"No Autistic People Fifty Years Ago" What?

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I admit that a lot of families did a lot of things to keep their "defective" kids out of sight, but that wasn't the Kennedys.

From "True Compass", Edward M. Kennedy

"My sisters performed their ceremonial roles with a great deal more poise. Rosemary, then nineteen, and Kick, eighteen, made their social debuts just weeks after we arrived. The setting was Buckingham Palace, where they were to be presented to the Queen, and the event required endless drilling and preparation. My mother took them across the Channel to Paris on several weekends to select gowns for their debuts, and the long string of social events that would follow.

"The evening arrived, and when their names were called Kathleen and Rosemary made their march together in their shimmering white gown from the antechamber up the red carpet toward the Queen. My sisters curtsied perfectly. Kick danced especially brilliantly through all of the debutante balls that season, the Kennedy ball included, and her smiling beauty attracted partners from the British Isles, Europe and Russia."

Four years later:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobotomy#Notable_cases

Reference:

http://books.google.com/?id=xnckeeTICn0 ... ntcover&q=

That's because we didn't have the awareness back than that we have now. There were just as many people on the spectrum back than as there are today.

I was a year old then so it certainly "was around"

Just not recognized. It was called "eccentric". The man who lived alone in a big house with his clocks or the lady who preferred the company of her cats to the neighbors.

There is more of an effort now to diagnose and unfortunately medicate. If not for the push to medicate there would be no need to even try and diagnose. The lady with the cats wasn't hurting anybody nor herself so she didn't require medication, but today she would be under treatment for OCD and antisocial disorders and a dozen other things.

People say to 'spread awareness' of AS to gain compassion and understanding, but it's going the opposite way. The compassion and understanding seems to have been more so decades ago when someone's 'crazy uncle' was just that. He was still loved and still part of the family but it was accepted that he was odd. Today 'crazy uncle' would be more shunned and penalized, cut off from family as they demand he 'get help', take medication, go to therapy, get a socially acceptable hobby and appear mainstream so as not to embarrass them.

That's for adults, anyway. For kids the emphasis is on helping - giving extra help - diagnosing, labeling. It can be a good thing as I wish I'd had understanding and help when I was growing up, but we give all the attention for AS to kids and very little to adults who are still trying to make their way through a confusing world. We've all developed our niche and our ways of coping and our defenses and all, but we're really quite invisible.

People in general are living more in fear. Fear of everything and anything and anybody. Despite advances in feminism my daughter has less freedom than I did at her age. The only thing that has changed really is television. Fear sells as much or more than sex sells. Any intelligent nerdy kid who has an interest in chemistry is suddenly the Unibomber. Kids can't go outside because there is a child molester lurking under every bush. Anyone who is slightly different is dangerous.

My mum (who is exactly the same age as you, SylviaLynn) often tells me that she was glad she grew up when she did.

^^ True. Many are to blame.

Blame media. My local TV news don't actually report news. They air a string of shootings and stabbings and kidnapings. That's "news". It isn't that the world is less safe, it's that the crime is being reported on more and the perception is that the world is less safe. In reality we've never been safer. Imagine going out of town in 1700 or 1800 with all the highwaymen and murderers running amock?

Blame governments and law enforcement for massive MASSIVE overreaction to every little clue and tidbit of information. Neighbor notices air conditioning on in January and calls the cops. Presto! A swat team with drug sniffing dogs will kick in the door.... only to find a computer nerd with a lot of servers in his house.

Blame lawyers for frivolous lawsuits. Blame them for pushing the liability bar so close that everyone is afraid to make a move, lest they cross it and get sued.

Blame marketing people for fear-based advertising. "If you or your loved one!" "Help help I've fallen and I can't get up."

Screw all that.

If you love gunshots you should try living near a military base when the resident unit is on maneuvers. I lived near Fort Ord (within walking distance) in late 1989, after the San Francisco earthquake that year but before Operation Just Cause, which they were training for.

My first night was the sound of automatic weapon fire all night. Sensory overload. It was all pretty quiet once the transports took them off to Panama.

Sort of a random bit from the wiki:

http://ezinearticles.com/?History-of-ADHD&id=217254

The nomenclature of observable behavior related to the criteria in the DSMIV applicable to an ADHD diagnosis has changed through time.

Technically, there were no diagnosed cases of ADD or ADHD, 50 years ago, because ADD was created as a diagnosis in 1980, and ADHD was created as a diagnosis in 1987.

When I was born a little over 50 years ago, the doctor described both myself and my sister as hyperactive, that was the only word used to describe a related condition of observable overactive motor activity, at that point in time.

Actual cases that were severe enough to be treated, were somewhere within the range of 150K, in the entire nation.

The doctor wasn't concerned about it at all, and didn't offer any advice one way or the other. The only informal advice I got from anyone for this condition was to slow down and pay attention.

I couldn't talk until I was 4; the doctor said he'll talk when he's ready to, offered no advice one way or the other.

There was probably someone officially diagnosed with Autism, somewhere, in the 60's, in my county, per statistics of 1 in 10,000, actually diagnosed, but the first time I paid any attention to that word was in the 1980's, with the character "Rainman".



When I was in middle school, peers in schools diagnosed other kids as being nerds, geeks, and a variety of other slang terms to describe behaviors related to current identified criteria associated with the current diagnosis of Aspergers Syndrome, created in 1994, in the DSMIV.

Fonzi, from the show "Happy Days", was a key source of information on Nerd awareness in the mainstream media in the 70's. Later came "Revenge of the Nerds" in the 80's.

Anyone out of this group of individuals generally termed as nerds, etc. that was troubled enough to see a psychiatrist, would have likely been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, a personality disorder, or schizophrenia.

Some of these individuals, peer identified as nerds, geeks, etc. ended up in an engineering field, IT field, the medical field, or whatever other niche they could find, to suit their academic strengths.

There were other folks with the same general identifying characteristics of a present day ASD, lacking the same academic skills.

Instead, their enhanced skills were within the visual-spatial realm; they ended up, generally, working with their hands and creative abilities, as mechanics, musicians, artists, etc.

Generally more robust, good motor coordination skills, and potentially more likely to reproduce; but, not much more likely to maintain social relationships; happier working with things rather than people.

The people presently, actually diagnosed with Aspergers, are probably more likely to be involved in social media, than some of these folks.

Obsessive interests, routines, a lack of interest in social interaction, and communication were common elements to many of these folks. However, their special interests allowed them a solitary fulfillment in life that some social oriented folks couldn't handle.

And, if they did have symptoms of what we call ADHD, today, the energy could be focused in a personal area of interest that allowed release of that energy.

In the show Happy Days, the character Fonzi would have probably fit within this criteria, not likely as much need for a diagnosis though, when one is fulfilled in their special interests. Motorcycles were his thing.

From an objective standpoint what can be clearly measured from 50 years ago and now, as to why people were not aware similiar conditions existed in the past is a matter of differences in medical nomenclature, and awareness of those differences of nomenclature through medical industry marketing efforts.



The one thing that definitely has changed, that can be clearly measured is historical percentage of unwed mothers. Birth certificate data measures this statistic accurately through time.

Percentage of unwed mothers are 41% as compared to 28% in a two decade period from 1990 to 2008.

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1586/changing-demographic-characteristics-american-mothers



Neuroplasticity is understood as impacting the socio/linguistic/cognitive abilities of individuals living in different cultures. Behavioral differences in these individuals across cultures are evident as well.

As much as our culture, and what we feed our brains from birth has changed in the last 50 years, it is reasonable that the way our brains function have been impacted from this through the process of neuroplasticity.

Older folks have gotten it in incremental doses. Some younger folks have received a megadose from early childhood and it continues on into life.

It's a new area of study, but some of the hypotheses of the changes that may be occuring are associated with autistic like traits; like difficulties in face to face social interaction, empathy, and verbal communication, although not specifically identified as autistic related traits, in the current research, that is being conducted at Harvard.



Neuroplasticity is similiar to neuro-differences, neuro-diversity, however one may want to refer to neuro-change currently observed and measured through behavioral changes. The actual physiological process behind it is hard to identify and measure, just as it is for many individuals diagnosed on the autism spectrum.

The key issue I think, and real area for potential concern, is when neuroplasticity and other physiological adaptations, such as the stress response, can no longer successfully accommodate change, for some, and functionality is compromised.

This phenomenon would not likely be limited to those with a genetic pre-dispostion for an eventual ASD diagnosis. Other hypotheses related to the research include a reduced ablitity to focus, reduced attention span, reduced ability for deep thought, reduced ability for patience, and increased impulsivity.

Much of what some people think they notice more in modern society, but a great deal of research will be needed to confirm actual measurable changes suggested in these hypotheses.

Also, autism wasn't technically a diagnosis until 1980, although some children were diagnosed as "being in autistic withdrawal" before that. These were the furthest down the LFA end of the spectrum, kids who might have benefited from directed communication had such a thing existed then. Before DSM-III, however, "autistic withdrawal" was listed as a symptom of "infantile schizophrenia". My younger sister received treatment for schizophrenia, a disorder she did not have at the time. (She may have been persuaded to believe there were voices by some of her therapists, however.)

And those with disabilities were indeed often shipped off to special schools or institutions - a family friend had a daughter with Down's Syndrome, who was sent to a local boarding school for "ret*d" children. There were efforts made to persuade my mother to send my sister there as well. Thank heavens they failed...