Simon Brooke

OK, let's be clear about #Autism:

A majority of engineers, including software engineers, are #ActuallyAutistic; I suspect a majority of architects and people who invent new stuff generally are; many people in the creative arts are.

Without #Autism, we would have no culture, and very few machines of any kind at all.

Autism is not a disease: it is an essential component of a healthy society, and should be celebrated as such.

(Yes, I am ANGRY about this)

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-review-into-mental-health-conditions-adhd-and-autism-terms-of-reference/independent-review-into-mental-health-conditions-adhd-and-autism-terms-of-reference#scope

Independent review into mental health conditions, ADHD and autism: terms of reference

GOV.UK
Dec 8 at 8:54amWeb
Show threadSimon BrookeDec 8

I'd hazard that a majority of mathematics, physics and chemistry researchers are also #ActuallyAutistic.

In fact, here's a research proposal for anyone who's interested: recruit a group of STEM academics with highly cited papers and another with few cited papers; equal groups of humanities academics with highly cited and few cited papers; and a random control group.

Put each member of each group through a standard #autism diagnostic test.

My hypothesis >>>

Show threadSimon BrookeDec 8

My hypothesis is that you would find:

High cited STEM academics, > 50% #Autistic;

Lower cited STEM academics and high cited humanities academics, 25% to 50% autistic;

Lower cited humanities academics, 10% to 30% autistic;

Control, 2% to 5% autistic.

Prove me wrong -- if you can!

#Autism
#ActuallyAutistic

Show threadMartin Vermeer (not Jesus)Dec 9

@simon_brooke

Plausible.

It all started with 'The Geek Syndrome' by Steve Silberman, who died last year.

https://www.wired.com/2001/12/aspergers/

The Geek Syndrome

Autism - and its milder cousin Asperger's syndrome - is surging among the children of Silicon Valley. Are math-and-tech genes to blame?

WIRED
Show threadMartin Vermeer (not Jesus)Dec 9
@simon_brooke I will add that many other kinds of 'deviancy', like left-handedness, gayness (Silberman was gay) etc. etc. also persist in the population because they often confer a selective advantage - if only present as a minority. Left-handedness, e.g., is advantageous in duel-type sports like tennis and fencing, while often being a slight disadvantage in a right-handed world.
Show threadAdam CafollaDec 8

@simon_brooke

One of these things is not like the others...

We only care about helping people so long as it makes them able to work and support capitalism.

Show threadDr Craig DalȝellDec 8
@simon_brooke I was very disappointed with a recent Scottish Government briefing on "neurodivergence in the workplace" (which, admittedly, I can't easily find now) which focused entirely on "Managers: How to better manage your autisic workers" rather than helping the workers in employment or even about helping people with neurodivergences start and run businesses.
Show threadSimon BrookeDec 8
@thecommongreen Indeed. It's my observation -- which may be biased by the fact I've worked in software most of my life -- that most business founders are also #ActuallyAutistic.
Show threadBrendan HalpinDec 8
@simon_brooke I recently happened across a copy of Nevil Shute's Trustee from the Toolroom, and re-read it. Quite a few neuro-divergent characters, before the term was invented! (Main character a fitter/engineer obsessed with making fine miniature working models.)
Show threadSimon BrookeDec 8

@bthalpin Exactly. Before #Autism had a name, it was widely recognised as a superpower. Now, it's being treated as though it was a disease.

And how much creative talent are we WASTING by pushing #ActuallyAutistic children through conventional education, and thence into life-long mental health problems or onto 'benefits'?

Show threadPatternChaserDec 8

@simon_brooke I agree with most of what you say, but over-stating our case leads to the unwashed masses ignoring what's been said. 😢

E.g. I spent 40+ years as a Software Designer, and I can attest that we (autists or NDers) are not in the "majority". The "majority" of humans are allistic, even in software or architecture.

#Autism
#ADHD
#AuDHD
#neurodiversity

Show threadSimon BrookeDec 8
@PatternChaser I've spent forty years in AI labs, in engineering oriented software, in the early days of web backends, and even briefly in banking treasury systems; and all I can say is my experience is very different from yours.
Show threadTim WhitemoreDec 8
@simon_brooke @PatternChaser I spent 35 years in IT, including 5 at an autistic charity. The majority of engineers are not autistic
Show threadPatternChaserDec 8

@TimWhitemore @simon_brooke

I suppose the useful point here is that there are ENOUGH of us in Software to make a difference! 😃 Maybe a few more than in the general population? 👍

The rest is just "yes it is", "no, it isn't", and "behind you!!" 😂

Show threadTim WhitemoreDec 8
@PatternChaser @simon_brooke I have worked with several autistic folk - all very good I have to say
Show threadHeddersDec 8
@simon_brooke the thing that pisses me off is that it took until well into my fifth decade to put a name to why I was different, what was “wrong” with me, and why I was never quite able to fit in anywhere, and to understand that I’m not just defective or of weak character or whatever as I’d previously been lead to believe. And now here’s the government, in essence, telling me to stop being silly and buck up.
Show threadDany Dec 8
@simon_brooke I am convinced that the Cass report was just testing the waters.
Show threadPiers CawleyDec 8
@simon_brooke I've said it before, and I'm sure I'll say it again, but the very idea of neurotypicality is a tool of patriarchal control.
Show threadDouglas Edwards Dec 8
@simon_brooke I swear, the fascists hate us (#autistics) the way they hate trans people. And the fascist "Labour" government of the #UK is hell-bent on mimicking #USA fascism. It isn't enough to hand out 30-month prison sentences for nonviolent protest. They have to mimic #BrainWormsJr and his crusade against #neurodivergence as well.
Show threadJürgen HubertDec 9

@dedicto @simon_brooke

This is merely the latest round in long-entrenched narratives supporting ableism and eugenics.

https://sunkencastles.com/2025/10/27/a-long-history-of-ableism-the-changeling-narrative/

A Long History of Ableism – The Changeling Narrative – Sunken Castles, Evil Poodles

Show threadDouglas Edwards Dec 9
@juergen_hubert @simon_brooke And it's remarkable how they always reframe ancient myth as if it were the latest scientific discovery!
Show threadJürgen HubertDec 9

@dedicto @simon_brooke

I've come to the conclusion that such beliefs cannot be opposed merely by presenting the facts. We really need to understand how such narratives form and spread, and the study of folklore is very helpful for providing such a perspective.

Show threadJo - pièce de résistanceDec 9

@dedicto @simon_brooke

They hate us the way they hate journalists, whistleblowers, truth seekers & tellers.
They hate us the way they hate the young child who said “The Emperor has no clothes!” & made everyone see the vain foolishness of the Emperor, the wickedness of capitalists using him, & the pandering submission & silence of the people. They hate us as breakers of spells.
They hate us as canaries in coal mines, warning of danger.
They hate us as they hated prophets throughout history.

Show threadDud (Mx)Dec 9
@simon_brooke What do you think the odds are that, if the report says "Actually, we're UNDER diagnosing these conditions!", it mysteriously vanishes?
Show threadElisabeth MDec 9
@simon_brooke I have a theory that we wouldn't have writing without autists. Here's why--the first written systems weren't phonetic; they were syllabaries. While there's only a couple dozen sounds in any language, there are thousands of syllables. Most people can memorize a phonetic alphabet of a couple dozen letters. But who, I ask you, is going to memorize a couple thousand? Autists, that's who. Phonetics were an innovation built upon (contingent upon!) those earlier, unwieldy progenitors
Show threadAntti Peltola ⁂Dec 9

@simon_brooke

They're looking to kill off people claiming disability benefits. Not by shipping us to death camps but by stopping benefit payments which is a death sentence if you're not able to work.

Show threadDashDec 9

@simon_brooke I'd broaden what you said from 'autism' to 'divergent neurotypes', but yes.

I wrote this in another thread recently:

"Start from the premise that divergent neurotypes have existed through history and as a much higher proportion of humans than we have suspected until recently.

Question what it is about human society over the last five, ten, twenty plus years that has made it harder and harder for this part of humanity to fit into."

That's a sensible question for a review.

Show threadSimon BrookeDec 10
@dash I'm not sure that modern society *is* worse for neurodivergents than earlier European societies; I think we'd probably still have been misfits. In peasant societies my dyslexia might not have been a problem because literacy wouldn't be expected, but other aspects of my divergence would have. In history there were a lot of 'village idiots', 'recluses' and other misfits. Probably many of these were folk we'd now recognise as autistic.
Show threadSimon BrookeDec 10
@dash I wonder whether, in medieval society, there were some occupations in which neurodivergents clustered, such as perhaps masons, millwrights and smiths, as we do now in STEM occupations?
Show threadDashDec 10

@simon_brooke Yeah, more complicated than the thing I actually said.

Yes as a society we are (probably) less likely to leave people with high support needs out for the wolves/confine them to institutions. Less likely to burn people as witches.

Undoubtably better off in the last decade in terms of the information and community available to individuals.

But...

Show threadDashDec 10

@simon_brooke In the more specific context of "You are health minister in 2025" you might choose to question:

- Whether 15 years or so of the government kicking people's support structures and safety margins out from under them might be a contributing factor in shifting people from "yeah I can do this" to "I need to pursue a medical diagnosis and additional support".

- If a Labour government with a huge fucking majority might be able to do something about that.

But nah, overdiagnosis