#questioning orthodoxy

[neurodiversitysci]

Before you can learn to be social, you need to learn how to tolerate your environment.

-Temple Grandin

#commonsense

[neurodiversitysci]

If you're autistic, having a thicker cortex than someone who is not autistic is considered bad (Hardan et al, 2006)--and having a thinner cortex than someone who is not autistic is also considered bad (Chung et al, 2005; Hadjikhani et al, 2006a, 2006). ...if you've been diagnosed with specific attention deficit, animal phobia, bipolar, Williams Syndrome, or schizophrenia, having a thinner, thicker, thinner, thicker, or thinner cortex, respectively, is considered bad, bad, bad, bad, and bad, respectively (Shaw et al., 2006; Rauch et al, 2004; Lyoo et al, 2006; Thompson et al, 2005; Kuperberg et al, 2003, respectively). ...not one of the between-group differences, which have been pathologized, is more pronounced than the difference between "normal" males and "normal" females.

-Morton Ann Gernsbacher, APS Presidential Column January 2007, Vol 4 No I

Unfortunately, though she wrote this column in 2007, rampant "eye of the beholder" bias still taints autism and ADHD research.

[neurodiversitysci]

Maggio (1991) recommends that we test our writing for bias by substituting our own group for the group we are discussing. If we feel offended, then our writing is biased. I recommend that we test our writing for bias by peeling off the labels, as I've done here. If our interpretations make little sense, then our science is biased.

-Morton Ann Gernsbacher

APS Presidential Column Nov. 2006--vol. 19, no. II

[neurodiversitysci]

...this elegant solution to the mysteries of the brain should change the goal for aspiring neuroscientists. Instead of spending years advocating for one’s favorite solution, the mission should evolve into elucidating the different overlapping solutions: how [different sovereign systems in the brain] compete, how the union is held together, and what happens when things fall apart.

-David Eagleman, http://edge.org/response-detail/2943/what-is-your-favorite-deep-elegant-or-beautiful-explanation

[neurodiversitysci]

Simple lectures and classroom learning...is still the dominant method of delivery, yet there is little or no evidence to show that it is effective.

-Donald Clark, http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/blog-marathon-50-blogs-on-learning.html

[neurodiversitysci]

I regard education and training as being stuck in old, unvalidated, and often false theory and practice, some of it on a par with astrology and UFO theories. If true, this is worrying, as much of our time, and more importantly that of learners, is being wasted.

-Donald Clark, http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.co.uk/2007/03/arch-debunker-me.html

[neurodiversitysci]

A generation after teacher authority based on position was replaced by authority based on knowledge, authority based on knowledge is also risk. Today, by the time children are thirteen they know that there are many ways to acquire knowledge (Google, Wikipedia, YouTube and Texting to name a few) and teachers are usually “not your best source.” If knowledge can be gained easily without going to school, what is the point of school?

–Rick Ackerly

[neurodiversitysci]

"Empathizing" is not a theory. It's a word looking for a definition.

-Dr. Jon Brock