This post is some personal observations I have made about peopleâs perceptions of The Autism Spectrum. When I refer to âpeopleâ, I donât mean âall peopleâ, I just mean the people Iâve encountered personally, whether in real life or talking to online.
When people first learn about autism, itâs because their new friend [be it a real person or a fictional character] has been described as âhaving autismâ. These people, not really understanding what autism is yet, look at their friendâs characteristics and decide that all the traits they have are autism - thatâs what autism is, itâs being like Sherlock, Abed Nadir, Einstein, that quiet kid in class, your friendâs nonverbal son. The stereotypes can be nice (look at all the aspergers characters in film, books and television, which paint most of them as eccentric, bad with people, but nevertheless geniuses) or they can be bad (like âAutism momsâ complaining how difficult it is for THEM to raise their child⌠or Louis Therouxâ documentaries painting a bleak portrait of autism âsufferersâ).
At this stage, the person learning about autism usually seems to think of it as a binary state⌠like a lightswitch. Theyâll tell you you either HAVE AUTISM and are therefore exactly like the stereotype theyâve created (lights on) or you DONâT HAVE AUTISM because youâre not exactly like that stereotype (lights off).
If theyâve read up a little more, they might have seen the word âspectrumâ. Now they have a more generalized view of autism. But they get the idea of âspectrumâ wrong - they see it as a linear thing: a number-line, a scale, a dimmer switch or volume control, from Zero to Autistic â or from âlow-functioningâ to âhigh-functioningâ. At that point they say silly things like âYouâre very high-functioning!â or âNo, but I mean like, the really really autistic kids, who, like, canât do anything because they canât talkâ. They invent this linear relationship between a personâs verboseness and âhow autistic they areâ.
A lot of people seem to get stuck at this point, so I think the word âspectrumâ requires some explanation.
When I see the word âspectrumâ I immediately imagine a rainbow, or light being split from a prism. Iâm sure most people do. And sure, the spectrum of colours is derived from the electromagnetic spectrum - we get different colours at different wavelengths - itâs a continuous range.
BUT- where does white light come from? White light is a combination of all those different wavelengths. You can create new colours by mixing different colours together. You can make colours brighter by adding a little bit of the other colours. You can mix the wavelengths together at different intensities. Thereâs a lot of ways of combining colours.
Which essentially what the autism spectrum REALLY is. Which is why labels like âhigh functioningâ and âseverely autisticâ are dumb labels. Just because one autie excels at public speaking doesnât make them unanimously âhigh functioningâ. Conversely, I know of nonverbal auties who are masters of writing. To tell someone with a vibrant imagination, intense emotions, passionate interests and brilliant intellect that theyâre âlow-functioningâ because they donât vocalize their thoughts out loud is a massive insult. To refuse someoneâs pleas of help because theyâre âtoo high functioningâ is also a shitty thing to do (Iâm looking at you, ATOS).
Thereâs lots of ways in which we function, some of which are interdependent, others independent, and the levels vary wildly between autistic people, and they also vary wildly in non-autistic people too:
- Verbal reasoning / ability to understand instructions
- Mathematical and logical skills
- Executive function / Planning
- Ability to filter information
- Processing speed of sensory input
- Ability to focus / attention span
- Emotional self-awareness
[These might not be the exact distinct cognitive âfunctionsâ as according to all the sciencey literature, this was verbatim]
I see my functions as a bar chart. In the version I drew itâs a prism splitting white light into the whole spectrum, but the different colours fade out at different places (and itâs a homage to Pink Floyd :p). That bar chart can vary throughout the day, be markedly different on different days, and is always changing over time.
In times of anxiety all the functionality unanimously drains out of me. In a nice chilled out environment it all comes trickling back.
When Iâm in the zone doing something I enjoy, some of those rays of colour will be shooting off the image :D
(Note how thereâs no lines on the image denoting the âaverage personââs ability towards a particular function, because this shit is nigh on impossible to quantify person-to-person. All you can do is compare yourself to yourself)
I think thatâs more accurate than âlow functioningâ vs âhigh functioningâ ??????????
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