So what exactly is autism, anyway?

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This may be a stupid question, but I'm not entirely sure what autism is, or Asperger's for that matter. Even though I have Asperger's, I'm not so sure I can give a definition if asked, and I can't be the only one. So what is autism? And what is Asperger's? Maybe people who visit this site can look here first, to get an idea of what we're all about.

Autism is a spectrum.

It's quite wide-reaching, resulting in the fact that a description can be quite difficult to obtain.

Ironic, as we as a people tend to go for specifics anyway.

Autism measures the effectiveness of the interface between your interior thoughts and the exterior world.

The less effective the interface, the more autistic you are.

autism spectrum means a person is wired up differently

So, if an average 'normal' person (no such thing as normal anyway and how boring the world is there was! ) has three mental steps to take in auditory information,

the person on the spectrum may have five.

That's a good way to put it.

Another is: Is it what you perceive right now that is reality (non-autistic), or is it what your thoughts tell you, you perceive, that is reality (autistic)?

Autism is dysfunction in the brain's ability to absorb and process sensory stimuli.

A normal brain takes in a constant stream of sensory input: light, sound, smells, touch, the movements of others, including facial expressions and body language - and does so for the most part unconsciously. The neurotypical brain takes in all this information from moment-to-moment and is able to analyze all of it and determine what parts are important and what parts can be safely ignored. They don't have to think about it, its completely automatic.

The Autistic brain is impaired in this regard. It takes in the same sensory data as everyone else, but does not process it all as smoothly and automatically. Some details get completely missed, others are noted, but the Autistic brain cannot automatically assess their importance, or their relevance (or lack of relevance) to the current situation. The Autistic brain often zeroes in on tiny details that a normal brain would deem unimportant - thus we sometimes notice lights and sounds that others do not.

To the sensory processing portion of Autistic brains, ALL DETAILS ARE OF EQUAL IMPORTANCE - its the cognitive intellect that has to help do the sifting and prioritizing and since that is not the intellect's primary job, it causes us to become easily overwhelmed when the level of sensory stimuli gets too high. Because human social signals are so subtle and complex, social situations are prone to cause us increased stress. The more people we have to "read" at once, the higher our stress level becomes. Other situations, such as extremely busy or noisy environments can cause the same reaction.

IMO, this is the same reason Autistic people prefer rigid routines and hate change - especially sudden change - if we can keep things the same from day to day, there is less new sensory stimuli for us to have to process and decipher, thus less stress. The effects of dealing with these higher than normal stress levels contributes to all sorts of comorbid problems, like meltdowns, depression, selective mutism, etc.

I know that's probably a more wordy answer than you were looking for, but there's no simple way to explain Autism in just one sentence. Its a bit more complicated that Dyslexia, where you can just say "It causes the brain to flip visual signals around at random, so words and letters get mixed up."

Correct.

So what is "important/unimportant" information one might ask?

Important information = information that might be useful in serving your own self-interest.

Unimportant information = information that is not important.


What is the purpose of being able to distinguish important from unimportant information one might ask?

The answer is simple: survival. Those who serves their own self-interest helps the species survive the most. Serving your own self-interest could very well mean helping others, for instance family, friends, coworkers, etc.

Last edited by qawer on 12 Aug 2013, 2:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

There seems to be a misconception for some that autism is just about how well you express yourself and understand others. This is one small part of the puzzle, but far from the whole picture.

It's actually a difference in the way that the brain is wired up, which causes the brains natural perception filters and transmission pathways to break down.

Signals that should be instantaneous are slowed down, and information that should be filtered out pass through the brain unaltered.

So for many on the spectrum there can be a delay of several seconds between hearing a sentence and actually understanding the sentence. This is not through lack of intelligence, its a breakdown of the wiring.

Sounds become overwhelming due to being unable to sort one sound from another - especially difficult if more than one person talks at once. This can make those on the spectrum seem deaf or uncommunicative when in reality they are just trying to figure out what you said to them. NT's can focus on just one voice by blocking out all others - Autists can't.

The world around us can be overwhelmingly detailed making it hard to look at sometimes, most NT's see a much simplified world compared to us. In severe cases of Autism, the cognitive delays can result in the world being perceived as a series of disjointed snapshots, because the brain cannot send the visual information fast enough.

Cross wiring of senses can also cause synasthesia, where sounds have colours and colours can have tastes.

These are all symptoms that come as part and parcel of ASD, yet are often ignored when talking about the condition.

Obviously there are also all the social and behavioural problems too, which can also be explained by the faulty wiring.

Here is a a link to the DSM-5 Fact Sheet on ASD from the American Psychiatric Association.

R u implying what I think you are?

It would be easier If you think in terms of where we come from as a species. Back before farming enabled humans to settle into villages, we were hunter gatherers. When you are in that situation it doesn't matter how many leaves a tree has, its just a point of reference in the landscape, that you might use for navigation perhaps. What is important to a hunter, is being able to locate your prey and focus on just that one creature. The minute you are distracted by some pigeon flying by then you have lost the hunt.

Also we were not the top of the food chain, there were lots of dangerous animals that were perfectly happy to chew on us for dinner. If your brain wasn't able to instantly recognise those dangers and let you know exactly where they came from, you were the banquet of the day

This is why NT brains evolved to be able to filter out all unimportant details and concentrate only on those sounds / sights that would put dinner on the campfire. Back in those days anyone with Aspergers would have lived very short lives Autistic brains are just not suited to the life of a hunter gatherer.

In the terms of the modern world of technology, Aspergers can in some cases actually make us better suited for survival, as we understand the logic of the modern world better. And if you are artistic, then being able to see every single detail can actually make you a better artist!

Unfortunately we still have to live side by side with the more natural hunters that are NT's, who often find more success in the more predatory aspects of life.

I see it more and more as a name given to a collection of similar conditions that have a number of somewhat different causes, generally thought to include a genetic predisposition.

All of the above are very good, and I agree with them all.

Buddhists would say that everyone's reality is real, that we live in different worlds, even though we may inhabit the same planet.
the reality that NT's live in does not completely correlate with the ASD reality, and even amongst ASD folk, reality can vary from one person's perception to another.

I think the work one can do in their own life can help them to adapt to the reality they live in, and to in some ways shape that reality so that it can be less confronting, more manageable, and more satisfactory.

In essence, Autism is a spectrum, it appears to be caused by a complex range of factors including some genetic factors (which in time will be testable from blood tests in a DNA sample), as well as some gut bacteria differences, along with neurological differences, none of which seem to be identical from one person with ASD to another.

Some with ASD may be completely non verbal, barely capable of moving without complete sensory overload, whilst others may have so little visible symptoms of ASD as to be almost undiagnosable.
Most of us would sit at the more functional end of the spectrum, otherwise we would not be able to log in to WP, much less read and post on here.
The problem is that no one else can actually go inside your head and compare your experience to theirs, and of course also NT's always have a difficulty differentiating between behaviour and motivation.
Just because and ASD may do the same thing as an NT, does not (always) mean the reasoning or understanding of why they do it is the same.

There is of course the cut and dried DSM5 description of Autism, but it misses the nuance of the personal experience each of us with ASD faces.
It is as individual, dynamic, and unique from one case to another, as not two people ASD or NT are exactly alike.

All that said, there are times where I hate the fact that my difficulties are invisible to those that do not know me well.
There are times where I would willingly swap with my wife, and have her disability instead.
She has CP, uses a wheelchair and walking frame, is not able to walk without the frame to support her, or even stand up, and essentially has one good arm, and one "assist arm" that can take weight, or push her chair, but lacks fine motor skill.
She is seen to be disabled and people will make an effort to include her, make things easier for her, or allow for her difficulties.

Those of us with ASD face the reality that we are not afforded such understanding, acceptance and assistance.
By the same token, who would want to wear a sign on a T shirt or the like saying we have ASD and please help us?
It's a fine line between understanding, acceptance, and discrimination.

No, Sensory Processing Disorder is a dysfunction in the brain's ability to absorb and process sensory stimuli.

Many autistics have SPD, but it is a separate condition.

Autism is characterized by the combination of two clusters of behavioral characteristics:

The first cluster, social difficulties, refers to significant differences or difficulty in interaction with others, which can include unusual or reduced nonverbal communication (eg avoiding eye contact, lack of facial expressions or atypical facial expressions, etc), difficulty interpreting the nonverbal cues of others, reduced interest in social interaction, and/or difficulty imagining the world from another person's perspective.

The second cluster, restricted/repetitive behavior, refers to atypical behavioral patterns, which can consist of insistence on certain routines or rituals, unusual and repetitive motor mannerisms (stimming), and/or interests that are unusual in focus or intensity.

Clearly if professionals and people with ASD cannot completely agree on what is and isn't ASD, then it is very complex.
It will take further decades of research and refinement of data to fully understand and explain what is and isn't autism, and what is part of the spectrum, and what for lack of a better term are the co-morbids.
Clearly there is a complex range of causes, symptoms and predetermining factors, including genetic, biological, environmental, and internal; it's a bit chicken and egg; we think a certain way, so it shapes the way our brains develop, or maybe our brains develop a certain way and it impacts the way we think.
No two people exposed to the same exact triggers, environmental factors, and stimuli will develop exactly the same symptoms.

It is probably easier to explain what autism is not, rather than explain what it is, because there is just so much variation!