Comments on: A Neurodiversity FAQ

By: Gonzo

Gonzo — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:01:41 +0000

Can you explain why you respect Jonathan Mitchell a great deal?

By: dr treg

dr treg — Thu, 21 May 2009 09:48:13 +0000

1. Arent there persistent abnormalities of the immune system and dendritic spines of the frontal lobes in post-mortems of patients with autism?
2. Isnt the abnormal behaviour of mice assessed in the same way abnormal thinking/feelings (psychiatry) is assessed in humans. Otherwise how did anti-depressant drugs such as Prozac get through the initial animal trials if they had no effect on “depressive behaviour” in mice.

By: cpu52362

cpu52362 — Wed, 20 May 2009 22:03:20 +0000

Extra copy of chromosome 21 implicated in cancer resistance:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30849455/

Another reason to at least consider that neurodiversity isn’t such a bad idea.

By: Prometheus

Prometheus — Wed, 20 May 2009 19:48:01 +0000

Kingdingxx states:

"Prometheus, being severely mentally impaired isn’t a delightful way to be. Nobody wants to be that way, as it is a misfortune."

This was in response to my statement:

"This is not to say that the more severely affected autistic people don’t want to be accepted for who they are."

Does anybody else see this as a non sequitur? What does wanting to be a particular way have to do with wanting to be accepted as a human being - a person - rather than as a disability or a disease? Does treating a disabled person as an object or as a social problem help feel better about their situation? Maybe this is true in the alternative universe Kngdingxx lives in, but not where I live. RAJensen states:

"Autism and stroke patients both have structural abnormalities in the brain." Oh? Name the structure affected in autism. I'm sure that researchers in autism would be delighted to discover that there is a consistent structural abnormality they could use to diagnose autism. RAJensen continues:
"Stroke patients, as a group, are viewed as being ‘socially’ impaired, have significant communication disorders often accompanied by obssesive behaviors."
I'm not sure that you're right about that, RA. Some stroke victims are socially impaired (most often due to communication difficulty), but I don't believe that is a "group" characteristic. Dr. Treg comments about how "self-pity" is determined in animal models:
"Self-pity manifests as social isolation e.g. in the mice injected with the maternal fetal brain antibodies study."
This is the problem with using animal models for behavioral disorders - it's so terribly hard to ask animals why they are behaving the way they do. If you think that a particular treatment is going to cause a certain emotional effect (e.g. "self pity"), it is very tempting to interpret almost any ambiguous behavior (e.g. "social isolation") as what you expect. However, social isolation in an animal (including humans) can be a manifestation of many things. Prometheus

By: Clay

Clay — Wed, 20 May 2009 19:17:16 +0000

@kyngdingxx – You’re not fooling me, “Billy Cresp”, aka “Lurker”, aka “JosephS”, aka “Len Larvis”. Your main “mental impairment” is the modern equivalent of those who used to make prank phone calls. Begone!

By: Another Voice

Another Voice — Wed, 20 May 2009 15:20:38 +0000

@kyngdingxx, I agree with your comments and rebuttals expressed here. The one exception is that I feel there is a continuing need to remind the world about the dignity of all people, including autistics.

By: dr treg

dr treg — Tue, 19 May 2009 20:34:49 +0000

Self-pity manifests as social isolation e.g. in the mice injected with the maternal fetal brain antibodies study
http://www.physorg.com/news159207023.html
Many patients with extreme self-pity i.e. “clinical depression” also tend to isolate. As they become more grateful their connection to the surrounding environment improves.

By: Joseph

Joseph — Tue, 19 May 2009 17:50:30 +0000

How do they measure self-pity in animal models?

By: dr treg

dr treg — Tue, 19 May 2009 15:49:46 +0000

It seems in most animal studies that when the dendritic spines in the frontal lobes are shorter and sparser with lower firing rates, behaviour as a consequence of excessive thoughts and feelings related to fear, resentment and self-pity develop. Isolation due to self-pity, fear and resentment often results. Self-mutilation seems to be more prevalent in severe autism.
Acceptance is on the opposite end of the acceptance-resentment scale and perhaps represents some degree of regrowth of frontal lobe dendritic spines and increased firing rates.

By: Joseph

Joseph — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:11:38 +0000

Self-mutilation due to hypersensitivity to extreme self-pity and resentment seems to be correlated with the severity of autism

@dr treg: Do you have evidence of this, or is it only speculation?

Aggression and self-injury seem to be associated with social isolation.

However, if what you say is true, that argues in favor of neurodiversity. Anecdotally you will find that some autistics used to self-injure before they found self-acceptance.