Abstract: It’s a catch-22 to say that only people with autism who can communicate a desire to not be cured want not to be cured, and that people who cannot communicate must want to be cured. Also: None of this is related to the article, any more.
It seems a bit… errant, for one thing, to argue that it’s right to change something because it’s very different. I mean, a friend of mine is a girl who can’t live independently, has banged her head against walls to the point of needing glasses because of brain damage, often cannot use spoken words to talk to people. I can describe those traits and say that they Need To Be Cured without mentioning that she’s my best friend, we talk about politics and fandom and remind each other that we’re people. I can talk about her friend, who used to eat out of garbage, doesn’t talk, had everyone convinced he couldn’t read for a very long time. He speed reads; he uses vivid metaphor in writing.
It’s because of that that I feel frightened when people say that only the “low functioning” autistics need to be cured, that it would be a mercy. It’s possible that in the days before keyboard technology, my friend could not be perceived as anyone’s friend. I’m sure people would say, then, that were she capable of communication she’d want to be fixed, made right. (She doesn’t.) Lack of communication really, really does not unequivocally imply lack of higher cognitive function, and actually receptive language skills are often a lot higher than spoken language skills in autistic people.
I know that if my friend could choose to not be afraid of people to the point of self-harm, she would. She says the reason for her fear is having been taught to have quiet hands, and I have no reason to doubt that. I am not yet willing to accept that it is intrinsically a bad feeling to be autistic, to any degree of functionality. Analogous events suggest heavily that the problem is that the modern world is not advanced enough to understand autistic thought, to any degree of functionality, whether that understanding requires peering through blunt syntax or a neurally implanted Augmented/Alternative Communications device.
My diagnosis, as an aside, is not high-functioning Asperger syndrome. It was PDD-NOS complicated by hyperlexia, and while I am not absolutely positive if the former diagnosis is still valid (I was six, and I think perhaps that the behaviors they were using to diagnose PDD-NOS had to do with me being extraordinarily literal and having auditory processing trouble,) I am sure that the latter is. (“Autistic” is a lot easier than all of that, I apologize for the imprecision.)
Lack of communication really, really does not unequivocally imply lack of higher cognitive function,
Just to be clear, I was definitely not saying this. But given how central social ties are to human happiness, correcting the lack of ability to communicate, irrespective of other cognitive function, is presumably the primary focus of the “cure.”
That is perhaps better answered by someone who actually has autism, but I would be highly surprised if “neurotypical” were not excessively narrow.
I suppose the sentence could be rewritten as “other cognitive abilities notwithstanding” or something to that effect, but that would hardly make the sentence read better. Given that the sentence is descriptive, not normative (I’ve never actually participated in any discussion of the issue prior to this one—I’m trying to narrow the inferential distance between the two camps in this debate), I don’t see why it would be taken as disrespectful.
Probably it would be better asked by someone who has autism, too—I might well be barking up the wrong argument tree.
On the other issue… I’m confused now. I’m not sure if this is a case of the connotation overwhelming the denotation, or what, but I initially took “correcting the lack of ability to communicate, irrespective of other cognitive function” to mean something like “installing an ability to communicate, no matter what that would do to other cognitive function”. I still don’t see what else it could mean, but your confusion as to why that would be taken as disrespectful seems to indicate there is something...?
No, I had something totally different in mind -- that enhancing the ability to communicate would be a good thing regardless of how strong the treated individual’s other cognitive abilities might be. I was not suggesting that there should or must be any effect at all on those other abilities.
Ah, ok. I guess what caused the confusion is my expectation that the “other cognitive abilities” are bound up with the inability to communicate in a rather more Gordian fashion than is implied by this idea. But I’m far from certain, of course, and your point seems plausible regardless.
Not very relevant, but hi. I recognized the people you mention. (If you want to obscure it, remove the bit on how he proved he could read.) If you have a blog I probably read it. Hi!
Hi, also! I thought it was all right because the information had all been provided elsewhere, and I am not doing names in the first place. However, it comes to my attention that I should’ve asked Friend to review this stuff and see if it was too recognizable and… argh, I’ve made the exact same mistake as my high school’s Journalistic Writing Class, this is embarassing. (The learning-to-read part is so relevant to me because, you know, talk about evidence for the word-shape model of word recognition!)
I do not have a blog because I’m learning how to do recreational writing again, starting here.
Abstract: It’s a catch-22 to say that only people with autism who can communicate a desire to not be cured want not to be cured, and that people who cannot communicate must want to be cured. Also: None of this is related to the article, any more.
It seems a bit… errant, for one thing, to argue that it’s right to change something because it’s very different. I mean, a friend of mine is a girl who can’t live independently, has banged her head against walls to the point of needing glasses because of brain damage, often cannot use spoken words to talk to people. I can describe those traits and say that they Need To Be Cured without mentioning that she’s my best friend, we talk about politics and fandom and remind each other that we’re people. I can talk about her friend, who used to eat out of garbage, doesn’t talk, had everyone convinced he couldn’t read for a very long time. He speed reads; he uses vivid metaphor in writing.
It’s because of that that I feel frightened when people say that only the “low functioning” autistics need to be cured, that it would be a mercy. It’s possible that in the days before keyboard technology, my friend could not be perceived as anyone’s friend. I’m sure people would say, then, that were she capable of communication she’d want to be fixed, made right. (She doesn’t.) Lack of communication really, really does not unequivocally imply lack of higher cognitive function, and actually receptive language skills are often a lot higher than spoken language skills in autistic people.
I know that if my friend could choose to not be afraid of people to the point of self-harm, she would. She says the reason for her fear is having been taught to have quiet hands, and I have no reason to doubt that. I am not yet willing to accept that it is intrinsically a bad feeling to be autistic, to any degree of functionality. Analogous events suggest heavily that the problem is that the modern world is not advanced enough to understand autistic thought, to any degree of functionality, whether that understanding requires peering through blunt syntax or a neurally implanted Augmented/Alternative Communications device.
My diagnosis, as an aside, is not high-functioning Asperger syndrome. It was PDD-NOS complicated by hyperlexia, and while I am not absolutely positive if the former diagnosis is still valid (I was six, and I think perhaps that the behaviors they were using to diagnose PDD-NOS had to do with me being extraordinarily literal and having auditory processing trouble,) I am sure that the latter is. (“Autistic” is a lot easier than all of that, I apologize for the imprecision.)
Just to be clear, I was definitely not saying this. But given how central social ties are to human happiness, correcting the lack of ability to communicate, irrespective of other cognitive function, is presumably the primary focus of the “cure.”
To what extent should the word “neurotypical” be inserted after “to” and before “human”?
Also, “irrespective” is perhaps an infelicitous choice of words. Or maybe all too appropriate, depending.
That is perhaps better answered by someone who actually has autism, but I would be highly surprised if “neurotypical” were not excessively narrow.
I suppose the sentence could be rewritten as “other cognitive abilities notwithstanding” or something to that effect, but that would hardly make the sentence read better. Given that the sentence is descriptive, not normative (I’ve never actually participated in any discussion of the issue prior to this one—I’m trying to narrow the inferential distance between the two camps in this debate), I don’t see why it would be taken as disrespectful.
Probably it would be better asked by someone who has autism, too—I might well be barking up the wrong argument tree.
On the other issue… I’m confused now. I’m not sure if this is a case of the connotation overwhelming the denotation, or what, but I initially took “correcting the lack of ability to communicate, irrespective of other cognitive function” to mean something like “installing an ability to communicate, no matter what that would do to other cognitive function”. I still don’t see what else it could mean, but your confusion as to why that would be taken as disrespectful seems to indicate there is something...?
No, I had something totally different in mind -- that enhancing the ability to communicate would be a good thing regardless of how strong the treated individual’s other cognitive abilities might be. I was not suggesting that there should or must be any effect at all on those other abilities.
Ah, ok. I guess what caused the confusion is my expectation that the “other cognitive abilities” are bound up with the inability to communicate in a rather more Gordian fashion than is implied by this idea. But I’m far from certain, of course, and your point seems plausible regardless.
Not very relevant, but hi. I recognized the people you mention. (If you want to obscure it, remove the bit on how he proved he could read.) If you have a blog I probably read it. Hi!
Hi, also! I thought it was all right because the information had all been provided elsewhere, and I am not doing names in the first place. However, it comes to my attention that I should’ve asked Friend to review this stuff and see if it was too recognizable and… argh, I’ve made the exact same mistake as my high school’s Journalistic Writing Class, this is embarassing. (The learning-to-read part is so relevant to me because, you know, talk about evidence for the word-shape model of word recognition!)
I do not have a blog because I’m learning how to do recreational writing again, starting here.