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I love the heck out of the term neurodiversity and I like a lot of the concepts. However, the people saying autism isn't a disability must be in lala land or something. I think it's a great thing that we're trying to change attitudes and get more acceptance, but we need to be caring about all autistic people, not just the low support needs people.

Not only British society, its a global issue. Right worldviews are rising everywhere. Im happy to live in Germany, even though its also the case here, but still there is more awareness of the dangers, a strong democratic system that will hopefully not be affected, even if right parties would ever come to power. Poland recently had a phase like that, if Im not mistaken. But yes, society is leaning very far to the right, I think it will lead us to WW3. Im not to worried though, since there is nothing I can do except vote.

You were making a medical arguement but we can't forget the complicated ways weaknesses can become strengths. A small engine motorcycle will fall behind on the straights compared to a large CC bike, but it'll be at an advantage on the curves compared to the heavier bikes. I know it's a shallow way at looking at things, but we mustn't lose ourselves in thinking about all the ways we are "not right" compared to our NT peers. The entire universe is different through everyone's eyes. Play the game at your own pace and look for the raceways that your bike will excell at. We have one shot at this so we might as well enjoy it and set our own personal goals. We all race by ourselves, we just get to see what other racers do. We race against ghosts like in Mario Kart lol Asking the "what if" or the 'what could've been's' can be useful for medical understandings, but it too often comes back to the "what if I was different?" And that only hurts, imagining alternate realities. I think you're cool right now, as you are. I'm not being an anti-intellectual, just reminding you and the rest of us on the spectrum that we have to play the best game we can with the cards we have. It's easier to NT to look at research in a detached way, but for people like us, there's sometimes a self-doubt in the back of our minds.

Not to be werid, but you're absolutely gorgeous. You look like Jordana Brewster.

Interesting.

I think the word "autism" is itself encoding a pathologizong misunderstanding of what we are. Have you read "Asperger's Children" it's a history of how the concept of us was constructed. We are people with hyperconnected nervous systems

Redefine autism. Let go of the deficit based model. Autism is just a hyper connected nervous system

Evolution is very complex, all we do know for certain is that if you have certain traits in the extreme your less likely to have kids.

I read this article too and I loved its message. I think the voiceless deserve a voice! Do you have instagram?

Yes, things don't to be possitives to hang around, they could be biproducts of other extreme evolutionary problems that had to be solved. Bipolar and Schizophrenia for example are obviously NOT evolutionarily reproductive at all, nor are back problems, but wouldn't have been a big problem if we didn't start walking upright, and having more and more complex technologies and societies. I can't explain it well, but you did better than me.

I love how in this video you covered the exact point I made in my previous comment lol. Syndromic - that's exactly the point which I think people overlook when making arguments about adhd or autism being adaptive in the past. It's great to hear some hard evidence about how evolution has interacted with the genes underlying adhd. I definitely agree that the polygenetic factor is key to understanding the persistence of these neurodevelopmental conditions. A condition that is based on one single gene - if that gene doesn't also confer some benefit to some people - is more likely to be 'weeded out' by evolution than conditions rooted in many widely dispersed genes where for most people those genes will not be a cause for any dysfunction or disorder. Are there any researchers/clinicians in the autism world as forthright and no-nonsense as Russel Barkley I wonder? I know that from quite early on and to this day (e.g Mathew Parris!) ADHD has been extremely trivialised with people often denying the reality of it, so I guess that must really motivate people like Russel Barkley to fight against that trivialisation and misinformation with hard science and reasoned argument. It seems to me that autism - because originally it was associated with those with the highest support needs - has historically suffered from less trivialisation and denial, which is why it is so bewildering to me that there is such an exerted effort on behalf of many in the NDM to present autism in such a way that absoutely trivialises it.

I really like Russel Barkley's no-nonsense approach and very much agree with it. The bell-curve approach to ADHD and Autism is also very good as it accounts for both the dimensional and categorical aspects of both conditions. I can understand why on a very superficial level people might have advanced an argument that certain characteristics of ADHD might have been adaptive in prehistoric times, but what always struck me with those arguments was that they focused on single characteristics - such as distractibility or impulsivity, which in isolation might have been adaptive in certain very limited circumstances. But ADHD is made up of a number of characteristics which together - at levels that cause clinically significant impairment - define the condition and could never have been adaptive. I'm a great admirer of the native Piraha people of the amazon rainforest, who have a hunting and foraging lifestyle. Reading about them makes it so clear to me that I would never function in their society anymore than I can in our own post-industrial one. Yes the range of difficulties would be different, but I would still be impaired.

Good video! I could be that it is either and or😁

Great video!😁😁

i think it depends how much adhd you have, what would be more practical would be to see if adhd traits are more frequently found in certain professions. As long as you can make money in a neoliberal economy you can pay for things to cover up your weaknesses.

Hi Anna, an active meditation, such as Kirtan Kriya, may be helpful

Nothing makes me want to smash my head into a brick wall more than the "autism and ADHD is an evolutionary advantage" argument. Sorry but I know that had I been around in the hunter gatherer days, I'd have likely been "forgotten" out on a hunting trip due to the fact that I can't easily bond with others. Add to that autism meaning that I need a LOT of time to myself and you have a recipe for disaster in a community where you would need to stay together to survive. My ADHD would not be an advantage, as being distracted means that I miss a lot of things due to not being able to focus. "Oh look, I found a berry! Oh shit there's a sabre tooth tiger there and I'm going to die because I hyper focused on the berry." It can also cause social issues and the racing thoughts in my head contribute to my anxiety. It does not make me a wonderful inventor, strategist of anything useful. It makes me distracted without my medication and cave people did not have Concerta to hand. A point not mentioned that I'd like to bring up is that history has shown repeatedly that humanity, regardless of time period do not look kindly upon those who are seen as different. There has even been research suggesting that non-autistic people are by default less likely to see autistic people favourably. I don't know the full ins and outs of that study but I have seen enough anecdotal evidence that this is still the case in the real world. Anyone for whom the traits developed into a full blown disorder would have likely not survived and/or been killed by another human being. Let's not forget that time in history where autistic children were abused because they were seen as "changelings."

Hey Anna! I'm also autistic and I'm an autism advocate! I wanted ask if it's okay to connect with you to share experiences? Is there any way we can connect? Do you have an email or any social medias? Thanks! Would be great to talk to you! Hope you have a great day!

Im HFA and when I listen to people I feel like im on dial up and everyone else is on WIFI, I scored high at problem solving but processing speed wasnt up to par. I believe thats why im horrible at mental math because it requires speed and a decent memory to carry numbers

Not sure how some may think this does not relate. I see connections some don't. I'm not able, on the top of my head, to put the connections I see into words. The Earth's water cycle centrally is about exactly two things: 1) the cycling of 2) water. That's mostly liquid water, then water vapor, then water ice. It also involves gravity, volume, atomic forces, and the particular fraction of the Sun's energy that reaches Earth. But, for the Earth's own part, the Water Cycle is about H2O, ordinary water. But, even more than just water, it's quite specifically about the cycling of water. It's not mainly about water ice, much less about water ice only. It's a CYCLING of water. It's like the joke about the proverbial martian scientist who hears about pianos. He is told that a piano is for making music, and so he asks what music is. He decides that he understands the answer that humans give him. And he has decided that 'music is sounds'. He likes sounds. So he goes to the piano store to buy a piano. He happily buys one and takes it back to his home on Mars. He waits for it to make sounds. And waits, and waits, and waits. He is patient, as Martians are. So he waits a very long time. Finally, he begins to think: 'Either a piano, as such, is a case of "snake oil" fraud, or this instance of a piano that I have bought is defective." So he flies back to Earth, and spies out piano stores to determine the answer. The trouble is, Martians, by definition, are blind. And, what's worse, they have no concept of sight. So, it takes him some time, but finally, he learns that pianos, as such, are not fraudulent products: they do indeed make sounds. So then he goes back to the particular piano store where he bought his piano and informs the proprietor that the piano that that store had sold him does not make sounds. But, since Martians are so very positive and always assuming the best of others, he simply buys another piano, and takes it home to Mars. He fully expects this second piano will make sounds. But, he waits and waits and waits. Finally, he assumes it is simply dumb luck that he has bought two defective pianos. For, 'surely,' he thinks, 'at least the vast bulk of pianos cannot be defective. It is by sheer coincidence that the two rare defective pianos have been bought by me.' For, this is just how Martians think. They are neutrally objective, patient, and they always, always, always believe only the best of everyone at all times, under virtually all conditions. Needless to say, this Martian acquires many pianos before he ever begins to suspect that he has no clue how it is that a piano manages to make sounds. Somebody's gotta 'dance' on the keys. Otherwise, the piano has no clue what kinds of sounds you want it to make. It makes sounds only when you keep 'dancing' on the keys. It's a constant relationship, just like a conversation. The Earth's water cycle is very much about water. But it just as much is about the cycle on that water. It's a two-member kind of relationship. And the Earth's own part in that marriage is made up of basically three things. One, rotation, so as to have a day-night cycle of thermal flow. Two, the atmosphere of just the right kind. Three, the land/sea surface thermal exchange system. Those three parts continually interact. Genesis 1 gives exactly five reports of God naming things. These five namings seem to be of: 1. the thermally regulative day/night cycle ('day' and 'night', v. 5); 2. the thermally regulative atmosphere ('shamayim', v. 8); 3. the land/sea surface thermal exchange system ('earth' and 'seas', v. 10).

I agree this article was much more nuanced and scientific than the previous Guardian article and isn't trying to distort the limited evidence the way the previous article did. It does make me wonder about if and how all these conditions might affect those species with bigger brains than us or those with higher brain-to-body ratios than us - as well as those species with complex social structures. I know that obsessive compulsive symptoms, self-injurious behaviours and phobias for example, have been documented in a range of species so it makes me wonder if complex conditions such as adhd & autism are also present in animals. It would be hard to detect all of these in wild animals of course.

BRILLIANT Anna, life is a comprise right down to our marrow.

This sounds highly dubious. Among other things I'm very sceptical of the value of any kind of experiments outside of the natural sciences - experiments in areas such as psychology are generally highly artificial and lacking in validity. We also of course know nothing about the psychology of these early humans so such ideas are at best speculative. Studies like this - or at least the way they are spun by the media - perhaps seem to be part of an attempt to create a "feel good" factor about ADHD or whichever condition they've focused on. We get similar studies or articles about autism and its supposed advantages in certain contexts. Such attempts may have good intentions in trying to counteract general negative stereotypes about conditions and maybe boost the self-esteem of those who have them but can come across as rather patronising. As regards how the media report such stories I'm not surprised it appeared in a liberal / progressive paper like The Guardian which is more likely to take a more positive view on psychological conditions. I suspect right-wing papers would pretty much ignore this and prefer to run articles about how all these conditions are being "over-diagnosed" and are just "making excuses", etc. Such right-wing sources pretty much discount the existence of mental illnesses and struggle to see autism beyond classic autism and maybe stereotypical "Rain Man" figures who may be savants but need help with the most basic things in life. ADHD they probably don't even think exists - "no-one had it when we were growing up", etc. Unfortunately these narrow-minded, unsupportive views are very common and go well beyond the media.

Evolution is an embarrasing, infantile model and theory of a biological species..and cannot explain sentient beings aware of themselves....animals are conscious but not self aware...empahy etc..time is also not a linear progression throught history...mandella effect proves that, Ufo's and civilisation resets prove that.. "science" is entirley , obsinate, infantile and inflexible...a poor excuse to serve the modern day 9 to 5 wage slave class....i.e humanity...

Very good breakdown of the many many flaws in that study. It's unbelievable that the science editor of the Guardian didn't spot some of those glaring flaws before publishing the article! Unfortunately evolutionary biology and quantum mechanics are probably the two important scientific areas most often misused by people wanting to further non-scientific or even pseudoscientific arguments. I loved the point about the assumption that someone with adhd would hyperfocus on something beneficial. That made me laugh because I know how often I hyperfocus on completely unhelpful things whilst neglecting important things that need doing. A few weeks ago a huge part of a day with all its important tasks such as cooking etc were totally disrupted because I was hyperfocusing on the differences between two virtually identical styles of a Japanese martial art which I am never going to participate in anyway! I was totally absorbed in this trivial and pointless subject as if my life depended on it!

Thanks for posting this. Very interesting.

I actually saw a similar article (I'm guessing they were both based on the same study) on the New Scientist website, which was very disappointing I have to say. Articles like that, apart from being scientifically dubious to say the least, contribute to the trivialisation of ADHD which in the current political climate is very dangerous. This is social-model ideology distorting what should be reliable scientific research. The article talks about 'traits associated with ADHD' as conferring some theoretical advantage. Even if that were the case, traits associated with ADHD are not themselves ADHD - for that to be diagnosed those traits have to exist together at levels that cause impairment. I also think articles like that fail to grasp that ADHD is more than just distractibility. I know the name of the disorder doesn't help, but problems with attention are but one of the several problems with executive function impaired in adhd. How anyone thought an online foraging game in any way recreates the environment that early human foragers had to navigate - with all the dangers that they had to contend with (and surely impulsively picking a deadly berry or fungi is more not less likely if one is easily distracted or has difficulty regulating ones attention!) is beyond me.

You can literally say that about every kind of organism that has ever existed. You can say being black is an evolutionary advantage and there is some truth to that. Black people do have traits that promote survival (or they wouldn't be around in the first place). You can say the same thing about Parkinson's or MS or any other category of people.

I get kind of annoyed when people heavily stress that autism is not a mental illness. It is true that autism is a neurodevelopmental disability and not a mental illness. But to act like autism is above mental illness seems a false dichotomy when 50 - 90% of autistic people also have a mental illness. And the genetic links are there. The Neurodiversity Movement also wants to blame all the bad sides of autism on co-occurring mental illness and intellectual disorders as if there was no reason for the overlap.

Andrew Yang ran for president in the USA in 2020 on a universal income platform. He wasn't very popular but it did get the word about a universal income out.

I admire your commitment to reading and responding to comments etc.

Thank you for sharing your lived experience it’s been so helpful in helping me understand my family and how I can help and even that maybe I might have OCD

Could this be said about all of psychiatry? With all these different criteria, and you don't need to meet all of them. Five of seven, 4 of 9, creating all these different combinations of different kinds of people all who meet the criteria within this "spectrum."

I don't have a problem with seeing the good side of autism (if it exists for that person) but the idea that autism is not a disability is bullshit. Anyone who says autism is all great is delusional. To be diagnosed with autism it is supposed to be causing significant problems in your life. Maybe the people who see autism as 100% positive could call themselves HSP (Highly Sensitive Person) and leave the autism label for those who want and need support.

Thank you. I found your video very useful.

The genetics of autism fascinates me too, and if I had an opportunity I would love to volunteer for an autism genetic study. Like you said though, the environment also has a part to play and more research needs to be done there too. I'm hopeful that in the not too distant future we will have a much more accurate picture of the nature of autism and its relation to other conditions - so long as the NDM doesn't deter research that is!

I'd be really keen to hear more about that book you mentioned once you have finished reading it. It sounds really interesting. I agree with the universal income point you and your commenter made. I know it's cliché for an autistic man to like Star Trek, but I really do (Voyager & The Next Generation mainly) and one aspect I like about the future society it is set in, is that they have no money and that the acquisition of wealth is no longer a driver in their 24th century post-scarcity society, no private property only personal property and so forth and people have their needs provided for them, giving them the genuine freedom to exercise their abilities, it's inspiring.

I agree that biology + society (environment) makes the most sense.

If they are allistic NDs then they rather use Neuroconvergnt to describe that they are able to converge and be social because the only divergence i see is the allistic / autistic divergnce, to lump us with allistics and deal with autism as a mere difference in brain will result in the autistic individulas yet again marginlised within the ND population and their rights overlooked as you mentioned in your views which I agree with to great extent.

One way someone might not be severely impaired by autism is if they have improved a lot since diagnosis. I am sure that it happens but it is probably pretty rare. Or the assessor is lenient on who they diagnose.

Autism has such a high rate of comorbidities that you can rarely find an autistic person without any. I agree that this is not a coincidence. Researchers have found a loop of 60+ genes that are related to autism, ADHD, bipolar and Schizophrenia.

It's seems that NDM is precursor to something sinister yet another ideological utopian funfair.

I'm starting to believe that what is saving us from making the elimination list is being able to use language it's our curse and blessing.. The thought that Allistic needed to think of f***ng biodiversty to justify existence of fellow "neurologically different" human, it's disgusting

Judy singer ,, watched an interview where she said she never seen psychiatric and also that she was the one helping her autistic mother 'in the social side' raises some flags for me 🚩but I might be wrong who knows

I am AuDHD and let me tell you it is a whole spectrum on its on.. Lol

Please write a book ❤ you have a unique insight which can make a great contribution to the counter narrative on the neurodiversity hype

My autism is not caused by society and has nothinh ti do with it but it indeed does manifst as social DIFFERENCE language processsing DIFFERENCE but its NOT A DIFFERENCE its percieved as such by the ALLITICS,an autistics meeting allistic expectations doesnt make them one its playing with fire and pushing the nervous system to function out of its NATURAL range

What does even 'problem in living' means yet another thing belongs in Allistics reality and trying to project unto the world

Hayek looking tp build a moral Utopia belongs in the history of bad ideas psychiatry is a tool which is as useful as the ideology using it.

'Neurodivergent Allistics' the ones theorising restructuring of societies because they have a social agenda and they can appeal to people so I highly doubt an autistic person ability to of social inclusion otherwise if they are able to how are they autistic in the first place??