What If NTs Didn't Exist

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What if NTs didnt exist. What if the world was full of autistic people.

Would aspies be NTs, and people with low functioning or Kanner's syndrome be the Aspies. would we bully the Kanner's people. would we tell them how to act. would they have trouble finding dates? would we tell to them speak better, or stop flapping their hands?

Just a thought. who has ever thought about this?

The first time I heard about Asperger's Syndrome it was a segment of a National Public Radio program about a man whose son was diagnosed. The father was castigating himself because he was ashamed that his son was one of 'those' people, thinking himself a bad father and a bad person for having such feelings about the 'other.' As he was getting therapy for his son he was diagnosed as Asperger's, too. He was astounded and astonished and realized he was profoundly prejudgiced even though he was one.

it must be like waking up one morning and finding yourself another ethnic group or of a different sexual orientation. All your certainties -poof- gone.

I would hope not. I am one of the Kanner's people. But if NT's didn't exist, I think we would all be screwed. We need them as much as they need us.

I think we'd have a lot less big events like weddings and other occasions that require a lot of anticipation.

How would advertisements be different? How would commercials directed to aspie brains be different from commercials meant to appeal to NTs. I started wondering about that when I read about mirror neurons and how ASD people are different from NTs'.

With NTs, it's Monkey see; monkey do. So I think images of people enjoying a product is enough to sell it to NTs. ASD people probably need another reason to buy something.

Mirror neurons are brain cells in the premotor cortex. First identified in macaque monkeys in the early 1990s, the neurons -- also known as "monkey-see, monkey-do cells" -- fire both when a monkey performs an action itself and when it observes another living creature perform that same action. Though it has been impossible to directly study the analogue of these neurons in people (since human subjects cannot be implanted with electrodes), several indirect brain-imaging measures, including EEG, have confirmed the presence of a mirror neuron system in humans.

The human mirror neuron system is now thought to be involved not only in the execution and observation of movement, but also in higher cognitive processes -- language, for instance, or being able to imitate and learn from others' actions, or decode their intentions and empathize with their pain.

Because autism is characterized, in part, by deficits in exactly these sorts of social interaction and communication skills, previous research has suggested that a dysfunctional mirror neuron system may explain the observed pathology. The current findings, the researchers say, lend substantial support to the hypothesis.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/04/050411204511.htm

There's a stigma with being called autistic. I have read comments on forums in which people say "you're not autistic..." about another person because of that person's display of a talent. Exploration of this issue is discouraged. Any examination of it is treated with fear that something damning might be found, and that anything found would preclude one from being seen as worthy or capable of participation in various endeavors. Comments from doctors and other people in the community that hinted at the possibility that I could be autistic were treated as a major insult, something to be covered up, something others might mistake for being "ret*d". Until just a few years ago, I believed that I couldn't be autistic because I could talk when I was a kid.

Now that I think about it, one of my childhood doctors made comments about how I had a different kind of mind, and that I will find my place doing something probably beyond his reach. Many doctors don't see any benefit in diagnosing someone who is high functioning. My parents did frame things in a positive way, though, and their high expectations were probably a deciding factor in how my life turned out.

And no, I don't think a world without NTs would be a good one. All kinds are needed. I imagine dating would be even more difficult, as the NT skills of the other person are needed even more by us to bridge the gap.

Last edited by sgrannel on 17 Jun 2009, 1:48 am, edited 2 times in total.

we'd probably irritate eachother to death

Well, even though it's an interesting question, I think the answer has to be quite blunt.
I think we'd all be dead.

Humanity is on top of the food chain WITH all these aspects we have now, so it must be some kind of magical mix.

The world would be a terrible place without NTs. Let it NEVER happen.

Another way of looking at it: some of my best friends are NT, a world without them wouldn't include my friends.

To slightly change an Einstienien quote...

A world without NTs is lame, a world without Autism is blind. We need them as much as they need us, whether or not they (and we) are willing to admit it.

ah, but there's the rub! DO they need us? I mean, they got us, but do they need us? What would be so wrong if cro-magnon never evolved beyond the skins and caves and migratory hunting patterns?

Merle

Whichever group was most dominant would be NT, because that is what Neurologically-Typical means: the most common form of mental set-up. Therefore a world without NTs is technically impossible unless there is a complete balance in numbers between all the different groups.

Mankind would probably have never gone beyond hunter gathering, without Aspies to drive technology.

Oh please, there's lots of really skilled NT scientists and inventors.

It is NTs that have helped me, guided me, listened to me, supported me, are some of my family members, run the places I visit, etc etc etc.

Couldn't do without them personally.

Yes, we need them, I admit it. Do they need us? Probably, almost as much as we need them.