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A neural basis explanation for autism.
Autism has been an interest of mine my entire life, just as AI/robots has also always been an interest. It's only been in the past 5 or so years that I've known about Asperger's. This current kick I have with reading up on it is both personally motivated and also an extension of my previous interest in it. The amount of information out there, and the number of autistic people talking about their experiences, wasn't around when I was growing up. Back then it was just a few made-for-TV biographical movies that brought my attention to it. These movies revolved around how a neurotypical mom "handled" her autistic child. It was always about everyone else around that person, never about the autistic person themselves, but I don't blame the media for this. It was all the public knew. Temple Grandin changed that view, and it's been growing ever since. People on the spectrum are speaking out about what it's like to be the person trapped inside and living in a seemingly different world from the "normal" one.
Hearing that there is now neural evidence that people on the autism spectrum are, in fact, simply wired differently, is very exciting for me. There may still be diseases or other pathology responsible for causing autism, but I have hoped that there would be evidence that those cases were few and far between.
Autism has been an interest of mine my entire life, just as AI/robots has also always been an interest. It's only been in the past 5 or so years that I've known about Asperger's. This current kick I have with reading up on it is both personally motivated and also an extension of my previous interest in it. The amount of information out there, and the number of autistic people talking about their experiences, wasn't around when I was growing up. Back then it was just a few made-for-TV biographical movies that brought my attention to it. These movies revolved around how a neurotypical mom "handled" her autistic child. It was always about everyone else around that person, never about the autistic person themselves, but I don't blame the media for this. It was all the public knew. Temple Grandin changed that view, and it's been growing ever since. People on the spectrum are speaking out about what it's like to be the person trapped inside and living in a seemingly different world from the "normal" one.
Hearing that there is now neural evidence that people on the autism spectrum are, in fact, simply wired differently, is very exciting for me. There may still be diseases or other pathology responsible for causing autism, but I have hoped that there would be evidence that those cases were few and far between.
