Two Autistics on Autism

Published June 13, 2009 @ 05:30PM PT

Two articles on recent public speaking appearances by autistic speakers, both of which coincidentally mention fear in their headlines, but aren't (happily) actually about fear.

The first article ESU conference says that fear, ignorance make autism 'too complicated' is on Will Stillman who was the keynote speaker at a local autism conference in Pennsylvania. Almost the entire article is Stillman's own words, which are fabulous and quite worth reading. There's really no comment I can make that is any better than just reading for yourself. This quote was my favorite. It's one I'll be remembering, definitely.

"My interest isn't what causes autism, but rather what autism causes," Stillman said. "While advances have been made to the awareness of autism, advances haven't been made in how we handle it."

The second article Autism view: Fear is the enemy is on Temple Grandin who spoke at a conference for educators in North Dakota. There's less direct quoting by Grandin (and I strongly disagree with the assertion that the "primary emotion" for autistic people is fear), but there's some really good stuff in the article too. I'm particularly fond of Grandin's urging to allow autistic students to take math classes "out of order,"

"I absolutely cannot do algebra, was never allowed to try geometry and trigonometry. For certain kinds of minds, algebra is not the prerequisite," she said. The autistic, she said, can be "advanced in one subject, special education in another subject."

(For me though it's "I absolutely cannot do arithmetic, was almost not allowed to try algebra. For my kind of mind arithmetic is not the prerequisite!" I always urge teachers to allow students who struggle with a "more basic" math to try a "more advanced" math because this story is so common.)

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My hope is that educators will pay attention to these important words of advice; my experience is that most disregard what parents say about their children's capabilities. Perhaps they'll listen to what Grandin and Stillman have to say ...

Posted by Judy T on 06/13/2009 @ 06:14PM PT
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I despise maths of all kind. My mind just doesn't think numerically.

But that could either be my brain or how I was taught it.

Posted by Shondolyn (Synesthesia) Gibson on 06/13/2009 @ 07:12PM PT
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Shondolyn,

You are correct it could be either. When I was a freshman in HS I nearly failed Algebra 1, I ended up with an A in Algebra 2 and Trigonometry. I now am a certified math teacher and teach math to special education students as well as regular students.

The constant struggle for a teacher is to figure out which of the problems is occurring. Is it the way I am teaching it? Or is it the way the student is perceiving/receiving it?

Posted by Marlin Bynum on 06/14/2009 @ 09:15AM PT
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@Marlin, it's super to have a math teacher's comments here--thanks for chiming in! I have a weird relationship to math because I literally can't comprehend number--I can't even add short rows of small numbers. However, I've always loved (and been quite good at) more "advanced" math. I can't add but understand exactly how addition works. Currently most of my grad studies are grounded in dynamical systems, optimization, set theory, theory of computation, a touch of graph theory, and probability (I study complex systems which is my main passion).

So I always tell math teachers to make sure that the ability to work with numbers and the ability to actually do math are kept separate. Having a problem with the "easier" of the two (the numbers) may not always be an indication that the person can't be capable in the "harder."

FWIW concrete math techniques are the opposite of what is useful to me. I interact with math on a deeply symbolic level, and I learn math best from going over proofs.

Posted by Dora Raymaker on 06/14/2009 @ 09:34AM PT
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Maybe if someone had linked it to things I'm interested in that would have helped.
Like, I don't know... dabbling in physics. Which I also am bad at but interested in.

Posted by Shondolyn (Synesthesia) Gibson on 06/15/2009 @ 06:33PM PT
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Dora wrote:
(and I strongly disagree with the assertion that the "primary emotion" for autistic people is fear),

There's a fella named Lindsay Weekes who, as I recall, said that "fear" was the primary emotion for autistics. I googled him just now, and briefly looked at his site, but couldn't find him saying that. You may find it interesting though.

http://www.linds.net/

I know that Temple is often accused of assuming that what's true for her is true for all autistics, and while there may be some truth in that accusation, there's also some truth in what they say about fear and its intimate relationship with autism.

Posted by Clay Adams on 06/13/2009 @ 10:19PM PT
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I was once asked whether or not there had been any quality, anything at all that I remembered above all else from my childhood. It took me at least a minute to formulate an answer which was "fear".

I believe that fear is a constant in the majority of autistic childhoods but at no time have I said that it's the "primary emotion".

Posted by Lindsay Weekes on 08/03/2009 @ 06:46PM PT
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Hi Lindsay,

Good to hear from you again, and I'm glad you were able to straighten that out. I guess one could say it was a constant for me too, but it shouldn't have been, wouldn't have been, in a better environment. It was externally caused, rather than in internal trait.

Posted by Clay Adams on 08/04/2009 @ 06:05AM PT
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Hi Clay,

My experience is that fear in young autistics is often caused by mutual incomprehension which can manifest in many ways, including outright rejection.

But because of enormous advances in early intervention, which educates the parents and sibs as much as their autistic family member, fear is not necessarily even a consideration among autistic infants today, although it's likely to surface in adolescence among those of us able to function in the community.

Those of us not so able more likely feel frustration; their lives are quite often dominated by a low-level anger which can flare very quickly.

OK, I've had my say. :-)

Posted by Lindsay Weekes on 08/04/2009 @ 04:29PM PT
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I am only *now* (at age 30) getting a bit better at arithmetic; I was pretty terrible at it in grade school, failed algebra the first time around, but then when I (happily) got to take geometry lots and lots about math suddenly "clicked" for me and I went on to do reasonably well in calculus, etc. Somehow having shapes to associate the math with made it concrete/visual enough for me.

Posted by Anne Corwin on 06/13/2009 @ 11:00PM PT
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Anne,

Yours is a very typical experience in mathematics. We do tend to teach Algebra to students before their brain is conceptually ready to comprehend that.

What you noticed though "having shapes to associate with math made it concrete/visual enough for me." is of of the most important things that mathematics teachers can learn.

I know that I tend to be too conceptual and have personally done several inservices on learning to better teach math in concrete ways. The first time I saw algebra tiles my brain lit up and said, where have these been? We need to spend more time teaching concrete math skills to teachers and give them the money they need to teach it.

Posted by Marlin Bynum on 06/14/2009 @ 09:19AM PT
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Oddly enough, algebra is about the only kind of maths I could ever do well in school, I failed pretty much everything else.

No luck with more 'advanced' maths either, my parents tried that and tried different teaching methods and books because I was having a lot of trouble with basic stuff. I don't just have trouble with numbers, but with concepts and formulas too. (And time, left/right, etc. I can read maps very well though, which I read people with my types of maths issues often have trouble with)

Posted by Norah vd Stel on 06/14/2009 @ 11:59AM PT
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re concrete trigonometry - www.oolong.co.uk has interactive graphic trig: maybe it would not have all been completely meaningless to me at school (along with algebra, but not geometry which I excelled at)

Posted by dinah murray on 06/14/2009 @ 10:50PM PT
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That's funny. I ruled at algebra. I almost managed to discover the quadratic formula independently, before we even got that far in class! Just goes to show, "if you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism."

And what's with "It's not often we get to listen to someone with the disability who is as articulate as she is," anyway? Someone at a regional autism summit (where I was the only self-advocate among 150 attendees!) called me "articulate", too. When someone says that an African American is "articulate", it's considered an insult, because it implies that speaker doesn't expect most African Americans to be "articulate" and is surprised when one (like Barack Obama) turns out to be.

Posted by Mark Romoser on 06/15/2009 @ 06:17PM PT
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You wrote, "It's not often we get to listen to someone with the disability who is as articulate as she is"--I didn't manage to catch that, I'm glad you did. I should highlight that in a more top level post... (this is an issue that particularly angers me because I've had that comment directed at me before--more than once--but people who should know better--)

Posted by Dora Raymaker on 06/15/2009 @ 06:28PM PT
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Dora is committed to improving quality of life for individuals on the autistic spectrum--including herself! She is Co-director of the Academic Autistic Spectrum Partnership in Research and Education and a member of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network's Board of Directors.