Autism
The mission of Disability Work Tools (DWT) is to make adaptive tools readily available so people can independently perform hands-on tasks in spite of injury, aging or disabling condition. We motivate active people to be productive by using tools that improve efficiency and minimize physical pain. We challenge people to use foresight, selecting the best tools for the job, so they can work longer and feel better.
Here at Disability Work Consulting our mission is to provide tools, ideas, and options for workers in spite of any disabling condition. It is becoming more and more accepted that a number of emotional and mental conditions can be very disabling. Our goal is to inform and equip both workers and employers with the tools to keep working. With this in mind we will be posting a number of blogs on these conditions. We want to first describe them and then discuss them. The first of these is Autism Spectrum Disorder, which we will cover today.
The “medical” definition of Autism is as follows:
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder that affects communication and behavior. Although autism can be diagnosed at any age, it is considered a neurodevelopmental disorder (NOT a mental illness) and signs of autism typically appear during early childhood and can affect a person’s social skills, communication, and behaviors.
We see Autism defined is a series of “disorders” like speech impediment, social skills, and repetitive behaviors. But anyone with autism knows it to be so much more. It sounds so simple. But really, it’s something very personal, complex and hard to understand. It’s even harder to explain.
Autistic individuals are considered “neurodivergent” while nonautistic individuals are considered “neurotypical”. These are common terms you may see. What is important to know is there is no one autistic definition or diagnosis. Every Autistic person has differing characteristics. The movie “Rain Man” from the ‘80s or the recent TV show “The Good Doctor” are not representations of every autistic person out there. There are numerous famous people who either have been diagnosed with ASD in modern times or have been diagnosed with ASD due to their history, a number of scientific breakthroughs occurred because of the work of individuals with ASD. Albert Einstein, Sir Isaac Newton, Nikola Tesla, and Temple Grandin are all individuals with ASD. Their uncanny ability to focus and envision complex concepts came from their abilities as an autistic person.
My description, as an adult with Autism Spectrum Disorder, would be this: “Something nebulous, anxiety-inducing, and lonely which drives you to feel shameful, embarrassed to exist, and alienated.”
ASD can make you feel as if you don’t really know HOW to exist. The concept of reality is something fragile, ESPECIALLY to an individual with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Reality can change for me, up to every ten minutes. I’ll be outside and wonder…am I afraid of my cats? When I wasn’t just five seconds ago. Or…am I still friends with this person? Even though nothing has happened. It’s confusing, and it can make me feel very, very fragile in who I am. I have no confidence, patience or ability to change.
One misconception of autism is the fact that we don’t feel empathy. While some autistics may struggle with this, many of us actually do feel it at a fairly normal level. Empathy is one of the strongest things in me.
Another misconception is that we all have to be computer geniuses or rocket scientists. While I admire those peoples’ socks off, I am very, very different from that, as are a lot of us with ASD. Most autistics have something called a ‘special interest’. Or as in my case…SEVERAL. Think of it as a hobby that you simply cannot live without. You would die if you lost it. At least, that’s how it feels. It’s not a weird attachment, not an idol, but it can sure make you worry that it is one. I for one, used to obsess over that and that it must be very wrong, but that is related more to my OCD.
Autistics often struggle with “fitting in” to society and social skills. These skills are rules and customs that most people learn as they grow up. An autistic person, whose brain may work in a different way, may not have learned these skills in the same way as most people. Examples of normal social skills would include eye contact, back and forth communication, the concept of sarcasm, sharing, appropriate volume while speaking, over directness in speaking, and others. “Typical” nonverbal behaviors, which can form a large percentage of our communication, may be missed by an Autistic person. An autistic person may have learned these in an entirely different way due to the way their brain works. This does NOT mean an autistic person does not have social skills. They just are differently processed and shown compared to most people. It’s not just that autistic people have difficulty with social norms; neurotypical people also have difficulty understanding autistic social norms.
Frequently an autistic person will go to great lengths to fit into normal society, which requires a great deal of “masking” or hiding their own autistic social behavior. As you can imagine, this can produce a great deal of stress to the Autistic person. This can cause a “meltdown” that we will talk about later.
It is important to note here that a difference in normal “social behavior” does not always pertain to the autistic person. There are plenty of neurotypical people who can have very different social skills than are considered normal by the majority of people.
Autism often comes with an additional actual mental health condition. Mine, for example, is OCD, an intense anxiety disorder which forces me to overthink everything and fear doing the wrong thing. Many other mental difficulties can come with autism as well. These make it even harder to function and therefore make the special interest that much more necessary. It gives the person an escape to run to. Another world, if you will. Color is incredibly special to a person with ASD. They may see an entirely secondary spectrum of colors over the colors of their surroundings. Some may also “feel” in colors, and certain things convey certain colors. A special interest can be anything. A favorite TV show, trains, art, music, gardening, dance, soccer, other sports, mathematics, the study of travel and transport, languages, stamps, literally almost anything. With children, this seems to be rather readily accepted. In adults, however, this is something that can frequently be seen as selfishness or a lack of interest in others. It is, in fact, neither, just a part of autism.
Another part of the autistic person which can occur is what is called “Stims”. These are a common part of ASD and refer to self-stimulatory behavior, usually done in a repetitive fashion. These can include rocking, hand flapping, smelling objects, and many others. These do not mean something is “wrong” with the individual or something that should be seen as “weird”. These are self-soothing actions to help relax the sensory processing system of the person. They are very important to avoid a “meltdown”. On a side note, many neurotypical people have stimming behaviors as well, such as hair twirling, nail biting, leg jiggling, chewing on objects like a pen, and many others. People with anger problems often have behaviors such as the need to “step away”, “take a time out”, physical exercising, or breathing exercises to help manage their actions. These are all activities many people employ to alleviate stress, concentrate, regulate emotions, and others. They usually aren’t as noticeable because they are often considered “normal” behavior, but they are actually a “stim”. The difference is that for an autistic person, these are necessary at times to even function. By far most neurotypical people do not realistically depend on their stims to function.
Autistic meltdowns are another thing to discuss, and something very important. A meltdown can be anything from falling apart in tears, anger and irritability, panicking and running from stressful situations, or in extreme cases, screaming and beating your head against a wall. Other types of meltdowns can be more “inward” like sitting and staring into space. Different people have different types of meltdowns, but they are cumbersome and annoying, nonetheless. They are not a simple “temper tantrum” and have been proven to be a central nervous system overload which can be caused by any number of reasons, to include bright lights, loud noises, crowded conditions, drastic changes in routine, or feeling stressed or anxious about a task. It is very important to stress again that this is an involuntary response and cannot be simply emotionally “resisted” once they occur or the person just “choosing” to calm down.
Watch this video to gain an understanding of the perspective of an autistic individual:
(video made by the National Autistic Society)
This individual is a child, but these experiences do not change for an adult. The feelings and sensations can be the same. Imagine if you felt these sensations but were trying to complete tasks at a job.
Some autistic people can identify the signs and take steps to minimize or avoid the meltdown, however, they still can occur regardless of the best efforts of the person. (Remember this the next time you see a kid having a ‘tantrum’ at the mall and mentally blame the parents for poor discipline- it may be a meltdown.)
All this, and it’s only the tip of the iceberg. Autism is so much more that neither I, nor anyone else can understand yet. Autism doesn’t need a “cure”, and it’s not a disease. It’s a wonderful difference in how you were made!
An autistic individual does not feel they need to be pitied or felt sorry for. Frequently Autism is viewed through the lense of the deficits associated with autism. An autistic individual may have many benefits the neurotypical person doesn’t have. Increased empathy, creativity, unique perspectives, (how many people can worship the Lord in colors?) the ability to focus, and increased attention to detail are all benefits for many autistics.
A person with ASD is just that, a person, with all the foibles and follies, wonderfulness and beauty, happiness and sadness all wrapped up in the same package as any other person on the earth.
All of us are made by our Lord in unique ways. Many are not as obvious in what today is considered a “normal” society. However, whether it is now or 1000 years ago, or in the U.S. or the other side of the world, the common thread is that we ALL are in need of a Savior. We have all made mistakes and poor choices, from simple to severe. All of these separate us from the Lord. Jesus is the answer to this problem. Seek Him and you will find Him! Know this: Romans 3:23 says “For all have sinned (made that mistake, right?) and fallen short of the glory of God.” BUT! John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world (that means You!) that He gave His only son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not die but will have eternal life.” Remember too, this “eternal life” does not mean just standing around in robes singing worship hymns, but means experiencing perfect joy and happiness, continue to learn forever, having new bodies (no more neurotypical or neurodivergent, disabled or non-disabled) made as He originally intended, partying and worshiping God a whole lot, being with our loved ones, and living in a world without anger, jealousy, hatred, discrimination, and whatever other bad things there are out there!
Written by Abbie Gaston and Pat Gaston
Edited by: Pat Gaston