What does it mean to be autistic?

Answer 1

I'm autistic and I'll try to answer this for you, but try reading writing by other autistics for even more information. The autistics.org library is a good place to start. (I've used this answer before for the same question, so you may have seen it around Yahoo Answers in the past few days.) I use "we" and "us" to refer to the others in the autistic community and me. As far as I know, you aren't autistic.

Being autistic means that one has a neurological configuration different from the norm (those of us in the autistic community call non-autistics neurotypicals or NTs). It doesn't mean that one is wired defectively, just differently.

Our senses are different from NT senses: we tend to be either hypo- or hyper- sensitive to sensory stimuli of different sorts, have an increased incidence of synesthesia (a crossing between senses, to use an example from my experience, the ring of a telephone looks like a red spiraling corkscrew), have difficulty parsing speech (central auditory processing disorder), hear pitches that most people can't, and have difficulty reading text because of various visual processing issues collectively known as Irlen Syndrome. (Those aren't all of the sensory oddities autistics can have, just a few of the most common.) Some of our sensory sensitivities can put us at a disadvantage in a society designed for NTs - for example, many of us can see fluorescent flicker, which can result in anything from minor irritation, to headaches, to falling asleep. We do something called stimming, which includes things like flapping our hands, rocking back and forth, listening to the same piece of music repeatedly, and jumping up and down. This allows us to deal with sensory stimuli so that we don't become overloaded, and also lets us get the extra stimulation we may need. Lots of NTs try to stop us from stimming, but while bigots may dislike it, it's necessary for us to function in this world.

Most NTs and many autistics think that being autistic means that one has poor social skills and lacks empathy. In reality, we have autistic social skills and so have trouble interacting with NTs, but are usually just fine with other autistics. While NT social interaction generally takes the form of intrusive give and take interactions, we do better in parallel. We can be successful with NTs, so long as they are willing to do their half of the work to communicate with us, and we can have trouble interacting with other autistics if they have been trained to pretend to be NT or if we have not been allowed opportunities to interact with our own kind, but as a general rule we're better at interacting with other autistics, just as NTs are better at interacting with other NTs. We're also just fine at empathizing with other autistics, and no more lacking in empathy than neurotypicals. Most normal-brained people have difficulty empathizing with autistics. That's why they bully us, why they think that a particular therapy (ABA) that invalidates who we are and tries to replace us with a neurotypical person is helpful, and why they so often excuse the murder of autistics. (Not saying that all neurotypicals are like that, just that many are.)

We also tend to have 1-3 very intense interests, called perseverations. Mine is autism, specifically autistic advocacy, if you couldn't tell already. *g* These are a good thing, and we need to have time to focus on these interests. Monologuing on them isn't bad, in fact, it's one of the parts of natural autistic interaction. If one can't do that, though, it doesn't mean that they're non-autistic. I'm the same way with sharing my interests through speech, I learned to hide them from the time I was about 8 years old. I just don't consider that a good thing, since I would like to be able to discuss my perseverations in real life and not just online.

Oh, and we tend to have difficulties with spoken communication as well, though some of us are eventually fine with it. While some of us begin talking at the normal time, many are generally delayed, and some of us develop normally and then "regress." In the case of so-called regression, it is important to remember that we were always autistic and that we didn't just suddenly become autistic. Autistic developmental patterns follow different trajectories than NT development, and we tend to experience skill shifts throughout our lives. We're almost always better with text than with speech and usually have trouble with telephones. We have trouble with the figurative language that NTs use, often have trouble with slang, are straightforward in our words, and are often echolalic, meaning that we repeat things that we've heard over and over again.

So far, it seems that autism is genetic - our parents tend to have autistic traits themselves, and we usually have relatives on the autistic spectrum. Autism is not mercury poisoning, and not food allergies. We are more prone to things like allergies than NTs, and we may act differently when those allergies are treated, but we're still just as autistic as we were.

Also, I highly recommend reading all the way through www.gettingthetruthout.org and reading some of the entries in ballastexistenz.autistics.org. You'll both get more information on autism and learn that autistics, even those designated "low-functioning" (I don't believe that functioning labels are useful myself) don't necessarily want to be cured.

Answer 2

Autism his a very broad spectrum..there is no one easy definition.
This may help you:

Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder: its symptoms include differences and disabilities in many areas including social communication skills, fine and gross motor skills, and sometimes even intellectual skills.

Autism is also a “spectrum disorder.” In basic terms, this means you can be a little autistic or very autistic. At the highest end of the spectrum is Asperger Syndrome, sometimes called “The Little Professor” syndrome. At at the lowest end of the spectrum is the disorder that’s most often called “classic autism,” which often includes mental retardardation. In between are a variety of pervasive developmental disorders including Rett syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder, and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS).

Not only is autism a spectrum disorder, but recent studies suggest that there may be more than one type of autism. While some autistic people have additional symptoms such as gastrointestinal issues, seizures and even mental illness, others have no such symptoms. The jury is still out on the question of "many autisms," though, so for now the term "autism spectrum" covers a very wide set of differences and disabilities.

Answer 3

Autism is a neurological disorder most distinctive in the person's difficulty in social interaction, verbal communication, sensory defensiveness, and so on.

What does it mean in terms of living life? It means that it's hard to go out shopping because you're overloaded by the input of sights sounds and smells so much that you can't use your body. It means that sometimes when you're overwhelmed you need to use self-stimulatory behavior to reset your nervous system. It means that very rarely will you live on your own, or drive a car, or do other things that make you socially successful.

It means that when you have trouble in public, someone will definitely stop your mother and tell her she needs to beat her kid. It means that people give you dirty looks when you can't control your rocking or hand flapping. It means that you're four times likely to not be able to get a job, regardless of your college diploma, and twice as likely to lose one when your coworkers find you hard to get along with.

It means that you give your mother a much greater gift the first time you say mama. It means that you work twice as hard as anyone else to learn the steps to cleaning your room, but your family celebrates twice as long when you learn to read. It means that God has a bigger plan for every person who comes along in your life and learns to love you and help you succeed.

Does that help?

Answer 4

It means you're withdrawn from other people and most of them have low IQ because they can't be tested. Difference between autistic and dorks-

dorks just don't have many friends but they can communicate right and autistic people can't even talk to their family

Answer 5

Autism is a developmental disability that impacts normal development of the brain in the areas in social interactions and communication skills.

Answer 6

Well first, it's not something you are, it's something you have. It's a developmental disability. Too much to explain on here, but here are some sites that might help:

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.htm
http://www.autism-society.org/site/PageServer
http://www.autismweb.com/

Answer 7

i know that they are very good at some form of art they dont talk much and very seperated from other children they usually put them on medicines and some times they are in certain classes .
i know that they are very smart. though but they dont say much to show it and they know alot more and in whatever art form whether it be real art or music or crafts or writing .
they are are very good at whatever it is

Answer 8

been autistic is not been able to communicate and relate to people.