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Autism

Esper

Esper

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14
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    • Toujours said:
    General question for anyone: what do you think has led to the spike in autism in the past decade or so? I can't find recent data from my brief search but I found a comparison between 2001 and 2007, and the spike was apparent even then. Is this attributed to just more awareness of what autism is so more people are being caught, misdiagnosis, or something that's affecting us as a whole genetically?
    Click to expand...
    What I've read about the causes of Autism generally says that we still don't know the causes. My understanding is that there are lots of potential 'causes' for autism, ADHD, Asperger's, etc. so I kind of assume that these aren't 'caused' by any one thing specifically, but are more like a standard response from the body. Like when you break the surface of your skin it doesn't matter how it happened, the body will still react to it the same way and form a scab. So maybe that's what happens. It's a standard response of the mind in response to lots of different causes. Based on this I sort of think the spike is more about more people being diagnosed as autistic because doctors and other professionals aren't being selective in picking out causes.
     

    Alice

    (>^.(>0.0)>
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    • I was told that if I ate a healthy diet, with as little sugar as possible, my ADHD would most likely go away, especially after I've grown up... but I'm now a vegetarian and eat a near perfect diet (almost no sugar at all)... and I still have it. So, it's possible that the cause for me is different from most people.
     
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    Corvus of the Black Night

    Wild Duck Pokémon
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    • If this puts it into perspective, my mom eats a very healthy diet (in comparison to how she used to when she was younger) and her ADHD has not gotten any better or worse. It's just how you're hardwired, I think.
     
    Sydian

    Sydian

    fake your death.
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    • ^ That pretty much. You can't just cure away a disability or anything. The only thing that indefinitely will go away is developmental delay. You can't have it past the age 9, and if you still have problems with things at that age, you have to be assessed for something more. Even visual and hearing impairments, when given corrections like glasses and hearing aids, people with those impairments are still under that disability umbrella because it's still prevalent if it hinders their learning capabilities, unless the corrections do fully correct the problem. Hopefully that makes sense.

    My point is though, you can't cure a disability. Like the above post says, it's just hardwired. You can improve them to where they're not really noticeable, but you can't make them just disappear.
     

    Alice

    (>^.(>0.0)>
    3,077
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    • I just started taking Ritalin again today... and it works better than I remember. It's actually really annoying how alert I am. It's like I'm concentrating really intensely on something, even when I'm not. Almost like my mind has tunnel vision.

    That said, I'm already half way through two of my application essays, and I've been working for like 2 hours. I'd be lucky to finish one in a day normally.
     
    Tsutarja

    Tsutarja

    27,752
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    • I have been tested for autism/asperger's in the past when I was young, both returned negatively.. however all throughout elementary and middle school I had a hard time socializing and being up to date with trends.. everyone hated me as a person.. I was never up to date with slang either lol

    It wasnt until high school I got to being really social and because of that, I hate looking back at my past life.. :\ I mean Im not as social as other people in my classes, but at least people at high school talk to me and have the sympathy to notice whenever I feel lonely and have a word with me.. I dont feel shy around people like that.. in middle school whenever people decided to talk with me, I felt shy because I took notice of socialization patterns and was unsure on what to do when spoken to by peers

    As for conditions, I was diagnosed with ADD in late 2008, which is part of the reason on why I can have a hard time socializing at times
     
    Legobricks

    Legobricks

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    • Seen Sep 18, 2020
    From personal experience, I don't think AD(H)D is a disorder. It is so incredibly widespread, and as much not necessarily a negative trait, that I consider it a normal variation. Of course, it goes very poorly with school and sociality and all, but all I've gathered from that is that common treatment isn't suitable for certain types of person, though as much should be obvious. That a certain demographic doesn't fit into the artifice of society, makes it the fault of the aforementioned, not the 'disorderly'.
     
    Sydian

    Sydian

    fake your death.
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    • From personal experience, I don't think AD(H)D is a disorder. It is so incredibly widespread, and as much not necessarily a negative trait, that I consider it a normal variation. Of course, it goes very poorly with school and sociality and all, but all I've gathered from that is that common treatment isn't suitable for certain types of person, though as much should be obvious. That a certain demographic doesn't fit into the artifice of society, makes it the fault of the aforementioned, not the 'disorderly'.
    Click to expand...

    It's grouped under the Specific Learning Disability umbrella in the 13 areas of disabilities. Considering what ADD/ADHD does, it can interfere with learning, so that's probably the reason it's under disorder. I think it should stay there though, as opposed to what I've been hearing about how it's supposed to be moved into the Autism umbrella. That makes absolutely no sense to me, since they're not so similar from what I've gathered.
     
    Yoshikko

    Yoshikko

    the princess has awoken while the prince sleeps on
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    • Seen Apr 27, 2020
    Sydian said:


    It's grouped under the Specific Learning Disability umbrella in the 13 areas of disabilities. Considering what ADD/ADHD does, it can interfere with learning, so that's probably the reason it's under disorder. I think it should stay there though, as opposed to what I've been hearing about how it's supposed to be moved into the Autism umbrella. That makes absolutely no sense to me, since they're not so similar from what I've gathered.
    Click to expand...
    I thought it already was in that spectrum tbh, that's what they told me at least when I was diagnosed. I found it kind of strange at first but I guess I could see why (if it were even true yet, because now I'm not sure). Basically the way they explained it to me was this V

    Autism spectrum
    AD(H)D ----------|---------- PDD nos

    Like in degrees like that, with Asperger's and everything else between it.
    ​
     
    Sydian

    Sydian

    fake your death.
    33,379
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    • I thought it already was in that spectrum tbh, that's what they told me at least when I was diagnosed. I found it kind of strange at first but I guess I could see why (if it were even true yet, because now I'm not sure). Basically the way they explained it to me was this V

    Autism spectrum
    AD(H)D ----------|---------- PDD nos

    Like in degrees like that, with Asperger's and everything else between it.
    Click to expand...

    I would assume Europe is different than the US though? I'm not entirely sure about that. Here though, ADD/ADHD is still under the SLD umbrella, and my teacher mentioned that they're trying to move it into the Autism umbrella. Unfortunately, I can't really remember the reasons why. :/ I'm on spring break, so I don't feel like thinking! lol But yeah, I wish I could remember why. I think it belongs under SLD personally, because from what I know about Autism and ADD/ADHD, they're not very alike. If I could remember, or if someone else could tell me, then I might be able to make the association between the two, but atm, I'm just not seeing it.
     

    Corvus of the Black Night

    Wild Duck Pokémon
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    • From what I've seen, autism spectrum disorders are those that involve social difficulties, while ADHD/ADD stem from hyperactivity. However, its not uncommon that both could occur, so difficulty could occur there.

    In other news, Mom has remained relentless on this issue; it seems like I'll have to gather some spare money in my time and visit the psych on my own dollar without insurance. Perhaps I could discuss a payment plan? I just want to know since I've always had these problems, it's just that over time I learned how to circumvent most of them, and it could possibly help me with some other problems. As I said before it's how I'm hardwired, but if its not Asperger's or a similar disorder it would be nice to know if I had something else, especially if that could be fixed with medication.

    She irritates me though, she's willing to praise her psych when she visits him, but if I honestly discuss visiting him she says he's a liar and he just wants pills down my throat... Despite this, I am an adult and have the right to know and research in my spare time. Maybe a psych student can help slightly? I know they're not certified obviously but they can help point me in the correct direction. School psychologists attempted to diagnose me with it when I was little (or something, mom is never clear on what it is and there's absolutely no documentation) but their technique was questionable at best.
     
    Sydian

    Sydian

    fake your death.
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    • Before this thread totally dies off, I'd like to say it's Autism Awareness Day, and the month of April is Autism Awareness Month. For this occasion, we watched a video in class and I thought I'd share it with you. If you disagree with the video and such, please keep that out of the thread and go to the video's page to voice that. I didn't make it, so I feel like answering for this guy wouldn't be right.

    Spoiler:
     

    TTYO

    Old Timer
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    • Just a reminder. The reason why we have Pokemon in the first place is becos of Asperger's
     
    Sydian

    Sydian

    fake your death.
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    • That's a good point to bring up, actually. In that speech I mentioned earlier by Temple Grandin, she mentions that iPods, tvs, other technology wouldn't exist without Autism. She said she thinks everyone has a little Autism in them, which when you think about it, I guess we do. Without Autistics or Aspies, there would be a lot different in the world. Ideas wouldn't have been challenged, or even formed in the first place. So in a sense, I agree with her in that everyone has a little Autism.

    I'm probably not totally correct on what she meant, but that's just my perception of it.
     

    Oryx

    CoquettishCat
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    Razor Leaf said:
    It is? That's interesting - how's that?
    Click to expand...

    Satoshi Tajiri, the creator of Pokemon, has Asperger's. His particular obsession was insects, which inspired him to create Pokemon as an imitation of bug-collecting.
     

    TTYO

    Old Timer
    219
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    • The way people treat Aspies will reflect on how that society does in terms of advancement.

    According to some research, Our distant ancestors had been stuck in a pre Stone Age tech, with only hand axes for at least 1 million years. Given our conventional advancement speed of humans, we should have gone to the moon at least a million years earlier.

    Like say the hand axe's invention would have spurred the invention of the spear by the next century, but no.... hominids spent at least a million years using handaxes without the creativity of ADHDs or Aspergers. They just dun see the need to change things.

    Does that mean that ancient man was most neurotypically? This was before Homo Sapiens btw.
     

    Lord Varion

    Guess who's back?
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    • Seen Jan 6, 2015
    I know so many autistic kids, I love to be with them, and help.
    :3
    One of them 'Shay' he's only 6, but he doesn't know how to talk and his autism makes him hit his head hard, so he has to wear a protective helmet. It's rather sad seeing it, His mum always needs alot of help too.

    The other one is Ellis, my girlfriends younger brother, he's not so much as a serious case as Shay, but he's one that doesn't understand, how some things works, and doesn't like to be ignored and such.

    Either way, for some reason, Autistic Children seem to love bonding with me. ^.^
    And I love them to bits!! :3
     
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