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Exploring Autism – A conversation with Uta Frith
The Autism Show left me with mixed emotions
I have attended my first Autism Show in Manchester yesterday. I have been looking forward to this event because of the quality of the speakers and also because it presented a chance for me to meet fellow professionals, parents and individuals with Autism. While I have enjoyed learning about the current research findings (courtesy of talks delivered by Prof. Neil Humphrey and the folks from Research Autism) and have met lovely people including Kevin Healey- a leading campaigner for Autism Anti-Bullying, the event left me with a sour taste in my mouth. I did not enjoy the whole experience.
I found the layout of the venue (EventCity, Manchester) too confusing. The exhibition booths are laid-out like a university open-day convention, where people came and went in every direction. The sound levels were too high as exhibitors and speakers competed with each other for the visitors’ attention. There was no place for visitors to relax quietly, apart from the toilets.
Understandably, parents of children with Autims were extremely annoyed. Those who I have spoken too have commented that the place was ‘not Autism-friendly at all’. These parents have the right to complain, considering that the even was about Autism. One would hope that the organisers would have made more effort to consider individuals with Autism, particularly those with sensory sensitivities.
The Autism Theatre, Hubs 1 & 2, where various talks have taken place were not closed off. This meant that the noise coming from the rest of the venue can be heard and that the speakers have to speak louder in order to compete with the background noise. As a result, most of the audience found it very difficult to maintain their focus on the speakers.
Kevin Healey, one of the key speakers who also has Asperger’s Syndrome, have told me that he struggled to block out the noise coming from outside the Autism Theatre whilst he was speaking. However, despite the incredible challenge of blocking out these stimuli, Kevin delivered one of the most inspiring talks that I have ever listened to.
Despite the great wealth of information, I left the venue two and a half hours early with a headache. I do not have a diagnosis of Autism or any sensory difficulties, but I still found the event very strenuous. I can only sympathise for those with Autism. Needless to say, if the organisers do not make the necessary adjustments next year, I would not be coming.
A lesson from Big Bang Theory’s Johnny Galecki (Leonard)
The above was Johnny Galecki’s response when he was asked to address the rumours about his sexuality, a few years ago (fast forward the clip below to 4:10). This is definitely the best response I have ever heard from anyone regarding homosexuality. There is so much stigma against being a homosexual, and responses like this can help extinguish them. Johnny’s attitude about homosexuality can be extended to many different things such as one’s race, mental and physical (dis)abilities and socio-economic statuses.
Remember: eing who you are is not a bad thing. It’s others’ attitude towards you that’s the problem!
The Real Rain Man
Just in case you still don’t know who the real inspiration for the 1988 film The Rain Man is yet, watch the videos below. This documentary is about an Autistic Savant named Kim Peek, who had an exceptional memory. He loved reading most of his life. It has been known that he was capable of reading and memorizing books very quickly. Some said that he could speed read a whole book in about an hour, and remember most of the important details in it.
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Part 2:
Part 3:
Part 4:
Part 5:
More on Autism:
Never EVER say these things to people iwth Autism!
He flaps his hands and screams a lot but he doesn’t mean to annoy you
Optimum Outcomes for people with Autism
DSM 5 and its implications to ASD diagnosis
Diagnosing Autism: What you need to know
Vote for Miss Montana 2012, Alexis Wineman
Communication difficulties in Autism
Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon Cooper: Asperger’s Syndrome’s Poster Boy?
Still unsure if Sheldon has Asperger’s?
The Autistic Me: BBC Documentary
Temple Grandin: The world needs all kinds of minds
Autism in the classroom:
Guide to parents of students with ASD on coping with the first day back to school
Common signs of Autism in the classroom
First day back to school: Top tips for parents of children with Autism
Practical tips to make your classroom Autism-Friendly
Inspiring People with Autism:
Jessica-Jane Applegate (British Paralympian)
Satoshi Tajiri (Pokemon creator)
More on Savants:
The Psychology of Savants: Memory Masters
The Einstein Effect: Is there a link between having Autism and being a genius?
The disturbing mind of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler is probably everybody’s definition of evil. What do psychologists say about him? Watch the video below to find out:
Homo Florensiensis: The Real Hobbits
Since the beginning of last month, it is pretty impossible not to hear about Peter Jackson’s movie interpretation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy novel, The Hobbit. Written in 1937, this story was about Bilbo Baggins’ quest to reclaim their kingdom from a dragon called Smaug (click here for a better synopsis).
Homo Floriensis
To my surprise, ‘Hobbits’ actually existed. Bones (not yet fossils) of Homo floriensensis, to give it its scientific name, has been discovered in 2003 by a group of scientists at the Liang Bua cave in the island of Flores in Indonesia (Brown et al., 2004; Morewood et al., 2004; Lahr & Foley, 2004). They were about 3 feet tall and just like us, were able to stand, walk and run on two legs although their limbs were said to have been more like those of Chimpanzees than ours (Brown et al., 2004).
Hunting and Tool Use
Based on other evidence collected in Liang Bua, it has been suggested that Hobbits hunted pigmy elephants, 20-foot Komodo dragons and giant rats. The cut marks on these animals suggest that Hobbits fashioned tools for hunting and killing them. Indeed, there were stone tools such as pointed ones with refined edges, blades, choppers and cores were found in the island. Interestingly, this also suggests that they possessed the planning skills akin to us Homo Sapiens, which made skeptics skeptics suggest that these tools were made by Homo Sapiens, but were used by H. Floriensis. They theorised that since the Hobbits’ brains were so small (roughly 1/3s of the size of our brains), they could never have had the mental abilities to make such tools. However, there are no evidence to support such a claim.
Other theories
Some have suggested that the Homo Floriensis is not really a distinct species, but were Homo Sapiens with Microencephaly (a neurological disorder in which the affected’s head circumference is marginally smaller than average). Another theory put forward is that the size difference is because of the radical size changes associated with being isolated in an island (a.k.a. The Island Rule). The Island Rule posits that species who moves to a location where there is no significant threat and/ or food and other resources are scarce, their sizes gradually decrease (insular dwarfism).
One should note that only a careful examination of the Hobbits’ DNA will confirm one of the theories put forward above. The Hobbits’ bones are not yet fossilized, hence mitochondrial DNA may be still be extracted and studied.
References:
Brown P., Sutikna T., Morwood M., Soejono R.P., Jatmiko, Saptomo E.W. et al. (2004): A new small-bodied hominin from the late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia. Nature, 431:1055-61.
Lahr M.M. and Foley R. (2004): Human evolution writ small. Nature, 431:1043-4.
Morwood M., Soejono R.P., Roberts R.G., Sutikna T., Turney C.S.M., Westaway K.E. et al. (2004): Archaeology and age of a new hominin from Flores in eastern Indonesia. Nature, 431:1087-91.
Still unsure if Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon Cooper has Asperger’s Syndrome or not? Check out these clips
I’ve previously covered why I think Sheldon Cooper has Asperger’s Syndrome (click here). Despite a multitude of support to my claim in the show, I’ve been told that the producers refuse to comment on this issue. Below are some more clips which I think further shows why Sheldon has Asperger’s:
Sheldon’s hair:
In the clip below, Sheldon is a couple of dates late for his haircut because his barber is ill. The clip below shows how Sheldon prefers routines and predictability- a characteristic common with people with Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome. He gets his haircut from Mr. Denafrio, and Mr. Denafrio alone.
Sheldon gets a date:
Sheldon struggles to understand the unwritten rules of communication- another characteristic exhibited by people with Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome. In this scene, he was trying to get a date for Penny, but ends up getting a date for himself because of his lack of grasp of social conventions:
Amy is angry at Sheldon:
Sheldon here was faced with a dilemma: shall he choose his girlfriend, Amy or his new found friend, Will Wheaton? Amy became angry at Sheldon because he did not defend her. This shows how difficult it could be for people with Asperger’s to maintain social relationships. This further highlights how important a role Sheldon’s friends and mother plays on his life.
Sheldon and Amy on a date:
Another scene which shows his lack of social understanding:
Number 43:
In this episode, Howard and Raj stalked Sheldon due to their curiousity about what he does at 2.45pm. What was missing in the clip below is Sheldon’s explanation of why he escapes to that old storage room. He told Raj and Howard:
“…you may not realise it but I have difficulties navigating certain aspects of real life. Not understading sarcasm, feigning interest in others, not talking about trains as much as I want to. It’s exhausting! Which is why for twenty minutes a day, I had to go down to that room, turn my mind off and do what I need to do to recharge… You don’t need to know; you don’t deserve to know and you will never know (what 43 is and what I do)!”
To me, this room is very similar to a quiet room or a sensory room, which some people- especially young ones, use to calm down.
Sheldon asks Penny not to break up with Leonard:
In this last clip, Sheldon shows his good side, asking Penny not to break up with his best friend, Leonard. This shows that despite his struggles with social rules and conventions (he went into Penny’s apartment in the middle of the night), he can still show compassion in his own unusual ways. People with Asperger’s Syndrome may have find a lot of social situations challenging, but that does not mean that they are incapable of feeling emotions that neurotypicals do. They may not express these emotions in the ways that we are accustomed to, but they sure have their ways.
More on Autism:
He flaps his hands and screams a lot but he doesn’t mean to annoy you
Optimum Outcomes for people with Autism
DSM 5 and its implications to ASD diagnosis
Diagnosing Autism: What you need to know
Vote for Miss Montana 2012, Alexis Wineman
Communication difficulties in Autism
Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon Cooper: Asperger’s Syndrome’s Poster Boy?
The Autistic Me: BBC Documentary
Temple Grandin: The world needs all kinds of minds
Autism in the classroom:
Guide to parents of students with ASD on coping with the first day back to school
Common signs of Autism in the classroom
First day back to school: Top tips for parents of children with Autism
Practical tips to make your classroom Autism-Friendly
Inspiring People with Autism:
Jessica-Jane Applegate (British Paralympian)
Satoshi Tajiri (Pokemon creator)
More on Savants:
The Psychology of Savants: Memory Masters
The Einstein Effect: Is there a link between having Autism and being a genius?
Derren Brown’s Apocalypse and our Susceptible Perception of Reality
One of the UK’s most famous magician/TV personality, Derren Brown has teamed up with Channel 4 to create one of the most entertaining two-part shows I have ever seen, named Derren Brown’s Apocalypse. In this series, Derren and his team led Steven Brosnan to believe that the world is about to end. Steven was fed false information about a meteor that was about to strike the world through tweets, news coverage and TV advertisements- all manufactured by Derren Brown and his team, with the help of Steven’s family (the show reminded me of The Truman Show- trailer below). Steven then rode a bus with his brother- also one of Brown’s accomplice- with the belief that he was going to a gig by The Killers. The bus stopped due to some problems and they witnessed explosion after explosion. After being hypnotized by Brown, Steven woke up in what looked like a hospital room filled with zombies and a young girl named Leona, who was not ‘infected’. You can watch the rest by clicking the links below.
What is Reality?
Regardless of whether the show was faked or not, what happened to Steven actually creates a good platform in which people can discuss what reality really is. Think about it for a minute. Steven was fed false information on every medium possible. When he read his Twitter feed, he saw people including Prof. Brian Cox (whose account was hacked by Brown) tweeting about the meteor strike. When he watched TV, listened to the radio, even when he spoke to the people around him, all they have mentioned was the proposed day of doom. Steven’s situation and surroundings were constructed in a way which leaves very little room for doubt. Everywhere he went, there were information about what Brown wanted him to believe. When he woke up in that forsaken hospital, he was connected to a drip, surrounded by zombie-like creatures.
Steven’s experience made me ask myself, who really decides what is real and what is not? Is it the person who is experiencing the events/ sensations, or is it the observer? Everyone who watched the show knew that Steven’s situation was fake. Everyone involved in the programme knew what was going on, except Steven. Steven thought all of it were real because everything that he perceived confirmed the apocalypse- again, much like The Truman Show. I am aware that our senses trick us all the time. Take visual illusions for instance. What was different in Steven’s case was that it could have affected his whole life. Imagine the psychological scars it may have caused!
This reminded me of the situation that people with schizoprenia and other psychotic conditions may have. Their perceptions of reality is distorted and unjustified in the eyes of an outsider, but yet, they swear that what they see, feel, hear and experience is real. If only there is a magic pill.
Links:
I got the links below from Channel 4’s own Youtube Channel, therefore embedding was disallowed. Nevertheless, you can still click ‘Watch on Youtube’ to enjoy the programme.
Part 1:
Part 2:
Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon Cooper: Asperger’s Syndrome’s Poster boy?
Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) is a form of Autism that is in the mild end of the autism spectrum.
Similar to other forms of autism, AS is characterized by deficits in social communication, social interaction and imagination, but usually have average or above average IQ levels. People with AS always think literally, have little to no clue about facial expressions, tone of voice, and gestures. They find other people difficult to ‘read’ (Theory of Mind), hence may view others’ actions as confusing and also fail to behave in socially appropriate ways. Most conversations with them are one-sided, with them leading and rarely taking your opinions. Finally, they stick to their routines and have a special interest that they may excell on.
(CLICK HERE FOR MORE VIDEOS SHOWING SHELDON HAS ASPERGER’S)
Anyone who is familiar with the show ‘Big Bang Theory’ will know that all of the characteristics mentioned above describe Dr. Sheldon Cooper, played by Jim Parsons (pictured). In the show, Sheldon is a top physicist who works in a university and hangs out with his friends Leonard (who is also his roommate), Raj and Howard. Being a physicist is an ideal job for people with AS due to the literality of the subject (as supposed to social sciences). Most of Physics are underpinned by mathematical equations which are perfect for AS-affected individuals, as supposed to, say Sociology or Psychology which are founded on researching human-beings in ways that Sheldon will find repulsive.
Sheldon also does not understand sarcasm (see video below). To be able to get sarcasm requires abstract thinking, knowledge of varying tones of voice and a firm grasp of the social situation one person is in. Sheldon does not possess any of these- Leonard actually ended up putting a ‘sarcasm sign’ for him to understand. As seen in the video clip below, Sheldon struggles to understand the consequences of his actions and also Penny’s and Leonard’s emotions.
Also, he is incapable of ‘faking’ his emotions in order to avoid hurting other people’s feelings. In the video below, Sheldon does not agree that Raj is getting featured in Time Magazine’s 30 under 30 issue. As a result, he insulted Raj. His friends then decided to invite Raj to dinner. Notice how Sheldon asks how he can fake his happiness. Children who have AS are often given social stories which teaches them how to behave appropriately in different social situations.
Sheldon also voices his dislike in a change in his routines. The first video below shows Sheldon explaining why he sits in a specific spot in the couch and what difference it made when he tried to sit on a different space. In the second video, the group decided to eat Thai food instead of pizza, which Sheldon is used to. He explained how he likes consistency and in order to accept ‘anything can happen thursday’, he persuades the others to go to the comic book store. Getting others to agree to what they want is a common tactic employed by people with AS.
Although there was no mention that Sheldon was diagnosed with Aspergers’ Syndrome and even Sheldon reasoned that ‘his mother had him tested’, all signs point to AS. We should note however, that even though Sheldon may have AS, he is managing to live significantly comfortably. He has picked a profession that suits his condition and most importantly, allows him to excel. He has surrounded himself with people who not only tolerates him, but teaches him how to behave in particularly difficult situations. His friends mostly agrees to what he likes, and even though they usually find being with him a challenge, they still see the positive side of him.
I believe that Sheldon’s situation in the Big Bang Theory shows us a good example of living with and being around people with Asperger’s Syndrome. It shows both the fun side and the difficult side of being with individuals with AS. Granted, not every episode shows the gang’s good side in terms of dealing with Sheldon, but never the less, it shows that people with AS can be brilliant and at the same time, a good friend to be with. Whether they purposely did it or not, I think the makers of the show is doing a good job.
For more info on Autism, Asperger’s Syndrome and other ASDs, visit http://www.autism.org.uk
😉
More on Autism:
He flaps his hands and screams a lot but he doesn’t mean to annoy you
Optimum Outcomes for people with Autism
DSM 5 and its implications to ASD diagnosis
Diagnosing Autism: What you need to know
Vote for Miss Montana 2012, Alexis Wineman
Communication difficulties in Autism
Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon Cooper: Asperger’s Syndrome’s Poster Boy?
Still unsure if Sheldon has Asperger’s?
The Autistic Me: BBC Documentary
Temple Grandin: The world needs all kinds of minds
Autism in the classroom:
Guide to parents of students with ASD on coping with the first day back to school
Common signs of Autism in the classroom
First day back to school: Top tips for parents of children with Autism
Practical tips to make your classroom Autism-Friendly
Inspiring People with Autism:
Jessica-Jane Applegate (British Paralympian)
Satoshi Tajiri (Pokemon creator)
More on Savants:
The Psychology of Savants: Memory Masters
The Einstein Effect: Is there a link between having Autism and being a genius?
Understanding and Embracing Diversity 