by Siah Klootchman

Created on: February 10, 2009   Last Updated: June 29, 2009

Autism is not an "epidemic" or any sort of disease, it's part of the evolution of human consciousness and abilities. Autism often comes with superhuman abilities and gifts as well as the more commonly recognized social disabilities and sensory limitations.

Obviously that is not the mainstream view, and is often seen as inadvertently insulting to many who struggle with care of severely autistic family members. But there may be some truth in the idea, some seemingly radical concepts still worth consideration.

This information from US Government Centers for Disease Control website:
"Autism is one of a group of disorders known as autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). ASDs are developmental disabilities that cause substantial impairments in social interaction and communication and the presence of unusual behaviors and interests. Many people with ASDs also have unusual ways of learning, paying attention, and reacting to different sensations. The thinking and learning abilities of people with ASDs can vary from gifted to severely challenged. An ASD begins before the age of 3 and lasts throughout a person's life."

1 in 150, is the current figure for autism spectrum diagnosis in the US. It seems too common to be a defect, disease or mistake. Look at the list of "problems" cited in the above CDC government description of autism;

# substantial impairments in social interaction and communication
# and the presence of unusual behaviors and interests.
# unusual ways of learning, paying attention, and reacting to different sensations.

Why is this being pushed as a tragic "disease"? That's terribly insulting to people with cancer or AIDS or CF or ALS. Autism is not a germ or toxin. We're weird, socially dysfunctional, often noncommunicative on common channels. Sometimes we're very very weird. But not sick. From the government's wording above, being unusual is seen as a disability unto itself. Weird is bad. This sets the tone for every public health and education policy henceforth. Unusual interests and behaviors are inherently wrong. So is failure to interact or communicate in English, with good eye contact and enunciation, in your own words with no silly accents or TV dialogue. Autistics communicate constantly. But rarely is anyone bothering to learn or study their "language" and treat it as a legitimate from of human expression.

Greater awareness of the spectrum nature of autism has resulted in many more people qualifying for diagnosis. The technologies of our Information Age were realized

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