Understanding autism can be wildly complex with so many conflicting symptoms. Autism becomes very clear when you read about what actually happens in the brain.
First you have to understand the brain is not a single organ. It’s a collection of various parts each designed for specialized processing.
In an autism brains the localized components show more active and youthful synaptic development compared to neuro-typical brains. At the same time the talking components greatly diminished. Overall the autistic brain has about 17% less synaptic development compared to neuro-typical brains. Effectively, that means these various components are yelling with increased activity without cooperating.
The skills that require multiple brain components to work in tandem, like perception of social intelligence or introspection, are largely absent. Missing complex functionality is replaced by that in the brain which screams the loudest. That is why many autism symptoms include loss of impulse control, sensory disorders, inability to disqualify bias, inability to measure, inflate ego, and more.
While factually wrong, "spectrum" descriptions are extremely useful in a couple situations:
- Easing people who view autism as a T/F boolean into viewing autism as a more complex, case-by-case thing.
- Describing how well various autistic people handle a given situation. (And "situation" may refer to broader circumstances - such as jobs, or independent daily living.)
Understanding autism can be wildly complex with so many conflicting symptoms. Autism becomes very clear when you read about what actually happens in the brain.
First you have to understand the brain is not a single organ. It’s a collection of various parts each designed for specialized processing.
In an autism brains the localized components show more active and youthful synaptic development compared to neuro-typical brains. At the same time the talking components greatly diminished. Overall the autistic brain has about 17% less synaptic development compared to neuro-typical brains. Effectively, that means these various components are yelling with increased activity without cooperating.
The skills that require multiple brain components to work in tandem, like perception of social intelligence or introspection, are largely absent. Missing complex functionality is replaced by that in the brain which screams the loudest. That is why many autism symptoms include loss of impulse control, sensory disorders, inability to disqualify bias, inability to measure, inflate ego, and more.
So can we orthonormalize it into OKaut space?
While factually wrong, "spectrum" descriptions are extremely useful in a couple situations:
- Easing people who view autism as a T/F boolean into viewing autism as a more complex, case-by-case thing.
- Describing how well various autistic people handle a given situation. (And "situation" may refer to broader circumstances - such as jobs, or independent daily living.)