Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism occurs in the brain. A neurological disorder is defined as "a disease of the central and peripheral nervous system". That is, in autism, the brain is structurally different to a person who is not autistic.

So, the connections between an autistic person's brain and body systems operate differently to a non-autistic person. Being a neurological difference, this is anatomy and physiology. Thus, autism is a neurodivergence - a divergence in neurology.

There is no cure for autism… and this is not inherently a bad thing! As a parent you may feel saddened that your child is not ‘ideal’ for this world, holding knowledge that your child may struggle or not reach their fullest potential due to their autism. It makes sense that parents have led many autism organizations, to garner change. We all want the best for our children. However, you can get lost in that thinking. As we autistics have grown up into adults, we have also learned how to improve our experience in the world, and how to make it better for others who are different. All of us - parents, teachers - doctors - therapists - and the lived population, we can work together to help support everyone. We don’t need to lament in the sadness of “no cure” or even to have “sadness”. We can overcome.

There is no cure. And those “cures” you may of heard of don’t work. Positive-thinking will not remove autism. We cannot take a pill and stop being autistic. We cannot even take medications to reduce our ‘autisticness’ (like one might do with mental health issues). We cannot have an operation and stop being autistic. We cannot change our diet and be less autistic. We cannot pray it away. There is no “fix” for this. There is no cure. Although being autistic presents challenges in life, why would you want to "cure" autism?

There are treatments to help us cope in the world, however. These are primarily behavioural and cognitive. Some are contentious (like ABA), others are supportive (like ACT). Education also helps, as does life-skills training, reading the blogs of other autistic people, and to develop our own ways of doing things (= think ‘innovation!’)

Autistics have their own style of social connection. In the typical world, autistics look like they are out of place or unable to understand social cues. Anxiety is a big problem and sometimes it can stifle us, but a lot of these feelings stem from the pressures society itself places on the autistic person.

It must be noted that when autistics talk to one another, especially at a time when they have “found themselves” and/or feel calm and comfortable, social interactions are seamless, fun and engaging.

As such, could it be that the struggle occurs in that ‘space between’; in society - not in the autistic person?

Autistics think differently. Many autistics have issues with executive functioning. The ability to seamlessly and correctly perceive/ receive, process, understand, and act on *any* information coming into the brain is something most autistics struggle with. This problem lies in the “executive functioning” part of their brains. Executive functioning is a group of cognitive skills that govern working memory, flexible thinking, and self-control. In practice, they allow for being organized, sequencing words and ideas, time management, interpreting information, processing speed and following directions.

Most non-autistics filter and process information automatically and find it effortless. This is because they do not have executive functioning problems. However, for autistics, processing information is not always automatic and definitely not easy.

We are sensitive. Sensory overloads impact us, other people’s emotions impact us, too many decisions impact us... and when we feel emotional, we can struggle to process much of anything (this is where meltdowns/ shutdowns kick in). We organize information differently to typical approaches (often formulating issues ‘backwards’ or ‘with complexity’), we integrate information differently. We think DIFFERENT. This can be extremely beneficial for problem solving, but it can also present issues in understanding how things work.

The best way to support an autistic person with their information processing difficulties is to LISTEN, be PATIENT, RESEARCH to gain wide understanding of autistic issues, COLLABORATE with the autistic person to find a better way to manage change, consider ALTERNATE LEARNING STYLES to allow for visual storytelling. Oh, and pitch your communication at their level, not at the person’s perceived emotional maturity. As 40 year old autistics, we do not need to be spoken down to….

Autistics have their own style of communication. The ability to ‘appropriately’ receive, process, act on, and respond to words spoken in conversation is something most autistics find hard. Communicating the “typical way” can be confusing. It's not that autistic people do not think intensely, or do not have complex ideas.

Sometimes the struggle in communication is due to auditory processing concerns (= when our brains muddle up what we hear), but mostly the challenge involves communicating with the (non-autistic) person in the way they create conversations and to live up to their expectations of a certain flow, cadence and turn-taking. Most autistic adults talk over each other, not for rudeness or anger, and this becomes a enlivening debate. Others will sit in stillness and suddenly blurt out their well-collected thoughts.

Autistic people can LEARN non-autistic ways to communicate (often at great pains to our well being), but some of us may still stutter, lose track of our words, choose the wrong word, or just have a ‘disconnect’ with abstract concepts. This can be frustrating to non-autistics, and we understand that you feel frustration/ sadness/ pity/ anger at us over this. We also find it annoying at times, and we also experience many additional feelings regarding the inability to “reach” you.

On the other hand when chatting among ourselves or with other autistics, there is often a relaxed element where communication occurs in ease. If non-autistics want to help us, please know that when chatting with you, we require patience, kindness and acceptance to be ourselves and speak freely.