

The Truth About Autism: Scientists Reconsider What They Think They Know - edw519
http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/magazine/16-03/ff_autism

======
mattmaroon
Ok, I'll say it. That's just plain stupid.

She's redefined language to mean something else, and then said hers is not
inferior to ours. Twiddling a knob on a dresser is not a language, it's just
an unusual curiosity. We don't have electricity and cars and antibiotics
because people had conversations with doorknobs and running water. We have
them because people communicated abstract ideas to each other. That's
language.

"And you find yourself thinking: She might have a point."

Only if you don't know what the word language means. Otherwise you find
yourself thinking "that's stupid."

~~~
yters
That's a good point. Which is why, if autistic people can't score well on
tests aimed at people who process the world in a non autistic manner, the
autistic people should be considered retarded. The article seems to have
completely missed this; instead of defining intelligence as generally quick
and precise thinking, it should be defined in terms of ability to communicate
with normal people. I think this would eliminate a lot of confusion on the
part of us normal people and make the world easier to understand.

~~~
curi
is this ironic?

~~~
yters
Yes. I tried to tread the fine line between making my point and being subtle,
but I failed.

The article's countering exactly the issue I say it missed.

~~~
curi
It's not that you failed exactly -- I thought I got the point. It's just that
it's pretty hard to be sure on online forums. Plus I didn't read the article
:)

What I noticed was you said we should define intelligence in terms of being
normal instead of thinking quickly and precisely. So I guessed you were making
fun of the parent post by agreeing in a silly way.

~~~
yters
Yep, zegactly!

The article's point is that though we generally rank autistic people as
retarded according to intelligence tests, these tests are biased towards a
certain form of communication. If the autistic people communicate on their own
terms, they are often quite bright. There is an intelligence test called Raven
that can get past the communication barrier better than the standard test.

And, at the risk of being pedantic, there are multiple levels of irony going
on in my original response, since the subject is misunderstood communication.

------
sammyo
Watch the video.

It's good.

I have significant issues with the core argument, but mostly due to it's
naïveté.

It does not address the issue that there are numerous, hmm, micro-languages.
Say one invented spontaneously between twins that only the twins and say a
couple grad students (maybe) will ever be fluent. The twins language may be
incredible but it is useless to order a big mac.

Can two autistic folk each with their own totally valid non-verbal language
ever communicate?

The world is getting so specialized, perhaps with tools some very smart folks
cut off due to neurological, er differences, will become dynamic members of
the greater society.

I really liked the view down the slinky, good thing that it was not a full 9
minutes of just that. just that. just that. just that. just that. just that.
just that. just that. just that. just that. just that. just that. just that.
just that. just that. just that. just that. just that. just that. just that.
just that. just that. just that. just that. just that. just that. (wow,
doesn't it feel good typing just that ;-)

------
lvecsey
Part of it is that she has an opportunity to explore this way of thinking.
What happened around age 20 when she decided to give up with the neurotypical
way of vocalizing? An older brother or sister that never veers far from
neurotypical would begin the influence on you with, for example: "what? you
don't have a cell phone? thats not normal!"

