Factoid on World Autism Awareness Day: According to Social Thinking expert Michelle Garcia Winner, the forgiveness factor is high for those whose disability and struggle is obvious, whether due to cognitive impairment or profound social dysfunction, as is the case with Temple Grandin. There is a sub-group of a sub-group, however, whose disability is equally neurological in origin, but is invisible in our society: those whose disability Garcia Winner classifies as nuanced. Nuanced sounds like a light-weight word, she says, but the term is relative only to those who are profoundly and cognitively impaired, not to the neurotypical people that make up the bulk of our society. Nuanced autistics are persons who, from the beginning of their existence, daily face a profound struggle, constantly finding themselves at odds with the world and all too often bumping up against the system. They often go medically undiagnosed; if diagnosed, it is often long overdue, and once diagnosed, these individuals are ignored in terms of any medical support, treatment, or assistance. Intellectually, these people are extraordinarily gifted, yet they lack the neurological ability to develop the most foundational social skills. They live and work in scholastic, home, work, and professional environments that confuse and stress them to the extent that they are the most at risk, out of anyone on the autistic spectrum, for mental health problems, especially depression. They struggle to manage the most basic, everyday, common-sense social expectations, never mind relationships. These persons receive no benefit from the forgiveness factor: indeed, they are the ones whom society dislikes the most and is most offended by, says Garcia Winner. They are judged very harshly, ostracized, and marginalized. They are deemed as persons who are behavioural problems rather than people with neurologically-induced social dysfunction. Yet these individuals have so much to offer, as much as anyone else you know: their rich gifts are just less accessible, having so many barriers screening and burying them. Support research and all initiatives to help build bridges for these people and unlock their worlds. These are people many of us work with, go to church with, are neighbours with, even live with. Please keep an open mind and heart to everyone around you, and lend all the support and encouragement you can, keeping in mind this very invisible but profound disability.
Posted on: Wed, 02 Apr 2014 16:05:37 +0000
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