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mycats
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03 Sep 2014, 1:08 pm

What is Autism? I am asking for people to reply to answer this question.

Here is my response.

I don't know how to begin to answer that question. I cannot begin to presume to define another person. The best way I would go about answering that question is to answer as if I was asked "What is me?".

The statement "free your mind" has stuck with me. I'm continuing to explore what that means. There is no existing college major I can be confined to. There is no existing job I can be confined to. I have to find my own path.

A method of freeing you mind is to think outside of the box. Modifying a quote becomes "There is no box".

People who are stuck inside the box think there is no box because they are in denial they are stuck inside the box, and so they therefore think there is no box.

People who think so far outside of the box can truly say "there is no box", because there is no box that they are stuck inside of.

People who are stuck inside of the box are under a false delusion of superiority. Not only do they not acknowledge the box they are stuck inside of. They don't acknowledge the existence of people who are outside of the box.



LupaLuna
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03 Sep 2014, 1:20 pm

Whether you believe in god and creation or evolution and adaptation, I think we are given this mind as a way to add color to what would be otherwise a black and white world. My autism demands that I think outside the box. It's who I am as a person. I know the felling. You find yourself torn between the ways of the world and who you are as a person.



kraftiekortie
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03 Sep 2014, 1:36 pm

I like this thread better than the other "What is Autism" thread.

Yes. Autism does gives us an opportunity/forces us to think beyond the box which our Autism imposes upon us.

We must acknowledge and make use of our Autism--but we also must not allow our Autism to hem us in.



qFox
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03 Sep 2014, 2:15 pm

To me autism is a trait that makes the brain process and send information in a different way, and thus autism is part of you and your personality. It is not something that inherently impairs you like most brain disorders, it is something that impairs you in the current society and it's standards. Perhaps our brains are too free from society's clutches for our own good.

I can just sum up a random selection of my own experiences with having autism compared to my peers:

- I feel much more empathic to animals, I can intuitively sense how they feel and what is on their mind. A lot of people consider humans to be inherently 'better' than animals which is a bizarre show of arrogance to me.

- Complete lack of autopilot, at every moment I feel completely self-aware. Most people with autism seem to have this I believe, there was a study that indicated that due to this people with autism are much less susceptible to subliminal messages or insinuations.

- My senses are much less filtered than that of other humans and my sense can invoke heavy emotions. For example sound is extremely intense for me, whether for the good ( being able to dream away in music ) but also the bad ( not being able to hear what other people say in semi-loud environments ) or the ugly ( sharp, loud sounds are very unpleasant while other people do not seem to care ).

- Yet my thoughts are much more filtered from emotions than most. I feel much less inclined to fall back to emotional argumentation and behaviour in daily life, and stick mainly to rationale. When most would become angry, sad or shocked I feel completely indifferent. This rational thinking process can however also drive you crazy, especially when other people do illogical things and you endlessly try to rationalize it. Another case is where you have to make a hard decision, and you are in an endless loop of trying to rationalize and weighing your options whereas normal people would simply choose an option and stick with it based on their emotional disposition.

And I very much on the free mind. I do not find myself affected by the limitations other people put on thought. I do not think in blacks and whites or in a box of possible options. Rather I think of how concepts and ideas work in my own framework, not in that of society. Some people are so attached to society they can't think freely any more, we do not have to deal with that.



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03 Sep 2014, 3:14 pm

mycats wrote:
What is Autism? I am asking for people to reply to answer this question.

Here is my response.

I don't know how to begin to answer that question. I cannot begin to presume to define another person. The best way I would go about answering that question is to answer as if I was asked "What is me?".

The statement "free your mind" has stuck with me. I'm continuing to explore what that means. There is no existing college major I can be confined to. There is no existing job I can be confined to. I have to find my own path.

A method of freeing you mind is to think outside of the box. Modifying a quote becomes "There is no box".

People who are stuck inside the box think there is no box because they are in denial they are stuck inside the box, and so they therefore think there is no box.

People who think so far outside of the box can truly say "there is no box", because there is no box that they are stuck inside of.

People who are stuck inside of the box are under a false delusion of superiority. Not only do they not acknowledge the box they are stuck inside of. They don't acknowledge the existence of people who are outside of the box.

    Like Popeye, You is what you is.

    Defining yourself is defining a box that others understand (because you're using language) to fit yourself into.
    It is an excellent method of limiting yourself and your potential.

    Or, be at peace, learn what you are as you happen.


  You're like a cherry blossom.
It's said (by some philosophical culture or another) that one could devote one's entire life searching for the 'Perfect' cherry blossom and it would not be considered a life wasted.
But I think that when one truly understands that all cherry blossoms are perfect, they will understand everything important about the universe.
(if they're not killed in some stupid Samurai battle somewhere first)


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olympiadis
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03 Sep 2014, 8:14 pm

I'm in a hexagonal box with a few sides missing.
Sometimes there is a breeze.
My box lacks addressing and pretty wrapping papers.



olympiadis
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03 Sep 2014, 8:40 pm

qFox wrote:
To me autism is a trait that makes the brain process and send information in a different way, and thus autism is part of you and your personality. It is not something that inherently impairs you like most brain disorders, it is something that impairs you in the current society and it's standards. Perhaps our brains are too free from society's clutches for our own good.

I can just sum up a random selection of my own experiences with having autism compared to my peers:

- I feel much more empathic to animals, I can intuitively sense how they feel and what is on their mind. A lot of people consider humans to be inherently 'better' than animals which is a bizarre show of arrogance to me.

- Complete lack of autopilot, at every moment I feel completely self-aware. Most people with autism seem to have this I believe, there was a study that indicated that due to this people with autism are much less susceptible to subliminal messages or insinuations.

- My senses are much less filtered than that of other humans and my sense can invoke heavy emotions. For example sound is extremely intense for me, whether for the good ( being able to dream away in music ) but also the bad ( not being able to hear what other people say in semi-loud environments ) or the ugly ( sharp, loud sounds are very unpleasant while other people do not seem to care ).

- Yet my thoughts are much more filtered from emotions than most. I feel much less inclined to fall back to emotional argumentation and behaviour in daily life, and stick mainly to rationale. When most would become angry, sad or shocked I feel completely indifferent. This rational thinking process can however also drive you crazy, especially when other people do illogical things and you endlessly try to rationalize it. Another case is where you have to make a hard decision, and you are in an endless loop of trying to rationalize and weighing your options whereas normal people would simply choose an option and stick with it based on their emotional disposition.

And I very much on the free mind. I do not find myself affected by the limitations other people put on thought. Some people are so attached to society they can't think freely any more, we do not have to deal with that.


I agree 100%.



KezC
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03 Sep 2014, 8:49 pm

qFox wrote:
It is not something that inherently impairs you like most brain disorders, it is something that impairs you in the current society and it's standards. Perhaps our brains are too free from society's clutches for our own good.


That is exactly how I feel.

And I honestly believe that most problems thought to be caused by autism are in fact caused by society's rigidity and unwillingness to accept autism. To me, the widespread belief that one 'neurotype' is good/normal, while variations are bad/abnormal, makes no more sense than outdated ideas of one skin color being superior to another.



olympiadis
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03 Sep 2014, 10:54 pm

KezC wrote:
qFox wrote:
It is not something that inherently impairs you like most brain disorders, it is something that impairs you in the current society and it's standards. Perhaps our brains are too free from society's clutches for our own good.


That is exactly how I feel.

And I honestly believe that most problems thought to be caused by autism are in fact caused by society's rigidity and unwillingness to accept autism. To me, the widespread belief that one 'neurotype' is good/normal, while variations are bad/abnormal, makes no more sense than outdated ideas of one skin color being superior to another.


It's also very accurate.
Though, it's more accurate to say that the cause is society's unwillingness to accept ANYTHING other than the current society. That's a key characteristic of the hive mind.



mycats
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05 Sep 2014, 1:21 pm

The limitless arrogance of trolls never ceases to amaze me. I interpreted one particular response to my post as criticism against me. And now I have to respond to that criticism.

I KNEW no matter how I defined Autism, that I would be criticized. instead of trying to define what Autism is for everyone, I simply tried to define myself. and then this troll wrote a response to criticize me for how I define myself?

The troll wrote "Defining yourself is defining a box that others understand (because you're using language) to fit yourself into. 
    It is an excellent method of limiting yourself and your potential."

I make no claim that I successfully defined myself. I simply try to express how I am different. I simply attempted to define myself. You declare "defining yourself". I made an attempt. I do not think I successfully accomplished that. 

The troll is a negative person. It doesn't matter whether I attempted or succeeded at defining myself. I don't think this troll has ever attempted self exploration of any kind. His words shows this.



kraftiekortie
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05 Sep 2014, 5:21 pm

Honestly, although I don't agree with that poster at least some of the time, I don't believe he's a troll.

He just has an unusual way of expressing things. This is part of autism, too.



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05 Sep 2014, 6:31 pm

kraftiekortie wrote:
Honestly, although I don't agree with that poster at least some of the time, I don't believe he's a troll.

He just has an unusual way of expressing things. This is part of autism, too.


Agreed. 1401b is not a troll.

In any event, I think you raise an interesting question ("What is me?") in this thread. It is something that I have been trying to understand ever since I was young. I believe that 1401b is suggesting that the time invested in trying to answer this question may be a waste of time. Others have given me similar advice in the past. As such, he definitely has a point.



kraftiekortie
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05 Sep 2014, 8:31 pm

I think you know the saying: When you've met a person with autism, you met a person with autism.

Autism, a Spectrum, comes in many shapes and sizes, and just as many definitions as people.



mycats
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07 Sep 2014, 3:23 pm

Perhaps I should not throw out the t-word. Perhaps next I will just stick to responding without using a term as a means to personally attack someone.



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07 Sep 2014, 6:42 pm

just to add to everyone elses comments;140b is a innocent optimistic thinking regular here so if he is a troll theres no luck for the rest of us. :P
if have ever got suspicions of trolling its worth contacting members; cornflake or tallyman [theyre pretty much running the place] and they will give their unbiased expert opinions on trolling and if needed act upon it.
as a new user it really helps to have a lurk for a while to get used to members posting styles.

as for the original topic,unfortunately it goes way over head, cant work out what it is meaning other than boxes.


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