I'm assuming you've read and/or seen Mozart & the Whale. I haven't read the book, but I'm sure it's even better than the film which I enjoyed very much despite my dislike of Josh Hartnett.
thank you very much for all of that information, the brain is such an amazing thing, and the differences the tiniest changes to a "standard" model make utterly amaze me.
I'm actually really conflicted about all of this. Because on the one hand, yes, autism isn't something that can be cured. But on the other hand, many people with autism aren't able to function as human beings -- they're reliant on others to survive. So I tend to think of it as a case of us wanting to help people with autism, be it really intense or HFA, function as humans rather than curing autism. That is to say, I think a lot of the behavioral training can be really helpful and effective. But I'm not sure where the line should be drawn.
I worked with an eight-year-old boy named Henry a few years back who was autistic. He could speak to me, but he refused to make eye contact mostly. He was obsessed with telling stories about his dolls, but the stories were always the same. He went to school, but he couldn't interact well with the other kids. Where does that leave us? I'm not sure.
reliant on others in this society. it's impossible to know how an autistic would survive in a proper primitive society.
the point is that it's not automatically autistics' responsiblity to alter their communication to suit everyone else. fitting into society is immensely overrated.
Aye, perhaps. But okay -- I think maybe this would be unethical to try, but at what point can you say, "Okay, I'm going to stop trying to take care of this person", and just leave them on their own? For most low-functioning people, you can't really do that. Same thing with schizophrenia, even though it's also wildly different -- you get someone who has more of a capacity for social awareness, but either can't or doesn't want to do it, and they're self-destructive and refuse to take medicine. Do you force them to, or hospitalize them? Or leave them on their own, with full knowledge that they'll shortly be on the street because they cannot live in this society? It's really complicated, yeah
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Do you force them to, or hospitalize them? Or leave them on their own, with full knowledge that they'll shortly be on the street because they cannot live in this society? It's really complicated, yeah.
i can't think of anything that could better explain my views on this than the play/film harvey!
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I'm assuming you've read and/or seen Mozart & the Whale. I haven't read the book, but I'm sure it's even better than the film which I enjoyed very much despite my dislike of Josh Hartnett.
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(added you back)
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what the bleep do we know is an interesting film with some neurology ties if you'd be interested.
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I worked with an eight-year-old boy named Henry a few years back who was autistic. He could speak to me, but he refused to make eye contact mostly. He was obsessed with telling stories about his dolls, but the stories were always the same. He went to school, but he couldn't interact well with the other kids. Where does that leave us? I'm not sure.
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it's impossible to know how an autistic would survive in a proper primitive society.
the point is that it's not automatically autistics' responsiblity to alter their communication to suit everyone else.
fitting into society is immensely overrated.
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i can't think of anything that could better explain my views on this than the play/film harvey!
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