How There Can Be a Minority Within a Majority In Regards to Autism

(Originally posted for The Voice of Heard on February 20, 2012)

I feel a sort of regret when I wrote my last entry on autism and how I thought it no longer makes sense to even consider it a disability. To be honest, I should have known better than to have the ability aspect overshadow the functional abnormalities that come with the disorder. The autistic people I have mentioned are most likely to have a mild form of autism called Asperger’s Syndrome much like myself. Even so, they can still have difficulty in social situations, communicating with other people, be overwhelmed in certain situations, and are still dependent on their parents even as adults. Those with moderate to severe forms of autism, on the other hand, are harmed by noises, unable to support themselves or handle many of the tasks of daily living most people take for granted, and cannot even speak. As a relative who commented on that entry pointed out, they do not have much in common with me. Unlike myself, not many autistic people can develop social skills well, cook their own food, do well in school, having a job and doing it well, earning a living, spend and organize money, graduate from high school with highest honors, endure college while getting good grades in the process, being recognized and inducted into a national honor society, graduating from college with highest honors, and be able to live independently. I feel like I am part of a minority within a majority of people on the autism spectrum.

I should mention that there is an article written last year in the Boston Globe that contains an interview with a psychiatrist about how some people with autism have intellectual advantages over other people without the disorder. The keyword here is “some” because not all autistic people are likely to have these advantages as far as I know. I should also mention that I saw a movie recently that features an autistic character. It is a Thai martial arts movie from 2008 titled Chocolate, directed by Prachya Pinkaew, known for directing Ong-bak and The Protector. Daughter of a Thai gangster’s ex-girlfriend and a member of the Japanese yakuza, the film's central protagonist is Zen, an autistic teenager with an ability to absorb fighting skills just by merely observing other fighters and by watching martial arts movies. After becoming aware of that ability, she took it upon herself to use those skills to fight the gang members in order to obtain money for her ill mother’s medical expenses, even fighting an autistic adversary at one point. Most families of autistic people and autism experts would consider that feat crazy, outlandish, and unrealistic. I’m not even sure if I can absorb fighting abilities just by observing martial arts movies like Enter the Dragon and fighting games like Tekken, Virtua Fighter, and Street Fighter.

What I am trying to say here is that I have come to realize a fact of life: for every majority population there is always a minority population within it and a minority within a minority. People with autism are considered a minority and I consider autistic people like myself to be a minority within the majority of the autistic population. It is possible that somewhere among the autistic population there is an autistic person like Zen or a good few autistic individuals with advantages over normal people. Perhaps if greater awareness of autism is raised, we could use the minority-within-a-minority group of autistic people to make contributions to society and maybe even improve the lives of autistic people who less fortunate than the others. Your input on these ideas and the facts of autism I described earlier would be greatly appreciated as it could improve my knowledge and understanding of autism.

Original Comments (Note: For some odd reason, a few people who commented on this post thought that I was talking about some book I never read before.)

Aunt Sue
February 23rd, 2012 at 9:16 pm

Tim, I have really enjoyed your writings on autism. I would like to ask a question: When you are in a social situation do you feel “fear” or some other emotion or thoughts that hinder interaction? The withdrawing is a mystery to me. What causes an autistic person to withdraw from all stimuli around them? I do see there are many different degrees of autism just like everything else in life. 

Thanks for listening, Aunt Sue.

• Timothy Heard

          February 25th, 2012 at 1:32 am 

          I’m not exactly an expert on autism as a whole, but I’ll do my best to answer your questions. Basically, it all has to do with social interaction. Unlike most people, socializing and communicating is difficult for people with autism. They have a hard time interpreting and understanding many social aspects that most people normally take for granted. In my experience, I usually cannot tell whether or not someone’s joking, I find it difficult to explain something or ask a question in a way that makes sense to somebody, and I have a hard time being socially active in larger social situations like family get-togethers and parties. The last part is especially hard for me because whenever I try to hold a conversation with somebody, I tend to get cut off when that somebody is talking to somebody else, when I look in a different direction, or when the flow of my talk slows down. To me, my conversation with that somebody has ended, end of story. What I tend to do in social situations like this is make an attempt to get as far away from the crowd as possible either by moving away or just not bother talking at all. So the withdrawal aspect of autism really has nothing to do with emotions and thoughts.

Gnan
March 24th, 2012 at 9:44 am 

The book sounds great.I was tacconted a while back by the father of an autistic boy who liked to paint. Despite the joy he got from this passtime, little accidents like a tipped over water container could really set him off.The father was very pleased when he came across our free coloring book program (Kea Coloring Book). He was able to spend time sitting with his son, coloring in without any risk of accidents.We’ve now created a new , and we hope it will bring more joy to the hearts of children everywhere.

Sharon
May 10th, 2012 at 9:52 am 

This is a delightful book about a young girl who has Asperger’s Syndrome. Asperger’s Syndrome is a neboauiologicrl condition that is on the same spectrum as autism and the accompanying behaviors are as varied as there are individuals who have it.Daisy, the young protagonist is fully aware that she is on the a/A spectrum. She is easily distracted by noises; a classmate’s hair-chewing annoys her; certain sounds, tastes and smells upset her. A grade-schooler, Daisy enters the story as a newly-mainstreamed pupil from a self contained program for persons with autism. Her previous school carries the sad name School of Social And Developmentally Delayed, which automatically screams stigma. Instead of being a helpful program, Daisy’s previous school does not appear tailored to meet her academic and social needs. At Ocean Vista, where she is mainstreamed, she has a very understanding teacher who explains her behaviors, e.g. hand flapping, noise sensitivity, verbal outbursts, uttering non sequiturs as well as esoteric words to her classmates. Daisy often tended to use stilted utterances such as powers of darkness when describing bullying and her spontaneous display of affection when her principal sympathizes with some of her social difficulties. Daisy also makes good use of the Resource Room when stimuli become too overwhelming.Even with good back up, Daisy is targeted by a group of bullies, some of whom are her classmates. In time, she learns to defend herself and makes friends with a boy named Cody who had also attended Daisy’s former school. A girl named Lauren takes Daisy under her wing and is amazingly accepting of Daisy’s explanation of what it means to have Asperger’s. Indeed, a very funny exchange occurs between the girls when Lauren mispronounces Asperger’s, thinking Daisy was making a rather rude joke. That part was truly hilarious!In time, as the girls bond with Cody, Daisy demonstrates her skill at animal training. She had been working with the class rabbit Buster and had trained him to perform tricks. It is through her work with Buster and with her two new friends that Daisy becomes empowered to act as a friend and step up to the plate for someone who really needs her help.This is a wonderful book and a treat for all ages. Please read this and share it with someone. The acceptance of the principal, Daisy’s teacher and Resource Room teacher point up to just how important inclusion really is. I also like the resorces that the author lists at the end of the story. Hats off to this book!

Roland
March 24th, 2012 at 7:12 am

He’s a sharp wee fella.Notice how he’s annoyed at Duncan for not doing what he tells him to!Thomas will try to get Duncan to play enhstmiog with him and sometimes he will but other times he’ll just ignore him. Duncan won’t pay any attention to anyone trying to coerce him to do what he doesn’t want to.I forgot to include his highs and lows of home-education, the worst thing about HE is that you don’t get to have all the different types of junk food in your house, apparently…and the best thing is spending time with your family. So we must be doing enhstmiog right!