It is currently assumed that of the nearly eight billion people in the world, there are only two main ways of processing information.
In the first, patterns are used to understand abstract ideas.
It starts simple. People learn to breathe. Then read. Then write. Until the patterns of words can be used to represent the greater patterns in the world. Because these people only understand abstract ideas after patterns have been established, social constructs are developed. And as these people age, they become limited by oversimplifications of their own creation until they can understand that the constructs are not complete truths.
In the second, abstract ideas are the beginning, and patterns are used to make it tolerable.
Instead of using black and white words to conceptualize ideas, the ideas themselves are processed in black and white, resulting in a whole lot of extremes. Feelings are noticed more. Or not at all. And in any case it is overwhelming. Sensory input comes rushing in, the brain struggling to process it all when black and white words do not make sense. They are, after all, an oversimplification, and should not be used to process the world in entirety.
Facial expressions, a construct devised by the first type, often require too much energy for the second; most of their energy is directed towards processing pure unfiltered input. With this lack of energy and tendencies towards extremes, efficiency is ideal. Bluntness is preferred.
But in both, patterns are used to navigate life, and extremes in thinking are the result of attempts to sort information into these patterns, these boxes, to the point where people refuse to process contradictory information. Even if they learn to search for the contradictions, people are still in a constant state of sorting and adapting information.
Processing.
In the theory of monotropism, autism is the second thinking process, and allistic (non-autistic) is the first.
Despite its widely heard label, autism as a psychiatric disorder was only described in 1943 by physician Leo Kanner. It was added to the second edition of the Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM), and for the next twenty years was believed to be caused by unemotional mothers, called ‘refrigerator mothers.’ In the third edition, it was categorized as a developmental disorder, with both a mild and major presentation. In the fourth, autism was deemed a spectrum, with each side being a separate diagnosis, and in the fifth, what is currently used, it falls under only one condition: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
This diagnosis, however, was created by allistic people, the majority of the population. With this came quite a lot of stigma, with autism originally being believed to only affect boys, and Asperger’s Syndrome, as included in the DSM-IV, originating from the experimentation of autistic people by the Nazi physician Hans Asperger.
Monotropism was developed in 2005 by Dinah Murray, Mike Lesser, and Wenn Larson, three autistic scholars, and is now considered one of the most accurate explanations of autism by autistic people themselves. At least until new information is found and that too must be made to fit into existing patterns.
The model proposed is that of an interest-based mind. They suggested that interests are typically evenly distributed and largely based on genetics. Some people, like allistics, tend to have more interests with time divided between them, called polytropism. Autistics, however, tend to have fewer interests, meaning larger amounts of time and energy are spent on each one, called monotropism.
The intense focus on specific topics, referred to as special interests, means that areas outside of those topics are often hard to process with the limited space available to process remaining input. Interests are how people cope. Patterns. Boxes. Especially for these people, change is difficult as intense focus is hard to break. And because intense focus is the very nature of autism, the entire world cannot be processed other than through small sections. Otherwise it is just too much. Just as it would be too much for allistic people if they had anything other than low intensity focus on all of their interests.
In this viewpoint, autism is not a disorder, but a benevolent difference in processing.
If it hurts the person or other people, it is a problem. Some things, like eating disorders, need to be diagnosed and recognized as a problem in order for people to heal. But when it is only hurting people by making them uncomfortable in its difference from what has been set as the normal, it is not a disorder. Simply a neurotype.
Although some disorders should remain classified as disorders, they all serve as an example of different neurotypes. Just as autism is now classified as one continuous spectrum, so is the human mind. And it cannot be easily broken up into two categories.
Self-stimulatory behavior, or stimming, as is seen in autism, is also seen in allistic people. Fidgeting, twirling hair, tapping a pencil on paper, and shaking out a hand after getting a paper cut are all examples of stimming. This behavior is anything that is done to assist the brain in processing information. Although it may be more obvious in autistic people because their brains have to process unfiltered information, everyone does it.
Additionally, the intensity of focus within autism means it presents in extreme ways. Facial expressions may be muted as a result of lack of energy, or exaggerated in an attempt to represent the extremity of emotions being felt. And because facial expressions vary in different countries, as it is a construct, what will be deemed odd facial expressions in each country will also be different. The picking up of patterns in communication will vary with culture. This is the reason why autism has separate criteria depending on the location.
For pure sake of ease, people tend to be drawn to others who already have similar thinking processes to them. Autistics are drawn to autistics. Allistics are drawn to allistics. But that does not mean we cannot communicate with each other.
Because autism is currently classified as a disorder, autistic people are made to conform with the majority allistic population and ways of processing.
Allistic processing says that the ability to understand abstract topics, to view things with the intensity that autistic people do, shows wisdom as it takes them longer to reach that point. A paradox is created when autism is viewed through the lense of this allistic progression. They are “smart” because they understand abstract concepts, but “stupid” because they can’t understand simple ones. They are both at once, and cannot be split, hence the combining of autism into one disorder. Each person will have a different combination of “smart” and “stupid” aspects. “High-functioning” does not truly exist.
Autistic people are made to feel inferior. They are taught that they have an illness. They learn to mask, to hide their autistic traits. They are traumatized by ABA therapy, designed to minimize all “symptoms” not just what is harming the person, whereas others are tortured by shock “therapy” and starvation.
Society has certainly grown to be more accepting, and accomplishments like the Americans with Disabilities Act and improved perceptions of autistic people should not be dismissed, but there is always more to improve. Insurance often only covers harmful therapies, and many autistic people begin to feel so disconnected from other humans that they truly believe they aren’t one. They are aliens.
As an autistic person, even most of my articles involve masking. This is draft five, each progressively being made more linear, less me, in fear of hatred and the judgement that comes from people pointing out the extremes in my thought processes. And I’m white, so you can only imagine the struggles of being autistic in other minority groups.
Communication involves both parties.
Most attempts at bridging gaps in communication involve the minority being the one forced to adapt. To assimilate. A point “X” marks the in-between. The middle at which all intersecting points meet. With autistic and allistic people, reaching this point would mean social constructs become more open to allow for complexity and specific patterns are grounded to avoid polarity.
Balance.
Strength-based therapy, a recent replacement to ABA-therapy, suggests a way to achieve this.
Everyone has different strengths. Autistic people are great at finding specific details and at innovating without the restrictions of how reality is linearly perceived. Allistic people see the full picture, and can consider a much broader range of topics than autistic people. Both are necessary to the survival of humanity. Biodiversity is a part of life.
The neurodiversity movement is not only about making sure that people who are currently perceived as abnormal receive support, but in destroying the idea of normality in neurotypes. As long as there is a normal, there will be an abnormal, and they will be prosecuted.
Autism is simply a different neurotype.
Not a disorder.
Not a superpower.
Autism is neutral.
It has its downsides, as does being allistic, and autistic people will likely always require support. The problem is that the only support needs that are recognized are that of allistic people—because everyone has support needs.
Autism influences every aspect of someone’s life, it’s an identity, and who are we to judge someone’s identity, something which, by definition, only they truly know?
By recognizing the strengths of different neurotypes, they can be applied to weaker areas. There is no normal strength for a person to have, and there are few limits to the human brain’s capacity to adapt. As long as people are not causing harm to themselves or others, there is no need to force a change in this process, merely help it along.
Nobody can see things fully; we are not gods. We do not know everything and are all forced to use some source of extremes to cope with life, because we even must find balance between being balanced and thinking in extremes. But one thing is for sure, that there is no right way to do this, and you cannot punish others for doing it differently. Autistic people should not be condemned to viewing themselves as aliens because others refuse to admit that we are all human.
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