Post by @KatyElphinstone@mas.to

Autistic people have a different way of understanding and engaging with the world.

The DSM describes our interests as 'abnormal in intensity or focus'.

And studies have described a 'weak central coherence' (meaning a tendency to focus on details, rather than the bigger picture - which puzzles me as how, then, are we such good pattern-spotters? Surely that requires ‘seeing the bigger picture’?).

But… what if our 'different ways' in these areas have been chronically misobserved and misread?

A short 🧵

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#Autism #ActuallyAutistic #Neurodiversity #Neurodivergent #AutismResearch #DoubleEmpathy #Monotropism

#monotropism #doubleempathy #autismresearch #neurodiversity #neurodivergent #actuallyautistic #autism

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sknob :noai:

@sknob@mamot.fr 1 hr. ago

@KatyElphinstone its exactly the opposite in my experience! I’m constantly telling non-autistic people that *they* are ignoring or missing the big picture, that they’re focusing on the consequences and ignoring the causes, etc.

Sin Vega

@sinvega@mas.to 6 min. ago

@sknob @KatyElphinstone the details are where the big picture COMES FROM argraghhh

"oh it's just a few errors" no, it's a pattern of errors that I can PROVE are the result of a systemic flaw. Nobody else caught it because nobody else was LOOKING

K. J. Elphinstone

@KatyElphinstone@mas.to 1 hr. ago

@sknob

Exactly!!
Also frankly I don't think that the experts can have it both ways. We are criticised for being outcome-oriented and also criticised for being detail-oriented. I mean, which is it?

sknob :noai:

@sknob@mamot.fr 57 min. ago

@KatyElphinstone both of course, logic and causality be damned 🫠

K. J. Elphinstone

@KatyElphinstone@mas.to 5 hr. ago

Autistic people, it is true, often have very strong, vivid interests, attachments, expectations... and ways of interpreting the world. While having little interest or focus in areas not of interest and/or experienced as anxiety-provoking.

Non-autistic people on the other hand, it seems, often tend to have a wider spread, but with weaker or more loosely connected associations.

But what non-autistic people take for granted may seem more reliable simply because it's widely shared... not because it's necessarily more accurate, consistent, or grounded in experience.

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K. J. Elphinstone

@KatyElphinstone@mas.to 5 hr. ago

Something that's widely shared among non-autistic humans is an intense interest in other humans and in social and often power-laden dynamics.

So much so that it's not even seen as a 'special interest' but instead simply as 'normal'. And yet it's an area many autists have good reason to both fear and avoid.

In the meantime, the DSM-5 describes one characteristic of autism as having 'highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus'.

So… um… what makes an intense and vested interest in human groups and social dynamics normal, while an intense interest in something else is considered abnormal?

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K. J. Elphinstone

@KatyElphinstone@mas.to 5 hr. ago

Autistic people, in my experience (and yes, this includes myself!) may become interested in other humans in a more kind of 'anthropological' way - so more at-a-distance and using reason, pattern-seeking, and logic.

I’ve seen that this can give non-autistic people the impression I’m being dispassionate; even cold.

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K. J. Elphinstone

@KatyElphinstone@mas.to 5 hr. ago

Only that I'd argue that's the way (dispassionate, cold) most humans act towards other species, the world, nature, and the universe!

While, from what I've seen at least, autistic people often tend to feel those as more our 'family', with a close emotional tie.

So perhaps the question isn't who has restricted or weird interests, or who lacks attachment and reciprocity - but whose interests and ways of relating fit in with the dominant paradigm enough to be considered 'normal' in the first place.

And whose experience gets to count towards that mythical and celebrated 'normal'.

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End of 🧵

#Nature #Ecology #ActuallyAutistic