Anonymous OP 5w

These weren’t quirks; they were survival roles. Humanity needed multiple cognitive styles or we wouldn’t be here. For the first time, I’m not just tolerating my brain. I actually love it. Autism was never a flaw. It was a strategy.

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Anonymous OP 5w

This reads just like a motivational ai-generated caption from an inspirational insta page. 😂 just what I first noticed but Love the message. I hope I will feel that way too.

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Anonymous #1 5w

What? This is a Dual Neurocognitive Coevolution Theory…. Basically humanity is a multi-cognition species, not a single-cognition species.

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Anonymous #1 5w

That’s actually a little insulting… I’m not trying to say oh my God you should feel better about yourself. I am saying autistic brains are just as valuable and Neurotypical brains not because a human life matters but because our brain wiring literally is the only reason we survived that ice age why certain societies did not collapse like if you look at ancient Mesopotamia they were so focused on social rules like human sacrifices and that’s why some sociologist

7

Anonymous OP 5w

An anthropologist believe their societies collapsed

4

Anonymous OP 5w

Valuable as neurotypicals*

3

No, I think about this very deeply actually. Humans have tried time and time again to figure out what makes us different from other mammals, what causes autism or leads to it, what it can do whatever. But autism has probably been around since humans have been around. Some form of the common cold is older than humans, if we want to talk about evolutionary trajectory, yet colloquially we think of it as a human illness. Evolution is not survival of the fittest, it’s just evolution

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Maybe you just don’t know enough abt how evolution actually works, if you want to talk about intelligent design just say that. But evolution has no purpose, advantage, or value, we just exist and we have to cope with that

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Anonymous #2 5w

This isn’t to say that autistic people haven’t contributed to like, humanity, by being a part of it. I’m not saying this to devalue or discourage the point that autism can be a good thing for some people but like? When we get in this train it can become an expectation of autistic people to justify our existence and it hurts the people who can’t do those things. Thats why Asperger’s was a seperate diagnosis for a long time. It was coined by a Nazi scientist trying to determine who should die.

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Anonymous #2 5w

Autism is a neurological developmental disorder like all other neurological disorders it is a condition that causes lifelong disabilities.

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Anonymous #3 5w

Is this meant to be a response to me or to op

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Anonymous #2 5w

OP who clearly thinks having a disorder is some kind of superpower not knowing that their delusion is yet another symptom of their disorder.

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Anonymous #3 5w

Ok Ty I wasn’t sure with the wording. I wouldn’t call this a delusion but I’m thinking abt it too literally probably, it’s just something I see come up with autism as a super power when it like…. Isn’t lol. Pattern recognition can be an advantage sometimes but not always. There’s pros and cons to having it but none of us had a choice in the matter. Yeah anyway I’m gonna stop typing before I lose track of the point

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Anonymous OP 5w

Not really as valuable as us since we need to make societal adjustments in order to support and accommodate you.

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Anonymous #3 5w

“Support and accommodate you” bestie you’re in this community too???

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Anonymous #4 5w

I’m just here for the low hanging fruit.

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Anonymous #3 5w

well i will say that the DSM-V only really classifies things as disorders if they interfere with daily functioning, so in our western capitalist world autism is a developmental disorder yes.

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Anonymous #3 5w

Fuck off, then.

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Anonymous #5 5w

Even outside of western capitalist society autism would still be a disability for me. In some ways it may be better but in some ways it would absolutely be worse. I would have social challenges no matter where and when I lived. As for the distant past: I'm not good in the sun and heat, which would be significantly worse without modern ac and sunglasses. I don't have extreme food issues but I do have a more limited diet which would be a major hindrance when food is scarce. And many more examples

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Anonymous #6 5w

yes i agree with a lot of what ur saying, but you’re comparing it to your current western lifestyle baseline. you’d absolutely be more heat tolerant and food tolerant if it was the distant past, if you never experienced AC or your current comfort foods

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Anonymous OP 5w

I agree that neurodivergent minds are just as valuable as neurotypical ones, but your theory is entirely wrong and misrepresenting human history. There's nowhere near enough evidence to say that autism is the only reason humans have survived this long. Idk where you heard the mesopotamia thing but it's wrong; civilizations don't collapse for just one reason and climate factors plus invasions from other societies are largely why mesopotamian "collapsed"

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Anonymous #6 5w

Also, allistics are not the only ones with social rules. Autistic people absolutely have social rules too, they're just different from allistic social rules. So (putting aside the fact that it's not even true), using a society which collapsed because of social rules as evidence that neurodivergent minds are essential to society is just plain wrong.

7

Anonymous OP 5w

And unless you made up your own term, you seem to be using "dual neurocognitive coevolution theory" entirely incorrectly. The only research article I can find using a similar term is about how tool behavior and language evolved together

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Anonymous #5 5w

So that's not true at all. Food maybe but heat absolutely not. I've lived in a hot climate my entire life and have never adjusted to the heat, because it's a physiological response in my body.

3

Anonymous #6 5w

I also grew up eating sushi all the time and now can't stand eating fish. And I doubt my eyes would be any less sensitive to sunlight if I didn't wear sunglasses, because I never wore sunglasses for the first 19 years of my life because I didn't want to have to deal with wearing two pairs of glasses together and I didn't know prescription sunglasses existed. I spent those 19 years squinting any time I was out in the sun and it never improved

0

Anonymous #3 5w

It’s only classified as a disorder in our modern setting.

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Anonymous #3 5w

The only reason there are “accommodations” for us is because neurotypicals created a society fit for cookie cutter lifestyles.

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Anonymous #8 5w

That’s not to say neurodivergence of any sort is an evolutionary mistake though (that’s a stupid concept anyway) or that there’s no merit to the idea of neurodivergence being a necessity for evolution because like diversity of the gene pool and all that. But if you’re going to argue autism is a survival tool you have to explain how high support needs autistics fit into your theory.

2

Anonymous #6 5w

yes, but you have had the option of air conditioning your entire life. you’re only very sensitive to heat because there is the option of air conditioning. if AC didn’t exist, your body would adapt. you may be heat sensitive in terms of seasons but autism is very much so a dislike of change. you’re only super heat sensitive now because you’re going from AC to the summer heat. big difference if there is no AC at all

2

Anonymous #5 5w

But I feel like that argument fails when you look at my light sensitivity. I used to never wear sunglasses and I still have light sensitivity that didn't go away with repeated exposure to light. So I don't think you can say for sure that I wouldn't have heat sensitivity if I lived in a world without AC

1

Anonymous OP 4w

This is just simply not true.

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