long peroid if time.
I wasn't particularly happy when I looked into it and found out that he was right about the terminology. but he is.
However, I still thing disability is more acurate.

Even my daughter's illiterate grandmother thought her condition was information overload rather than deficit. She observed that "she remembers everything". That means every parent or grandparent know as much about autism as a nueroscientist coordinating a 1.3 Billion dollar artificial brain project. Big discovery.

The issue remains that mainstream education system is not equipped to nurture autistic children's strengths to give society an opportunity to utilise those strengths. The deficit is in society (not the kids) not being ready to handle the potential that autistic kids have and can contribute in a fast changing world. In the meantime it's left to us parents.

Human life is a terminal, sexually transmitted disease.

The point is, though, that had all those shrinks been listening to people like Willard, me, and the countless other autistic adults who knew what was going on with themselves and told anyone who would listen, this would be a widely known, well researched fact by now.

Seriously though. According to the definition of disease, I could ask anyone "what's your disease". If they say, or believe they do not have one, they are either lying, wrong, or both. Making themselves believe they do not have one could be an unhealthy thing for themselves, and others around them. They might as well just put everyone in the DSM somewhere. Just call it the DEX white pages or something. It will be listed with a phone number and address, so you can actually find the disease you are looking for.

I really get a kick out of this one thing in the definition of disease.

Dying from a disease is better known as "dying from natural causes".

After reading the true definition of disease, you might as well delete it, and start over.

Try not to get so hung up on semantics.
Language is wholly relational and inherently fungible with words containing multiplicities of meanings with a lot of slippage.

Terminology is important to some extent, but ultimately it has a lot to do with how you perceive its relations to the rest of the language, not necessarily exactly how anyone else does.
So it's actually rather silly to get all bent outta shape about it.

O.k... those are really complicated words and stuff. It puts everything in a state of flux. I get all bent out of shape about ToM too. That is not really logical either, if you are required to actually think about it. I guess it is like religion, in the sence that I am just supposed to believe that ToM, and this definition of disease is real. After all, people thought of it, and they are all clinically sane according to the definition of disease, and ToM (the other mechanic), really knows what he is talking about.