From yesterday's letter page:
Let me tell you about my autism
From a former roof-walking, run-into-traffic, uncommunicative autistic: please don't underestimate the understanding, intelligence, or ungerminated abilities of David, the marvellous boy in Christopher Stevens's article, 'How our son taught us the secret songs of autism,' (last week) or of children like him. A number of speaking and non-speaking adults on the autism spectrum (some of whom developed spoken or written language in their teens - like me - or later in life) are beginning to tell their stories and explain the behaviours that were so puzzling to their parents. Some are commenting on therapies and educational approaches. We are a largely untapped resource not only for parents, but also for medical professionals, researchers, teachers, and public policy-makers.
When I ventured onto a roof or ran twirling into traffic after a balloon, I could imagine the danger, but the obsessive impulse that guided my actions was so strong that it made me feel invincible. In my late teens, it was discovered that I had sub-clinical epileptic seizures that took various forms of anti-social behaviour and also gave me the feeling of all-powerful solipsism I had felt as a child.
We autistics do have a sense of what other people think and feel, but most of us are dealing with severe and all-invasive sensory overload. In this state, it is profoundly difficult to interact with others; think of how socially impaired you neurotypicals are when you are sick, drunk, or in pain. Imagine how you would appear to others if this were a constant and all you had known from birth, if you were mute or could only sing your discomfort or comfort.
There is more to David - to all of us Auties and Aspies - than meets the eye. I encourage those of us who are able to explain our atypical experiences to write or speak publicly to foster greater understanding about our condition.
Nick Pentzell
Lansdowne, PA, US