Susan Senator

My friend and fellow autism advocate Michael Forbes Wilcox has a fascinating mind that many of my readers would like.  Michael was diagnosed with autism/Asperger’s in his 60’s, and with that diagnosis, found a tremendous sense of relief. I hope I’m getting this biographical bit right but what I think he told me is that so much that troubled him about his interactions with others, throughout his life, so much of his difference, was now explained, and so getting the diagnosis was a watershed experience for him. Michael has never accepted autism as any kind of disorder or illness, but rather, as a clarification for his perceptions and sensory and social struggles.

I am mentioning Michael now because I don’t know if I have talked about his philosophies here, but they are very cutting edge Autism Thinking. Michael goes beyond neurodiversity in that he is one of the strongest proponents for understanding autism as a neurological difference, and so that any deficits people may have are part of that difference, to be dealt with, accommodated, learned from, or accepted — but not treated.

This latest blog post of Michael’s was particularly interesting to me because he takes a new bit of autism research done by Vanderbilt University, and he points out flaws in the study that the general public may not notice. Because Vanderbilt approached the study of autism as a disorder, as basically an undesirable way of being, they have nullified their findings. He points out how people with developmental delays have atypical development, meaning they may be faster to acquire skills in some areas, and slower in others, so that chronological peer comparisons do not apply here. Here is his best quote: