This article is from the WeChat public account: made (ID: xingshu100) , author: Cheng Rui, head of FIG source: IC photo
Autism is complicated and we know very little about it. Misunderstandings, stereotypes and discrimination are far more famous than its truth.
April 2 is World Autism Day. We want to talk about autism, its prejudice about it, its truth, and the true survival of autistic patients.
The inner world of children with autism is shrouded in an unknown fog
What exactly is autism? In fact, its concept is constantly being updated.
Handbook for the Diagnosis and Statistics of Mental Illness (Published by the American Psychiatric Association, is a book most commonly used in the United States and other countries to diagnose mental illness Instruction manual, hereinafter referred to as DSM-5) defines autism as a lineage, like a small family, which contains several members, including autism, asperger syndrome, and unclassified Disorders such as generalized development disorder-they can all be collectively referred to as Autism Spectrum Disorders (autism spectrum disorders, ASD) span>.
This is a huge crowd, but also a silent crowd.
According to the 2019 “Report on the Development of the Autism Education and Rehabilitation Industry in China III”, the number of children with autism spectrum in China over 10 million , and the number of children aged 0-14 2 million , and according to conservative estimates, this number is still increasing at a rate of approximately 200,000 per year .
Let’s look at the United States, which has a relatively high diagnosis rate.
Qiu Zilong, a researcher at the Institute of Neuroscience of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, mentioned in the speech that the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) The number of panic is that the prevalence of autism has reached 1/68. In other words, 1 in every 68 children born is autism.
This number was updated again the previous two days.
On March 26, 2020, the CDC released the latest prevalence of autism spectrum disorders in the United States- 1/54 . Rising numbers, in addition to the rising prevalence itself, are largely due to advances in early screening and diagnostic capabilities.
This crowd is so large, but sadly, we know very little about them.
Prejudice and Truth
Public prejudice against autism has long been endless.
In ancient times, people believed that supernatural power was everywhere. In this context, people regard mental illness as the possession of a demon or the devil controlling one’s spirit.
Today, we go to another pole, describing them as “children from the stars”, “lonely angels”, “genius”, “artists” and so on.
Some film and television works and books intensify this impression- Mental illness and genius are like the front and back of a coin . For example, in the movie “Rain Man”, Raymond with autism, knocked over a box of toothpicks, he could see the number at a glance; in the casino, he showed amazing card counting skills.
These glorified titles reduce demonization, but they also form a new stereotype: Put a layer of poetic, lyrical, and shining veil on the patients. We look at them through this veil , Feel beautiful and alienated, as if someone from another planet.
The pain of their real life, as a “fragile version” of human suffering, and their true appearance of existence, cannot be manifested in poetic style, but will continue to hide in the public’s cognitive dead end .
DSM-5 ASD diagnostic criteria
Some other symptoms are not covered by DSM-5.
Sleep disorders. ASD children often have serious problems in falling asleep, maintaining sleep, and establishing a predictable sleep-wake cycle, placing a huge burden on the daily life of the family.
Eating disorders. Many children with autism are unusually sensitive to food, which may lead to hyperreflexive vomiting or aversion to different food textures in sensitive mouth areas. This makes them extremely picky.
Attack tendency. Because language development is slow. (Note: This article does not apply to patients with Asperger’s syndrome. They do not have the problem of language development, but only the way of speaking. Special) , autistic people are frustrated because they cannot express their needs, making them cry, anger, and sometimes even aggressive. Children who do not understand language, do not understand what others want them to do, and do not care about what their peers are doing. They cannot socialize, participate in cooperation, or even disrupt.
Strong and elusive mood swings
The tendency to wander or run away alone. Children may run away as soon as they leave the house, not knowing the dangers of leaving adults, running around in the street, or crossing the parking lot. Such children may also find ways to escape the classroom or school. If they are overstimulated by vision, sound, and people, they will “collapse” when faced with these emotionally stimulating situations.
Self-attack. Usually with a tantrum, young children may attack themselves by hitting, beating, biting, or scratching themselves.
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This is the true look of them and the family behind them. A large number of patients are accompanied by mental retardation and need family care throughout their lives. The long and hard-working guardian, who is frightened every day, is an experience for families with autism.
And Highly intelligent people with autism are just a few of them.
In his speech, Qiu Zilong said that “genius” is not a gift of disease, and talented people are only a minority group in disease.
At the same time, they also have their own unique vulnerability. For patients with higher intelligence, they are often Asperger syndrome patients, that is, people who we often think of as “geniuses”. Risk is much higher .
A Swedish study showed that Autistic patients with IQs above or above the average were more than twice as likely to be addicted to alcohol or drugs as their peers. Also suffering from ADHD
Because it is widely believed that addiction is uncommon in autistic groups, the discovery in Sweden has surprised many people.
Investigate the reasons, first of all, Some autistic patients experience stronger anxiety and stress . They either can’t get happiness and relaxation from social activities, or they find interpersonal communication very difficult, and they are under tremendous psychological pressure. These factors make it easier for them to seek comfort through addictive substances.
Second, Impulsiveness (but the impulsive behavior of the brain) and forcing (can’t stop once it starts) They are self-control issues, they are successful The risk of addiction is highly relevant. In people with autism, impulse and compulsion are both.
Finally, there may be a genetic link between addiction and autism.
They are prone to problems, but they are difficult to treat-the common treatment for addiction is group therapy, and for them with social difficulties, they must find another way.
Autistic people are more likely to fall into the mire of negative emotions because of their illness.
Another misconception is that autistic children cannot empathize and are therefore very cold or even cold-blooded.
The name “Star Child” also hints at this somewhat: they and healthy people are the lives of the two planets and it is difficult to understand each other.
In Qiu Zilong’s speech, he introduced the concept of “theory of mind”: People know that there may be different beliefs, wishes and emotions behind the actions of others. Most people with autism lack a theory of mind.
It looks like “Can’t empathize”? It starts with the concept of empathy.
There are two types of empathy: emotional empathy and cognitive empathy. Emotional empathy is “same empathy”, just as the emotions of others “infect” themselves: when others are sad, they are also sad, others are happy, and they are also happy together. The “theory of mind”, that is, the ability of ASD patients lacked by Qiu Zilong, is cognitive empathy, which is a kind of rational understanding.
Children who are one or two years old already have the ability to empathize
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These two abilities can be separated, that is, one person can understand the other person ’s beliefs and emotions rationally while empathizing with others; one person can also deeply understand the other person ’s beliefs, situations, emotions, and ability. Appropriately depicted, but at the same time not infected by this emotion, no common sorrow and joy.
Because there is no theory of mind, autistic patients often encounter difficulties in socializing. However, their emotional empathy is normal, even higher than normal people.
It is because I found that there are some unexpected facts about autism: for example, autism can empathize; for example, only 50% of autism has alexithymia (can’t recognize one’s and others’ emotional experiences) , Jeff Boulder, Professor of Psychology, Oxford University (Geoff Bird) to study alexithymia in healthy people. (Note: Lack of amorous ability is not a disease, but a trait, which is quite common among us.)
At the same time, he also found that Due to the stereotype of “the autistic is cold and unable to empathize”, some patients run into a wall in the society and are discriminated against.
“There is a cute guy whose IQ is too high to be measured-to such an extent. He couldn’t find a long-term job, but signed up for a nursing home as a volunteer because he wanted to use his time Do something meaningful. The hospital said, ‘Oh, because you have been diagnosed with autism and you have no empathy, you cannot take care of the elderly.’ This is ridiculous.
How do we accept them?
The real autism is a contradictory and complex group-they do n’t understand our passions like the people on the other planet, we can even communicate with them, but because of the lack of language skills, There are indeed obstacles to communicating with them;
They are not “genius” because of “crazy” like in film and television works and stereotypes, but some of them do have extraordinary intelligence and achievements-just a small part.
The only thing we can be sure of is: They are “fragile” humans, like us, but with a debuff . Some people have a light debuff, othersPeople are heavy, but no matter what kind of people, they all pay a lot more than us to integrate into society.
Finally, it must lead to a question: How do we accept them?
We already know that they are much more vulnerable than our ordinary people. They need social help, from money to the environment, from medical support to social ideas.
The following three talks talk about different aspects of help.
“Every 68 children born is autistic. What should society do? Accept them? 》
Qiu Zilong, researcher of Institute of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences, deputy director of State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience
This talk talked about the history of the scientific development of autism, the relationship between autism and genes, and finally turned to the issue of social acceptance.
Qiu Zilong, a researcher at the Institute of Neuroscience of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, mentioned a very meaningful view: We can treat the symptoms of autism as a personality trait, like introversion and extroversion. They do n’t like social or narrow interests, it ’s not a defect, it ’s just a feature—just like some of us like bungee jumping, some of us like reading, we human beings are diverse; this diversity, Made the wonderful thing about our species.
I ’m unique, just like everyone else: I ’m different, just like everyone . Everyone is different. We don’t need to change him completely. What we need to do is accept them, help them, and love them.
“Everyone must keep that kind of power in their hearts”
Miao Shiming, founder of WABC Barrier-Free Arts
Miao Shiming is an art practitioner who graduated from Yangmei. By chance, he noticed this neglected group of people with mental disorders, and he was surprised to find that they had such a rich inner world and delicate emotions. They can express it with a little guidance, but they lack this channel.
So he decided to make this channel. “I think I can do something and accompany them to continue painting. They will express their emotions. They are not just lunatics. They are conscious and have their own feelings, but you do n’t understand, or you Can’t understand. “
He finds one child after another and guides them to draw the inner world. These children with severe language barriers and behavioral control problems have an amazing world.
We were surprised precisely because we forgot that they are the same as ours. How big our inner world is, how big they are.
However, we often lose the original power, but their isolated heart is preserved.
Seeing their paintings, the power in our hearts is also called, and we wake up again.
“Baby, mother only wants to live one more day than you”
Dai Rong, Chairman of the Parents’ Federation of the Mental Handicapped, Chairman of Yangai Special Children Parents Club, Professional Manager
Dai Rong is the mother of children with autism. From her realization that autism has no cure, its cause is unknown, and her heart-wrenching despair has been tormenting her all the time.
She is a brave person. She chose to send her children to ordinary schools to get along with ordinary people and learn.
Autistic children often cannot stay in school when they reach the third or fourth grade. And her child was fortunate to have not only completed the sixth grade of elementary school, but also completed 9 years of compulsory education, special education classes for vocational high schools, and enlightenment classes.
Her son can now independently cook a few side dishes, deliver courier, wash dishes and clothes, and draw pictures. She also learned to use the public facilities of the community and take a bus to go to the barber independently.
In this process, it is a challenge for ordinary children and for autistic children. Ordinary children must learn to accept a special classmate and realize that “ Humans are imperfect, humans are all different “.
This challenging character, her child succeeded, and her child’s school, teacher, classmates, too.
The social significance of this success is huge. It allows us to look at people with autism from a new perspective and to make the society realize that their potential is huge and they have the right to an equal education; The distance between a person and an autistic person is not so great at all, we can live together, adapt to each other, and accept each other.
Postscript
There is still a rough road to help the autistic community.
Medical professionals are given to do it. We ordinary people can at least do one thing— Start from ourselves, reduce prejudice, eliminate stereotypes, and accept them conceptually.
Changes in social attitudes do not happen overnight, but even a small step forwardFor this group, it is all comfort.
This article is from the WeChat public account: made (ID: xingshu100) , author: Cheng Rui