Uniquely Human: A Different Way of Seeing Autism

Here is the important irony: Most of the behaviors commonly labeled “autistic behaviors” aren’t actually deficits at all. They’re strategies the person uses to feel better regulated emotionally and physiologically. In other words, when they’re helpful, they’re strengths.

People on the autism spectrum are unusually vulnerable to everyday emotional and physiological challenges, primarily due to underlying neurological differences in the way their brains’ wiring works. So they experience more feelings of discomfort, anxiety, and confusion than others. They also have more difficulty learning how to cope with these feel

This way of understanding and supporting autistic people is sorely lacking. It treats the person as a problem to be solved and to be fixed rather than an individual to be understood. It fails to show respect for the individual and ignores that person’s perspective and experience. It ignores the fact that their neurological differences mean autistic

Autism isn’t an illness. It’s a different way of being human.

His simple question taught me much about Michael and about autism. I have seen hundreds of autistic children who visually fixate on something: their fingers, a toy they carry with them, a fan, garden sprinklers. You could call that “autistic” behavior, or you could watch, listen, pay attention, and ask why they do it. When I have done that I have l