What is autism?

Hola…; and hi!

What is autism!?
I think this is a very interesting question, from my point of view the answer is much more that a simple description of a mental disorder.
I recently post “Understanding the Neurodivergent”, with the promise and commitment of writing about Neuro-Diversity for the next 12 weeks.

Today I chose to star with something that I do not fully understand, but at the same time is so obvious & clear to me. 🤷🏼‍♀️

The more I read, the more I research, the more peace I feel about the story of my life. There is so much I will like to share with you, so many ideas, so many stories to choose from. To be honest I am having a challenge on how to continue this writing.

In one hand I will like to keep it simple and intimate, just my thoughts 💭 my experience, my story. On the other hand I fell is mandatory for me to share some medical aspects for you to have and to understand what it is to live with not understanding people, sarcasm, jokes. To be hyper focus on something, with or without any value to others but self, my mind.

“…al fin y al cabo, mi vida me tiene que tener sentido a mi”
-don’t you feel the same, at the your life have to make sense to you!

I hope that at the end of this writing you have an intimate and medical overview of what it is like to live with Autism.

Let me begin with a simple idea; what is an spectrum?

Try to think in a beam of light, that goes through a drop of water and transforms itself in a beautiful rainbow 🌈; people that are what we call normal or typical. Sees the neurodivergent like atypical, and describe them based on their perception, and perspective. From that point of view ‘autism’, is like a spectrum of disorders is hard; or near to impossible to pinpoint what type of autism a person is or have.
Like a rainbow!; you see the colors but is impossible to see where one begins and another ends.

An autistic brain 🧠 is @typical, researchers believe (or probably know), that this condition is form in the mother womb. If you ask PhD Thomas Armstrong, the author of ‘The Power of Neurodiversity’. He will probably tell you that there is nothing more than a biological specialization for the benefit of human survival.

On the other hand and returning to my beam of light!
Let’s say that the light itself represents the soul, or what I rather call; the human consciousness. If so, we could say that all of us are the Spectrum of the collective mind… Maybe 🤔 I can return here later at the end of this 12 week!?; but for now let’s say. That the life of a autistic person is NOT easy, specially if you are un aware of your uniqueness, but and at the same time uniqueness makes us special and powerful.

From the medical point of view Autism is a condition that:

That is repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behaviors or interests, even restricted.
Impaired communication; specially understanding a lie, sarcasm and jokes… 🤷🏼‍♀️ and more!
Impaired reciprocal social interaction, and autistic brain is very focus, very narrow in what finds interesting… 🧐

For example in Hansell’s life is about science, quantum physics, religion; “does God really exist?!, and if so can we prove it…
What happen after we die, politics, language, patters; my brain is all about knowledge and understanding why things are the way they are…

There is much information on the internet about what Autism is but I found in Autismspeaks.org the full DSM-5 diagnostic criteria. The DSM is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders from the American Psychiatric Association. I invite to go deeper and learn more of this NeuroDiversity, with an open mind, full of hope and understanding that and despite the medical definition and challenge to be or to have someone with this disorder, also remember that they are other GREAT advantages like:

Honesty
Strong focus
Detail-Oriented
Intelligence
Strong morals
Unique sense of humor 😜 and
Loyalty…

https://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism