Autism in Syfy \ Fiction

[hh5]

The question might be hard for me to ask but perhaps the dialog will eventually achieve to answer my many questions

 

so this one is about Autism in SyFy and Fiction

 

Are we not exploiting people with Autism?

Are we trying to connect Autism with Alien Encounters

 

Examples of Autism

The 11:11 Phenomena - http://en.wikipedia....11_(numerology)

Fabric of the Cosmos - http://www.crystalin...fthecosmos.html

Knowing (2009) - http://en.wikipedia....ki/Knowing_film

"2012 Sarah and Alexander" - The alchemy of Time - http://www.crystalinks.com/sabook.html

Taken (2002) - http://en.wikipedia....V_miniseries%29

X-Files - I know there was some episode on Autism

Mercury Rising

Alphas "gary bell"

Touch "jake bohm"

Charley

Awaken

 

The idea that the Fibonacci sequence and Numerology is the key to that things happen for a reason.

That autism allows you to scan the electronic transmissions of the world.

 

We humans have great imaginations compared to animals and plants. But aren't we going a bit too far with crazy and perhaps irrational ideas? or is it very rational but takes years of acceptance?

 

If your watch the Ancient Aliens series ... it appears the knowledge of ancient societies and the bible and geology and other sciences show the presence of alien visitation and influence on earth. But of course a lot of this gets seriously argued, debunk, and loosely proven and loosely accepted by so called experts of both sides.

 

Some believe the earth is a Zoo. That the aliens come down to conduct experiments of all kinds.

 

Perhaps these ppl are just doing this for the controversy and supplement their incomes. Sell u predictions of the future. Like the india n gypsies can predict your love life, financial, etc affairs of the future.

 

I think I can go on and on about this .. but I bet many of you can offer other insights and opinions

[JamesSavik]

Don't forget the Rain Man ==> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_Man

 

Some of Faulkner's works are told from the viewpoint of someone who may have had some form of autism.

[Graeme]

Autism is generally recognised as a different wiring of the brain from the neurotypical (ie. those who don't have autism). As such, it's a ripe area for Science Fiction authors to play with - does that different wiring give abilities/talents that are not obvious to the rest of us?

 

Autism itself is a spectrum, ranging from the severally handicapped through to the extremely bright. While many people consider autism to indicate below average intelligence, that's not actually the case. As I said at the start - the brain of someone with an autism spectrum disorder is wired differently to the rest of us. High Functioning Autism (which may or may not be the same as Aspergers Syndrome - the jury appears to be out on that question) includes some very bright people. While it's purely speculation, people such as Mozart, Einstein and Bill Gates are sometimes thought to have autistic traits. Whether that means that have an autism spectrum disorder, however, is open to debate as none of them (to the best of my knowledge) have ever been tested for the condition.

 

To further the 'brain wired different' concept, there have been studies that have shown physiological differences in the brain between someone with an autism spectrum disorder and someone without. So it's not just a theory - there is some evidence to back it up.

 

So you can see why Science Fiction authors find the concept intriguing. People whose brain is wired different could see things in a different way to the rest of us, and maybe interact with aliens in a different way to the rest of us.

[Zombie]

Autism is generally recognised as a different wiring of the brain from the neurotypical (ie. those who don't have autism). As such, it's a ripe area for Science Fiction authors to play with - does that different wiring give abilities/talents that are not obvious to the rest of us?

 

Brains of left and right handers are wired differently too e.g. the theme in the Adagio to Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony Pathetique may be heard differently according to whether 1st and 2nd violins are positioned to the left and right (the theme most people hear is not played by either group of violins!)

So you can see why Science Fiction authors find the concept intriguing. People whose brain is wired different could see things in a different way to the rest of us, and maybe interact with aliens in a different way to the rest of us.

?????

Er, so Graeme, how do you *interact* with aliens?

 

Edit to add: great book narrated by autistic boy character is Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. It's brilliant and gives a real insight into the boy's way of thinking. It's funny too.

Edited March 28, 2012 by Zombie

[Rilbur]

High Functioning Autism (which may or may not be the same as Aspergers Syndrome - the jury appears to be out on that question) includes some very bright people.

Probably because the jury is still out on whether Asperger's is a form of Autism at all

 

 

 

As for 'exploiting' autism, I don't see many autistic individuals strapped in front of a computer and forced to do mental labor of some kind...

 

Or strapped in front of an assembly line...

 

Etc, etc.

 

Writers will always grab at oddities and anomalies to write a story. That's part of what we do, after all.

[Graeme]

Er, so Graeme, how do you *interact* with aliens?

 

Very carefully...

 

Edit to add: great book narrated by autistic boy character is Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. It's brilliant and gives a real insight into the boy's way of thinking. It's funny too.

 

I agree - a very enjoyable book. However, the author has stated that he didn't research autism/aspergers before hand and the book itself never says what condition the boy has (the blurb on the back cover of my copy says Aspergers, but the story read to me more as if he had autism).

Probably because the jury is still out on whether Asperger's is a form of Autism at all

 

I don't think there's any real doubt that they're related. The brain scans show the similarity between the two conditions. However, Aspergers can be hard to diagnose at times because some of it is subjective with other possible causes. eg. social development issues could be for reasons other than Aspergers. There was an interesting article recently in the New York Times by someone who was misdiagnosed as having Aspergers. I'm also sure that there's a lot of people with Aspergers who haven't been diagnosed or were only diagnosed late in life (I met someone recently whose brother wasn't diagnosed until he was in his forties).

[Zombie]

I agree - a very enjoyable book. However, the author has stated that he didn't research autism/aspergers before hand and the book itself never says what condition the boy has (the blurb on the back cover of my copy says Aspergers, but the story read to me more as if he had autism).

 

True. I've just grabbed my copy off the bookshelf - a first edition! - and on the back of the dust jacket there's a comment from Oliver Sacks "... shows great insight into the autistic mind ..." while the flyleaf blurb says "Christopher is 15 and has Asperger's, a form of autism". So it seems the publishers couldn't make up their minds! Interestingly, in a later interview Mark Haddon said "I wish I'd never allowed the publishers to put the word "Asperger's" on the cover of Curious Incident. It became an issue book, and I found myself repeatedly saying: it's not really about Asperger's, it's about difference. It's about acceptance of others. It's about that sidelong, Martian view of the world."

But really none of this matters - it's just a brilliant book

[Rilbur]

I don't think there's any real doubt that they're related. The brain scans show the similarity between the two conditions. However, Aspergers can be hard to diagnose at times because some of it is subjective with other possible causes. eg. social development issues could be for reasons other than Aspergers. There was an interesting article recently in the New York Times by someone who was misdiagnosed as having Aspergers. I'm also sure that there's a lot of people with Aspergers who haven't been diagnosed or were only diagnosed late in life (I met someone recently whose brother wasn't diagnosed until he was in his forties).

Sounds like you've done more research into the subject than I have... Which is embarrassing, all things considered. After all, I have a very personal reason to be interested in the subject.