2018-04-24 - How To Understand Autism by Alex Durig =================================================== Introduction ============ In contemporary science, logic is conceptualized as formal logic, which is the basis for computers and robots. But, people are not computers and robots, so scientists believe logic can't be wired into the brain. In academic terms, to claim that logic is wired into the brain is tantamount to committing scientific heresy. In other words, this book represents a departure from normal science! However, this book is based on two fundamental commitments: * the ability to think logically is wired into the brain * every human being deserves trust, respect, safety, and comfort To be able to understand the way each of us is wired up for logical thinking is the key to understanding the mind and perception. This will help us to begin understanding autism. To be able to give each person trust, respect, safety, and comfort is the key to understanding sophisticated relationships and good communication. This will lead us toward becoming autism-friendly. Chapter 1 ========= [A person with reduced social capacity will more than likely be diagnosed as autistic. Also, the graphs with social versus "computer" thinking assume no change, where in my experience people are more dynamic than that.] The fact is that current diagnosis of autism is something that is performed on a qualitative basis. That means that the analyst has to use her or his own better judgement. There is sometimes a bit of confusion regarding the difference between high-functioning autism and Asperger's syndrome, for example. A trip to see five different analysts may very well yield five different professional qualifications about any one client. Chapter 2 ========= Social thinking answers the question "What is going on here?" Computer thinking begins with the answer from social thinking, and answers the question "What is the appropriate behavior? Five functions of social thinking: * defining the situation * locating social identities * seeing the world through the eyes of others * supporting assumptions of normalcy * gauging time and timing. One function of computer thinking: * compute appropriate behavior ... This is one of the single greatest markers of our social thinking. Not only do we have the ability constantly to define our social situation, but we also have a highly developed ability to sense the emotions that are appropriate for our social situation. Without this important function of social thinking, we could not perform the rites of social pride and social humiliation that are so important to the normal world. In many ways, the amount of pride you can gather for yourself and the amount of humiliation you can forestall are directly related to how well you can define social situations. ... Let's suppose you work with your spouse. You have to be able to locate the identity of your spouse at home and again at work. In each social situation you have to be able to assign a different role to the same identity. You can't act the same way with your spouse at work as you do at home. Home is a private place and work is a public place. And you have to be able to locate the social identity of your spouse at home or in the workplace in order to know how to behave appropriately in each social situation. ... We have to see the world through other people's eyes in order to engage in the fullest extent of interactive experience. This is so critically important, not just so we can empathize with others, but actually for what it means to our own sense of self. In psychology they call it perspective taking, and in sociology they call it role taking. Indeed, this ability to see yourself through another person's eyes is the mental activity required to achieve a full-blown sense of self. This concept is from a special branch of social psychology called symbolic interactionism. Here is how it works. Imagine you are two and a half years old. It is time to eat. Your mother serves the food. Tonight you are having rice. But, as soon as you see the rice, you decide to have some fun. You pick up some rice and throw it across the room. But your mother does not think this is very funny. In fact, she gets angry and scolds you. It seems that throwing rice is an action that causes grief for your mother, and, consequently, for you too. Now let's move to the future a few days. Tonight your mother is serving rice again. And sure enough, as soon as it is served it occurs to you that it would be fun to throw some rice across the room. But then you remember the previous time you threw the rice. You remember this made your mother angry. You relive the moment in which you threw the rice, and how you mother let you know that you were being bad. You reason that if you do not throw the rice your mother will see you as good. And you are now able to conclude this line of reasoning in the following way. "Tonight I am not throwing rice and my mom sees me as being good. This is how mom sees me, and this is how I see myself." In that moment a sense of self is born. It is precisely this ability to see yourself the way others see you that is so important to attaining a sense of self. It is precisely this ability to become a social object to yourself, the same way you appear as a social object to others, that helps you to objectify a sense of your own self. ... The assumptions of normalcy represent a strange code that is omnipresent in normal social life. The field of sociolinguistics tells us that these assumptions of normalcy are the very glue of social life. The assumptions of normalcy must be invoked and used continually in order for social interaction to take place. It is the assumptions of normalcy that allow us to assume social interaction will be meaningful and successful. We absolutely must be able to invoke these assumptions in order to be able to participate in normal social life. At the same time, the stronger one's autistic perception, the less one will be invoking these assumptions because they are a function of social thinking. Four essential assumptions of normalcy: * When I communicate with other people, they will understand me. * When other people communicate with me, I will understand them. * If I don't understand other people now, I'll figure out what they meant later. * If I don't figure it out later, then it doesn't really matter anyway. The fact is that you would need help navigating the social world unless you were able to invoke these assumptions of normalcy. You would be like a stranger in a strange land if you had to question everything that took place in every conversation. Without the assumptions of normalcy how would one even begin to implicate oneself in ongoing social life? So often when someone gives us directions we are not very sure how we will be able to follow them. But we always act as if we do, and we proceed on the faith that we will get there somehow, even if we have to ask for more directions along the way! We do this by invoking the assumptions of normalcy. These are explicitly social assumptions using social thinking. They must be invoked as an axiomatic, or baseline, assumption, and all social interaction proceeds on the basis of these assumptions. They allow us to generalize about the nature of our meaningful experience. Because we can invoke assumptions of normalcy we are able smoothly to perpetuate our meaningful experience from one moment to the next without full conscious knowledge of every detail in our perception. This would be too much for us to compute as we move through day-to-day events. Social life would come to a grinding halt if people had to confirm full understanding of every single thing that was said to them. The assumptions of normalcy allow us to take our meaningful experience for granted, instead of questioning everything that happens as we move seamlessly from one moment to the next. Conversely, in strong autistic perception we have an experience that is much more literal. This perception relies on "If-Then" sequences of action. So, if this person is in a new situation it will not be possible to assume normalcy and to take for granted that all is well. This person will not be able to know with assuredness that a mutual understanding can be achieved. Marriages fail and relationships fall asunder when the assumptions of normalcy no longer function in their natural capacities. When the assumptions of normalcy are not at work in social interaction it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain focus and commitment to any one version of reality. In fact, a recipe for driving someone else crazy is simply to suspend the assumptions of normalcy in interaction. There was a sociological experiment in which college students were instructed to return home for Thanksgiving break and question every aspect of their parents' speech. For example, if parents ask "How do you like school?" the students were instructed to respond with something like "What do you mean by like, do you mean appreciate or enjoy?" To which the parent might respond "Well, how do you enjoy your classes?" To which the student might respond "Well, do you really want to know about every single class, or just the teachers I like?" How long can this go on before parents question their children's sanity? Not long at all. Students reported how difficult it was to suspend these assumed understandings that underlie every conversation. Try it sometime. Try going against the grain and doing something that is not expected of you. Try doing something that is never done in social life. It is rather difficult to do. All of this demonstrates the tenuous and complex achievement of social thinking every day all day long. It further clarifies what is not happening as much in strong autistic perception. There are numerous assumptions of meaning and understanding that must be mutually upheld by all parties concerned in every interaction all day long. The stronger the autistic perception the less the individual will be able to skate on the thin ice of these assumptions of normalcy. If you had to carry a grammar book and a dictionary with you everywhere you went in order to make precisely sure that what you are saying is correct and intelligible, then normal conversation would come to a screeching halt. Normal conversation proceeds much more on the basis of assumptions of normalcy than anything else. And if conversation ever becomes meaningless it might be because the assumptions of normalcy have been halted or violated. For example, attorneys are expert manipulators of the assumptions of normalcy. In a trial, when an attorney questions the meaning of every phrase, term, and nuance that is being used, sooner or later all sense of normalcy vanishes. At this point reasonable doubt becomes the order of the day. All you have to do, if you want to shut down a conversation, is begin to question every single statement that is being made. Are you sure about that? Why? Really? I'm not so sure about that. What do you mean by this word? Exactly how would you define that word? Search for too much clarity and the conversation ends in the dark. In a friendly conversation we constantly communicate agreement and the assumption that we understand the other person, that we know what the other person means. If you are constantly unsure about the other person's meaning, then the other person becomes uneasy. By now it should be apparent that social thinking is always greasing the wheels of social interaction. It's not so much that we know exactly what is going on in the situation and in other people's minds, it's just that we care enough to keep assuming that we will get clarity later if we continue assuming normalcy at that moment. Social life is an orchestration of mutually assumed realities. ... Autistic people exhibit rigid, obsessive behavior patterns. But normal people are just as rigid and obsessive about being normal! Chapter 3 ========= For example, since the third function of social thinking, seeing yourself through the eyes of others, is the seat of the self, so to speak, autistic perception will tend to be more selfless and transcendent. This is an abstract concept for most people, but it simply means that self is a very social thing to have, even though common sense tells us that it is a very private thing. Having a sense of self is a very social thing. Self is something we present to others. Self is interactive. But, when we lessen the social thinking, we lessen the interactive and reflective mental activities, and we also become freer from a normal sense of self. ... Imagine not caring what is going on, what other people are doing, or what they are thinking about you. Imagine not caring if any effective communication ever takes place. Imagine having more important things to do! With the filters of social thinking dramatically dropped, the autistic person is emotionally committed to their repetitive, persevering behavior. This is what they care about the most. ... The worst thing that happens to an autistic person is having a normal person get in their face--especially someone who is trying to prevent them from continuing their repetitive behavior. Chapter 4 ========= Three keys to communicating with an autistic people: * stay calm. make sure you and others are relaxed and supportive. * reflect their behavior. * reflect their perception. ... The only reason there has been any success at all teaching behavior modification to autistic children is because these programs are based on If-Then rules for action. Chapter 5 ========= In the normal world it is extremely important that we all know who we [the normal ones] are. [IOW, it is important to identify and single out the abnormal people.] ... The normal world is a social and interactive world that is completely based on repetitive behaviors! author: Durig, Alexander, 1959- LOC: RC553.A88D873 tags: book,health,non-fiction title: How To Understand Autism - The Easy Way Tags ==== book <gopher://tilde.pink/1/~bencollver/log/tag/book/> health <gopher://tilde.pink/1/~bencollver/log/tag/health/> non-fiction <gopher://tilde.pink/1/~bencollver/log/tag/non-fiction/>