Technology is enabling some autistic people to communicate and forcing scientists to reconsider what they think they know about autism, writes Wired.
The YouTube clip opens with a woman facing away from the camera, rocking back and forth, flapping her hands awkwardly, and emitting an eerie hum. She then performs strange repetitive behaviors: slapping a piece of paper against a window, running a hand lengthwise over a computer keyboard, twisting the knob of a drawer. . . .
But then the words “A Translation” appear on a black screen, and for the next five minutes, 27-year-old Amanda Baggs — who is autistic and doesn’t speak — describes in vivid and articulate terms what’s going on inside her head as she carries out these seemingly bizarre actions. In a synthesized voice generated by a software application, she explains that touching, tasting, and smelling allow her to have a “constant conversation” with her surroundings. These forms of nonverbal stimuli constitute her “native language,” Baggs explains, and are no better or worse than spoken language. Yet her failure to speak is seen as a deficit, she says, while other people’s failure to learn her language is seen as natural and acceptable.
Baggs requires a caregiver to help her shower and prepare food. She stopped speaking in her 20s but types 120 words a minute and spends much of her time online.
If Baggs and Dawson can do the things that are attributed to them in the article, then they are not autistic. Yes, we do need to rethink autism. What we need to rethink is the nonsensical way that the so-called autism spectrum disorder has been broadened to include normal individuals. The more the parameters of a disorder are expanded, the more the concept of the disorder is undermined. See learning disabilities and ADHD for further evidence of how the concept of a disorder can be undermined to the point that anyone can be classified with a disorder.
“These forms of nonverbal stimuli constitute her “native language,” Baggs explains, and are no better or worse than spoken language. Yet her failure to speak is seen as a deficit, she says, while other people’s failure to learn her language is seen as natural and acceptable.”
If I moved to Botswana to live, wouldn’t the Botswanan’s expect me to speak their language? Would they provide me with a translator and caregivers while I talked about how they should learn English?