what we thought we knew about autism and... whatnot

'For decades, researchers had been measuring the wrong thing. Conflating communication style differences with empathy deficits produced dramatically inflated effect sizes and an illusion of empathy impairment'

#autism #actuallyAutistic #science #psychology

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/positively-different/202601/what-the-world-got-wrong-about-autistic-people

What the World Got Wrong About Autistic People

For decades, autism research compared autistic people to animals, denied them moral sensitivity, and assumed autistic traits made them miserable. All wrong.

Psychology Today

@oscarjiminy the conclusion echoes criticisms I've made of ADHD (and neurodivergent) characterization: so much of it is defined by what assessors think is a problem, not what the individual being assessed thinks is a problem.

My brother and I were both diagnosed with ADHD as adults. Looking back, the evidence was all there when we were younger but because neither of us "acted out" or noticeably struggled academically it wasn't brought up. Even the name, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, is biased towards the impact it has on others. My problem isn't that I lack attention, it's that I lack of control of attention. Sure, that makes it harder to concentrate sometimes, but it also means I miss meals or don't sleep because I can't interrupt myself. Not staying on task is what teachers care about though, so it is what gets focused on.