How old is Autism?

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Yes, well I didn't mean that we didn't survive, or that autism was in some way lethal. I mean in the distant past the NTs were lethal to us, because they didn't like us. What is all this 'war on autism' stuff but a disguided continuation of that.

While we may have once been the dominant human form (since autism is so common in mammals), they have reduced us to a minority. I suppose it's a pretty big minority - 1% of the world's almost 7 billion people would be 70 million - and I'm not wishing there were more of us - I'm just pointing out the current demographics.

AC

Yes, well I didn't mean that we didn't survive, or that autism was in some way lethal. I mean in the distant past the NTs were lethal to us, because they didn't like us. What is all this 'war on autism' stuff but a disguided continuation of that.

While we may have once been the dominant human form (since autism is so common in mammals), they have reduced us to a minority. I suppose it's a pretty big minority - 1% of the world's almost 7 billion people would be 70 million - and I'm not wishing there were more of us - I'm just pointing out the current demographics.

AC

To answer the question, I think the oldest possible documentation of an Autism-like case was around the 16th century, investigated by Martin Luther:

"A few examples of autistic symptoms and treatments were described long before autism was named. The Table Talk of Martin Luther contains the story of a 12-year-old boy who may have been severely autistic.[159] According to Luther's notetaker Mathesius, Luther thought the boy was a soulless mass of flesh possessed by the devil, and suggested that he be suffocated.[160] The earliest well-documented case of autism is that of Hugh Blair of Borgue, as detailed in a 1747 court case in which his brother successfully petitioned to annul Blair's marriage to gain Blair's inheritance.[161] The Wild Boy of Aveyron, a feral child caught in 1798, showed several signs of autism; the medical student Jean Itard treated him with a behavioral program designed to help him form social attachments and to induce speech via imitation.[162]" (source: Wikipedia).

I know, its from Wikipedia, but that doesnt mean all of its info is inaccurate. Here is the rest of the article for those interested.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism

Actually, in anything in which I'm able to judge (like most of the sciences) I've found Wikipedia both accurate and pretty up to date.

Wow - a soulless mass of flesh that should be smothered - I suppose they do treat autistic people better now. But I can't say it makes me feel better about how we're treated, at least when it comes to understanding.

AC

How old is autism? That's a very good question. I know of one individual many years ago that could have possibly been seen as having some autistic traits. For a while he lived alone, and he really had no childhood. He had no friends. Because of his lack of socializing, he was quite lonely. He had some great accomplishments. He was said to be the first zoologist in history. He also became the first landscaper and horticulturalist. He was very able to take care of gardening and the raising of plants. But on the other hand, he had weaknesses. In his awkwardness, he hid. I don't know if you consider these to be autistic traits, but they are kind of interesting to look at. The man I have been talking about is Adam. He lived in the Garden of Eden.

Well, I was having fun with that. Even though I am a Christian, I realize not all of you are. But regardless, it might be interesting to search the Bible (Or your Bible of your faith) to see the profiles of ancient people. And if you say, "that's myth," you can still research it because these texts are ancient---and the authors were profiling traits they must have been aware of.

So how old is autism? I think it has always been with us.

As in the story of Cain & Abel mentioned in Greek Bible as well as the Quran?