Autism blog
Blog de autismo
By Artistically Autistic (08/08/2024)
SHORT GUIDE TO AUTISM
1:7 - Introduction
Autistic traits can be found in everyone but when it crosses over a threshold and the individual experiences a social deficit. That's when the condition needs to be understood and managed in order to counter the effects of autism.
2:7 - Understanding Autism
People with Autism often experience the world in a way that resembles how robots might process the world. However, unlike robots, they can feel and express a full range of emotions. The term "droid effect" describes their distinctive way of perceiving and interacting with the world. The way this effect manifests varies widely depending not only on the individual's intellectual abilities but also on their personality traits. Different personalities can influence how the droid effect shapes their behaviour, social interactions, and emotional responses, leading to a diverse range of expressions and experiences among individuals with Autism.
3.7 - Sensory Overload
People are like computers but with Autistic individuals, they have less RAM (processing capacity). This limitation makes them more prone to sensory overload from various inputs, such as:
Audio: Loud or continuous sounds
Physical: Touch or physical sensations
Visual: Bright lights or vivid colours (Noisy), which can appear overwhelming due to the increased processing required, compared to simpler, monochromatic images.
This increased sensitivity can lead to stress and outbursts, signs that the individual’s RAM has hit maximum input, which means they need time and space to "reset" their processing capacity.
It is suspected that as an autistic person ages, the existing "RAM" may degrade, making them even more sensitive to sensory input.
4:7 - Emotionally Tone Deaf
Being emotionally tone-deaf can be compared to a colour-blind person trying to interpret traffic lights. The colours represent the different facets of non-verbal communication such as sarcasm, facial expressions or body gestures:
Scenario 1: A person without colour blindness sees a green light and proceeds without hesitation.
Scenario 2: A colour-blind person might need to slow down to pause and think, recalling the sequence of lights to understand that it is green and safe to go. This process is known as delayed processing in autistic individuals.
Scenario 3: If the colour-blind person doesn't know the light sequence, they might not understand that the light is green and misinterpret, take inappropriate action like stopping or making a U-turn, which frustrates the drivers around them. This mirrors how an autistic person might be socially clumsy.
Scenario 4: The colour blind person may not understand the traffic light signal and resorts to coping what other drivers are doing in order to fit in. In the field of autism, this approach is referred to as ‘masking’.
5:7 - Communication
Emotional tone-deafness makes the emotional landscape appear more flat, making autistic people more prone to taking things literally, leading to socially awkward situations, like when sarcasm is involved.
A way to communicate with an autistic person is to be direct and concise, much like you would when speaking to a virtual assistant like Alexa or Siri, to minimize confusion and avoid socially clumsy responses. If that's not possible, it would help to verbally indicate non-verbal communication like sarcasm was in play as soon as possible to avoid a misunderstanding.
6:7 - Juxtaposition
Sociopaths and autistic individuals share a tendency to be emotionally tone-deaf in certain emotional situations. However, when emotions are explained, autistic people can empathize and feel those emotions, while sociopaths typically do not.
7:7 - Conclusion
Although past experiences and studying human emotions can help autistic individuals navigate social interactions better, these strategies cannot fully mitigate the challenges due to the many variables involved in human emotions. This article does not cover all aspects of Autism, it focuses on two key traits to highlight the struggles faced by the Autistic community. The aim is to provide a basic blueprint to help people with and without autism to navigate around the condition by understanding how an autistic mind functions.