| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Knaidle
Blue Jay
Joined: Feb 04, 2008
Posts: 86
Location: Los Angeles
|
 Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 4:56 pm Post subject: Autism Unawareness |
 |
|
Last night I gave my students an exam. It was a Physiology exam and one of the topics covered was mirror neurons which had a reference to autism. Several students raised their hand and asked me what autism was. I couldn't believe it! Aside from the fact that it was mentioned in lecture, how could these students not know what autism is?! These are 3rd year undergraduates in one of the top universities in the country and most of them will be applying to medical school. What was even more shocking though, was when I went and told the other TA that I couldn't believe the students didn't know what autism is and he replied 'just tell them that it is a form of mental retardation'.
WHAT??!!??
Is this representative of the general population? Are people really that ignorant about the subject?
I guess it is hard for me to believe that a lot of people know nearly nothing about a subject that I am obsessed with.
_________________
ADHD with Aspie traits. |
|
| Back to top |
|
CockneyRebel
Mick Avory
Joined: Jul 18, 2004
Age: 35
Posts: 22463
Location: 1965 London with Ruby the Routemaster by my side
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 5:12 pm Post subject: |
|
|
People like that make me sick.  
_________________
Mick Avory is my favourite Kink. He always has been and he always will be. Him and I are two peas in a pod. |
|
| Back to top |
|
scumsuckingdouchebag
Phoenix
Joined: Nov 15, 2007
Posts: 521
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 5:15 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: | | Is this representative of the general population? |
Possibly.
| Quote: | | Are people really that ignorant about the subject? |
Unfortunately, yes. You've seen it for yourself. |
|
| Back to top |
|
Zarathustra
Phoenix
Joined: Oct 06, 2007
Age: 102
Posts: 575
Location: In orbit
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 6:56 pm Post subject: |
|
|
On a more positive note you're in a good position to slay ignorance.
_________________
"No matter what the facts are, only the Truth matters" |
|
| Back to top |
|
englishwolf
Raven
Joined: Aug 01, 2007
Posts: 118
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 7:08 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Sorry to say this but..... Welcome to the real world.
The general ignorance of society used to shock me, especially on some topics I thought everyone knew about, but unfortunately i've gotten used to it.
I have to add myself into the equation when I say society because I find that every year or so I discover big things about subjects I thought I knew a lot about, but I find that when I really look into it I had absolutely no clue whatsoever.
I am truly sorry you've had this shock and found just how 'uneducated' your undergraduates are but such is life.
(As I do in many posts I feel a need to apologise if the above seemed overly harsh as that was not my intention.)
_________________
The more I learn, the more I realise, the less I know! |
|
| Back to top |
|
richie
Ye Olde Bookwyrme
Joined: Jan 10, 2007
Age: 51
Posts: 17766
Location: Lake Whoop-Dee-Doo, Pennsylvania
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 7:51 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Gets worse, those who do know something about autism are grossly misinformed by the scare tactics of Autism Speaks
and exaggerated portrayals of autism in movies such as "Rain-Man".
_________________
Life! Liberty!...and Perseveration!!..... |
|
| Back to top |
|
sartresue
Radical Aspergian
Joined: Dec 19, 2007
Posts: 4601
Location: The Castle of Shock and Awe-tism
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 8:33 pm Post subject: Autism Unawareness |
|
|
Ignorance is piss topic
For someone of his educational level (TA) this person is the backward one. he should not be in such as position, influencing the learning of others. 
A 'friend' of my son once referred to me as a 'retard', a 'sped' (slang for special ed) and my son no longer has any contact with him. Way to go, Mark! Thanks for the support. 
_________________
Radical Aspergian
Awe-Tistic Whirlwind
Phuture Phounder of the Philosophy Phactory |
|
| Back to top |
|
SilverProteus
The years, no doubt, have changed me.
Joined: Jul 21, 2007
Posts: 7154
Location: Fleet Street.
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 8:41 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Unfortunately this ignorance stretches itself to after med school. 
_________________
"How about a shave?"
|
|
| Back to top |
|
Mikomi
Phoenix
Joined: Jan 25, 2008
Posts: 785
Location: On top of your TV, lookin' at you funny.
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 8:45 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Cardiologists, pulmonologists, rheumatologists...etc...don't need to know about autism.
That said, I actually had a young Early Intervention teacher tell me my daughter and son could not possibly have autism because "they don't act like it".
_________________
Curiosity is not a mental illness. |
|
| Back to top |
|
pakled
"Bless his Heart"
Joined: Nov 13, 2007
Age: 52
Posts: 6727
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 10:26 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I didn't know about it for 48 years, and I are one... |
|
| Back to top |
|
Orwell
Outer Party Member
Joined: Aug 09, 2007
Age: 20
Posts: 8369
Location: Room 101
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 10:41 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| pakled wrote: | | I didn't know about it for 48 years, and I are one... |
Same here (well, not quite as long). I thought autism was just mental retardation until I read enough about it to realize that I'm autistic.
_________________
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH |
|
| Back to top |
|
sarahstilettos
Phoenix
Joined: Sep 08, 2007
Age: 23
Posts: 852
|
| Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 5:23 am Post subject: |
|
|
To be honest I feel quite embarrassed about how little I knew about Autism in a general sense before I started reading about Aspergers. The trouble is that there's just no point at which someone would find out. What would it be covered under at school? It could just about slip into Biology or Psychology, but I've not heard of it being taught under either. Almost all media coverage is useless.
What I would do is find a nice information sheet about autism - the one on the national autistic society's website is good - and make a copy for all your students, telling them you think it would clear up their misconceptions. Sorted. |
|
| Back to top |
|
CockneyRebel
Mick Avory
Joined: Jul 18, 2004
Age: 35
Posts: 22463
Location: 1965 London with Ruby the Routemaster by my side
|
| Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 11:07 am Post subject: |
|
|
I've already typed my opinion about this in Autism Is a Dirty Word. I hate how people only think about Rain Man. They don't think about Bill Gates, or Sue Ruben. They don't think about Temple Gradin. They don't think about the fictional characters, who are in other movies, such as Austin Powers, who is clearly an aspie, or Sid, who's quite a bit more affected by AS, than Austin. They don't think about that woman in the movie, 'Under The Piano'.
_________________
Mick Avory is my favourite Kink. He always has been and he always will be. Him and I are two peas in a pod. |
|
| Back to top |
|
Odin
Supreme Genius
Joined: Oct 13, 2006
Age: 23
Posts: 2084
Location: Moorhead, Minnesota, USA
|
| Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 3:46 pm Post subject: |
|
|
A typical comment I get is that I can't be autistic because "your nothing like Bobbie (a non-verbal LFA woman I went to school with)"
_________________
My Blog: My Autistic Life |
|
| Back to top |
|
Stevopedia
Velociraptor
Joined: Nov 03, 2007
Age: 18
Posts: 425
Location: Nowhere Land, Maryland, United States
|
| Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 3:52 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| CockneyRebel wrote: | | I've already typed my opinion about this in Autism Is a Dirty Word. I hate how people only think about Rain Man. They don't think about Bill Gates, or Sue Ruben. They don't think about Temple Gradin. They don't think about the fictional characters, who are in other movies, such as Austin Powers, who is clearly an aspie, or Sid, who's quite a bit more affected by AS, than Austin. They don't think about that woman in the movie, 'Under The Piano'. |
Or Jay Gatsby (from The Great Gatsby) or Sherlock Holmes, to add to the fictional list. And historically, there's Lewis Carroll, Thomas Jefferson, Newton, Einstein... the list goes on and on.
_________________
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness that gives everything its value.
-Thomas Paine, The American Crisis |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
