POSITIVE TRAITS OF AUTISM
I write frequently on the struggles autistic people have in the social world, and do so in the cause of advancing autism acceptance and in ensuring autistic people, whatever their needs, have access to the help they need. At present, there is little help. Many autistic people have their social and sensory difficulties ignored, leaving them to struggle alone, informing and equipping themselves so as to be better able to help themselves.
At the same time, it is worth making the point that the impairment model of autism puts the accent in the wrong areas. Instead of looking upon autistic people as deficient, needy people, there is a need to restructure society so as to make the most of the many extraordinary talents, traits, and abilities that autistic people possess.
This meme underlines a number of those qualities, qualities which would certainly be of value to a healthy and functioning society of all the talents. The meme is also valuable in underlining typical character traits possessed by autistic people. Neurotypical people need to study these traits in order to better understand autistic people, giving them some insight into how autistic people think and act. There is a regrettable tendency on the part of neurotypical people to judge autistic people by neurotypical traits. The result of this is that extraordinary qualities can tend to be seen and judged negatively, effectively turning the truth on its head, to the detriment of autistic people. Persistence thus comes to be seen as stubbornness and pig-headedness; truth-seeking comes to be seen in terms of the discomforting habit of asking 'difficult' and 'awkward' questions, motivated by a trouble-making concern to disturb the peace; ability to focus comes to be seen as a tendency to become absorbed in obsessions away from the 'real world'; the tendency to seek details, again, is equated with a tendency to ask awkward questions; being passionate about interests and ideas comes to be seen as obsession. As for the powerful long-term memory - that can put the fear of God into people who would prefer certain things to be buried. Much of social life is a performance, an act, with people rewriting their past to suit their self-image in the present. Autistic people who possess a range of positive traits may well appear to the fake and inauthentic as a Day of Judgement.
But for those who are genuine and who have the root of the matter in them, autistic people make for great company, being indefatigable, hard-working, diligent, loyal, trustworthy, dependable, caring, empathetic, creative, focused, a seeker of truth, detail-oriented, unique, passionate, problem-solving possessor of helpful information, which they are more than happy to share.
If you are lucky enough to have the presence of an autistic person in your life, honour them, value them, appreciate their qualities, and don't judge them by the poor standards of 'normal' society. They offer an insight into the better world that is possible.
