Feb 18

Abraham Lincoln as a Candidate for the Autism Hall of Fame

Today is a federal holiday. Officially, it is Washington’s Birthday. As the federal Office of Personnel Management states:

This holiday is designated as “Washington’s Birthday” in section 6103(a) of title 5 of the United States Code, which is the law that specifies holidays for Federal employees. Though other institutions such as state and local governments and private businesses may use other names, it is our policy to always refer to holidays by the names designated in the law.

When I was a schoolboy, we had two holidays in February, Lincoln’s Birthday on the 12th, and Washington’s Birthday on the 22nd. February was such a dreary month it was nice to get a couple of days off to play in the snow during daylight hours. The two holidays were combined in 1968, and the name “Washington’s Birthday” was retained, although the popular name for the day became “President’s Day.”

From what I can gather, George Washington is hardly being mentioned today; the holiday seems to be all about Abraham Lincoln. Which is fine with me. Lincoln has always been one of my favorite historical characters. I guess by the time I found out the the story of him chopping down a cherry tree is a myth, I was old enough to be okay with that. Oh, wait! That was George Washington. Never mind.

Years ago, I read Gore Vidal’s historical novel, Lincoln, and was fascinated by it. More recently, I read (or, more accurately, listened to the audio version of) Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, by Doris Kearns Goodwin, and a few weeks ago I saw the Spielberg movie Lincoln, based on part of the book.

In the years between Vidal’s Lincoln and Spielberg’s Lincoln, I learned that I am autistic. As I have learned more about what that means, and what sets me apart, I have watched, listened to, befriended, and corresponded with many autistic people. I am familiar with the diagnostic criteria, of course, but to me, those do not capture the essence of what it is like to be autistic. I have developed my own set of markers, based on what I have observed among all the autistic people I have met, witnessed, or read about. Generalizations are always dangerous, and intuition is sometimes a poor substitute for a rigorous evaluation. Still, when I see someone (even historical figures like Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln — who were, incidentally, born on the same day in 1809) whose manner, habits, skills, and interests form parallels with my own and with autistic people I know, I can’t help but wonder. As I study them, perhaps I am looking for the evidence I want to see, but it is wonderful fun to speculate about this anyway.

In Lincoln’s case, my suspicions were only reinforced by the Spielberg movie, but of course it’s hard to know how much was based on historical reality and how much was simply speculation. Today, thanks to the miracle of Twitter, I encountered an excerpt from a long-ago account by a writer who had known Lincoln fairly well. The observations are first-hand and contemporary, and they validate many of Lincoln’s essential qualities that have lived on in myth and history books.

In addition, I heard a radio program in which Lincoln’s second inaugural address was read and analyzed. There were many snippets of the conversation that reinforced my prior belief that Lincoln was autistic. The most striking one, to me, was the mention of Lincoln as being “melancholic” or depressive. Harold Holzer, the scholar who was discussing Lincoln, held out that Lincoln could not have possibly been severely depressed or he could not have accomplished all that he did. He said that he had written as much in the Washington Post in a short piece he was asked to pen on what were the five most untrue myths about Lincoln. Holzer said the response amazed him. He received many long, thoughtful letters from people who said they suffered from severe depression but managed to have a career, raise a family, and otherwise carry on a seemingly normal life. This is a common story that many autistic people, including me, can tell. All of that, of course, doesn’t prove that Lincoln was autistic, but it is consistent with being autistic. Almost every autistic person I know (if we have discussed this topic) has suffered at least one major period of depression.

If that’s all there were, I would not have bothered to write this post, but there is much, much more. In the article I mentioned, from the archives of The Atlantic, many of the descriptions of Lincoln sound like many of the autistic people I know; so much so that he is almost a parody of the stereotype. Here are a few tidbits, lifted from the first-person accounts of journalist Henry Villard. I offer them without further commentary, though I will undoubtedly circle back to this theme in some of my future blog posts, and I have already explored some of this in posts about me, Steve Jobs, and others.

As far as all external conditions were concerned, there was nothing in favor of Lincoln. He had a lean, lank, indescribably gawky figure, an odd-featured, wrinkled, inexpressive, and altogether uncomely face. He used singularly awkward, almost absurd, up-and-down and sidewise movements of his body to give emphasis to his arguments. His voice was naturally good, but he frequently raised it to an unnatural pitch.

 

I must say frankly that, although I found him most approachable, good-natured, and full of wit and humor, I could not take a real personal liking to the man, owing to an inborn weakness for which he was even then notorious and so remained during his great public career. He was inordinately fond of jokes, anecdotes, and stories. He loved to hear them, and still more to tell them himself out of the inexhaustible supply provided by his good memory and his fertile fancy. There would have been no harm in this but for the fact that, the coarser the joke, the lower the anecdote, and the more risky the story, the more he enjoyed them, especially when they were of his own invention.

 

I was present almost daily for more or less time during his morning receptions. I generally remained a silent listener, as I could get at him at other hours when I was in need of information … The most remarkable and attractive feature of those daily “levees,” however, was his constant indulgence of his story-telling propensity. Of course, all the visitors had heard of it and were eager for the privilege of listening to a practical illustration of his preëminence in that line. He knew this, and took special delight in meeting their wishes …

 

No one who heard him talk upon the [secession] question could fail to discover his “other side,” and to be impressed with his deep earnestness, his anxious contemplation of public affairs, and his thorough sense of the extraordinary responsibilities that were coming upon him.

Feb 17

Massachusetts Disability/Autism Advocates Update on Legislation

I am a member of the AANE Advocacy Committee, and that committee is now following a fairly large number of bills that are before the Massachusetts General Court.

Two of the bills are ones that we helped introduce (description and links at the end of this post). These and three others have been designated as legislative priorities by AFAM:

  1. An Act establishing an integrated confidential data system among state agencies to track diagnosis, treatment, services and outcome of individuals with autism
  2. An Act to promote housing creation… (evidently not yet assigned a bill number)
  3. An Act to increase capacity to address the complex needs of students with autism (the “autism endorsement” for teachers) 

In addition, there are several other bills of interest, and the Committee has not yet decided how or whether to actively support these (and others). Many of the bills mentioned in this post exist in identical forms in both the House and the Senate, and will presumably get combined. Most bills have been assigned to Committees, but very few hearing dates have as yet been set.

And this only scratches the surface of bills that relate to disabilities and to increasing revenue for the programs we care about. It’s going to be a busy year!

We had a hand in crafting two bills alluded to at the beginning of this post (and which I described in some detail in an earlier post):

Bill H.78

Referred to Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities & Bill S.908 Referred to Joint Committee on Mental Health and Substance Abuse

An Act to permit the Department of Developmental Services provide services to adults with developmental disabilities

Bill H.1794 & Bill S.909 Referred to Joint Committee on Mental Health and Substance Abuse

An Act to ensure full and equal access to services from the Department of Mental Health for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder and related conditions who otherwise meet the eligibility criteria for the Department of Mental Health Services

 

Feb 15

Protect Our Benefits: Ask Your Member of Congress to Sign This Letter to the President

Dear President Obama:

We join millions of Americans in applauding your Inaugural Address declaration that “we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future.”

Democrats have built the most popular government programs in American history – including Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security — by working with Republicans whenever possible and by defeating Republican opposition whenever necessary. The torch has been passed to today’s elected officials, and we must carry it forward boldly.

Voters across the political spectrum oppose cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security benefits, and we must do whatever it takes to protect these vital benefits from cuts.

That’s why we write to let you know that we will vote against any and every cut to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security benefits — including raising the retirement age or cutting the cost of living adjustments that our constituents earned and need.

We firmly believe that the best way to reduce our deficit and make our economy grow is to create jobs, and we look forward to a returned focus on this core issue.

We also know that there are common-sense reforms that would reduce health-care costs and save taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars without cutting benefits. If Republicans oppose these reforms, and insist on benefits cuts, that proves they are not concerned about the deficit – but instead are trying to tear the social safety net and cause pain for our constituents who can least absorb it.

Finally, Americans agree that there is more that must be done to require the rich and giant corporations to pay their fair share. Indeed, it is their patriotic duty to do so.

As you negotiate with Republicans, you deserve to know that millions of Americans and the below signed Members of Congress stand ready to fight for the principles listed above.

Sincerely,

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL)

Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA)

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN)

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL)

Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA)

Rep. George McGovern (D-MA)

Rep. Rick Nolan (D-MN)

Rep. Jose Serrano (D-NY)

Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY)

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY)

Rep. John Conyers (D-MI)

Feb 10

Double Delight at Jiminy

I had a doubly wonderful experience today at Jiminy Peak. The conditions were absolutely spectacular. The only things I didn’t like were the crowds (well, it was a weekend, after all, which I usually avoid, but the forecast for tomorrow is for yuck — the “r” word-that-shall-not-be-spoken), and the pesky clumps of white fluffy stuff in the middle of the trails.

I mean, what were all those people doing on my trails??? And those lift lines! Nearly a 5-minute wait, turning what is usually a 10-minute roundtrip into a 15-minute trip. Imagine, only 4 runs per hour! Oh, the indignities I endure!

And, gosh, there was so much of that loose frozen stuff that it was hard to find the ice. I didn’t really mind, though, except that it was more work than I’m used to, turning on those piles of fluff instead of skating on a hardpack surface, but, ah well! By the end of the day, my legs were sore, but it sure was fun.

I mostly stuck to the black trails, unless I inadvertently ended up on a blue one. (There is something odd about ski areas having black & blue as their color codes.) I do have to admit I “sat down” a couple of times. (I refuse to call it “falling” when I just lose an edge and my balance and have my legs go out from under me.) There was one time on Jericho (their only double-diamond trail) when I have to admit my sit-down became a bit more elaborate. Instead of my usual slip, sit-down, get-up-quickly routine; I lost an edge in the midst of a steep, huge expanse of nothing-to-stop-my-slide area, found myself spinning around and sliding head-first, hugging the mountain for about 20 yards. Still, it was no big deal, and when I finally encountered some of that fluffy stuff, I jumped to my feet and pointed my skis straight down the hill to enjoy the rest of the run.

There came a time, despite the warm sunshine and gorgeous conditions, when I knew I should head home. My pass still had half an hour to run, but I knew that if I pressed my luck I might get injured; I was that tired from the thrill of it all. I slung my skis over my shoulder and headed to my car.

I had backed into a parking spot such that there was a huge snowbank behind me. I stuck my skis and my poles into that convenient holding spot and sat down on the back seat to remove my boots. As I finished that ritual, I looked up to see a woman eagerly eyeing my parking spot. Did I mention the area was crowded? There were still people arriving to ski, even though sunset was not that far away. I waved and smiled, and, obliging soul that I am, I got into my car and vacated the spot for her.

I live about half an hour from Jiminy, and when I got home, I spent a few minutes with my snow shovel, removing some of the snowbank around my mailbox to be sure the mail truck could get to it, and cleaning up the driveway a bit. I then went out and fed the horses; all of this while still soaking in the glorious sunshine.

I then went to take my boots and skis into the house. Wait! Boots, can do. Skis? Poles? Not in the car!

Ah, the image of them in that snowbank.

I ran through the options in my mind. The only one that made any sense was to get back in my car and get there as quickly as possible, hoping against hope that my equipment would still be there. I first ran into my house to grab my phone, which I had forgotten in the morning (hence no pictures of what I experienced on the mountain).

As I drove north (possibly a bit over the speed limit), I thought about the scenarios. In the end, I realized there were only two; either the skis were still there or they weren’t. If they were, easy. Put them in the car and go home. If they weren’t, there were many possibilities. Most of them unpleasant. I wondered if my homeowner’s insurance would pay for the replacement of stolen items. I mean, just because I left them unattended for an hour, if someone took them, that’s still stealing, right? “Sorry, we don’t cover stupidity,” would be the answer I would expect.

As I anxiously turned into the parking lot and approached the spot, my heart sank. They were gone!

I managed to find a nearby parking place, and headed up to the building complex to report my loss to Security. I didn’t know what else to do.

Along the way, I encountered a young man who was wearing a safety vest and sporting a walkie-talkie. He looked authoritative, so I approached him. I pointed back to where my car was and started to say, “I left my skis…” and before I could finish he smiled and said, “Customer Services!”

It turns out that he had, from afar, seen me drive away without my skis, and had taken it upon himself to bring them into the office. I shook his hand and thanked him profusely, but I never got his name so I could praise him to his employer.

What a doubly wonderful day!

And so, with a smile on my face and gratitude in my heart, I looked back up at the mountain and took some pictures. The lights were just coming on as the sun was setting.

Jiminy 20130210 0001

Feb 09

What Modern Technology Tells Us About Two Famous 19th-Century Brains

Maria Konnikova has posted a fascinating account of how recent brain scans of two preserved brains (one from 1861) has expanded our understanding of Broca’s aphasia. Along the way, she tells the story of the origins of what is today called cognitive neuroscience.

In 2007, a team of researchers led by Nina Dronkers, at the University of California, Davis, decided to reexamine the brains that [Broca] had carefully preserved.

To examine the extent of both the cortical and subcortical lesions of each brain, Dronkers’s team used high resolution volumetric MRI. What they saw was damage that went far further than Broca had suspected. In both cases, the lesions extended to the superior longitudinal fasciculus, a network of fibers that connects posterior and anterior language regions and had gone unobserved by Broca (he had made the decision to preserve the brain intact rather that slice it open).

Modern brain-imaging techniques (not just MRI) have revealed that the brain is a more complex organ than had been known. I discussed some of this in an earlier post. In addition, we know that brain plasticity makes it possible for different areas of the brain to take up, to some extent anyway, functions that are performed poorly (or not at all) when areas typically responsible for those functions are damaged by disease or accident. I have written a little about plasticity in this post and I touch on it briefly at the end of this post.

The important point here is that modern neuroscience has learned that early pioneers, like Broca, were perhaps overzealous in their attempts to pinpoint specific areas of the brain as controlling behavioral or cognitive outcomes. It is probably more accurate to say that complex functions, such as language or emotional regulation, involve several areas of the brain.

Our modern understanding does nothing to discredit the work of early researchers, who made brilliant discoveries without having access to any of the technology so commonly used today. Konnikova pays tribute in this way:

Still, the extent of Broca’s contribution to psychology and neuroscience can’t be underestimated. His work set the stage for much of what we now term cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology. Two major principles that now govern how we think about the brain—the localization and lateralization of function and the notion that an impairment in one area of cognition (i.e., language) as a result of brain damage does not necessarily signify a general impairment in intellect—are in large part a result of Broca’s pioneering work. … Without Broca, our understanding of language would not have likely evolved as quickly as it did—or have had as great an impact on the study of other cognitive processes.

Feb 03

RESCHEDULED! Reception for Ed Markey in the Berkshires for Tuesday, February 19

 

 

I am supporting Ed Markey in his bid to become the next US Senator from Massachusetts. He has a sterling track record on environmental issues and and has values and positions that are consonant with mine. I think his candidacy will appeal to Berkshire voters.

Ed Markey

Ed will be in Pittsfield on Friday, February 8, 2013. POSTPONED! because of the approaching major winter storm.

This reception has now been rescheduled for Tuesday, February 19, 2013 from 5 to 7 o’clock, at the ITAM Lodge, Waubeek Road in Pittsfield. Hors D’oeuvres will be provided.

Please RSVP ASAP to: Sheila@berkshirebrigades.org 

Here is information on Ed from his Congressional bio. Ed Markey has been endorsed by many individuals and organizations, including Progressive Massachusetts.

BB-Button

I hope to see many of my friends from the Berkshires and beyond at this reception, as we begin another exciting Senate campaign!

Feb 02

Ari Ne’eman: Stop blaming the ‘other’

A wonderful interview with Ari Ne’eman. He gives thoughtful, well-reasoned, and fact-based answers to questions about the false link between mental health and violent acts. A must read!

He talks to Al Jazeera’s Shihab Rattansi about the Newtown shooting and the role of mental illness in the US gun control debate.

Jan 25

Update on “Autistic Advocates & Allies! Can You Spare a Dime? (10 minutes)”

Update: SUCCESS!

The February 1 deadline has passed for seeking co-sponsors. At last count, the two bills had received the following number of petitioners in each chamber (percentage of all legislators is indicated in parens). The next step for us will be to prepare for hearings. Bill numbers will be assigned and the bills will be referred to the appropriate Committees. We are eager to continue to advocate for these measures.

  1. DDS eligibility (see the description below): House Docket 2945, Senate Docket 777. House 67 (42%), Senate 20 (50%), Total 87 (44%)
  2. DMH provision of services: House Docket 1658, Senate Docket 781. House 62 (39%), Senate 19 (48%), Total 81 (41%)

Needless to say, this is a strong showing. Many thanks to all who helped us bring these proposals to the attention of legislators.

Seeking Cosponsors for Two Autism Commission Recommendations

The Asperger’s Association of New England (AANE) has taken the lead in drafting and promoting two bills to implement the highest priority recommendations of the Massachusetts Special Commission Relative to Autism.

In a nutshell, these bills will

  1. Expand eligibility for services provided by the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) to include persons with developmental disabilities who have measurable functional limitations in several areas of essential life skills. Currently, DDS primarily serves those with an intellectual disability. This change will provide (subject to appropriation) much-needed assistance to autistic adults and others who are not now served.
  2. Require the Department of Mental Health (DMH) to provide their services to people with an autism diagnosis if they would otherwise qualify for and need DMH services. Currently, anyone with an autism diagnosis is automatically excluded from receiving DMH services, regardless of their need.

The rest of this post is an email that was sent out this week by Lucy Berrington, Chair of AANE’s Advocacy Committee, asking AANE members to help find cosponsors for these bills before the February 1 deadline.

If you are interested in autism or disability rights, we request your assistance, whether or not you are an AANE member.

Obviously, you will need to modify the sample letter if you are not an AANE member. Also, feel free (of course) to send an email or call legislators you know or have a connection to, even if you are not a constituent.

For those who are interested in more detail (or who want to share same with a legislator), the bills and fact sheets are all available here as pdf files. We have the DDS bill as it was introduced, a Fact Sheet on that DDS bill, and an annotated version that shows how the relevant statutes would be modified. Also, the DMH bill and its associated Fact Sheet.

Thank you so much for considering this request!

 

 

AANE Logo

Asperger’s Association of New England

To the entire AANE community in Massachusetts:

We need YOU to contact your state representative and senator ASAP! We have an exciting, unprecedented opportunity to pass legislation that would ensure services from DDS and DMH to our folks who have long been denied them. Please be sure to join this effort and support the two bills we’ve prepared.

The immediate need, prior to February 1, 2013 is to have as many legislators as possible co-sponsor our two bills. All the info is provided below. Your representative and senator need to hear from YOU before the end of this month (January 2013). Please do it now! Any questions, or for fact sheets on these bills, please email Lucy Berrington, chair of our Advocacy Committee: lucyberrington@rcn.com.)

Steps:

(1) If you are not sure who represents you in the Massachusetts State House and Senate, look up your address at www.wheredoivotema.com. Then scroll down the results to Current Elected Officials, including State Senate and State Representative. Click on their names to get their phone and email info.

(2) Send emails or make phone calls to BOTH your state senator and state representative requesting that they co-sponsor our two bills. Use the sample letter below for guidance, and personalize it with your story if you want to. Be sure to include the bill docket numbers, and your address.

If your representative is either Kay Khan or Garrett Bradley, or your senator is Jennifer Flanagan, they are the lead sponsors on these bills, so you don’t need to request their co-sponsorship. Instead, please thank them for their support.

(3) Important: please cc adcom@aane.org on all emails so the Advocacy Committee can track contacts and fill any gaps. If you make phone calls instead, it would help us to get an email from you saying you did so (adcom@aane.org).

(4) Please forward this request to your friends, networks and allies and ask them to join our effort.

 

Sample Letter

 

Dear Representative/Senator [name],

 

I’m your constituent and a member of the Asperger’s Association of New England (AANE), based in Watertown. [Add other relevant personal info, e.g., role in autism advocacy, mental health professional, etc.] I hope you will co-sponsor two bills that are very important to me. These bills address the two highest priorities of the MA Autism Commission and have been prepared by AANE.

 

These bills are supported by a large statewide constituency. AANE has over 20,000 active members, the overwhelming majority in Massachusetts. The bills are endorsed by the Cross Disability Advocacy Coalition (CDAC) and we expect these bills will receive the support of many individual statewide autism and disability organizations.  

 

Bill HD01658 (also SD00781) would ensure full and equal access to services from the Department of Mental Health for individuals with autism spectrum disorders and related conditions who meet the eligibility criteria for DMH services. It has been filed by Representative Kay Khan, House Chair of the Joint Committee for Children, Families and Disabilities, and Senator Jennifer Flanagan, member of the Autism Commission. People with autism and co-occurring mental health conditions are currently denied vital services.

 

Bill HD02945 (also SD00777) would permit the Department of Developmental Services to provide services to adults with developmental disabilities. It has been filed by Representative Garrett Bradley and Senator Jennifer Flanagan, members of the Autism Commission. AANE worked with attorneys at the Disability Law Center to draft this bill. It would expand DDS eligibility (subject to appropriation) to people with developmental disabilities who meet certain conditions for “substantial functional limitations”. The wording is taken from the relevant federal statute, known as the DD Act. More than 40 states provide eligibility for adult services using a definition of developmental disability. (A recent law revised the intellectual disability requirement but did not address the needs of people whose functional challenges are related to a developmental disability.)      

 

If you have already co-sponsored these bills, thank you. You are supporting people who are currently denied essential treatment and services from both DDS and DMH.     

 

Yours,

 

Name
FULL ADDRESS
Phone and/or email

Dec 29

The Disinformation Continues

In the New York Times, no less. Although I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, given their recent history of publishing really terrible pieces about autism, particularly at the height of the DSM-5 controversy.

And, as it turns out, the author of one of those pieces is back, this time to dis schizophrenic people. I wonder which population he will target next. The irony of it all is that the author is (or at least claims to be) a psychiatrist. He certainly doesn’t fit the mold of someone who has answered a calling to help people in distress. I have many good friends who are psychiatrists, and I have the utmost respect for their efforts to help autistic and schizophrenic people, and others with various challenges. They are kind, caring people, who are pained to see their patients struggle. I consider their profession to be a “soft” science in that it is built on observation and intuition. Studying the human brain is not the same as learning the properties of laser beams or some other physical phenomenon  Art and medicine are not incompatible.

The author of the pieces in question here, Paul Steinberg, comes across to me as vitriolic and uncaring. He is, I hope, not representative of the psychiatric community in general. The fact that he has been given a platform by the Times is yellow journalism at its worst, in my opinion.

His latest piece, which is a diatribe against schizophrenic people, contains many gems. Here is one of them:

Schizophrenia generally rears its head between the ages of 15 and 24, with a slightly later age for females. Early signs may include being a quirky loner — often mistaken for Asperger’s syndrome — but acute signs and symptoms do not appear until adolescence or young adulthood.

In one of my recent posts, I have addressed this kind of thinking in more detail, and I’m sure I’ll have a lot more to say about it in the future. For now, let me just summarize that schizophrenia may be “mistaken” for autism because it is a form of autism. It arises from a physical difference in the brain, and does not suddenly “appear” at the ages mentioned. Why it is that some people go down this particular developmental pathway is of course unclear. To the best of my knowledge, though, one does not “become” autistic. We are born that way.

Two of my fellow autistic bloggers have taken up the cudgel, and so have spared me (thank you!) from having to go into more detail about all of the obviously atrocious statements in this horrid op-ed piece. They are of different styles and well worth reading.

My friend Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg has written a clear, academic-style response (complete with references that support the facts she cites). In it, she decries not only his heinous disregard for human rights (my words), but his ethical standards and his factual claims. When she is done, there is nothing left of his writing except the hate speech. Says Rachel:

This week’s New York Times Op-Ed page features an utterly irresponsible article in which psychiatrist Paul Steinberg baselessly blames schizophrenia for mass shootings.

The other post I’ve seen is by someone I don’t know, but given its rambling non-linear style (known to and loved by those of us who are autistic </snark>), he has established his credentials. Rachel mentions the ethical violation, and this blogger goes into quite a bit more detail, and makes some good points. For example:

The inherent conflict of interest in attempting to simultaneously represent the interests of individual patients as well as advocate for the public good should be obvious to qualified practitioners in any of these professions, especially those who hold themselves out as leaders and authorities in their field.

One almost declines to respond to a piece like the latest Steinberg folly. But we, as a community, cannot let this kind of misrepresentation go unchallenged. We now return to our regularly scheduled positive advocacy work.

Note added on December 31: “Neuroskeptic” posted a comment on a recent Australian study, which is called “A whole-of-population study of the prevalence and patterns of criminal offending in people with schizophrenia and other mental illness.” I question whether schizophrenia is really a mental illness, though its extreme presentations obviously indicate people who are having severe difficulty in coping. Calling schizophrenia a neurological difference may be only semantics I suppose. When I said that of autism to a psychiatrist friend, his response was, “Well, everything is neurological, isn’t it?” Yes, good point.

Anyway, the money quote from the post just mentioned is

…the great majority of crimes, including violent ones, are not committed by people with mental illness, and that your chance of getting ‘murdered by a lunatic’ is incredibly low. This strikes me as the only statistic that matters to most people.

 

Dec 28

Who’s the Scientist Here?

My friend Ariane has written a post about her reaction to being attacked by someone who didn’t agree with her writing. If you know Ariane or have benefited from reading her blog, please go there and place a supporting comment. I did. I think we all know how traumatizing it is to be criticized in a hateful manner.

As the mother of an autistic girl, Ariane has tried very hard to discover what is helpful to her daughter Emma and what is not. Her blog has documented some of her struggles; her mistakes as well as her triumphs. She is very forthright and honest about her efforts, and I have learned much from her.

From my perspective, where she has been successful, it has been because she has tried with all her might to understand how Emma sees the world. This is rare, in my experience. Many so-called “experts” on autism tell us that autistic people lack a “theory of mind” or the ability to understand how another person might view the world. This is, for the most part, wrong, in my opinion. It seems to me it is more likely to be true that a neurotypical person is unable to understand how the autistic minds works. Ariane is one of the exceptions.

I have recently read a wonderful book that was published this year by Random House called simply Subliminal. In this book, the author Leonard Mlodinow (a theoretical physicist by training) takes us on a journey through the unconscious mind. In his final chapter entitled “Self” he explores some topics that are relevant here. The basic theme of the chapter is that we all have an inflated view of our own abilities, and that’s usually a good thing, because it keeps us going through times of adversity.

Overestimating our own capabilities and understanding can also have a downside, if we take ourselves too seriously, as it sounds like Ariane’s attacker did. Mlodinow provides a nice metaphor here. [As an aside, I find it amusing that the name of Jonathan Haidt appears here, since I recently wrote a piece that included a not entirely favorable reference to him — see for yourself!]

As the psychologist Jonathan Haidt put it, there are two ways to get at the truth: the way of the scientist and the way of the lawyer. Scientists gather evidence, look for regularities, form theories explaining their observations, and test them. Attorneys begin with a conclusion they want to convince others of and then seek evidence that supports it, while also attempting to discredit evidence that doesn’t.

As it turns out, the brain is a decent scientist but an absolutely outstanding lawyer.

The name given to the part of the brain that acts like a lawyer is “motivated reasoning” and this occurs when we have a stake in the outcome. Different regions of the brain come into play when we act as the scientist, carrying out cold, objective analysis of data in which we have no personal interest. A few years ago, I was a subject in a brain study, using fMRI, at MIT, which involved a bunch of value-laden questions (like, how do you feel about your mother? or one of those ethical dilemmas we all learn about in Philosophy 101). I’m assuming they were using my autistic brain to see if the same regions lit up as would do so in a neurotypical brain. My guess is the answer is affirmative, but I really need to follow up and see if they published anything based on that study.

One of the amusing studies that Mlodinow cites to illustrate how we believe what we want to believe is a survey in Britain that found that “half the population believes in heaven, but only about a quarter believes in hell.” This also comes up in politics, of course, or in discussing issues such as climate change. Says Mlodinow:

… through motivated reasoning each side finds ways to justify its favored conclusion and discredit the other, while maintaining a belief in its own objectivity.”

Beware the lawyers in scientific lab coats. Be aware, too, that we are all guilty of the same errors. We can’t help it. Our unconscious minds (of which, by definition, we are unaware) make us do it. A good dollup of humility is an essential ingredient to any productive discussion about a disagreement.

That is one of the aspects of Ariane’s post that makes it so poignant. She is being respectful, and is willing to admit to some self-doubt. Evidently, her opponent is not. Says Ariane:

One of the things I have learned over the years is that when someone attacks, my knee jerk response is to attack back, but this never actually does anything to further the conversation, encourage discussion or an exchange of ideas.  Nothing changes when two people angrily engage in self-righteous, self-justified shouting matches.

Amen to that, Ariane. Thank you for your balance, your courtesy, and your constant good cheer.