Simon Baron-Cohen Autistic Spectrum Test

[MelissaTay]

An Interesting talk from Simon Baron-Cohen as he discusses an article written by Ioan James for the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, which claims that scientists -- including Isaac Newton, Henry Cavendish, Marie Curie and Paul Dirac -- showed signs of autism

 

[menageriemanor]

That was interesting, thanks for sharing. I'd heard of the idea, but hadn't heard a talk on it. Would have liked more.

Edited February 23, 2013 by menageriemanor

[Enthalpy]

Fantastic.

 

Any doctor trying a diagnosis on people he never met and are already dead would be laughed at.

 

But not a psycho - whatever.

 

Any claim that brilliant people are mad or handicaped gets immediate public support, whatever unfounded. Could that be simple jealousy?

 

Why does the public lose its judgment as soon as the topic is psycho - anything?

[John Cuthber]

Fantastic.

 

Any doctor trying a diagnosis on people he never met and are already dead would be laughed at.

 

But not a psycho - whatever.

 

Any claim that brilliant people are mad or handicaped gets immediate public support, whatever unfounded. Could that be simple jealousy?

 

Why does the public lose its judgment as soon as the topic is psycho - anything?

I wasn't aware that anyone had claimed they were "mad or handicapped" they just suggested they might be autistic.

 

Most doctors giving a diagnosis on a patient they have not met are probably pathologists coroners or whatever. Feel free to laugh at them if you like, but don't expect the rest of us to join in.

[Enthalpy]

Good point, pathologists coroners.

 

But at least these can get strong evidence from the object of their study. That's not the case of a psycho-something who claims to make a diagnosis based on statements in a context he ignores, plus some indirect testimony.

[John Cuthber]

Looking forward to your explanation of describing people with autism as "mad or handicapped"

[StringJunky]

Looking forward to your explanation of describing people with autism as "mad or handicapped"

 

It's definitely a handicap* although the exceptional powers of concentration, given to some, can lead to them having an uncanny skill which may benefit them but overshadow their other problems. I think it is doing autistic people, as a whole, an injustice to pretend that they are just different and such an approach may deny them the help and consideration that they might need.

 

Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects how a person communicates with, and relates to, other people. It also affects how they make sense of the world around them.

 

http://www.autism.org.uk/about-autism/autism-and-asperger-syndrome-an-introduction/what-is-autism.aspx?gclid=CLPoifP2-7YCFdHMtAodzWAAsQ

 

Hey! I'm Tony. I'm a life-long deaf person. I'm not handicapped...I'm just different.

 

 

* hand·i·cap

/ˈhandēˌkap/

Noun

A condition that markedly restricts a person's ability to function physically, mentally, or socially.

Verb

Act as an impediment to.

Synonyms

noun. hindrance - impediment - drawback - obstacle verb. hinder - hamper - impede

Edited May 4, 2013 by StringJunky

[John Cuthber]

"Hey! I'm Tony. I'm a life-long deaf person. I'm not handicapped...I'm just different."

Hi.

Nice to meet you. Isn't it fortunate that, on line, the ability to hear is irrelevant.

 

I don't know if you realise it but the word "handicap" is viewed as pejorative.

None of the people you mentioned who may have been autistic were noted for going "cap in hand" begging for handouts.

So, it's not really the right word and it's arguably insulting.

You might want to think about the demographic of this board: if I was looking to find a lot of people with symptoms of autism, I'd probably start here.

 

 

However your real problem is going to be justification of the word "Mad".

I'm still looking forward to that.

[StringJunky]

"Hey! I'm Tony. I'm a life-long deaf person. I'm not handicapped...I'm just different."

Hi.

Nice to meet you. Isn't it fortunate that, on line, the ability to hear is irrelevant.

 

I don't know if you realise it but the word "handicap" is viewed as pejorative.

None of the people you mentioned who may have been autistic were noted for going "cap in hand" begging for handouts.

So, it's not really the right word and it's arguably insulting.

You might want to think about the demographic of this board: if I was looking to find a lot of people with symptoms of autism, I'd probably start here.

 

OK. I'm clearly getting old and out of touch with modern usage. I didn't know there were negative connotations with the word. i consider myself handicapped.

 

However your real problem is going to be justification of the word "Mad".

I'm still looking forward to that.

 

I don't support the use of this word for any clinical situation except as a description for an acute state of anger: "He was mad with her for not calling him"

[megh8268]

1) I have cared for many individuals with Autism. Most of them that had only mild autism would tell you that they have a handicap. It's only offensive to people who don't want to accept the truth.

2) Mad has a variety of meanings. These include anger, crazy, irritation, and eccentric. As far as I am aware it has been commonly accepted that many of the most brilliant people in history have been very eccentric (mad).

3) The appropriate term for an individual who has a diagnosis on the autism spectrum that is astoundingly gifted in one specific area is savant.

 

Now, everyone take a deep breath and take your undergarments out of a bunch. Are you all sure that your overstimulation from the use of two little words isn't a sign that you're autistic?

[Enthalpy]

One may call a few autists savant, it does not need savants to be autistic.

 

Eccentric does not mean mad. "Many of" and "commonly accepted"? This is not part of a logic, but of an attempt to mislead the readers. About all the "logic" of you message is twisted.

 

And autists are a small minority, including on this forum. Sorry for professionals who look for new customers, sorry for the year of autism.